My first Kadee project?

Try the 700 series long shank couplers. They should close the gap some snd have enough swing. You will need to be running O72 or wider curves though.

I have up-graded a number of MTH Premier passenger cars to Kadee #805 couplers. I place the body mounted Kadee gearbox assembly so that the coupler knuckle is just even with the edge of the diaphragm face. That will provide close coupling but not so close as to cause derailments, assuming you go no tighter than 072 diameter curves.

 

Concerning truck removal, I honestly don't remember how I did those in order to remove the claws.

 

Also, do NOT forget to purchase one of the Kadee coupler height gauge assemblies. It is extremely important to have each and every Kadee coupler at the same, and CORRECT, height!

Terry,

 

Keep us up to date on this project.  I've been on the fence on whether or not to do my MTH passenger cars.  Would love to see the finished product.

I've done quite a few MTH heavyweight passenger cars, but have never photographed the process nor the finished product. I will also be interested in how his efforts work out. Hope he comes back.

Welcome to the family. Once you go scale coupler, it's a long slippery slope, and LaidOffSick and I are at the bottom.

Ha! You won't regret it.

PS-I'd start with something other than passenger cars.

Thanks,
Mario

Looks like he has disappeared.

I'm still here. But I live in an isolated Canadian locale. Getting KDs will take a while. I am still unsure of what to order.

 

I am confused already though.

 

I am telling myself "do not become a fanatic!" Do NOT think you are going to put KDs on everything!

 

Any why would I NOT start with passenger cars? I thought them the obvious choice because:

 

1/ I only have a limited number,

2/ They are MTH and appear "KD-ready." And . . .

3/ Closing up that gap between diaphrams should be a gratifying visual improvement. More so than on freight cars I thought.

 

I appreciate that, as in medicine, the first principle is "Do no harm!" to the cars that is!

MTH trucks are not easy to disassemble, you will have to do some hacking.  Since you are new to kadee I would start with freight cars.  AtlasO and Weaver cars are real easy to convert.  get some experience then tackle the passenger cars

Thanks, Gary. That definitely gives me pause.

Good to hear you didn't run away and hide in a corner!

 

Check out LaidOffSick's videos, if you haven't already, as it's a pretty comprehensive look at installing them on different manufacture's rolling stock.

 

Be sure to post here if you have any questions, as well... these guys are awesome!

 

Thanks,

Mario

My biggest reluctance when starting to convert to Kadee's was the fear of "what if I mess up?"  Tackling the first conversion with an ugly or least favorite car will help.  

Also, remember that you can always recover from any mistake.  And when that does happen, you'll learn even more.

 

I started converting psgr cars, but then discovered that those closely coupled psgr cars look really great, especially with the diaphragms touching.  But, when it came to trying to uncouple them, I had no way of getting a stick in between the couplers (I cut off the Kadee "air hoses" as I do not use the magnetic uncouplers).  After a few psgr conversions, I switched to freight - much easier to convert, plus easier to operate.

 

This whole area of conversion is becoming a favorite part of the hobby for me, and has pushed me in a direction I would not have expected (Proto:48).

I would suggest ordering a few different couplers, 805, 740, 746. With those thick diaphragms you will most likely need 746s, the long shank, and even then... they may not be quite long enough. Freight cars are easy, passenger cars not so much. There isn't just 1 set way to do passenger cars and get them to stay on the track in the curves. You may even need to modify the draft gear boxes as I show in my Kadee video Part 3. Close coupling is 1 thing, this diaphragms add another element, especially if they are stiff, or don't compress much. You will have to experiment for sure.

I also cut off the uncoupling levers (air hoses), but I have two cars that I'm going to do this week and see how they look with them in place.

 

I remember back in "the day" (read HO), I saw an article where the uncoupling levers of passenger cars were bent into an "L", instead of a radius, and made to look like steam lines.  I might try that, when I get to the passenger cars... but since I'm only on car 6 or so of 100+, I'm a long way off from passenger car.

 

A little birdy (ok, a Big Bird!) told me that putting Kadees on their passenger cars was a real PITA, and took a lot of fine tuning compared to freight cars.

 

Good luck, it's worth it!

 

Thanks,

Mario

All cars have air hoses, so you should have an air hose on your cars, whether the Kadee trip pin, or a body mounted detail part. Many times if you use a body mounted air hose next to the draft gear box where it should be, it restricts the movement of the coupler. So I leave the trip pin on all freight cars, whether I use the uncoupler magnets or not... it's an air hose Paint the tip silver to simulate the glad hand

 

That trip pin also helps uncoupling if you're using a screw diver or skewer, just push 1 of the air hoses out and they uncouple. It's not just for magnet type uncoupling.

