hey everybody,
i have just bought 40 athearn 40’ box cars (the blue box ones) and begun assembly. so far (12 cars) every coupler has been low. it takes 2 or 3 shims to get them up to par. is this normal for the athearn 40’ box cars?? all of the other cars that i have been assembling (hoppers, flats, tankers, gondolas,etc…) have been spot on. is there a trick i’m missing?? thanks for the input…
Are the bolster/fame/brace pieces flat? Sometimes they are bowed and this can cause a high or low coupler pocket. I’ve had this height problem too.
I am looking at a standard Athearn ‘BB’ 40’ box car right now. It has 33" metal wheel sets applied and Kadee #5 couplers. It is sitting on a piece of code 100 track and is mated up with a Kadee coupler height gauge(at least 40 years old). The couplers are a ‘little’ low, but really not enough to have problems with. IIRC, the bay window caboose and some of the other Athearn cars have bigger coupler height issues. Are you sure your coupler height gauge is good? We had a guy at the club adding washers to all of his cars and they did not match up with any other cars. He brought in his Kadee gauge and there was hunk of metal in the pocket - the coupler in the gauge was angled up! A few swipes with a file resolved the problem.
I just did a test and matched up that Athearn car with an Accurail box car, an Intermountain box car, a P2K 50’ flat car and an Atlas Trainman car - All were very close. The Atlas hopper’s couplers were higher, but it still had the Accumate couplers on it. All the rest had Kadee #5 or #148 ‘whisker’ couplers in the original coupler pockets.
Jim
the problem i noticed over the years with athearn box cars is the “mickey mouse” metal clip that snaps over the bottom of the coupler pocket. i usually install the clip over the empty pocket and the use a drill bit that is larger than the hole in the clip to start and center a dimple in the plastic post. then using that as a guide, i drill a hole down through the center post of the coupler pocket and attach a plastic cover plate with a machine screw. you can snip the excess screw off flush with the top of the plastic or drill a relief hole in the metal weight to clear the screw. the trick is to center the hole in the post inside the coupler pocket so it does not break through the side of the post. i assume you are using kadee number 5 couplers. the old style horn hook or nmra coupler included with the kits is about as useful as air brakes on a turtle.
yes, i am using kadee #5’s and putting a 2/56 x 1/4 machine screw in the coupler pocket after i drill and tap it. checked the coupler guage it looks fine, all my other cars and loco’s match the guage perfectly with no adjustments. i just bought this coupler guage a couple of weeks ago. the “air hose” part of the kadee hits level with the base of the guage, which needs to just clear. the knuckle is .120 to .140 out of alignment. is that not enough to bother?? just bend the “air hose” piece up and call it good. my layout is a modular so there is no climbing or disending with anything. thanks…
being out of the model railroad world for roughly 12 years then trying to remember everything i had learned. i’m getting a bald spot from scratching…
You have something going on and I don’t know what it is. But I think you definitely need to find out because that 1/8 inch plus out of alignment sounds like an awful lot. Although you say that the misalignment may not be an issue on your layout, if you someday want to take the cars elsewhere to run you may end up with a bunch of operational problems. This is one of those times where its better to do the job right in the first place.
Last time I looked at a BB car (hopper, used as kitbash fodder) the plastic post was a tight fit in the snap-on cover. That indicates to me that a shim the thickness of the cover (or a little careful filing of the post) will be needed if a Kadee #5 box cover is substituted for the clip.
Call me a heretic, but I simply installed Kadee #5s in the existing boxes and used the original covers. They match my Kadee gauge within a few thousandths.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Well the key is to take your time and check the frames,weight and floor to ensure they are not warp.
Straighten if needed.
Then yours should look like this:
The trick is that all the older BB kits are like this. I use a brass #8 flat washer between the truck and the mouniting pin and it works just fine. It’s a lot less work than modifying the couple pocket. I bought the washers at a local farm supply store for a buck or two for a box of 100.
Tom
All my Athearn cars have a #6 washer under each truck. Without the washer, the couplers will be low.
Oh? None of those pictured cars have washers…
That is the thing about the BB cars some require washers while others don’t…
Brakie wrote-
Well the key is to take your time and check the frames,weight and floor to ensure they are not warp.
Straighten if needed.
That’s what I was trying to say. Flash and warping on these parts can throw the height off. Not just an Athearn BB problem either.
True…I had several Accurail cars with warp floors and one (GASP!) Atlas car that was slightly warp(just enough to raise the front wheel on the A end truck…I carefully heated the car and straighten it.That was the only Atlas car I ever seen like that so,IMHO it must have sled by QC .
Are you using a Kadee #5 pocket screwed to the coupler pad on the car or are you screwing the stock Athearn clip onto the pocket so it won’t come off?
If you are using the Kadee pocket then all the couplers will be low by the thickness of the top portion of the Kadee coupler pocket.
Good Point, Dave!
I have been trying to figure out why his Kadee couplers are so low - that would do it.
Jim
That, plus the fact that I’ve noticed that the old #5 boxes have quite a bit of vertical play in them when the coupler is installed, so the “head” of the coupler tends to droop. I’ve cured this by putting a shim (.010" styrene) just inside the box under the shank. It helps a LOT. From what I’ve seen, the newer boxes they include with the whisker couplers don’t have nearly as much slop in them.
Check to see if the screw is pushing the coupler box down by going against the weight. A shorter screw would remedy that problem.
Also check the frame of the car for flash or other protrusions that can keep the frame from going against teh weight too. There can sometimes be flash on the top of the coupler box. If the couplers are off by very much use a coupler with either a under/overset shank. Washers will work to a point but too many washers and the trucks wont fit properly.
On Athearn tank cars I make an improvement to the coupler mount.
Hold both halves of the frame together. On each end over the coupler box is a small depression. Drill this out using the number 50 drill. Go all the way through both halves of the frame. Separate the frame halves and on the bottom half there will be a rivit line near the coupler box. Using a razor saw cut next to the rivit line. Using the number 46 drill open up the hole in the two cover pieces to clear the body of the 2-56 screw. Tap the hole in the centre post of the coupler box for the 2-56 screw. Install the coupler and attach the covers with 2-56 X 1/4 sdrews. This modification supports the coupler and still allows access for maintenance/repair.
i understand what your saying. i am using the factory coupler boxes though. the one with the pain in the neck metal clip. i have been shimming the truck with the kadee truck shims, but i will check into the # 6 and the #8 washers. thanks everyone…
Athearn BB coupler heights were inconsistent, some were right on and some were low, about a third of my BB cars have KD washers added to the trucks.
Thanks for pointing out that #6 or #8 washers work,because they can be found at most hardware stores. I’ve been having trouble finding someone who has the Kadee washers in stock lately.