Coupler ?


R

roofintrash

Well-Known Member
I scored a Sunset brass N&W J 611 and 8 old,new, IHC passenger cars the other day. The cars all have the long truck mounted horn hooks on them and they gotta go. I found the KD conversion bolster but was wondering if I would be better off body mounting a normal coupler. My curves are 30" minimum on the main and this train will spend its existence on the main and in staging. Just looking for some advice from the passenger car gurus around here on the best way to go for trouble free operation.
 
If I were you, I would definitely body mount the couplers, especially if you have a 30' minimum radius. I recently acquired a couple of F units and a few NP passenger cars from Garry. S couple had body mounted couplers and some had the truck mounted couplers. A mix of Riverossi and AHM cars. I found that the truck mounted couplers were nothing but a headache. My minimum radius is 32 inches, with most curves broader than that. I also have a number of Walthers passenger cars for the NP, all with body mounted couplers and they now operate flawlessly. Once the truck mounted couplers were removed and body mounted couplers were installed, no problems at all.
 
roofintrash said:
I scored a Sunset brass N&W J 611 and 8 old,new, IHC passenger cars the other day. The cars all have the long truck mounted horn hooks on them and they gotta go. I found the KD conversion bolster but was wondering if I would be better off body mounting a normal coupler. My curves are 30" minimum on the main and this train will spend its existence on the main and in staging. Just looking for some advice from the passenger car gurus around here on the best way to go for trouble free operation.
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First, the Kadee #505 and #508 conversion kits are difficult to install, adjust, and maintain. I have them on several train sets. It is one Kadee product that I avoid. McHenery makes a much better direct knuckle replacement for these. They are plastic, but passenger trains never get the stress on the knuckle that will bend/break it like a long freight will.

To go body mount, with only 30" radius couplers, you probably want to consider a swing mount coupler pocket such as the Kadee #451. It will be a bit more work to create a good mounting base for these, but I've had some issues on 32" radius when mounting even a long shank coupler, like the #146, in a normal Kadee pocket the IHC/AHM frames. I mention the good mounting base as the swing coupler will need a smooth surface for the entire "swing" area over it.

Also check the height. The AHM cars wheels were not 36". I don't remember if this carried through to the IHC line or not. I always did any wheel replacement first before setting the coupler height. Some of the conversions I've tried have the coupler head hitting the bottom of the doorway. That is always fun to deal with. Since it is a passenger train that will most likely always be a unit train, one can compromise and let the coupler heads be a little low. Then one only needs to worry about them during switching moves. On other cars I've filed the bottom of the molded on door diaphragm so the couplers would not catch on it.
 
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The Kaydee truck-mounted coupler conversions will work just fine, even down to 18-22" radius curves. Just don't try to back the train up! They will derail backing.
 
You have got it right when you say don't try to back it up. Tried it when some of my cars still had truck mounted couplers and it wasn't going to happen. In one yard, I have to back a train about fifteen feet from the main line to the passenger station, and i am talking real feet, not 1/87 feet. With body mounted couplers I have no problems even going through #6 turnouts and a double cross over.
 
Thanks for all the tips guys. I opened another can of worms today when I pulled one of the wheelsets out of a truck to see about replacing with metal wheels. They are 33" wheels ,but the axle lengths are all over the place. .970-.995. Quality all the way.
 
I have an old Riverossi observation car that was like that. I wanted to change out the plastic wheels for metal ones because my layout was all code 70 track and the old car had the oversize pizza cutter flanges. Couldn't find any metal wheels that would fit into the trucks and the way the trucks were mounted, replacing he trucks would have been a real pain to try to change out. I ended up having to trim down the flanges by carefully rolling them along a cutting wheel in a Dremmel tool. It is the ONLY car of any kind with plastic wheels. The other cars I got from Garry, a mix of Riverossi and AHM cars I believe accepted metal wheels.

Thanks for the info on the Walthers cars. I installed regular #5's on the cars mentioned above and they all operate without problems even if I mix them with the Walthers cars. Coud be the broader radius I have that allows that.
 
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I'd like to just change out the trucks and all, but not even sure which ones to start with that will require the least amount of fab work. I can machine up mounts and what not, but I hate to take the time away from getting further on the layout itself.
 
That's what I ran into with the old Riverossi observation car. I had never seen a truck mounted like that before and didn't want to do a lot of rebuilding on the frame. Took the easy way out.
 
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