 

On engines, especially the lead unit, I cut the pin off because I add a detailed air hose with glad hand. Don't have both... the Kadee pin and a detailed air hose.. that looks ridiculous, its one or the other  

 

 

I did this car per the request of it's owner, the Kadee and a detailed air hose. It don't look right... and as he quickly found out the coupler hit the air hose in the curves and was eventually knocked off. It was glued back on further out, and that looked even worse... so it now runs with Kadee and trip pin only

 

Watch a real train roll by and tell me what you notice between the cars

OK, the MTH pass. cars are on indefinite hold!

 

I have about 15 Atlas O Master freight cars. They have two kinds of hole pairs for Kds, one in-line and other transverse. As in the pic.

 

 

I am trying to avoid getting a raft of stuff that will not be any good to me. All has to be mail-ordered. 

 

What are the KDs most likely to be appropriate for these Atlas O cars? I have watched Mario's video and his shims seem appropriate too?

 

Terry

Terry,

Good observation.

I have actually now designed a hybrid shim that will fit both Atlas mounting types, inline and across.

Just waiting on the CAD file back from another engineer; in the meantime, if you'd like I can send you a sample of the inline one like I did in my video, to try and see if you like it.

I have a bunch of those in different thicknesses.

Thanks,
Mario

The in-line mounts are for a standard Atlas coupler box. The side-by-side mounts are for a coupler adapter. The Atlas cylindrical hoppers, and the Berwick HyCubes had those as I recall. I also think cars using shock-control coupler boxes also had them.

 

An alternative I've been looking at, albeit more costly, is the Weaver shock-control coupler ($10/pair). Basically, it's an upper shock-control box (painted and lettered, unlike the on-line catalog photo) that mounts to the car with a lower cover for installing the coupler and spring. I've ordered some so I can use the boxes for Kadee 740 couplers. Since it's plastic, it can be re-drilled for proper positioning on an Atlas "in-line" car or shimmed for a "side-by-side" car.

 

Atlas generally uses a 2mm screw for mounting their coupler boxes. You can pick them up from Microfasteners.com. MTH also uses these to mount the couplers on their fixed-pilot diesels.

I did some shopping at Kadee yesterday. Put some 745 and and odds'n sods in the cart to be taken aback at the shipping! So, I'm rethinking.

 

Today I received my first GGD car and was surprised. On-body couplers! Still the usual knuckles but NOT mounted on the truck. Surely THESE will be a cinch for conversion?

 

 

 

Call Jeff Dobslaw at JDs Trains/AM Hobbies for the Kadees. Good price, and no rip off on the shipping. The hardest part is getting him to answer the phone.

 

Jeff acts like he has a life other than running his hobby shop lol

Again, I appreciate the advice I am getting here. Thank you very much!

 

Coincidentally, I just received a shipment from JDs this very day. My first track! These GGD CP pass. cars are long, long fellows! 20-5/8" end-to-end!

Why the metal and plastic gear boxes? What makes one preferable over the other? Is there an electrical conductivity issue I need to be aware of?

 

Terry

Only if you are a 2-Rail SCALE modeler, as their wheels and carboy underframes must be insulated from each rail. That is why Kadee offers plastic gearboxes for the 2-Rail folks. Being in 3-Rail SCALE, we need no such isolation as both of the outside rails ar commong on our 3-Rail track, i.e. the power is in the center rail.

The hardest part is getting him to answer the phone. 

Jeff acts like he has a life other than running his hobby shop lol

Jeff's a good hard working guy, but it is hard to get hold of him.  I tried to get him to hold an order until I got home.  It ended up buried in a couple of feet of snow.  Luckily nothing harmed.

 

More important, how the heck do you order the Atlas Santa Fe reefers?  If he's going to Chicago, I'll probably never get the chance to get the order placed before he is sold out.

I would think that Jeff is packing up for the Chicago O Scale March Meet, as set-up is after 4PM Friday, 3/13/15.

I ordered those SF reefers when the OGR Digital copy hit the website. I just happen to catch Jeff on the phone that day and he didnt even realize his add was out already.

I put #805's on all my GGD cars and significantly reduced the gap.   I also cut back the diaphragms.  The cars operate nicely down to O72.   Anything tighter and they will have problems.   So, when I say these cars will do O72 I really mean anything beyond that and the cars start binding and having trouble.   The 805's are mounted body flush just like they are prototypically supposed to be and the diaphragms are cut back so that they just barely ever so slightly touch when the couplers are not compressing the spring at all.