Kadee coupler box

Cut/shave off the Athearn molded coupler box replacing it with a Kadee coupler box.

Michael

Kadee #208 or 209 washers

The grey or red washers will also do the trick MOST of the time. 

Then on the other hand I Make #5's work with everything!

Viagra?

I’m sorry.  I couldn’t stop myself.  

The fix is easy ...

It's easy to fix a sagging coupler, here's a how-to from my Run like a Dream: Rolling Stock book. It's loaded with tips like this.

Clever Hack, Joe!

Clever Hack, Joe!

Tape

I keep a dispenser of "magic" tape in my tool box to use as a quick shim, sometimes that's all I need to get things straightened out.  I've also modified Kadee 211 shims to fit the inside of coupler boxes, but that usually results in a broken shim (they are quite thin).  This might be a good new product for Kadee, inside-box shims.  Athearn RTR cars sometimes come with a shim in the coupler box to keep the McHenry couplers from sagging.

Actually, that kind of brings up another point.  Kadee whisker couplers have a slightly thinner profile than the "ol' reliable" number 5 and its derivatives, so if you're having trouble with 141's, try substituting 21's instead.  Too, I wish Kadee still offered the 40-series, as I greatly prefer metal common shank couplers to the 20-/30-series' plastic.

-Fuzzy
DM Rail Group

And the graphite---

---from the pencil helps the coupler slide from side by side.

And that's why...........

I make #5's fit almost everything!!!!   Plus I still have a good stash!

#4's?

I remember putting some #4s on some cars. And they provided a bit of slack or cushioning. But they weren't as reliable as the 5s. And yes, I too have a stash, but with bronze springs. Oh well, at least they are "reliable". I simply suggest that buying any new, I'd be sure they were whiskers. Whether 5 or ? is it 58 that is slightly smaller? Hard to find better than Kadee.

For your blue box cars there is an easy fix

On several occasions I have corrected this problem by removing the metal coupler covers and then bending the lip of the cover up VERY slightly. Do it in stages until the coupler does not sag but still swivels freely.

To prevent the cover from sagging I drill a hole with a #50 drill bit in the plastic pin in the coupler box. Then I install the coupler and cover and secure with a 1/8" 2-56 screw. Do not over tighten the screw. This also cures another problem that blue box models have and that is that the metal cover falls off sometimes.

For other models with plastic boxes and sagging couplers the styrene shim mentioned earlier works very well. Just make sure that the couplers still swing freely from side to side.

Laser cutter

One of our club members drew up a shim sized to fit the inside of the Kadee coupler box, and can laser-cut cut them from a variety of thin materials to eliminate vertical slack.  Break-in-two incidents are now exceedingly rare.

With Athearn blue box kits,

With Athearn blue box kits, I've installed a Kadee fiber washer between the truck and bolster, and if that wasn't enough, I've gently bent up draft gear box a bit.

As for #5's fitting everything.  Well, most everything.  I've found the bronze spring didn't fit in some Walthers red box kit coupler boxes.

What is the thickness of Joe's 1x6 styrene put at the outer bottom of the box?

HO 1x6 actual dimensions

Thanks!

That is two dimensions.  Which is the thickness?

Which side of the 1x6 is the thickness?

Well, it looks like the wide side of the 1x6 is glued against the coupler box, so I'd assume the thickness of the shim would be the 1 inch dimension - or about 0.010.  Still, a pretty slick trick.  Most of my Athearn blue box fleet use the metal coupler cover on the bottom, so I will be epoxying a strip of 0.010 styrene to those rather than the coupler box.

I've also been using the A-line bulls-eye jigs for drilling and then tapping screw holes in the cast coupler boxes, and then securing the metal covers with a 1/8" 2-56 screw.  Ends the problem of the metal covers eventually popping off the coupler boxes.

You can find them at https://ppw-aline.com/collections/bulls-eye-drill-tap-jigs and using the two jigs make it into about a two-minute task to drill and tap both ends of a car.  They make getting a perpendicular hole in the coupler body into an almost mindless exercise, and I can do a batch of about 5 kits in less than 10 minutes with the drill in on pin vise and the tap in a second pin vise.

Janet N. 

Yep

Yep, 10 thousandths thick and 60 thousandths wide. It's a 1x6 - just look at the photo and you will be able to see which way it goes down -- 10 thousandths of coupler shank lift across 60 thousandths of width.

You absolutely need to add the screw to keep those Athearn coupler box covers from popping off during operation. I've found those metal coupler box covers strewn around the layout after an op session until I finally made adding the screws mandatory. In a few cases, those metal covers, when dropping at a turnout, caused a short.

As is practice in some

As is practice in some environments, it's helpful to assume the reader may not be familiar with some format conventions and provide a bit additional info.

Is there an Evergreen styrene strip that comes in that thickness and width that can be purchased in a pack and cut to fit across coupler boxes?

Coupler droop is such a common problem I've seen over the years and your suggestion is a good one!.

I agree, the Athearn metal clip cover isn't the best; although I've managed to get mine to stay on mostly by giving them a little squeeze with pliers so they are fairly snug.  I have only a small number of freight cars with those metal clips anymore as the vast majority have been replaced with newer, high fidelity models.

Speaking of falling off during operation, what has been worse for me are those tiny truck screws provide with MDC kits; those screws are just too small to reliably stay on.  A dab of AC can help, but a slightly bigger/longer screw would be better.

Coupler sag.

I usually use .005 clear styrene as a shim, glued to the inside of the bottom cover. The clear disappears once glued in place. If one layer isn't  enough, I'll add a second.piece, sometimes I need to file a bit off as two layers mightbe a bit too snug.

Mike in Florida

Athearn metal coupler covers

The way to keep them from falling off is to use an exacto knife and clean up the plastic retaining tab. Under cut it a bit so the clip can't come off unless you purposely spread it out. This was a common fix back in the day when these cars were new......DaveB