My coupler’s magnet hang too low to the track and they get caught on the turnout tracks. Is there any way to raise the hanging piece so it doesnt get caught on the track? I have heard of Kadee washers, is there any other method?
I tried taking needle nose pliers and clamped the magnet pieceso it would hang higher but that only defored the coupler. Was that a bad idea or was I just not doing it right?
Kadee makes a coupler trip pin bending tool that can be used to raise or lower the trip pins so they are the exact height needed for magnetic uncoupling. They also make a coupler height gauge so you can get your trip pins and couplers to the correct height.
If you don’t use Kadee uncoupling magnets, you can clip the end off of the trip pins with a pair of wire cutters. That’s what I do to all of my couplers.
Get a Kadee $205 height guage, and follow the instructions included.
Gee I hope that’s a #205 gauge per the illustration. $205 seems a bit high.[:D].
If you fix a length of track on a 2 ft long finished piece of wood and mount a Kadee height gauge at each end it makes a neat way of quickly checking out both couplers on a railcar, and its rolling properties, by rolling the car from one end to the other.
There are trip pin bending tools that work very very well – sometimes the trip pin is too high sometimes too low and the took is built to correct both. Although frankly needle nose pliars can do the work.
The thing is, if the coupler is attached to the car when you do the bending there is a danger of distorting the coupler pocket unless you hold it firmly in place.
Actually if the trip pin is too low I suspect there is a good chance the entire coupler is too low. The Kadee height gauge addresses both issues rather neatly. For best operation never be satisfied with “close enough” because the variance you tolerate on one car might just end up being the worst possible combination with the variance you tolerate on another car.
The solutions are:
check the coupler pocket to see if it is so loose that the coupler can droop down; the Athearn kit coupler pockets are prone to this. Sometimes a shim of very very thing styrene can raise the coupler to exact level without further modification of the car or coupler pocket.
Raise the car using the Kadee washers which come in two heights. If you raise it too high however the car looks wrong, like it is walking on tiptoes.
Consider whether the Kadee couplers with offset shanks are really better for that particular situation.
Another thing to consider is something I learned about HO freight cars. Some makes of 100 ton cars come with 33 inch wheels which is wrong – I know that Kadee labels its 33 inch wheels as “freight” wheels and the 36 inch wheels as passenger wheels but very heavy freight cars use 36 inch wheels too. I learned with some MDC coal gons that using the correct 36 inch wheels corrected the slight coupler height problem.
Very very heavy cars use 38 inch wheels. Some intermodal flats use 28 inch wheels. Not everything is 33 or 36 inches.
Dave Nelson