Bachmann FT and Athearn F7

[boomertom]

By any chance would an Athearn F7 shell fit the FT chassis without major modifications?

I have a couple of F7's I would like to update to DCC

Tom

[Yampa Bob]

Offhand I would say "no", but since I haven't been wrong all week, this could be the first.   

[Jim Banner]

Tom, have you considered installing decoders in your Athearn F-7s?  These are about as easy as it gets for a hard wire installation.  Alternately, Digitrax (and maybe others) make a decoder with a harness just for this type of locomotive.

If your F-7s are poor runners, then by all means consider a body swap.  I did the reverse swap some years ago - a brass FT body on an F-7 mechanism.  The frame fit well enough but the wheel base on the trucks was different, 9 feet vs 8 ft if memory serves.