Fine Tuning KD Couplers For Reliable Operations (139)

[@PeterClarke-i7f]

Thank you for the continuing information you provide novices like me. In many of your videos I do have difficulty with the rather constant shifting, shaking and movement of the objects you are hand-holding and do find it so much better when you stabilize your hand on the table and use a pointer, rather than your finger nail, to bring attention to the smaller items you are addressing. Zooming the camera in on the smaller objects you speak about surely would be of more visually valuable to us all. Just a respectful observation.

[@cfishel15]

As an Eastern NC resident, I enjoyed seeing your Atlantic & East Carolina box car - I have two of them also! Thanks in large part to your channel, I’m returning to model railroading after a 40+ year absence, and I can thank DCC technology for drawing me back. I am also binge-watching all of your videos from the beginning. Thank you so much for the informative content!

[@crsrdash-840b5]

Another trick I've learned about Kadee style couplers is the alignment line. Where the two metal halves meet, there is a bonding line. If both couplers align match at this point, the couplers are mounted correctly. Sometimes they can be off by a fraction and you don't notice it by eyeing them first.

[@captainbill12]

I would like to share a piece of advice that picked up in a model railroad museum in upstate New York a few years ago. If you take some Walthers Goo and put a little on the outside of the clip on each side it will stay on until you remove it. After learning this trick I can say that yes it works very well. Doing that stops the side to side motion of the coupler from deforming the box and the coupler stays on the car until you to remove it. Since it is Walthers Goo you can get it off. It's a little harder to remove the couple as opposed to not using Goo but not impossible. Besides, once the coupler is on and setup you should be good to go as long as the car is in good shape and does not get damaged in any way.

[@jeffharbin8424]

Thanks Larry! I wish I would have watched this sooner. Had a few problems with a couple couplers on / separate cars. After replacing the coupler with a Kaydee and tuning it like you demonstrated, all work very well. Can’t thank you enough

[@Zebrails]

Unknown to a lot of people 20:50 as you turned over the Kadee Coupler Gauge, is the HO track Gauge, eh. Not sure if that is where Micro Engineering got their three point Gauge tool. Coupler Springs... what to do when they go... Thread them with reliable 12 inch string... through the coil hole-tube. When the spring is in the middle of the thread, grab your pick and manouver the ends into/onto the pocket points. Then, a teeny bit of cement on both points. Dry a few minutes and gently pull the string out. John BC Canada

[@TheDCCGuy]

Interesting method, thanks for sharing.

[@MRR_Shadowolf]

Very informative information on Kadee couplers, thanks for sharing!

[@Sorarse]

I am at the very beginning stage of planning a layout after a house move, and thought it would be a good opportunity to convert my rolling stock to allow for hands-free uncoupling and shunting. To that end I have been looking at the Kadee system, but have been a little overwhelmed by how many variations there are - 18, 19, #5 etc. Your video has helped tremendously in that respect, as well as the tips you give to help with reliable operation.

[@philipmendolia7137]

Thank you for showing how to use, couldn't figure it out...

[@usafietstours]

Thank you Larry. Excellent explanation

[@seadogharris2102]

A-Line Bulls Eye Kit 11007 for screw mounting couplers.

[@hugofj866]

To fix the blue Stevenson wagon try prying the NEM draught box out like you have already and put it back in the other way up. (You’ll find the hole that the Kadee tails in is currently near the top, flip it and it’s near the bottom! ). The other trick is using very thin plasticard shims when the NEM boxes are too loose, this stops them drooping.

[@TheDCCGuy]

Thanks, I’ll give that a try. If that doesn’t work and I get real annoyed I’ll chop off the NEM box and pop on a #5 KD in one of their boxes as I have done on several others.

[@peterjhillier7659]

What a great informative Video Larry, many Thanks for all your Advice. Keep Safe.

[@topspoke]

A tip for UK outline modellers, or other prototypes with buffers, is to choose a Kadee coupler length so that the pivot on the coupler (or the back of the knuckle just ahead of it) lines up with the face of the buffers. That way you will avoid buffer lock no matter what curves you have. As you say No. 18s are just about right for most NEM pocket applications but I have found on some models I need to use 19s and 20s. Sometimes the NEM pocket droops a bit which sets the Kadee too low. I've found that by inserting a small piece of thin plastic (like the clear packaging material on blister packs) underneath the clip as you slide it into the pocket this helps to cure this issue. Sometimes a couple of pieces are required. Another issue with some NEM pockets, particularly the hinged type like you show in your video, is that they don't sit perfectly in the centre line of the vehicle or they are too floppy side to side. I've fixed this by wedging them straight or limiting their movement with some strategically glued bits of styrene adjacent to the pocket. I have a set of those Kadee pin adjustment pliers and they are brilliant! Just to note that they can be used to straighten the pins as well if they are too high, by simply using them the other way around.🙂

[@TheDCCGuy]

Great tips. I find that Dapol wagons are the worst in general when it comes to drooping couplers. I had not noticed the off center issue. I have noticed that some types are often too high but can’t remember whether that was a specific brand.

