Couplers and Trucks


Railrunner130

Railrunner130

Well-Known Member
I've suddenly found myself very short on couplers and trucks.

My experience has mostly been with Bachmann E-Z Mate series couplers. I was wondering if anyone knows where I can get either the Bachmanns or Kaydees at a good price in bulk?

Also, I have similar issues with trucks. I've got a bunch of car kit projects that will need trucks. 1. Is there a tutorial on trucks? One that explains the differences. 2. Where can I purchase some trucks in bulk at a good price? I wouldn't mind used if they're in good shape.

Thanks!
 
Couplers - you can't go wrong with Kadee. They are now the standard coupler out there. The Bachmann ones, if they're the ones I have seen, are made out of plastic. A bit too much abuse and they'll come apart, which means you have to replace a coupler.

Trucks - if you're not worried about metal wheels, go with Accurail or Tichy. Both have good trucks, Tichy allows you to buy ten pair in a package. If you want metal wheels, the P2K ones are great, Intermountain are great, Kato (with the roller bearings that move) are neat to watch...but all will come at a cost. The plastic ones do the job and cost less.

Tutorials on trucks...there's got to be a few on the internet. Where they are, I'm not sure at the moment. IIRC, if you're modeling anything modern (1970s-now), roller bearing trucks are the ones to go with. Anything from the 1940-60's can use Bettendorf (they won't have roller bearings on the end), and anything from before that should be archbar. There are other trucks out there, but I'm not overly familiar with them.

Wheelsets - 28" for some autoracks, 33" for older, lighter freights, 36" for just about anything modern, and 38" for high capacity grain hoppers.

Where to buy all of these items - there are some good online hobby stores that will have everything you need, but since I don't have that kind of experience, I'll leave that to others to chime in with. You can also look at eBay, but buyer beware...some of those wheelsets won't be compatible with today's track, and the couplers might end up not being as good as what you'd find in a store.

That's all.

Timothy Dineen
 
I had been around the block with trying different couplers and I'm solid with Kadee. Other couplers might be ok if you are running just a few cars on very well laid track. Other than that, use Kadee.
 
Kadees are the way to go. Also now that Kadees patent rights have expired is the reason you see so many others that are similar. Bachmann EZ Mates are one example except they are plastic. Accumates are another but they are 2 piece and made of plastic and I ran a pair for about 2 minutes and immediately tossed them for Kadee. Walthers Protomax are metal and virtually an exact duplicate of the Kadee and work fine. Kadees are sold in pairs and the more popular models like #5 and #148 are also sold in packs of 25 and 50 pair. If you don't need the coupler boxes, AKA draft gear, the bulk packs are the best deal as most HO car kits and RTR cars have coupler boxes that are a direct fit for Kadees. I would suggest Kadee #148 as the most common for typical freight cars on the market these days as well as the old Athearn blue box kits, MDC Roundhouse, Train Miniature, Atlas rolling stock, etc. Locomotives are a different story because of coupler shank length and other reasons. Kadees web site has a pretty good list of what fits what.

Trainworld in NYC runs a full page ad each month in MR and RMC and always has the bulk Kadees at a good price at the lower right hand corner of the page. They also have a minumum shipping charge of $12 so buying just a bulk pack of couplers won't save any money.
 
Thanks for the input guys!

I checked out the Trainworld website. The prices appear to be good, but the shipping terms are outrageous! I don't want this to turn into a slam Trainworld thread, so I'll get back to subject.

I'll have to look further into trucks. Thanks for the direction.
 
sd50f said:
Wheelsets - 28" for some autoracks, 33" for older, lighter freights, 36" for just about anything modern, and 38" for high capacity grain hoppers.
Click to expand...

.. Does this mean I should start replacing all the wheelsets on my freight cars, or is this more of a "Don't fix if not broken" kind of thing?
 
I've been slowly converting my son's HO cars (mostly Bachmann with horn-hooks) to Kadee couplers. I've leared that the No. 5 isn't best for every job; sometimes (often!) I need the long-shank version, No. 146.
 
I can't speak about one coupler over another because I don't have enough experience, but I have found that modeltrainstuff.com is always the lowest price or at least close and they offer multiple shipping choices.
 
Railrunner130 said:
I've suddenly found myself very short on couplers and trucks.

1. Is there a tutorial on trucks? One that explains the differences.
Click to expand...
I like this truck history page:

http://www.starr-mrc.org/ProtoInfo/Trucks/KadeeTrucks.htm




Below I made a simplified (not complete) historical synopsis of trucks, (what average modelers might want to know)

And they overlap somewhat:

From pre-1900 through 1940......Arch-Bar and Andrews

From 1920 through 1990........early Bettendorf and double truss Bettendorf

From 1950 to present.......ASF roller bearing and Barber roller bearing......70 and 100 ton
 
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Just a repeat of a note about plastic HO couplers that I've posted before.

When running long relatively heavy trains (about 30 to 40+ cars), if you don't get the two couplers between the trailing loco and first railcar EXACTLY even, the two couplers will start vertically angling against each other - one up and one down. The problem is that if at least one coupler of the two (often on the loco) is plastic its shank WILL bend vertically from the pressure and you WILL get a train break-in-two. I had this happen a couple of times before I figured it out, so no more plastic couplers. Metal coupler shanks don't bend.

Hope this is helpful.

DougC
 
I will agree with railfan, modeltrainsstuff is pretty good. I have ordered a lot from them and they do have decent prices. Almost everything I have has been converted to Kadee years ago so far as couplers go. I do have a couple of switchers that have yet to be converted, but they don't pull long trains, and the coupler height is right on. Make sure that you get a coupler height gauge and make sure that all of your coupler height match. They also sell washers the mount between the bolster and the truck to shim the car up to the proper height if needed. Kadees are the best, especially if you are going to pull long trains. I have seen that sometimes EZ mate and McHenry couplers can't handle the weight of a long train and may uncouple. I am anal about keeping my couplers maintained, and have pull trains over100 cars long with no problems at all.

I have also replaced all of my wheel sets over the years. Most have been replaced with Kadee wheels and some times Kadee sprung trucks, but a few years back Intermountain has come out with replacement wheels that are less expensive, and I have had excellent luck with them.
 
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Stoker:

Regarding couplers, the vast majority of mine are KD #5s (been using them for about 35 years) but I've also been using ProtoMax - which cost less per coupler and work just fine with one exception. Over the last 20 years I've been using Testors Cement for Plastic Models when assembling and mounting the couplers. However, this cement doesn't hold real well on the plastic that's in the Protomax couplers so I use the equivalent of Super Glue and it works fine.

DougC
 
I've been using the Life-Like SceneMaster magnetic talgo couplers . (Walther's part # 433-1436) They are compatible with Kadees but Kadees are the old reliable and just hard to beat. If you are looking for a quick fix, and don't feel like doing the work these will accommodate most older pieces of rolling stock by snapping these into the talgo. They can hold at least 10 cars. They are pretty durable but they are plastic.
 
Problem w/ most plastic wheels is they pickup & deposit dirt on the rails thus creating all kinds of problems keeping your locos running. But if you can't afford metal wheels use a paper towel soaked w/ some rubbing alcohol to clean your loco wheels. And use anything but a BrightBoy to clean the track. The abrasives in it make scratches on the rails to collect even more dirt!
 
All have given you good advice. I would add that you might want to spend the $10-$15 for a Kadee coupler height gauge as well. I have also found that an NMRA wheel/track gauge is a good $12 investment too. These two cheap tools make sure your cars and loco's run well and ensure the track is in gauge. Saves tons of frustration.
 
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