atm I use knuckle couplers from bachmann. whats the benefits of switching to kadee? and hich couplers from kadee have worked best in the past? I would like to switch to something that hooks better and stays hooked but its way to confusing to pick out which ones from kadee would work best.
It is well worth the switch. Trust me, I just went through it with all of my cars. It may be time consuming, so be patient. Go to Kadee’s website. They have all of the conversion info there for you. Be sure to get a Kadee height gauge as well. It is very helpful. If all of your couplers are lined up vertically, you will get no unwanted uncoupling. Add in the magnetic uncouplers under the tracks where you do want to uncouple and you have a very easy and realistic setup.
Good luck.
Jeff
http://www.nmra.org/beginner/couplers.html
http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/page120.htm
http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/page160.htm
http://www.kadee.com/conv/list.htm
http://www.kadee.com
go with the kadee # 5 or the more prototype #58…check out their website www.kadee.com they make a variety of couplers some short, some long, some with springs in the draft gear box, some medium length, and then there’s the off center couplers…if you can’t decide then stick with the kadee #5 …it’s a universal coupler and fits most locomotives and rolling stock with some shims, (or in the case of BB Athearn locomotives…lots of grinding on the frame)…they mount best with 2-56 screws that you’ll need to purchase separetly,…it’s also a good thing to purchase the kadee coupler height gauge, the kadee 2-56 screw drill and tap set, the kadee coupler hose pliers and the spring pic…without these tools you’re going to get real frustrated real quick when your couplers don’t align perfectly and the trains come apart when you least expect it or when the hoses catch the turnout frogs and derail the train…getting them all now is going to save you a lot of grief later on…chuck
I agree that it’s worth swapping them over. I have a few of the Bachmann couplers (on stock awaiting Kadees) but they’re nothing like as good. Kadees are far better for delayed uncoupling (the centring spring on the E Z Mates isn’t very good for this) and also look a lot better - they have a dark, oily appearence (like the real thing) as opposed to the brown plastic of the E Z Mates. Bachmann couplers are ok as a stop-gap until you can afford or obtain Kadees but should be replaced as soon as possible to my mind.
will all kadee couplers connect to each other? the conversion list lists dfferent sizes of couplers for a few of my cars
Yes, all Kadees will couple together - that’s why getting the height of the knuckle right is so important. The different couplers all have the same “knuckle” part, the difference is in the arm that it’s mounted on - you have long and short ones, in overset, underset and centreset variants, then the different draft boxes… Amazingly they seem to be possible to fit to anything - I even managed to fit a pair to a British OO scale DMU I was working on recently!
Converting everything to Kadee’s is a pain in the butt but well worth the trouble in the long run. Do what everybody else said and your coupler issues will be gone.
I just did this to all of my cars this weekend. I’m fairly new in the hobby so I don’t have that much rolling stock yet. That’s the BEST time to do the switch. Much better dishing out a couple of bucks here and there to upgrade your cars than it is to wait until you have hundreds of cars and it costs you a lot.
I forgot to mention that I see some great deals on Ebay alot for Kadee couplers, NO EBAY BASHING PLEASE. If you have a large collection to convert you might want to look around there for some.
You may want to give the McHenry scale coupler with the knuckle spring a close look…I been “Field” testing these coupler on Athearn Genesis Covered hoppers at the club for the last few months…So far these couplers has held up quite well under our harsh operating conditions…By harsh I mean at lest 6 hours of operation,a working hump and the way cars are switched into trains…These covered hoppers hardly run as a group and can be any where in the trains consist.Our trains average 50 cars in length.
looking at the mchenry couplers as well are the metal or plastic ones better?
Metal is stronger so I would guess they are better. I’ve got a friend who uses only McHenrys and to be honest he doesn’t ever talk about problems with them.
they seem to be a little cheaper as well
I’m not sure but I think the metal Kadee’s are more expensive, I’ve been wrong before though.