From browsing a few sites looking at rolling stock, did they go with knuckle couplers on all Ho stuff? Back when i had Ho, it was just those crappy little hook connectors. Are most every brand compatible with the next? or does everyone switch them out with a standard coupler? Also, what is available for uncoupling, say in a yard where you want to kick cars when breaking down a train? Thanks in advance for helping me with the learning curve, guess i have been collection lionel too long! Brett
I prefer the Kadee #5 and exchange other types with them. I use a wooden stick, bamboo skewer or under the ties magnets for uncoupling. A few magents I've made movable. Wolfgang
I too remove any and all couplers from any equipment I purchase. They all get Kadee couplers. Most products readily accept KD #5's. I also have KD 58's installed on a few special peices. Where the #5's or 58's don't work. Kadee has enough shank, height, and length options to counter. I EZmate and other non-Kadee knuckle-couplers I immediately cut up and store for use to scatter around the layout as scenery details. As for the old "horn-hook" couplers, I have a big jar of them I've collected over the years. Don't know why I even keep them. For uncoupling I use either a "Rix Hand Magnet", a stick, or the old "0-5-0" switcher. For the layout currently being planned, I am considering putting in a few magnets in the track. We'll see.
Coupler Questions Don't even consider using any couplers other than Kadee. The plastic imitation Kadee's are JUNK!!! and the best place for them in in the trash. I use Only Kadee couplers. Be sure to follow the instructions and use a Kadee coupler gauge to get the couplers set at the correct hight. If you have to modify the coupler or its mounting box the coupler isn't being installed correctly or you need to try a different Kadee coupler. On my Athearn Blue Box GP-9, GP-35, GP-40 I use a Kadee #8.
I'm a Kadee coupler fan also but I've had good service from McHenry too. As for uncoupling, a Rix Hand Magnet works very well for freight cars as you can put it between them. For passenger cars, there usually isn't enough of a gap between them to use the Hand Magnet. Then again, you probably will not need to uncouple passenger cars very often. I use under the tie (or in my case, under the road bed magnets on my Kato Unitrack) magnets on my sidings to allow remote uncoupling.
The coupler to use is the KD..These give the best service. I perfer to use magnets so I can get all the benefits that the KD coupler provides.
I may not be a master railroader as per NMRA's standards. I can tell you what I like. I agree with the Kadee, recommendations voiced here. Most of the newer equipment has moved away from the Horn Hook couplers to a marginalized, copy cat, Knuckle Coupler. Kadee started early-on providing and perfecting the knuckle couplers. They set the standard in HO,when NMRA went to and with the Horn Hook. Kadee is bar none, the best out there. You can play with the others if you wish...that be your choice. At the end of the day you will be looking at Kadee, to solve your problems.
Kadee is the best, absolutely. My pitiful train budget results in many train show/flea market/antique show finds which usually requires changing out those infernal horn-hooks - so sometimes as a stop-gap measure to get them operational I'll use anEZ Mate/McHenry. Sometimes it doesn't matter much, depending on the car and how much it's used - but I go to Kadees when I can. Plus as someone else mentioned, they make so many different size combinations they can't be beat for difficult or specialized conversions.
From my experience if you don't want to spend a lot of time and money converting cars, I would say avoid most IHC and Rivarossi cars. Rather than using a coupler housing, the use an all in one boom that mounts to the truck. You can either cut off the hook and glue on a Kadee, or get the conversion kit. I'm not sure why, but the conversion kits hard to come by now.
I may save a few pennies on my freight car conversions but I stick to Kadees when I convert IHC/Con-Cor/Rivarossi passenger cars. The Kadee 505/508 was made specifically for this and well worth the money. The LHS here stocks 508s regularly but will order any Kadee in less than a week. I also replace the IHC wheelsets with Kadee 36" metal. Interestingly they slip right in to the heavyweight trucks but the modern trucks require a little reaming. As much as I like the IHC cars for value for the money, the wheelsets are horrible and the bodies require some added weight.
I was in the same boat. I bought a few DCC Locomotives and all my old rolling stock had the old school horn hooks on them. I bought a few KD #5 couplers and was able to switch them out on a few cars but a few others I couldn't. I'm slowly finding out that many of my old rolling stock need to be replaced as they don't roll that well or stay on the track. I went from 25 down to almost 15 cars that will work on my layout.
I haven't met a piece of old rolling stock that couldn't be tweaked to run on any layout. The usual culprits are lack of weight and old plastic wheelsets - either of whch or a combination thereof will cause poor tracking. As for the Kadee #5s, those are but the tip of the iceberg of options Kadee has to convert any car. It does take a bit of finagling at times and creativity, along with the use of shims to raise or lower the car or the coupler mount, but it can be done.
Any advice on how to raise up the couplers on Model Power cars? They grab my other manufacture's cars on the bottom quarter of the coupler. Josh
The first thing I would do is use a coupler height gauge to determine which couplers are at the incorrect height. Kadee makes HO couplers where the shank is "underset", so the coupler is a bit higher. Check the Kadee website for the part number.
I'm using Kadee #58's or #158's (depending on what's in stock where I'm buying). I cut the glad-hands off all of them before installing, don't need those on my equipment (no magnets = no glad-hands). Everything is gauge-checked before operating sessions (or at least it was when the layout was up, and will be again when the next one is). Uncoupling is done with either a skewer, a home-made uncoupling tool made from brass stock with a dowel section for a handle, or just the end of a pencil (the pencil lead adds a little lubrication and fits nicely into the couplers). ************ I have a friend who bought equipment and put it on his layout without changing couplers. He has the worst time getting his equipment up and down his helixes without the trains uncoupling. He tried Seargent's, and they coupled too tight, equipment going up a ramp would lift the next care behind off the track. He's now bought huge numbers of Kadee #5's and is having to go back and switch couplers on about 300 cars.
As lynngrove noted, getting a coupler height gauge is a good idea. That way you always have a correct height to work from. And yes, go to the Kadee site, you'll be amazed at all the different coupler options to address any mounting problem. Using "underset" couplers is a good way to raise coupler height - another way is to use the Kadee shims (Thin washers that fit between the truck and the car body).
