How to remove athearn loco shells after a plow is attached

[malibu43]

I have 3 Athearn locos (GP9, GP35, and GP40) all with kadees and plows added to the front. On both the GP35 and GP40, the kadees and draft boxes are attached to the frame with screws. The plows were installed per the details West instructions, which includes some glue. As a result, the plows aren’t really removable. On the GP35, I can un-snap the shell, and then slide the shell forward over the coupler. There is just enough room in the gap left between the bottom of the shell and the top of the plow to maneuver it around the kadee #5. I think the GP40 will be the same, although I haven’t tried removing the shell since I installed the plow.

On the GP9, the shape of the plow and clearance with from the shell is such that I can’t get the shell off without removing the coupler. In the case of the GP9, the coupler is still held in place with the original Athearn clip-on cover (no draft box), so I can probably pop the coupler cover off once from the bottom to remove the shell, but then I won’t be able to get the thing back together without figuring something out. One option would be to remove the curved pin from the coupler so the shell/plow can slide over, but I’d like to not have to do that.

Has anyone else dealt with this before? How do other folks deal with this?

GP35

GP40

GP9

 

[bigB]

Get yourself some Debonder. About $3 at a hobby shop. A drop or two on a toothpick, apply to attach points of the plow on the inside/backside/underside of shell; wait about 15.23558283 seconds, and gently pull. The plow should come off. You can CA it back on when your done with your work.

 

[wheeler1963]

Unless you plan on using Kadee magnetic un-couplers, cut the trip pin off the bottom of the coupler.

 

[malibu43]

@I’m assuming the debonder is probably acetone based…? I thought about that, but I was worried the acetone might start to cause paint issues. I may give it a try when the need arises…

@Wheeler – Yeah, I was thinking about that. The loco in your pic looks like it has a coupler with a shorter shank. It seems like mine are longer (or at least look that way) and would look strange without the trip pin, but I can always try it and grab some couplers with shorter shanks if I want.


Both good suggestions guys. Gives me a couple things to try. Thanks!