Removing shell from Atlas F7?

T4TT has done his already. Maybe Kevin will put his drink down for a minute to reply 

Hey Joe, I can take a few minutes from enjouing my margarita to share my exprience

The first thing I did was remove the 4 steps/stirrups.  They prevent the trucks from swiveling fully out of the way of the body screws.  You could  get a screwdriver on the body screws with the steps in place but you could just as easily scratch the brake cylinder in the process.

I used a magnet to retrieve the unscrewed body screws from their wells.

I gently pulled the fuel tank skirts outward (there a small tabs on them that grab the chasis) and lift the shell directly off.  There is a single molex connector that I unplugged to separate the shell completely.

When you dremel off the lobster claw mounting tab on the truck be sure to grind that area flat.  There is very little clearance between the truck and draft gear box.  Do not leave any remant of the tab or the truck will hang up.  Make sure you put a towel or something over the electronics before you dremel the tab off.

The directions tell you to cut the wires to the electro coupler.  I unplugged it from the motherboard.

When you put the shell back on make sure the nose seats nicely with the fixed pilot.  I snapped mine into place.

hope this helps

kevin

funny guy doug!!

Thanks Kevin,

Is there just the (4) screws to remove that hold the shell on to the chassis?

Oh, and a margarita sounds good right now! 

yes just four body screws

Success mounting the fixed front pilot, thanks for the installation tips Kevin, now I  just need to paint the front coupler to match the pilot.