I dragged out some KaDee boxcars from their nice plastic containers to place on my new layout. They won’t couple up with any of my other cars. They seem to have a tiny plastic wire coming out of one side.
What are these and do I need to replace them?
Out of the coupler box, or next to it? Next to it would be the brake line detail hose. Is it bent into the way? Does the coupler swing freely? And, most important question here, is it the proper height? I would look at not free to swing, or not at correct height, before I looked at the brake line hose detail being an issue.
I should have said the side of the knuckle. They are correct height and swing and center freely. These cars are 8 years old and this is the first time out of their boxes.
What kind of couplers are on the cars you are trying to couple the Kadee box car with?
Hard to say definitively without a picture, but it sounds like you got a bum kuckle spring. Without a proper knuckle spring, the coupler wont stay closed.
Above is a 40’ car from Kadee’s site. What’s the part you’re thinking is problematic? To the right of the draft gear box is an air hose, to the left is a representation of a “cut lever” (coupler pin lift bar). Neither should interfere with coupling to any other car, provided both cars have their couplers properly adjusted. I have seen a situation with a trip pin hitting the air hose if it’s bent the wrong direction.
To add to Hobbez’s post - if the knuckle spring is missing on the couple, it will open far enough to catch on the air hose detail on the cars.
I have a few Kadee cars, if I find them cheap I’ll pick them up. They usually have the #58 scale couplers on them, but I’ve had no issues with them coupling to and staying coupled to the rest of my rolling stock which have #5’s or #148 (whisker version). Dunno about any other Kadee knockoffs - I replace them with Kadees before putting any car in service.
–Randy
Unusual that such a quality item and the pride of Kadee would have a coupler issue, like a slap in the face. As said a missing or damaged knuckle spring, or you say, a “wire” poking out the side, possibly a damaged improperly installed #148 and one of the “whiskers” is sticking out and bent. This is of coarse if any of the end details are not bent/ broken and interfering w/ the coupler. Never seen anything like this, especially on a Kadee car, but anything is possible.
Very much so, especially considering the OP stated there were multiple Kadee cars involved, none of which would couple to his other cars. This got me thinking… is there a possibility these cars were not purchased new, and a prior owner may have made a modification that is causing trouble? Were the original couplers replaced with something like Sergents that don’t work with Kadees, or worn out plastic couplers (with plastic slivers that won’t keep the knuckles closed)?
I did a quick check of the OP’s posting history, and saw that he claimed to be a long-time user of Kadee couplers. Based on that, I’m assuming the issue isn’t one of the stock Kadee couplers not being compatible with his other equipment, and it would be odd if all of his other cars are so high or low that none will match up with the Kadee cars.
Bruce,
Could you post a picture of one of the problem cars? That would really be helpful on the troubleshooting part right now… It could be a damaged spring, a damaged body detail, or a plain old damaged coupler. (If used, it could be a incompatable coupler was installed by prior owner, as was mentioned.) Picture(s) would help out quite a bit here.
I haven’t posted a photo in many years. Ie it still as complicated or have they made it easier for us old school types?.The box instructions from these cars indicate 2005 for the year of production and that they were a limited run. There are NO knuckle springs on any of the four I have. They are metel as well.
I wouldn’t say it’s gotten any easier. Put the photo on a hosting site somewhere and provide a link if you can’t figure out how to get the image to display here. That should be fine. Maybe include one showing a car you’re unsuccessfully trying to couple to one of the Kadee cars showing why it won’t couple (i.e. show both cars with the couplers pushed together and note what may be interfering).
That’s sounds really odd unless the stock couplers were replaced. Note that Kadee uses blackened springs on many of the “scale” #58 and #158 couplers, and they can be very hard to see.
I’m curious if a prior owner may have equipped the cars with Sergent Engineering types like the ones pictured above. Those won’t work with Kadees and lack knuckle springs. Image from http://www.bronx-terminal.com/?p=2643 .