Accurail 3700 Series 41' steel gonddola, trip pin hitting track


N

number9

Member
I have a test track set-up for my new locos and kits. I recently purchased an Accurail 3700 kit (# 37494) which has three 41' steel gondolas. I also installed Kadee #5 couplers, as I do on all of my rolling stock. The kit comes with the draft box, so I use the included box. The thing is, when I am done, on all three gondolas the trip pin hits the turnouts and makes the gondola derail. None of my other kits do this.

I do not have a micrometer on me, but it sure looks like the gondola puts the trip pin just under the (as in the kadee paperwork) 1/32" pin height. I do not see an easy fix to this, as it would require milling down the top of the draft box and making it smaller, or somehow getting the trucks lowered (pimp my train ride?) Do any veterans have any advice? I have been out of this for many years and I just getting back into it. I would like to use the gondolas with the kadee couplers. I am not exactly sure why they hit out of the box.

Thank you.
 
Kadee sell fibre washers in 2 thicknesses you can put between the trucks and the floor if you need to raise the car height, but most likely your couplers are hanging down at an angle. Here those same washers can be used to remove slack between the couplers and the gearbox. Kadee also make 2 other tools to help and the most important is the coupler and trip pin height gauge that mounts to a piece of test track so you can accurately set those dimensions. The other tool is a special pair of pliers to bend the trip pin without putting a strain on where the pin passes through the coupler.

Height gauge http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/page205.htm
Washers http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/page208.htm http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/page209.htm
Pliers http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/page237.htm
 
Forget the washers as those not only raise the body & the couplers as well. Just use the Kadee pliers to bend the trip pins. Or you can use regular pliers if done carefully Put one end of pliers on top of couple & other end on bottom of trip pin & squeeze slowly.
 
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If the washers raise the body to the correct height, so the coupler faces have no vertical offset, I'd use them. Usually we are only talking about maybe 30 to 50 thousands of an inch. If you only bend the pin up the coupler face will probably still be at the wrong drooping height and the car may uncouple from cars with the correct height when running over grade changes.
 
Just a follow up message: I purchased the kadee gauge and washers. As it turns out, all three of the Accurail models were sitting low. I raised the trucks with the washers and now they work fine. Thanks for the input and the links to the kadee gear. They seem to make really nice things for the money.
 
number9 said:
Just a follow up message: I purchased the kadee gauge and washers. As it turns out, all three of the Accurail models were sitting low. I raised the trucks with the washers and now they work fine. Thanks for the input and the links to the kadee gear. They seem to make really nice things for the money.
Click to expand...

I strongly discourage using washers for raising coupler height. In my experience this had always led to problems in the long term. I would suggest using a raised head/ underset shank coupler such as the Kadee #27 or #37. The washers raise the body, but since the trucks don't ride close to the car as well as raising the center of gravity they will tend to "wobble" more in motion.

In some cases, wheels with excessive motion in the truck assembly can cause the car to ride low. Replacing the stock wheels with another brand may be just enough to raise the coupler height. I use Accurail trucks extensively with Kadee, Intermountain or Proto 33" metal wheels.
 
Hey GP22, what problems have you experienced? I have over 100 Athearn Blue Box and Roundhouse cars equipped with washers and never had any issues that I know of. Most are 25+ years in service. I'm not doubting that you had problems, just wondering what they were.
Willie
 
Same here Willie. But I have long standardized 100-percent on old-style all-metal Kadee trucks with the large flat bearing surface on top of the pivot center. I could see issues with other types of trucks however.
 
I've followed the practice of making one truck to have as little play in the pivot as possible without restricting swing and the other with a bit of free play to accommodate track irregularities. Plastic wheels are generally the bane of smooth running because of off-centre axle holes.
 
santafewillie said:
Hey GP22, what problems have you experienced? I have over 100 Athearn Blue Box and Roundhouse cars equipped with washers and never had any issues that I know of. Most are 25+ years in service. I'm not doubting that you had problems, just wondering what they were.
Willie
Click to expand...

Most of my problems were from wobbling cars. In my case, I found that the car body was more stable with the underframe bolster sitting down inside the truck bolster. When I used washers, the bolsters were separated with the raised ride height of the car allowing for a little bit more side to side motion of the trucks. Again, in my case, I found that adjusting the couplers directly (as well as improved trucks for Athearn cars) usually fixed the coupler height issues. I have in the neighborhood of 70-80 Athearn Blue Box cars, I've only had to adjust coupler height in half of them.

I have a few Branchline kit cars that are a hair too low as well, but I've let them go for now.
 
While we are on the subject of couplers...

I have come to the conclusion that the whisker style Kadees work much better than the Kadee 5-10 and the stamped spring plate version I have used for decades. So I'm slowly switching over as my new standard. Any one else have the same opinion?
 
I like the convenience of the wisker coupler over the spring plate design.
As far as adjusting the freight car for the proper coupler height by installing larger wheels, ya need to make sure the wheels don't hang up on the undercarriage of the car.
 
I was a faithful #5 user until a coupler years ago. I tried a bulk pack of scale couplers with the whiskers and haven't been the same since! All my new cars are getting those couplers. I have a few spare #5's, but the scale couplers are the standard, now.

Sent from my LG-P930 using Tapatalk 2
 
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