I’m just getting back into the hobby after a few decades away. I have no layout yet and will not for a while, just a test track. I am going to build some skeleton log cars. When setting the height of the couplers I have a small amount of vertical play in the draft boxes. I’m using Kadee #148’s. I have the Kadee gauge and when I move the car to the gauge the couplers line up because of the magnetism will lift the knuckle up (due the the vertical play) to the proper height. If I pull the car away just a bit the knuckle on the car is low. Should I adjust the coupler to the proper height before the magnetism adjusts it for me. Hopefully this question makes sense. The future layout will be based around logging and have some steep grades so I need the couplers correct.
Bob
I think you need to eliminate the vertical play in your couplers. If possible, tighten the coupler box carefully. If not, Kadee has washers that might do the trick for you. #208 - .015" Thick or #209 - .010"
I do have the gauge. I spoke we Kadee and they have a new improved draft box for the 148’s. I going to get some and see if that solves the play in the box problem.
Uh, what magnetism? The coupler height gauge isn’t magnetic. I suspect that your trip pin (the little thing that looks like a brake hose) is too low, and it’s just sliding up on the part of the gauge that checks for trip pin height. That slight motion lifts the coupler, and if you don’t see the trip pin making contact it looks like the coupler is being “magically” lifted. You can adjust this pin best with a pair of Kadee trip-pin pliers, although a regular pair of needle-nose pliers can do the job if you’re careful.
Still, the best solution is to eliminate the vertical play in the draft box first, and then adjust the trip pin if you still need to.
If you’re mounting them in the Kadee boxes, this is a problem that I’ve run into myself. You have to make a simple modification to the box halves and the centering spring. First, cut off the side screw sleeves on both halves of the box, then cut off the back end of the cover (opposite the lip that sticks up on the end that the coupler sticks out). Next, take a file and make a couple quick passes on the cover’s center boss (the part that the coupler hole slides over) and the sides of the box where the screw sleeves were. This will allow the box to come in a bit closer to the right dimension to eliminate the vertical play you’re experiencing. Then take the spring and cut off the two small tabs that are hanging down at the front end of the spring, by the front of the coupler.
This sounds like a lot, but once you do a few, it took you longer to read this than it takes to do the modification.
On the spring, note the two tabs that stick down, the one side is closest to the front of the picture on the left, the other on the right. Cut off both of these tabs flush with the bottom of the spring arms, making a straight line from the back to the front of the spring.
Assemble the coupler and box with these modified parts.
The whisker spring takes up no vertical space in the box. I believe the boxes are/were designed for the other type spring. As I said Kadee has a new box that I hope will fix the problem. This is the new box.
I discovered the vertical play problem a few years ago, this was the way I solved it.
Bob is right about the spring. My advice was based on the #5 and the spring and box referenced in my second post, not the whisker spring type. I haven’t seen this new box he referenced, Kadee may have taken care of the problem with a redesign. Of course, that’s no help for the hundred or so boxes of the old type I have on hand. I’ll probably just keep modifying them until I run out.
If this is the case, it would be nice if Kadee would start supplying the new type with the 20, 30, and 40 series couplers. I’ve been using the 40 series mainly and each pack comes with 4 of the boxes I referenced in my post. It may take a LOOONNNG time to run out.
One thing I did before I got a height gauge was to borrow one long enough to make a rough copy of it in wood. This worked quite well until I got one of my own. I haven’t had any problem with the couplers being lifted by magnetism. The only time I had one that was hard to adjust was when the pin would slide up on the lip of the gauge. Also your NMRA gauge has a coupler height hole in it.
I received the new coupler boxes, #242. http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/page242.htm
The snap together boxes definitely have less vertical play. These new boxes will solve my problem. According to Kadee, these boxes will be supplied with the #148 couplers. But of course all the sets that are in stores and various supplies will have to be used up first, so it will be necessary to purchase the boxes separate for a while. I did not ask about the other series of couplers, so I don’t know if they will come with the #242 boxes.