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Dug out my old Athearn cars and locos. Can these old couplers be used with todays couplers? Be kind of a pain if I buy a new car or loco and have to replace all the couplers on the old stuff. If they do have to be replaced I looked on Kadee's website and it looks like the #5 will plug right in?
And one last question, the pic of the track, is that nickel silver or brass. the screws are brass and look much darker.
Thanks in advance, Gerry
HI Gerry,
It's always hard to tell from photos, but it looks like NS.
AS for the couplers. If you want to use those cars, you might as well figure on making the plunge and converting them. None of the new stuff comes with horn hooks and quite frankly, it's about time. There are some Kadee bulk packs out there that go along way to converting your rolling stock and no one says you have to do it all at once. Start with your favorites and work your way down.
One more thing. You can build a transition car while you are converting. A car that has a Kadee on one side and a horn hook on the other. You could use the horn hooks on unit trains and passenger trains.
Thanks for the response
Im 80% sure I need the Kadee #5's for the conversion? I looked at the kadee site for a while and thats what I come up with.
I'm 90% sure that rail is NS, since its whitish, old brss tend to turn brownish and new brass is goldish, and alot distinguishable from NS. I compared the colours of the brass screws with the nearest rail, to match lighting and colour.
For any normal Athearn freight car, Kadee #5's will work just fine. They are easy to install. Just unscrew the truck and the snap off the metal coupler box cover with a small, flat bladed screwdriver. Put in the brass centering spring and the coupler and then just snap the coupler cover back on. As Chip said, you can order bulk packs of just the centering springs and couplers from Kadee for much less than buying them two pairs at a time since you don't need the draft boxes. You might also order a tube of graphite powder at the same time. Using some graphite will make the coupler work better.
For any normal Athearn freight car, Kadee #5's will work just fine. They are easy to install. Just unscrew the truck and the snap off the metal coupler box cover with a small, flat bladed screwdriver. Put in the brass centering spring and the coupler and then just snap the coupler cover back on. As Chip said, you can order bulk packs of just the centering springs and couplers from Kadee for much less than buying them two pairs at a time since you don't need the draft boxes. You might also order a tube of graphite powder at the same time. Using some graphite will make the coupler work better.
yep, they are pretty easy to do and you will like them a hell of a lot better than those hornhooks you got
I had hooked up a horn hook to a 158 and it worked fine. But they dont just go together when you back into one. Kinda have to work it a bit, and getting off is a lil bit of a pita.
I had hooked up a horn hook to a 158 and it worked fine. But they dont just go together when you back into one. Kinda have to work it a bit, and getting off is a lil bit of a pita.
Bad idea. It will work...sometimes. But it's when you're trying to get them apart is when the trouble starts. Enough twisting and turning will eventually make that tiny Kadee coupler spring go flying off. I don't know how many of these you've replaced but I'd rather have a root canal.
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