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Shims.  Plastic, wood, metal, etc.  Whatever is available and easiest for you to work with.  Micro-Mark sells shims but why spend the extra money is you don't have to.  Not sure the pattern is exactly the same with theirs either but it's close.  I say this because I seem to remember there was a slight difference between the KD and the Atlas and the M-M shims are for KDs. 

I could be wrong about the latter half of the preceding paragraph.  I'm no expert on Atlas but I've done my fair share of shimming.

Jay

IF you don't want to make your own, "Scale City Designs" also makes laser cut shims for the Kadees.    Theirs are in 4 different thicknesses, English not metric but can get you close.  

Also you can just elongate the rear hole in the shim to match the holes on the Kadee box - they are different, slightly closer together than Kadees.    No good reason why IMHO.

The Kadee gauge has the a flat on the side opposite the coupler that indicates the height of the underside of the car floor from the rail head.

Well I have a layout that is 30 years old.   Wood warps and shifts and swells and bumps happen despite my best attempts.    When running 25 car trains that are quite heavy, especially on a 1 1/2 percent grade, couplers that only mesh halfway are often real culprits for causing train breaks.    Remember the couplers also move up and down some in the box.    When under load they tend ride one way or the other, most times it seems up.

The way to avoid problems down the road is to build things right at first so you don't have problems later.    Setting the couplers right to begin with is a pretty easy standard to improve longterm operations.

When I put Kadees on an Atlas 2-rail car, I use one of the shims Micro-Mark sells. All of the cars I've done this to have 33" wheels, though, so I'm not sure how a car with 36" wheels will spec out. I like to use the Kadee 745 couplers with the plastic draft boxes as they have more give so you can squeeze in the 2mmx8mm screws without cross-threading the holes.

https://www.micromark.com/O-Sc...pler-Shims-Pkg-of-60

 

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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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