# Coupler Question



## breakerboy (Jan 17, 2012)

Hi all,

I would like to ask for some insight about couplers. I'm pretty new into the hobby and am slowly but surely building my collection, though my cars and engines all over the map on manufacturer, type, size and era. 

Everything is HO, and my question is - can I convert all of what I own to a single type of coupler so I can standardize the hook ups? How do you account for height discreps? What would be a the best one to go with? I know Kadee is popular, and I'm not interested in magnetic, just want some opinion on quality vs. price. Thanks for any help you can offer.

bb


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Best route to go with all the information you need... http://www.kadee.com/conv/convpl.htm :thumbsup:


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## MarkVIIIMarc (Oct 19, 2012)

Kadee whisker couplers and their height gauge are the most important investment I ever made. There are oversets, undersets and straight couplers as well as tiny washers to get the height exactly right.

FWIW I have a hodgepodge of other couplers in my box. I think one locomotive and something or other have required something odd. Probably because I went cheap and did not own a converter kit.


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## breakerboy (Jan 17, 2012)

shaygetz said:


> Best route to go with all the information you need... http://www.kadee.com/conv/convpl.htm :thumbsup:


Ok - may be a dumb question, but after reviewing the conversion list, it looks like you can't just buy #5's and put them on all your stock and just adjust for height - right?


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## breakerboy (Jan 17, 2012)

MarkVIIIMarc said:


> Kadee whisker couplers and their height gauge are the most important investment I ever made. There are oversets, undersets and straight couplers as well as tiny washers to get the height exactly right.
> 
> FWIW I have a hodgepodge of other couplers in my box. I think one locomotive and something or other have required something odd. Probably because I went cheap and did not own a converter kit.


Thanks for the help - what is a converter kit?


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## rrgrassi (May 3, 2012)

Lets you convert the couplers with parts included. Some take a little trail and error too.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

breakerboy said:


> Ok - may be a dumb question, but after reviewing the conversion list, it looks like you can't just buy #5's and put them on all your stock and just adjust for height - right?


Actually, you could, but that would require a lot of ingenuity and creativity form one piece to another.


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