Model Railroading > Athearn Genesis F7 Replacement Trucks

Does anyone know a good source for replacement trucks for an Athearn Genesis F7? I have a unit that apparently has some binding issues in the trucks and after taking the entire thing apart, inspecting, and re-lubing, it is still having some issues. I am thinking an idle gear might be slightly out of round, so not sure.

Can I use any Athearn Genesis BB power truck and switch the sideframes, or are the F7 trucks only good on the F7?

Not sure of the F7 but, sometimes on their exploded diagrams they list multiple uses for parts, or you could call or email Athearn

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

Some discussion I read about the early Genesis F units was that they had binding - the solution was to remove the wheels and ream out the slots the axles fit into. I'll see if I can find that discussion and link to it. Replacement may not be necessary.

Edit: found it - here is the link and quote of the basic info:

http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=64744

> 1. Pop the bottom cover off the trucks.
> 2. Pull sideframes and axle bearings off.
> 3. Remove wheelsets.
> 4. Take an Exacto #11 knife and cut the axles slots deeper.
> Just dig 'em out. Make sure none of the shrapnel falls in the
> gears or you'll have to take the whole gearbox apart - which
> you may want to do anyway.
> 5. Goal is to enlarge the axle slots so the axles rest on the
> bearing strips rather than the plastic axle gear resting on
> the gearbox slot.

> Believe it or not, it works.

> Either the mold for the Genesis gearbox has warped to where
> this is now a problem, or perhaps the axle gears are thicker.
> Dunno, but it wasn't much of a problem in early Genesis locos.
> Tsunamis really exaggerate the problem especially when you're
> using manual notching.

> I had an ABBA set of F units that wouldn't hold a notch more
> than 10 feet of running in manual mode. Kept dropping to idle.
> I did this brutal maneuver, and the problem completely vanished.
>
> Andy

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Jim Fitch



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/14 04:54 by SPDRGWfan.

Hello.

Any Athearn Genesis B truck should work in your F7. You will want a Blomberg B rather than the later Blomberg M.

I would suggest calling the Athearn parts department, when I needed a truck for a Genesis GP38-2 they were able to provide one for $14 plus S+H.

Andrew C



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/14 06:36 by andrewcastle.

Another early problem was wheel sets out of gauge.