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I have been upgrading my Engine fleet with Kadees for the last couple of months.

Mario AKA  CentralFan1976   ( https://www.shapeways.com/shops/gandyman ) sells Lionel Kadee mounts on Shapeways for GP7/9, GP30, and GP40s. After I installed them on a pair of Lionel GP9s. The good idea fairy set in and I decided to do an install on a MTH GP35.

The purpose of this thread and others, is to show how adapt his products for other uses. The first one is the install of Kadees on the MTH Premier SD45

Part List: #743 Type E Couplers Short Centerset with Short Plastic Gearbox
https://www.shapeways.com/product/GF...ionId=57308322

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I had to modify the Lionel Kadee mounts to fit the opening in the MTH Pilots. In this case I used the GP9 mounts. Since the mounts are to wide and were designed to fit in the Lionel GP7/9

I needed to reduce the width. So I pulled out my dremel and started sanding down the sides.

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This just give you an idea just how much from the sides that needed to be removed.

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I then installed the draft gear box and the sanded down the back until the mount was even with the back of the draft box

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Once modified they painted back to match the pilots. Once paint was dry, they were installed into the pilots using the same mounting holes that were already been predrilled by MTH.

At that point I did a test fit and once again sanded the back of the Kadee mount to insure a good fit. I also sanded the coupler mount on the truck flatten some of the curve.

Note: If your going to fix the pilots you will need to remove the coupler mount to allow the trucks to swing freely.

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Here are pictures of completed project.

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Last edited by suzukovich
Original Post

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Hi / Like the project / but I do have several questions.

Does the MTH GP7 & 9, have scale wheels? Do you have a transition car, one end Kadee and one end standard couplers? If you have a photo, please show.

One issue with Kadee on the locos, MTH / DCS remote control does not work. Is there a way to solve this issue?

Thank-you for your military service / Gary

Last edited by trainroomgary
trainroomgary posted:

Hi / Like the project / but I do have several questions.

Does the MTH GP7 & 9, have scale wheels? All my engines are Hi Rail, Most of my Premier are 2/3 rail capable Hi Rail . As for the MTH GP7/9s I haven't gotten to them yet. The only GP9s that have been done so far are my Lionel NP GP9s of which Mario's mounts were designed for. I have 5 MTH GP7/9s CB&Q) and 2 Atlas( ATSF) before all my GP9/7s are done.  Right now I would say about over half of my CB&Q roster and a third of my GN roster has been converted. Since for now I am only doing copular conversion's and not fixing the pilots yet. It doesn't take long for the conversion. Painting and prepping the kd mounts is the longest part of the process. 

Do you have a transition car, one end Kadee and one end standard couplers? If you have a photo, please show.

I have two transition cars left.  Almost all of my rolling stock has been converted.  Ones a Weaver the other is a Atlas. The KD 804s/805s will latch onto the Atlas and Lionel claw couplers with out any issue. Anything connecting to an MTH product will need a transition car as for some reason the 804/5 will not stay attached.  I post pic tomorrow of my transition cars.

One issue with Kadee on the locos, MTH / DCS remote control does not work. Is there a way to solve this issue?

Other than when you do the conversion, you no longer have the remote coupler function on the engines. I have never had any issue running DCS or TMCC with my engines equipped with Kadees.  

Thank-you for your military service / Gary

 

Lionelzwl2012 posted:

I have a question. With the kaydee couplers mounted on engines with swinging pilots. What is the tightest radius of curve track that can be used? Also does the length of the engine also matter when considering tight radius curves? 

I'm probably not the one to be answering this, but in my research,  there are some u tube videos showing how to 'notch' the front of the coupler boxes to allow for more coupler swing.. This may only apply to rolling stock, however...

PT 2 was the Weaver RS11

PT 3 is the Lionel legacy NP GP7/9 that started this all.

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Part List: Kadee #740/805/745  medium center shank with metal or plastic Gearbox

https://www.shapeways.com/prod...ou?optionId=57308322

This was also a straight forward install. Also as a note if your are going to fix the pilots you will need to remove the coupler mount and the pilot mounts. You will also need this part Lionel O scale EMD GP7/GP9 front / rear pilot spacer  .       https://www.shapeways.com/prod...ac?optionId=57308326

  Once again I drilled the holes in the pilot using the GP9 mounts as a guide insuring the front was flush with the front of the pilot.. ( note you will also need to remove the coupler mount) Or you can do what I did position it a little forward as I was concerned about clearance issues. This proved to be a none issue and will reposition at a later date. Yes this is a learning process. Because I wasn't fixing the pilots I did have to trim the mount on the sides to clear the pilot mounts on the truck assemblies. After that I assembled the and installed the kadees into the mounts and painted them black to match the pilots.

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Before

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After

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Last edited by suzukovich
Woodson posted:
Lionelzwl2012 posted:

I have a question. With the kaydee couplers mounted on engines with swinging pilots. What is the tightest radius of curve track that can be used? Also does the length of the engine also matter when considering tight radius curves? 

I'm probably not the one to be answering this, but in my research,  there are some u tube videos showing how to 'notch' the front of the coupler boxes to allow for more coupler swing.. This may only apply to rolling stock, however...

https://www.youtube.com/user/Laidoffsick/videos   This is the expert. If links don't work just highlight anf right click.

Last edited by suzukovich
Lionelzwl2012 posted:

I have a question. With the kaydee couplers mounted on engines with swinging pilots. What is the tightest radius of curve track that can be used? Also does the length of the engine also matter when considering tight radius curves? 

Here's an Atlas RS-1 with fixed pilots and a reefer on O36. I do not recommend this, but with swinging pilots and Kadees, I think I'd be no problem. 

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trainroomgary posted:

Hi / Like the project / but I do have several questions.

 Do you have a transition car, one end Kadee and one end standard couplers? If you have a photo, please show.

 

Gary as requested.

All my rolling stock is scale. I can not tell you if the below methods will work with 027/nonscale equipment. Although I would think that methods for S Scale might apply.  Happy Fathers day.

1st one is a Weaver PS1 40ft box car

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Claw side

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Kadee side

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On all my Weavers I use SAE Flat washers #8 as this gives the clearance for the Hi rail wheel sets  

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Atlas PS1 40ft

With this on just remove the coupler from one truck assembly

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Kadee install:  in this case its an Kadee 805. I replaced the original shim with one of Marios shims which gave a better fit.   

https://www.shapeways.com/prod...ck?optionId=57308217

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  Kadee 805/804 connected to the Atlas Claw coupler.

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