Originally Posted by Dave_C:
I've added Kadee's to both MTH and Lionel's 0-8-0's. Removing the front coil coupler involves moving a lot of boards and wires. Take pictures as you go along. Once the coupler is removed. I drilled and tapped a piece of brass stock to mount the Kadee's. I drilled and tapped I believe for a no. 10 thread. Where the T bar secured the coil coupler. The no. 10 screw will secure the bracket in a fixed position and the height can be adjusted with washers. The Kadee's how to at the top of this page shows this being done on a tender. I'll take a pic of the 0-8-0 and try to send it to you.
On my Lionel 0-8-0 I build draft gear that mounted via the original coupler mount screws. Since it was just a dummy I built the draft gear of styrene, but for a working mount I'd more likely build something brass. My only concern is addressing the appearance on the locomotive pilot; I could use a scale coupler box as I did on my 0-8-0, which would severely restrict curve clearance running backwards, or I could build a wider box of brass and use a long shank mounted further back to allow more lateral motion, but look slightly less prototypical. I'd be interested to see any steam custom mounts and how others handle the function vs. beauty trade-off.