[@topspoke]

@@TheDCCGuy My stock is a mix of Bachmann, Hornby, Dapol and kit built Parkside Dundas wagons. Most of the time the RTR stock is spot on straight from the box but probably about 20% of the time I need to do a bit of fettling to get things right. My best performing vehicles are of course the kit built ones where I have total control over the placement of the No. 5 draft gearboxes. I found your tips to be very useful. I will try the sanding stick method. Previously I had just burnished the shank surfaces with the shaft of a screwdriver. Advice I had read elsewhere.

[@transitrail0930]

Brilliant, thanks so much for this. I have been trying to get my head around kadees as need to connect my ON30 stock together which consists of Bachmann, San Juan and AMS products all with their own couplers so was going to convert them all to kadee.

[@Spacek531]

I have a small collection of UK rolling stock and I've completely foregone the NEM pockets in favor of screwing #5 boxes (where I can) or gluing #148 boxes to the bottoms of the cars. The chassis are at just the right height to get the couplers at the NMRA standard height without much shimming or removing material at all.

[@markwakeley3835]

Excellent tutorial.

[@542643131]

Thank You Larry

[@elsdp-4560]

THANK YOU...for sharing. Watched and very much enjoyed. Great tips.

[@ericsainte290]

No need to body mount. If too high, unscrew the NEM Pocket fixation, add a styrene plate under it (a 1 mil thou for example) than rescrew the pocket fixation in place and reassemble. It should work. What I do too is add the shim below the NEM box and glue the box to the fixation system. I found the elongation on those UK "Bachmann" type to work excellently with the Kadee. The longer elongation arm used on European wagons (Roco, etc.) or on some UK coaches I found troublesome as when pushing wagons in tight curves (radii less than 60 cm), once you reverse direction then the tensions applied in the couplers can cause derailments. I often remove those to fix the Bachmann UK-system. I designed myself a pocket fixation system that I 3-D printed and usually use the Bachman NEM pockets they sell in pack of 10 for DMU's with the european buckle coupler. I sell the couplers second hand (or swap them with friends who does have kadee but want the classic EU coupler) and use the NEM pockets with kadee on my own body-mounts. Bachman also sell the full system but it's more costly I think. Hope this will help you a bit more and enable you to fix those UK wagons and eventually (as I'll do for my HO rolling stock in Belgian, French and a bit of US prototype) replace the usual n° 5 body mount with those NEM body mount systems that are way easier to convert and maintain ! Eric, from Belgium (but also member of MRC London)

[@TheDCCGuy]

Thanks, I’ll try that.

[@trapdriver7006]

Excellent video full of usefull information.👍😁😁🇬🇧

[@williamvaughn4603]

a line proto power west is the device to mount Athearn with screws.

[@TheDCCGuy]

Thanks for the feedback.

[@mikeh4800]

Great Show. Thank you for your help !

[@ricter591]

Thanks Larry!

[@jamesborras7970]

Great video. Really helpful thanks

[@mannyfernandez2921]

Very nice video!

[@markmatteo2417]

I think that is the Bullseye from A-Line. It seems to work nice.

[@berkeleygang1834]

I was going to add that. Thanks.

[@TheDCCGuy]

Thanks, I am pretty sure that was the one I was thinking of. Cody Grivno demonstrated its use in an MR video a while ago.

[@markmatteo2417]

Model Railroading With The DCC Guy it seems to work pretty nice except I keep losing them

[@craigsummers131]

thanks for the info , ideal for a newbie like me...

[@riogrande5761]

I find I have to bend up all of my Kadee trip pins just a bit.

[@TheDCCGuy]

Ditto, I find they work best when the bottom of the trip pin is parallel to the track.

[@riogrande5761]

I've found a situation where I have some TOFC flatcars with metal underbodies and to get my KD's to match the height gauge, I need to raise them up a bit. However, the fiber washers from Kadee do not have holes big enough to fit over the metal lip. Even if I try to ream them out bigger, they still don't fit. Can you recommend some fiber washers with a bigger hole to for these kinds of situations? It's happened all too often lately.

[@TheDCCGuy]

I have on a couple of occasions had the same issue, but I reamed them out using a fresh #11 knife blade and it worked well.

[@zonavarbondagoo4074]

The ironic thing about coupler height is that with real trains (I'm a freight train driver of 30+ yrs), coupler height varies depending on various factors but in real life there's no such thing as magnetic uncoupling.

[@TheDCCGuy]

Yes, and a coupler pick in reality would be about 30’ long. We do have to suspend reality when it comes to scale model railroading.

[@epacm50]

Are you thinking of Micro Mark? They sell a specialty drill bit set.

[@TheDCCGuy]

I am a Micro Mark junkie but as one other viewer offered it is ab A-Line product.

[@fredashay]

I *_love_* Micro Mark products!

[@tomcook5813]

Kadee makes a drop shank for cars that sit too high

[@TheDCCGuy]

Yes it is amazing the number of shank lengths and configurations they offer. Still the good old #5 is my go to option.

[@billbarnes8192]

I don’t through anything away, the horn hook couplers can be cut up to add to scrap metal loads

[@peterolsen3797]

when demonstrating a technic one should hold the subject still so that the audience can follow the teachers input. Voice over is another technic that works well at times.