# help with kadee couplers



## Falcon (Jan 10, 2015)

I have herd a lot of people saying to ditch the original couplers and get a set of kadee. so i went to the kadee website and this is were the confusion began. so many different ones to choose from. I am running an HO scale and yea it did not narrow that down much. I need some help


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

If you think you may be converting a lot of rolling stock you may want to invest in the Kadee "sampler kit" (or whatever they call it). It makes it easy to determine exactly which model of coupler you need for.


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## feldon30 (Dec 30, 2012)

It depends a lot on what you are applying couplers to. Assuming you are adding these couplers to standard box cars, hopper cars, etc. with fairly ordinary height, you would want to get *#148 whisker couplers* which are medium length and centerset. More on these later

You can buy "*two pair*" packages of #148 Kadee couplers with 4 coupler boxes and 4 couplers. It's expensive to buy couplers this way, so look at buying bulk #148 couplers (without the boxes) and if you need, bulk coupler boxes (without the couplers).

The first thing to do is look at the underside of your cars and see how many have *car-mounted couplers inside coupler boxes* (an easy candidate for the Kadee upgrade) vs. the number of cars where the *coupler is attached directly to the truck* (these take more work and require the mounting of a coupler box to the underside of the car).

For those where you need to *install a coupler box*, you may need to take an xacto knife and notch a clear space for the box to be mounted. You'll also need *2-56 screws* which come in various lengths and cost a fortune from Atlas but maybe you can find a local or online supplier that sells them for pennies apiece. I've just ordered 100 each of 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" and am hoping it's enough to get started with most of the cars I need to rehabilitate.

Also, you'll want to go ahead and order some Red and Tan paper washers from Kadee. These add space above or below your coupler in the coupler box to adjust the height to match your other cars. There's a limit on the number of washers you can put before things get wobbly though. If you need a coupler that's significantly *higher*, then you'd order "overset" couplers. If you need a coupler that's significantly *under*, then you'd order *underset* couplers.









centerset









overset









underset

Occasionally you will find coupler boxes where the "bushing" or vertical tube that the coupler slips over is missing, or is installed in a strange way. It may be beneficial to order a few Kadee bushings so you are ready. Alternately you can just remove the factory box and install the Kadee as it's ready to accept the coupler.

Let's see. Go ahead and order a *#205* or *#206* *Kadee coupler height gauge*. The #206 is plastic which can be used on live track, while the #205 is metal and will shut down any track it's placed upon. I personally bought a #206 and mounted it (and a scrap piece of track and strip of cork) to a 12" length of 1x4 wood so I'd have a portable "Test bed" to try out all my rolling stock on and make sure the coupler heights are correct.

In the process of doing all this work, you're going to find some cars with wheels in poor condition or plastic wheels which are not optimal for operations. I go with metal *wheelsets*. My personal preference is *Intermountain* which are metal wheels and metal axles with a thin black plastic collar on the inside edge of one wheel that isolates the power from track A and B. If you go with Intermountain, make sure you put this band on the same side of the car for all 4 axles. I'm not a fan of *Kadee wheelsets* because they are burnished with a blackening product on all sides that must be removed on the part of the wheel that touches the tracks, otherwise you'll get black debris on your rails.

You may even have some *trucks* that need replacement, however I'm completely in the dark on this one!

MB Klein, aka ModelTrainStuff has all of this stuff. Bill's Trains website has everything but the wheelsets and ships faster.

Hope this is helpful!


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Can't emphasize enough what Feldon posted.

You must have a Kadee height gauge. Get
the plastic one. You'll need it even when track
is live on DCC or DC.

It checks 3 major points.

First before you attached a draft box, the gauge
will tell you if it's mounting point is right.

Second, after installation an actual coupler
mounted on it will tell you if the height is right.

And third, it will tell you if your 'hose' is
right so it won't snag on a turnout point.

A couple explanations of the 2 major Kadee coupler models.

The #148 is preferred by most HO guys. It uses 'whiskers' (tiny
wires attached to the coupler shank) for centering the coupler laterally.
The draft boxes for #148 are easy to assemble before you
install them on the car. The 'top' simply 'snaps' into tiny
slots. It is best, however, to use tiny dots of glue for a
stronger closure.

The # 5 Kadee coupler uses a brass 'box' that has it's sides
act as springs to center the coupler laterally. The assembly
of the draft box, the brass box, the coupler and the top
can often be tricky and result in your mouth being washed
out with soap.

Don


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## feldon30 (Dec 30, 2012)

I forgot to mention the Kadee coupler "trip pin" pliers. People call it a trip pin. people call it a horn. Technically, it's supposed to model the air hoses that would be connected between each car to distribute air to the brakes on each car.










You'll want a pair of these. Note the 3 different "sections" on the teeth of the pliers. These are for N, HO, and O. The middle segment is HO.

There's actually a company that makes mock brake hoses that you can mount on each of your cars which are magnetic enough to grab each other when coupled, but I think the cost is prohibitive.

One of the reasons I am sticking with the Kadee couplers and not declawing them by cutting off the trip pins is I'm using Rix magnetic uncouplers rather than a bamboo skewer to uncouple cars.


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

As Don said, the #5 or the #148 coupler from Kadee will fit most of your rolling stock. The #148 is a newer design that is easier to install than the #5. All of the other couplers that you see on the Kadee website are for unusual situations or for locomotives. There is a lot of variation in how locomotive couplers are mounted. If you want to convert your locos to Kadee couplers, first get the make and the model of each. Then check the Coupler Conversion tables on the Kadee website, If you can't figure out which couplers are designed for your locos, email or call Kadee. They are very helpful people.

P.S. I see that you are from Georgia. If you are near Buford, you might want to try Trainmasters before you order on line. It is one of the most complete model train stores in the southeast

trainmastermodels.com


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## Falcon (Jan 10, 2015)

I found a kit kadee # 1030. comes with everything (well pretty much) the plastic height gauge, the pin plyers, a spring and uncouple tool, uncouplers (both reg and delayed) an assortment of the different couplers etc... it other words I am impressed with what it has and well well worth the money I found it for under 50 bucks and i dont all i really have to do is replace what i use. or i could just use it for the different sizes and make a shopping list. ether way problem with choosing the right kadee number solved the kit pretty much has them all for you to test fit.


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