RTR Kadee - change coupler?


F

Fazby

Member
I recently purchased two Kadee boxcars. The coupler is, I believe, the 58. I would prefer the 5 just for consistency with the rest of my rolling stock. Can the coupler be switched? A brief look makes it seem difficult to open things up. (Yes, I am a newbie.)

Thanks!

BTW:
I have converted nearly all of my stock to Kadee. The #4 defeats me as I just can't cope with those springs. They interlock and I can't separate them. Then they keep trying to escape.

The 'whisker' ones (148?) are really nice.

Other than getting height adjusted and screwing up one Bachman truck putting in a 27, it has gone well. Remembering to remove the gauge from the track is probably my most consistent problem. :eek:
 
I don't think it's really worth the effort to change from a #5 to a #58 just for consistency. There's very little difference between the two except for the #58 being slightly smaller so it's more scale looking. They will work fine with #5's and I don't see the point of chucking two good pairs of #5's when they will just be a little bigger than your #58's.

If you really want to change the couplers anyway, the top cover should be held on by a screw. Just unscrew it and change out the existing #5's to #58's.
 
Jim, I think he meant the other way around, but I 2nd the thought, its a waste to replace a good coupler.
 
I don't like it either, but the 58s don't seem to work as well with the 5s. They don't couple as well as the 5s. (Yes, I would swap out the 58, and install the 5.)

As for the screw, I wish it was that simple. They seem to have sealed it up pretty well.

Maybe I just need to learn to live with it.
 
Josh, you're right, mind was going in the opposite direction. :eek: Fazby, I don't have a Kadee boxcar here to check how the coupler is secured but the ones I've seen either have a screw at the coupler pocket or you have to take off both trucks and drop the center sill to access the couplers. Maybe someone else with a Kadee box car can give you the correct method or, failing that, e-mail Kadee. I have a mix of #5's and #58's and the #58's are more finiky about the coupler being mounted at just the right height. Using your coupler heign gauge, check the height of the #58's as given at the Kadee web site. If that height is correct, I suspect the problem is not the #58's but that you've got some #5's mounted too low and they need to be shimmed. See which cars aren't working well with the #58's and I think you'll find a problem with the #5's. This is what I had to go through with my mix and a lot of #5's I thought were fine were either a little high or a little low. As a result of getting the #58's and adjusting the #5's, I rarely have a coupler problem anymore.
 
Thanks for the thoughts. I will take a closer look at the boxcar construction.

The 58s are probably just fine and I need to tweak something. A fresh application of 'grease 'em' can do wonders. The issue I have had is that they don't want to couple all that readily.

I will keep learning - I am probably going off half-cocked. Thanks for your patience with a beginner.
 
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