Is there a general rule as to the distance between car bodies when all the "slack" has been taken out of the #805 Kadee's? I quickly mounted them onto two Weaver 50' box cars using the holes provided in the cars floor just to "play with the concept" of changing over. I like the idea well enough to proceed on and will shim the couplers to the correct height (they sit way high when attached directly to the floor).

Running the car around, I noticed the cars were very close to each other even with all the slack taken out. Backing the cars up bought the cars even closer together but they did not touch ( even on 072 curves)but it is a tight fit to manually uncouple them with a devise. How far apart are the bodies for some of you guys who have them mounted?

Another question I have is the concept (as stated in the instruction sheet) of "limiting" the amount of travel of the coupler in the pocket by placing a rod inside the centering spring? Has any one of you tried this? Pro's?, Con's?.

My opinion is that the cars SHOULD be close together. That has been one of my main reasons for converting to Kadee couplers. I mount the Kadee coupler box with the top cover "striker lip" flush with the car end, thus providing nice close coupling of freight rolling stock.

Al,
Like HW said, close coupling is one of the big advantages appearance-wise of switching to Kadees. Only the modern cushioned drawbar cars, etc. have much space between adjacent cars.

On an O42 curve, the corners of 40' cars come close but do not quite touch when backing. Although you can cheat a little in places on your layout, O72 is really the recommended minimum for body-mounted Kadees on 40' and 50' cars.

For easy uncoupling, your uncoupling tool should be long enough to extend well over the roofline of the cars.

As far as the play in the coupler pocket is concerned, running out the slack is another of the fun aspects of operating with Kadees.

By the way, Weaver cars (with Weaver trucks) usually do not require much, if any, shimming to get the Kadee recommended height. Are your cars riding too high for some reason? I always try to lower the car instead, if at all possible, for better appearance.

Jim

Thanks for the replays thus far.

Jim, The height of the 50' Weaver box cars off the trucks were not objectionable to me. I did convert the cars to Weaver die cast trucks. When I removed the original coupler shank the truck wheels would interfere with the bottom floor of the car in a big way. What I did for now, was to hack off the part of the coupler shank that went between the truck and the floor (I used a extra Weaver plastic coupler for this) and used that as a spacer bringing the car body back to it's orignal position. I suppose I could lower the car some but for right now I am just "experimenting". I find I have to shim the coupler pocket down perhaps 1/8" to be at the suggested height.

As for the "slack" in couplers, I agree, it can be fun and challenging to control it. With todays technology it is easier to control start-up and slowdown rates of speed thus keeping the "coupler slack bang" from being too excessive. Where I do see it being more noticeable is when a train starts to descend a grade and the cars start to push the slack out together. We don't have brakes on our cars to control this.

Al,

I converted some Weaver 50 ft box cars and found the same. Instead of the three rail coupler shaft, I experimented with washers until I raised the car just enough for the three rail wheels to clear and then I shimmed the coupler box with a single Micromark shim. The cars still ride noticeably lower than with the three rail coupler in place.

Some Weaver cars actually seem to ride lower than NMRA recommended height once you remove the three rail coupler. I found this to be true of the grain hoppers and had to use washers just to bring those up to NMRA recommended height. I tried the Kadee washers, but I think they are too small and the cars wobbled too much, so I just bought some thin metal washers and use those.
I've only converted one 57 foot reefer car so far, but I think that was a little low too.

I agree about the close coupling and the slack action. There's nothing like watching (and listening to) a 25 car freight start one car at a time.

RM

Al,

I've been doing alot of experimenting with the Kadee and Atlas couplers. And the Electro couplers.

To limit slack you could try doubling the Kadee springs. Using the heavier Atlas springs. If you can find longer springs the same diameter. Add a small plastic spacer block to compress the spring. Replace the spring altogether with a solid spacer but then you would loose self centering.

I've been running a 30 car 2-rail train for testing. The slack runout is a hoot to watch. Reminds me of the rolling thunder of the Lackawana coal drags that would stop and start behind my home as a kid. The Kadee coupler slack of 30 cars equals half the length of a 40' box car.
The only problem I have with backing this train is lighter cars near the head end lifting off the rails in curves.

B&O
Joe

Since I model the "big steam era" thru 1955, I would NOT want to limit my freight car slack. I enjoy trying to start a long train of Kadee equipped freight cars just as they would have done with a steam locomotive back in, say 1952. Just like the real thing!

Hot Water, Jim, Rich, Joe, Thanks for the replies. They have been a help. Jim, you were right. I went back and looked at the truck/body height on the Weaver 50' box cars. As you said, I can just about mount the truck to the bolster thus lowering the car almost without interference. I did however like Joe, had to add a thin washer between the truck and bolster. As you also said, this brought the coupler to just about the right height without any shimming. Looks like I will be converting all of my operating stock (except motive power).

I am running a mix of Kadee and standard couplers at the moment. I much
prefer the closer look of the Kadee coupled cars. I have had no problem
running cars really fast on o48 FasTrack coupled with body mount Kadees
connecting to standard couplers. On o36, I'm pretty sure wheels hit the
gear box. In theory, I could chop the gear box, but since I'm designing
for o72 Gargraves, I'm not going to worry about it.

Mike

P.S.

Last night, my wife suggested we move 90% of the furniture out of room
I am planning of using for the layout. No more track planning around
the sofa and TV! We'll probably leave the gym equipment in that room,
but I think that's a good thing anyhow. So, now I'll have a 24x14 space
to work with, with only one important door.

Al Z,

Focus on lowering the Weaver cars as much as possible first. Then shim the coupler pocket if necessary.

I found that you can substitute a 1/32" spacer between the truck and the car underframe rather than the thicker coupler part that you tried initially.

You may also want to try converting Atlas-O cars. They are real easy. Use M2.0 x 10mm screws from Micro Fasteners. You will have to fiddle to get the second screw in since Atlas-O intentionally made the mounting slightly different. A real bad move in my opinion.