Get in contact with Lionel. The locos should still be under warranty, so they should send you the parts for free. Apparently a lot of the SD70ACes shipped with broken stairs.
100% accurate. It's the way the sit in the box. Too much movement for the trucks which allows them to break off easily. Had 1 1943 come broken. The other was fine and so was my 9026. However my NS #1111 I went 0 for 5 on as each unit was broken. Gave up on getting one.
Lionel sells replacement pilots for $24.95. To me it was worth grabbing an extra set just in case.