I am going to give Kaydee Kudos on a good product.
Outstanding!
Im building 4 Branchline reefers and installed them into the underframes with no difficulty or wrestling with the old Number 5 couplers. The resulting performance on my kaydee coupler test gauge is just flawless. One will have to be sort of raised just a smigen but it’s all good.
Kaydee needs to start building bulk carded containers to sell in stores because Im about to pernamently convert all of my couplers to this particular type as the old plastic ones fail. Other old number 5’s are expected to fail in switching and they too will be replaced with this coupler.
One little tidbit I do worry about, the durability of that tiny whisker. I think Kaydee needs to destruct a few of these and beef them up before I find out what it takes to break them.
I converted a couple of cars myself, not enough to know the answer to this. Do you think that because there is no separate spring, the coupler’s thickness (less than standard #5) is causing it to droop at all?
Other than that question, I really like the ones I have as well.
According to the good folks at Kadee, the whiskers are the same thickness as 5 plus the spring so they fit without drooping. Also there was enough testing to assure no breakage of the whiskers.
I talked to KD and they said they made that part thicker to compensate for the lack of the centering spring. Are you saying this isn’t true and they droop? That’s one of the things I was concerned about.
I’ve got some locos that have very shallow draft gear boxes that don’t accept the brass centering spring very well. I was hoping the whiskers would fit better.
If the coupler is going to droop, it will happen on my sway-backed and wore out rolling stock.
They do include shims with the package of couplers, I have not felt the need to shim. Yet. I usually start with the trip-pins.
Now, I know that a number 5 coupler on one of my BLI NW switchers droop BAD. Im half tempted to drop a whisker into that box and see if the problem is fixed. LOL. I will do that tonight after dinner.
I contacted Kadee last year about their plans to bulk pack the 148’s. They responded pretty quickly and said it would take some time to build the machinery, but it was something they were planning.
I’ve been using them since they came out, got a drawer full of #5’s , but when it comes to coupler time , I reach for the 148’s. They just seem to operate better.
Agree with all of the above, and partic. rtesta: try putting in the coiled centering springs in the 30 series conversions–even more of a pain than the #5’s, I imagine (haven’t ever done any #5’s, went straight to the 148’s last year when I got back in to the hobby). The longevity is a legitimate question–I don’t feel the whiskers have been out long enough to absolutely answer that question. That whisker spring is awfully thin; having said that, Kadee usually seems to know what they’re doing in design and production. I suspect that whiskers will become their standard in the future (already making the 158’s, 153’s and 156’s).
Of course… I have about 30 #5’s in stock… grrr… oh well… Let us know how well they stand up to abuse… I agree, they have not been around long enough…yet.