O.K! How about the above proposal but the with two locomotives being
doubled motored Athearn DD40s?!!
Now that should be a “knuckle busting, coupler punishing challenge”!! [B)][:p][:0][:D][8D]
BTW: Have an ambulance standing by for one of those couplers!!![B)]
Kadee every time, even on my 8ft switching pike. ALL the other types break, that’s never happened to me with a Kadee.
steve
Kadees are superior quality, but the newer McHenrys are not bad. I have some situations in which I’ve been able to save a lot of time because a McHenry can be used in an existing draft-gear box while mounting a Kadee would have involved removal, etc. One example: the MDC old-time freight cars.
Kadee was a great development and still makes the best coupler but we are now benefiting from the running-out of their original patent.
Okay I was bored, so I did a test. BLI N&W Class A (with traction tires) and one boxcar. Rear coupler on boxcar tied to a nail with a stout string. Turned the throttle up to 70% before hitting the “on” button.
With 6" of slack - KD clone on back of Class A tender broke. Duh…
repeat test - KD and Mc held up
9" of slack - no change
12" of slack - no change (I started gettin’ worried, cause that A is starting to move.)
15" of slack - Mc broke. KD held, but the darned screw that holds the coupler broke off in the hole, and now I have to drill it out.
But I’m not bored anymore. Stupid test.
When I first started to convert to Magnetics from NMRA Hornhook, I tried both McHenery and Kaydee. McH seemed easy to install, and worked particularly well with small, light cars, as I use much of the time. Plastic couplers seemed “weak”, and springs proved to be breakable - expecially if the car went “down the creek”. I have slowly gotten better with KD. No. 5 covers a multitude of problems. Talgos are still a pain to install on older equipment. However, some equipment such as light Rivarossi , ConCor, and others seem to take to the McH - especially if the couplers are made for the units. I have a tendency to install KD, if not too much trouble on new equipment. If I MU or “help” locos, I try to use only KD, if only because they seem stronger and more firmly installed in the pockets. If I do use McH, I try to use only the copper spring variety. I tend to use what works!! (I know one old MR’er who had to be convinced that Mantua Couplers (hook & loop) were obsolete, and to convert to Horn-Hook!)[:)]
Kaydee vs nothing else (what else is out there) It’s kd or nothing, to me this sounds like a monopoly, what we need is some competition in the coupler industry, there are a few (very few ) coupler makers but people are so indoctrinated with kaydee they will not seek or demand alternative products, to me, they still look goofy. Actually, there is one maker with to-scale, metal, working couplers at reasonable prices.
Well done Spencer.
No body tested & printed before.
On behalf of the folks at KD and modelers arounfd the globe, THANKS!
[2c]
I have noticed that if the car with the McHenry is stored on its side (as in a box on the shelf) the weight of the head pulls the coupler off center. If the car is stored long enough, the plastic centering springs in the coupler box “take a set” and now the coupler is not centered when you want to couple it to other cars. The coupler has to be replaced to fix the problem.
[2c]
thanks everyone . I guess yhat answered my question John
I use both. Some of the kits I buy come with Mchenry couplers. I replace them when its convient. Whenever I obtain one of those 20 packs of Kadee #5s, I go to town switching them out. I don’t run trains typically longer than 25 cars, so the strain created isn’t enough to break the Mchenerys. But Kadees fit better in the pockets and I enjoy their strudy feeling.
I too used Kadess until the competition came along. The early McHenrys with the little plastic strip for a spring were indeed junk. The new ones however with the coil spring IMHO are at least as good as the Kadees. My problem with the Kadees is the coupler centering spring…regardless of the time and effort spent on installation, I have never been able to get Kadess to center reliably.
The McHenry’s with the built in centering spring have been extremely reliable. I pull 20 -25 car coal trains of 34’ 2 bay hoppers with live loads and have so far never had a McHenry fail. Given the ease of installation compared to the Kadess I don’t plan to change back.
McHenry’s are made out of plastic and are made in China. Kadee’s are metal and made in the USA.
[:0] Has Chris crossed over to the NKP side?
What about the Q? [;)]
When I started geting cars that came with knuckle couplers and free rolling plastic wheels, I just replaced the stuff as it broke. After awhile, and some embarrasments when I was showing someone how well it works and the EZ-Mate or P2K hitch snapped on me, I converted everything to Kadee hitches and Intermountain Wheelsets, it was the best move I ever made.
Greg
All my McH are STILL in the BAG. I will use them on DISPLAY cars that will never see the rails. Going to a train show tommorrow and BUYING #5 as many as I can find. THank you for the information
Buy KD #5 in bulk pacs and be happy. Get some bushings, shims and boxes i nseperate packs and you cover 90% of your rolin’ stock. What else could a girl ask for?
Mmmmm, This could turn into a major sport, televised, and all that. I can see it now. We’ll call it HOPPA for HO Power Pulling Association. [:D][:D] My take on the coupler debate is that I have no doubt about Kadee being superior, and the company goes beyond the call of duty from my experience with them. But, I run what ever knuckle type coupler comes on the equipment. I then change over to Kadee only when one breaks or fails. I will admit that my equipment does not get operated as much as some, so I can’t really give a good opinion here. Ken
Clay,
Don’t panic.
You didn’t say if you had 100 sets mounted on your car fleet or just sitting on your work bench. My car fleet has a mixture of both Kadee and McHenry. Some of my cars came with McHenry’s mounted on them in the box. I have McHenry’s on my Rivorossi passenger cars and my Walthers Budd cars came equipped with the EZ Mates. V. I’m changing them out little by little.
By the way, some McHenry’s do have the “coil” spring just like Kadee. The McHenry’s with the plastic spring are “functional junk”. In other words if you don’t have or can’t buy the Kadees, then you can skate by with these, though they can’t take much punishment.
My suggestion to you is if you have McHenry’s on your fleet and are on a budget, just replace them little by little. If you have the sets still in the package, then sell them on ebay or at a model railroad swap meet. But if you sell them, do the right thing and let the customer(s) know that these units don’t take very well to hard coupling.
Stay cool![:)][:D][;)][8D]
Kadees. The snag with the plastic McHenry and E-Z Mates is the centring spring. It doesn’t have the flexibility of the Kadee one so the couplers won’t work reliably with delayed-uncoupling magnets, which require the coupler to pull right over to one side then spring back to the centreline after you “spot” the car you’re switching. I use this extensively as a way to keep the number of magnets on my 8ft switching plank down, I can get by with four strategically-placed magnets. I’ve yet to break any couplers but I also feel the Kadee looks more realistic than the competition - it looks like greasy metal rather than brown plastic. Even the plastic Kadees (#20-series) have this appearance which does a lot for them to my mind.
I have a fairly large layout at home (20’ x 20’) which includes two large yards and a huge Union Station plus many industries so youcan imagine I do alot of swithcing, I found McHenry’s plastic knuckle to be inferior to Kadee’s. Also I’ve experieced the McHenry’s to strech? and come uncouple on long freights, never had that problem with Kedee.
I heard the NEW McHenry with an actual knuckle spring are better than the old ones, that may be but, as long as my kadees continue to give me grat performance, I’ll stay with them. Now if they could only make one with the same shank lenght as the ones in the Walters lightweight passenger cars.