I recently purchased a nicely costom painted caboose, but need to change to Kadee couplers. It is in an Athearn box with an adhesive label covering the original label, so not sure if it was an undecorated or some other road has been painted over. There are no marks on the bottom of the car to give any indication of the make.
I have put together a number of Athearn kits, but don’t remember doing a caboose. My problem is that the frame is attached to the floor with screws coming down from above (screw heads are inside). The shell is glued quite well to the floor. I could cut the old coupler boxes off, but the way they are made makes me wonder if I can put a replacement box on. The top of the box is the floor and the bottom and sides are the ends of the frame.
I question that it is an Athearn, though it could be, but I need suggestions as to the best way to go about replacing the couplers. My thoughts have been: risk damaging the shell by cutting/prying the shell off or to cut the frame piece away and use half a Kadee box by drilling and tapping a screw in place. Does that seem reasonable? Not sure if the steel weight is above the box or not. I’d hate to mess up a nice custom painted caboose.
The athearn caboose shell has two clips on each end(underneath the end doors) that attach the shell to the base. If you push the end doors inward and lift up, it should come out. Note that it does take some force. From there, you can unscrew the screws holding in the frame/coupler boxes.
It is hard to break the clips, but Im not saying its impossible. Even if it breaks, the shell will still be attached to the base via the second clip and friction.
Good luck!
Charles
PS make sure you remove the ladders before removing the shell.
Properly assembled, both the Athearn cupola-style and bay window cabooses do have screws driven down through the floor - they’re mainly to hold the interior weight in place, but because they thread into the underframe, also hold the frame in place.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say Richard knows the difference between the head of the screw from the other end.
If the frame isn’t glued to the floor maybe a drill press and a small drill could unscrew the screw? A reverse easy out I see it’s a sheet metal screw, that won’t work.
I’ve found in my coupler conversions, the weight extends over the coupler box. Drilling a hole through the weight, with a pin vise and drill is tedious at best.
While you can cut the coupler box off with a dremel, gluing it back isn’t the best option. In my conversions from the 80’s and #5 couplers, the brass spring fails over time and a glued coupler box is a big disadvantage.
Assembly diagram above seems to show screws going in from bottom.
Also states that the weight is a not included but must be purchased separately item. Never knew that Athearn ever did that. Must be a very old set of instructions.
The above instruction sheet is very old. Look at the trucks. And yes the couplers do not have the metal clip covers. So safe to say it’s the Steel Cupola Caboose. OP says plastic covers, so instructions could match the OP’s caboose.
DrWayne is correct with his above post about the screws if the caboose came with a weight.
Not knowing if the caboose is a cupola, bay window or wide vision type but all three of them have the weight, if supplied, fasten with two screws down though the top. As in the screw goes though the weight then the floor then into the underframe. Instructions dated ‘‘Revised 3-73’’. And yes a plastic clip on the body at the end doors snaps into the floor.
Now if it’s a bay window, can you lift off the roof walk? If so, stick a small screw driver down though the roof hole at the ends and unscrew the screw. The fun part is getting it back to gether again. It can be done.
If you can get any of the other roof walks off (hopefuly not glued in place), you can drill a hole in the roof above the screws (only needs to be large enough to pass your screw driver and screw head) and when done, you just plug or not plug the holes which will be under the roof walk.
I tell you if we could ever upload photos from our own files this would be wonderful not having to deal with a photo hosting site.
I have two sets of assembly instructions, with the earlier one indicating that the weight must be purchased separately (even though it’s shown in the drawing). The newer instructions have ony an exploded view, with no written assembly instructions, but both instruction sheets show both the truck attachment screws, and those for holding the frame in place, to be inserted from the bottom.
While this is appropriate for the trucks, it is incorrect for the frame-holding screws, as the holes in the car’s floor for those screws are clearance holes - the screws are inserted through the clearance holes in the weight and the ones in the floor, then screwed into the underframe. I don’t ever recall seeing a correction of the instructions, but if the modeller screwed them into the underframe, they would not hold anything, the weight included, in-place. If you stored the caboose in its original box, on its side, the weight would flop from the floor to the side…and might flop back onto the floor when you put the caboose back on your layout.
