How do you mount couplers on Passenger Car Bodies?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Sometimes I shop on ebay for Passenger Equipment and just " Buy it now " rather than fight with other bidders, Well some of the cars I buy have only truck mounted couplers, And I want to move them to body mounted couplers.

Are there any products on the market for mounting couplers on passenger cars?

2

Regarding eBay, I do the same thing, preferring Buy It Now, unless the item is “one of a kind”, then I have to entered the bidding if I have to have it.

I can only speak for myself regarding body mounted couplers, but on all of my pasenger cars that originally came with truck mounted couplers, I replaced them all with Jay-Bee coupler pads which are glued onto the underbody of the car and then I added Kadee couplers, using either #38 Medium Centerset Shank or if it needed to be longer then #36 Long Centerset Shank. That ended the derailments especially when the train was backing up.

Rich

3

I’ve only body mounted 2 cars. but I just plastic weld the top piece of the Kadee box to the floor of the car, drill a hole through the floor smaller than the screw, and then use that screw to pull the coupler box together AND keep it attachd to the car. Cheap, fewer pieces, no problems from the two I’ve done.

4

Your best bet is to go to the Kadee website (sorry never heard of Jay Bee but maybe they have the same stuff and if your particular car is not listed just ask them they are very good about helping you.

I made up a lttle fixture out of some scrap metal I had laying around. I bent it into a 90 and drilled a pilot hole in it so all I have to do is place it on the end of the car ceneered of course and dril my mounting screw hole

I used standard Kadee #5’s pre-mounted in the draft gear boxes for years until I snagged a deal on coupler boxes from my LHS now I buy the couplers in bulk packs and assemble them on the bench

5

Try these:

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-997

They work great on Athears 85’ box cars, but on passenger equipment the steps might get in the way.

6

They are made by Jay Bee Enterprises, look on the Walthers site under “coupler mounting pads”.

http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?manu=&category=CPLRS%20TRKS&scale=H&start=390

7

I use Kadee #36 or #39 (depending on coupler height). These are the long-shank couplers, and what I do is to mount the box further back such that the coupler head is located were a #5 head would be. This in effect gives you somewhat the swing of a truck mounted coupler without the problems of a truck mounted coupler.

Greg

8

Simplest way I’ve found is to get some strip styrene 1/4 inch wide by both .020 and .040 thickness to use as a coupler mount pad. Using the back end of the Kadee gauge, you can determine the thickness you’ll need to mount a coupler at the proper height. Use a solvent cement to mount the pieces to make a pad, then mount the Kadee, using the standard box, with a 2-56 screw.