Okay folks, a question here, I have 3 Kato built steam engines and 2 Model Power Steam engines. All feature good running, but have truck mounted rear Rapido couplers right now. I know part of their good running qualities come from having the rear truck picking up track power. Has anybody just used the simple expedient of swapping the entire rear truck for a MTL truck with their coupler? And if so, has it degraded performance? Thanks folks.
At least on my Kato 2-8-2, it's relatively easy to simply cut the coupler off the existing truck and body mount an MT coupler. I believe the same is possible for the model power. I purchased my Model Power from a custom painter, and it already had a knuckle coupler. For my Kato, I took the quick and easy route and simply installed a Red Caboose dummy knuckle coupler.......I normally only use the loco at NTRAK setups, so it's no big deal to not have a working coupler. I HAVE done the cut and body mount on several Bachmann locos though.
Thanks, I may try just the "dead" coupler on the rear of the tender, just out of masochism and see how it works. If not, put the original back on, and body mount.
MT used to make a set that was for steam with a replacement truck for the rear and a new pilot with a MT. Problem with all wheel tender pickup is that MT does not make a truck with pickup.
Well, I went ahead and tried it tonight. Both the Kato American USRA 2-8-2 and a D51 Japanese prototype worked flawlessly! The only problem was the tender post was a bit large for the MT truck but a few minutes with a file opened the truck up to work smoothly.
Body mounting a MT coupler is easy enough. Sometimes it requires a drill and tap, which MT has available. Be sure to shim it to the correct height off the rail.
