# Replacing Couplers on Athearn Passenger Cars



## DavefromMD (Jul 25, 2013)

I have a set of lighted Athearn passenger cars. I'm thinking about replacing the truck mounted couplers with body mounted couplers. I'm thinking of using either Kadee #148 whisker medium shank couplers, #146 whisker long shank, or #5 universal. This leads me to a couple questions.

I can understand how the whisker couplers self center, but how does the centering piece work on the #5s?

Do I need long shank or would it just be better to use long shank? I do run around 18" curves.

How to best go abount this - where to cut the tongue off and how to go about mounting the coupler box on the body to get it right.


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## Brian (Jan 22, 2014)

Check the Kadee web site, http://www.kadee.com/. They have a ton of info for converting. They also have a data page for some specific manufacturers to suggest what couplers and draft boxes to use .
Brian


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Dave

I have the Athearn Silver Side Passenger Cars. I replaced
the Talgo couplers with Kadee body mount #148 regular
shank. Kadee # 5 would work just as well. 

The #5's come with a small brass centering device
that goes in the draft box. The side
panels are cut and act as centering springs against
the coupler base.

I have one less than 22" curve and these cars have no
problem with it even backing up. Don't know about 18", that's cutting it
pretty close. The problem with the sharp curve is that the body
ends swing wide, they could either hit each other, or one pulls
the other off the track.

I'd try the regular shank 148s on 2 cars for a test. If they
have a problem you can always go with the longer shank
and use the regular on freight cars.

Don


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

DonR said:


> I have one less than 22" curve and these cars have no
> problem with it even backing up. Don't know about 18", that's cutting it
> pretty close. The problem with the sharp curve is that the body
> ends swing wide, they could either hit each other, or one pulls
> the other off the track


Thus the reason Athearn originally put the couplers on the truck........

It wasn't stated which Athearn passenger cars these are....heavy-weight or fluted side, but both versions are shorter (scales to about 72 ft) than the 85 ft the real ones were........again, to negotiate tighter curves.


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## DavefromMD (Jul 25, 2013)

They are the 72 foot streamline cars.


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## singletrack100 (Dec 18, 2013)

Dave, I just recently body mounted all my Athearn BB passenger cars, mostly HW's and a couple streamlined. It was a rather simple process. I used the 148 medium whiskers though I run 22" curves; I'm not sure how they would work on 18".

For the body mounting I simply cut the coupler box from the trucks right at the truck. I used 
.020" styrene as shims between the car floor and the draft gear boxes. I don't remember which draft gear boxes I used but any of the "standard" Kadee boxes will work. Some of the cars only took one piece of .020", some took two. You want to ensure you get the couplers at the right height; I made my own height gauge but you can buy a coupler height gauge or NMRA gauge pretty cheap. 

Once I had the shims figured out for each car, I cemented the shims in place to the floor and used a very SMALL amount of cement to attach the coupler box to the shims. This allows me to get the coupler box off in the future in the event it needs to be replaced. Once everything was all set, I drilled through each, tapped the car floor and shims with a 2-56 tap and installed screws to do the majority of holding the box to the car.

One final note on this process: I once tried cementing the coupler boxes I cut from the trucks onto the cars. That doesn't work so well; the plastic used to make the trucks is not styrene, it is Delrin, a type of plastic that doesn't do well being cemented. So, in case that idea comes up, I can say it doesn't work well.

Hope all this helps! Happy RR'ing!

Duane


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

The type of glue could make a difference....if you use ACC (Superglue), it should hold that type of plastic (Delrin) to any other.....of course, that glue tends to be fairly permanent, so you have to take that into account....


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## singletrack100 (Dec 18, 2013)

Old_Hobo said:


> The type of glue could make a difference....if you use ACC (Superglue), it should hold that type of plastic (Delrin) to any other.....of course, that glue tends to be fairly permanent, so you have to take that into account....


Nopers, no such luck. I was well aware then of the delrin glueing issues and used super glue, however it did eventually fail. If my layout was flat or minimal grades it may have worked long term, however mine is not. Unfortunately I have grades at 3%+ and will operate an 11-15 car (Athearn HW) consist, doubleheaded with a Mantua Mike and Pacific (sometimes I run the Mike as a pusher ).That whole deal using the coupler boxes I cut off was an experiment anyway. 

On a side note, with my grades up and down, long consists, pushers and mid-train helpers, my layout is hard on couplers. I've ran knock-offs due to cost but have since realized Kadee's are where it's at for reliability and longevity, which ends up being more financially prudent in the first place. Nowadays, as my Bachmann EZ-mates fail, they get replaced with #148 whiskers.

As I stated, using the Kadee coupler boxes does not present any fastening issues as they are styrene, but as I also stated, I do not cement them in place hard and fast. I use a MINIMAL drop to keep them in place while making shim adjustments for coupler height. Afterwards the Kadee boxes are held in place with that tiny drop of cement and a 2-56 screw.

Shimming and using appropriate draft gear boxes makes a difference in the succes rate of body mounting IMHO. Prior to this project I body mounted all my Talgo equipped freight stock and have loved life with those since!

Happy RR'ing!

Duane


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Yeah, Delrin comes from another planet.....makes great trucks, but other than that......


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## tr1 (Mar 9, 2013)

*short ckts.*

hi there, is it prudent to use plastic trucks with metal wheels, that being, on a derailment, the plastic trucks don't cause a short in the electrical system? Thanks for any input on this matter. Regards,
tr1


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

It would cut down on the derailment shorting to use
plastic trucks with metal wheels. However, you can
still get shorting if the wheels have metal axles.
Think points and frogs in turnouts and you can
see how it will happen.

Don


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## jjb727 (Apr 13, 2012)

a video of this process would be nice. Im not good at imagining how you replaced the truck mounted couplers with body mounted ones.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Replacing truck mounted couplers with body mount 
on the Athearn Silver side passenger cars is very
easy.

You use snips to simply cut off the truck mounts near where they join
the truck frame. Discard them. The delrin draft box does not
hold to glue well.

You will use the car's connecting vestibule doors as your centering
point. You'll see that there is a slight ridge across the floor
bottom. You'll 'temporarily' glue a shim to provide a level
with the ridge. Assemble a Kadee # 148 or # 5 coupler and
temporarily glue it to the shim making certain it is centered
and the 'mouth' of the coupler is even with the vestibule door
above it. Then use the Kadee coupler gauge, or a car with
a Kadee known to be of correct height to check your work.
Make adjustments to the shim or file down as needed. Then
permanently glue or preferably screw the draft box on.

If I can do it with old shaky hands anyone can.

Don


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## jjb727 (Apr 13, 2012)

I need a video of the process because I learn how to do things better when someone posts a video of it and explains it as he goes.


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## DavefromMD (Jul 25, 2013)

jjb727

Search you tube. There are some videos on how to do this.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

tr1 said:


> hi there, is it prudent to use plastic trucks with metal wheels, that being, on a derailment, the plastic trucks don't cause a short in the electrical system? Thanks for any input on this matter. Regards,
> tr1


Generally speaking, yes, you would do better with plastic trucks.

It would be even more important to do so if the wheels had
metal axles. If all axles were not aligned the same there
would be a short in the truck.

Don


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