# Gearing up an Athearn Hustler



## kenlee (Feb 11, 2010)

A friend of mine bought one of the Blue Box Athearn Hustlers from e-bay. His first question was what can we do to get rid of the rubber band drive. I checked around and found out about the Ernst kit and quickly abandoned that idea, the kits we found were going for at least double what he paid for the little engine. He had just replaced the trucks on a Dash 9 that I had helped him refurbish and he took one of those apart to look at the possibilities. The worm gear, the large gear in the units and the axle gear were a perfect fit for the Hustler. I worked out how to make it work, I cut apart the housings, saving the top part that held the large gear in contact with the worm gear on the drive shaft. We Lucked out and the Hustler motor shaft and the Dash 9 drive shafts were the same diameter. We pulled the worm gears and pressed them on the motor shafts, snapped the gear and housings onto the shafts, swapped out the drums on the wheel sets with the gear piece from the Dash 9 and put it all together, works perfectly. I had to drill out on either side of the frame and press in a pair of pins to keep the gear centered over the axles, and I pressed in a pin to serve as a solder post for the light he wanted added for the cab and headlight. With some fiber optic strand and brass tube this was easily accomplished with only one bulb. Handrails were also added to the body of the engine to make it look less toy-like.


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## concretepumper (Mar 7, 2010)

Looks good. :dude: Post pics when it is done. :wave:


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## pricebc (Mar 24, 2013)

*Athearn Hustler*

Neat sounding project. I would love to see the pictures, but my browser says they are no longer available.

If you could repost them or send me a better link, it would be great!

Thanks

Pricebc


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## kenlee (Feb 11, 2010)

Removed by Author.


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## krlee (Oct 23, 2016)

Digging up an old post, but I wanted to re-post the photos with additional info.

The Hustler motor with the modified Dash 9 worm gear, drive gear and housings in place.

















The modified motor unit back in place on the chassis.

















Another look at the modified motor showing the added pins keeping the gear housings centered on the axle gear. You can also see the pin that I added as a solder post for the light.

















A bottom view showing the added Dash 9 axle gears on the Hustler wheel sets.

















With this modification, the little Hustler runs smooth without any bogging down or slipping, even at super slow speeds. It is even capable of moving four or five cars easily, even at the slowest speed.


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## krlee (Oct 23, 2016)

Showing off the added railings and step details, along with that mysterious fingerprint that somehow appeared, this led to a repaint.



















The added fiber optic lens for the headlight can also be seen here.










The final repaint and new decals.


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## Y3a (Jan 18, 2001)

Nice job! Put a TON of weight in the body.


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## krlee (Oct 23, 2016)

Here is a video showing the performance of this little engine after it's upgrade:


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## krlee (Oct 23, 2016)

Since the links to the images have disappeared (again!) here is a direct link to the images on my facebook page. You do not need to be a facebook member to see the images.

Ho Scale Athern Hustler Drive Modifications | Facebook


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## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

I looked at all the previous image links and they all say they have expired at some point. I also tried to include a link from your face book page but this is the only format that would transfer over. It looks to be a temporary file address as well.

Does anyone know the process at facebook to follow under the share icon?

Are those images at facebook still in your device or pc also?






Log into Facebook


Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.




www.facebook.com


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## krlee (Oct 23, 2016)

Thanks, all of the images are still on my computer as well as on facebook. I have noticed on a lot of my older posts that images have disappeared, all from facebook, has to be something on their end.


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## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

If you still have them on your computor the upload process to here is a lot easier now than it used to be. But I know it is tedious and time consuming to find them again. 🤙


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