Couplers problem


The 20 pack comes as 20 pair(40 in total) but these do not come with the coupler boxes where the individual packs come with them. For most of your conversions it looks like you will need the boxes too. That is a reasonable price for 7 packs.With shipping included will be about the same as full retail price. You may also be able to find some on ebay if you are patient. I bought 25 packs of #5 for 1.50 each a while back. Ron
 
Yes and yes, either/or. The #58s are scale-sized, not oversized like the #5s. The 's' doesn't mean anything, it's just plural (as in, fives vs 5s).

As far as the couplers mounted to the 'bogies', the normal term is 'truck mounted couplers'. Sometimes, you might hear it called "Talgo mounted couplers'". Pretty much the same thing.

You can convert truck mounted to body mounted by cutting off the protrusion from the truck, and mounting a box onto the chassis, like your other cars. Many of us do that, on some passenger cars who use truck mounted couplers because those handle small-radius track better (like 18-22" radius). But, when you are backing up, they have a tendency to derail, because the pushing force is on the trucks, and that might force them upwards, off the rails.

Price-wise, if you go to the Walthers site, their prices for these items pretty much mirrors retail (no discount). Certainly, stores will sell at that price, or less (since Walthers is also a distributor).

Kennedy
 
Does this Walther has a website that I can visit?

So the #5s are not good for me? I was going to order 20 pkts of them (#5s) to strat fitting them on my cars. So you are saying that #58s are better then #5s?
 
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#5's are great, the industry standard size. The benefit of the #58's is the closer to scale sizing (they're a bit smaller).
 
Well it was written in previous posts that the #5 are bigger then the #58, but which is best to be used? as for appearance, the #58 will look better, but what about practical, my curves are tight and I want couplers that work anywhere, and also easy to hook and disengage.

Any advice, before I purchase?

I was sending my order and stopped at the last moment before submitting. So my order for #5s are still pending, but I will take your advice before, since I don't want to buy a large ammoutn of couplers and then won't use them.

Thanks
 
They'll both work. But, since the #58s are smaller, if your trackwork is sloppy (as in roller-coaster from section to section), the uneveness may cause the couplers to separate. This is because one coupler will be higher, and one lower. Since the coupling faces are smaller, they'll separate.

The #5s being bigger, there's more coupler face to be together.

Kennedy
 
OK, then I'll go for the #5s, it sound that they grip more and will have less trouble with them. The most important thing I'm looking forward to solve is the tight curves, the most problematic loco is the RS-3 which on some turns, was pushing the car attached to it, out of the rails, because the loco's ass was not following the rails since the wheels are not at the very end.
 
The best prices I got from ebay were of US $ 2.09 per bag of 4 ( 2 pairs )

That's the cheapest I found so far, do you think its a good price to go for?

Now I'm in a hurry to get them and start fixing my cars.

Kindly advise
 
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I found a very good source for a very strong magnet, this is so strong, that when I tried it from under teh rail the kadees wanted to fly off the cars.

For those who are in IT, this thing will be very easy to get. These super strong magnets can be found in computer Hard Disks, its the magnet that controls the head of the hard disk itself, its so powerful that even a small part of it, will disengage the couplers instantly.

I will try to cut this magnet in smaller parts so from every one magnet I can get out 3.

I hope this hint helps you.
 
$2.09 for two pair of Kadee couplers is a good price, depending on how much they want for shipping. Since you are in Malta, you should be comparing the bottom line price, including shippping, rather than the advertised price.

An issue no one has bought up yet is the use of buffers. Are all your cars going to have buffers or only some? Will you always run the cars with buffers together or mix them witn non-buffer cars? I think the Kadee #5 is too short to be used between two cars with buffers and you'll need a longer shank coupler in that case.
 
I bought a whole lot of KaDee's No. 5 and will be in the process of changing them, since you are mentioning the buffer things, I happened to be trying a couple of passenger cars which I had already changed the couplers, and to my surprise on curves there wasn't enough room between the buffers and when thye touched, the cars wouldn't stay on the curve and derailed. Could you kindly tell me which coupler number I should get, I need the longest shank available, maybe I get a couple of bags, together with a mixed bag so next time I can try it myself :S

Alco, the magnets should look something like this

Hdd_head_actuator_magnet.jpg


They will be different according to the HDD brand, size and age.

Thanks
 
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