Lowering Lionel F3s

Good morning all!

I wanted to share with you something that bothered me, and that's the Lionel high-water F units.  When coupled to my Atlas F2, it is readably noticeable that the F3 B unit is higher "in the saddle".

I took the B unit apart and noticed that the frame is actually mounted to the underside of a disc at which sit atop the truck kingpins.

So with that said, I tried a super easy way to do it!

Here are the steps:

1. Remove shell
2. With frame sitting on a flat surface, remove the two black M3 screws that sit upon the kingpin disc, and rotate it to the side.
3. Drop a washer that's approximately the thickness that you want the shell to be lowered (I used a ~0.045" thick M3 lock washer)
4. Rotate the disc back into place and replace the screws. (I used new, longer M3 stainless screws to be sure they seat well)
5. Reattach shell!

Here's the steps in pictures...

some miscellaneous photos:

Should you have any questions, please let me know!

Thanks,

- Mario