If, for some reason, you removed only the trucks, the underframe would simply fall off once the truck screws were removed.
Here are some photos (I hope)…
The head of the screw nearest the top of the photo holds the underframe in place, and the threaded end of the truck-mounting screw is shown below, screwed into the car’s floor…
…this view shows only the business end of the truck-mounting screw, along with a largish nut, one of two, providing some extra weight - very important if you use pusher locomotives on heavy trains, as I do…
I have a punch it’s called a ‘’ Junior hand punch #5 by Whitney’’ mine is over 70 years old, it has assorted punchs and dies for dirfferent size holes. Makes quick work in plastic, steel weights or lead sheet.
Huh? I’ve built several of Athearn’s BB cabooses and freight cars over the years and neveer seen the weight over the coupler box. Look at the instruction sheet.
I drill the coupler box just enough for a 2-56 self taping screw to snug down.
No, your thinking right BigDaddy, on the Athearn (BB) Box Cars. The 50’ I would just catch the edge of the weight (would look like a half moon cut/punch out) and on the 40’ Box Car I would have a full circle cut/punch out in the weight. Then with the weight in place between the frame and floor, pin punch a starting hole on the coupler post. I would start with a smaller drill bit then what I wanted to finish (tap size) through the coupler post and into the plastic floor (A-Line makes a jig to center a drill bit and tap now-a-days). Next clear ONLY the coupler post with the correct clear drill bit. Next drill the floor compleatly through with the correct tap drill bit. Now tap the floor but not completely through so the screw bites into the plastic floor.
Now you can use the Athearn metal coupler box cover that will never fall off, with a Kadee coupler or cut off the Athearn coupler box/frame and use a Kadee plastic coupler box complete. Both jobs using the plastic floor as the screws mounting support.
When you are done, check your coupler height.
BRAKIE’S 2-56st screw into the plastic coupler post is another quick and excellent way to secure the Athearn clip on metal coupler box cover. Just be carefull not to let the st screw split the plastic post.
I drill and tap the plastic post then use a short brass machine thread screw so as not to go clean through.
I edited my last post to include a photo which didn’t show on the first time around. It clearly shows the threaded-end of the screw which holds the weight and underfame in place, and also keeps the plastic coupler cover-plate, which is part of the underframe, tight on the couplers’ draught gear boxes.
If I can keep this thing online, I’ll respond to your kind answers. Yesterday I couldn’t stay online for the life of me.
Thank you all for your comments and especially to Trainman440 for the diagram (one didn’t come with the completed caboose) and Dr Wayne for the photos.
The diagram appears to be the correct one, as it includes the bottom of the frame serving as the bottom of the coupler box.
The 3rd picture Dr Wayne put on shows the 2-56 screw, however the illustration shows it going up in, but the photo shows it driven down through the weight and floor, into the frame.
Good thing you folks came through with the diagram and photos, as my house is lacking a person who knows how to put photos into the computer, say nothing of posting them on the forums. I really should learn how.
I will try to get it apart, hoping the glue isn’t holding too much. Knowing the ends are held in by tabs helps, as looking at the completed car they are not really visible.
I’ve not needed to remove the caboose’s body from the underbody, but in the one shown in the first 3 photos (in my previous post) the ends of the weight are very close to the inside of the ends. I didn’t have much success disengaging those tabs, as there’s very limited clearance.
I have done that over the years and simply cut both coupler boxes off from the frame and used the KD coupler box. Once I get them centered I Goo them in place then use a 2-56.
I been using Goo for sixty years and like it much better then super glues.
The cover plate on the coupler boxes will tell you if it is an Athearn. If it has a u-shaped metal cover that clips to the plastic nubs on the side of the coupler boxes, it’s an Athearn. If so, be very careful how you remove it. It is very easy to strip those little plastic nubs off the side and then you have nothing for the cover to clip to.
I never liked that Athearn couple system. When I first converted from horn hooks to KDs many years ago, I stripped a number of those plastic nubs off the couple box before I learned how to work the plate off without damaging the coupler box. Athearn has been using that coupler system for the 40+ years I’ve been in this hobby and probably a lot longer than that.
