# Problems with Menards Couplers



## Lamster (Jul 18, 2015)

I recently purchased the 6 car Menards Military Commemorative Boxcar set. I went to run them at my club last night and found that the couplers when joined are too tight with no wiggle room. I tried to run them, but when they when into a uphill curve the cars derailed. Anyone else having this problem? They are beautiful cars, but disappointed with this issue.

Tom


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## L0stS0ul (Feb 6, 2015)

There is a very thorough thread over on ogrforum from about 12 months ago that discusses how to adjust the menards boxcar couplers. The couplers that came on my hoppers were very different from the ones in the pictures from that thread and don't have any of the issues the ones in that thread had. Maybe post some pictures of the couplers so we can see what you are dealing with. I would have expected the newer boxcars to have the same couplers as the latest hoppers


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I posted a whole thread on the couplers over on OGR.


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## rogruth (Mar 6, 2012)

Gunrunner,
The newer cars do have different/better couplers don't they?
I have not had any problems.


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## seayakbill (Jan 16, 2016)

Doesn't the 6 car military comm boxcar set have the latest version of Menards couplers. The set has only been out a couple months.

Bill


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## PatKn (Jul 14, 2015)

Tom is a member of my club and I looked at the couplers. The couplers are so tight, there is no side to side play at all when they are coupled. It is as if the two trucks are attached by a rigid drawbar. The bar to the trucks is fixed and when the couplers are coupled there is no side to side play between the trucks. This means when one truck follows a curve, it causes the next truck to swing the other way. There is side to side play on the wheels themselves to the side-frames. This is probably why they don't derail all the time but just on a hill under load.

This is what I think is happening. This may be an exaggeration. It does not derail on every curve but only on the curve on an uphill slope (under load). No other (non Menard) trains have that problem and Tom's Menard's Flatcars with military vehicles also show the same problem.


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## seayakbill (Jan 16, 2016)

I had that problem with the Menards $7 flatcars that had plastic couplers, very tight. Since they were plastic a smidgen of grinding with the Dremel solved the problem.

Bill


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## josef (Jun 20, 2015)

seayakbill said:


> I had that problem with the Menards $7 flatcars that had plastic couplers, very tight. Since they were plastic a smidgen of grinding with the Dremel solved the problem.
> 
> Bill


!+. Did that also, including setting some wheels using a crescent wrench to hold wheel and tapping axles with a nail set lightly until wheels were set to run on rails. Seem about 4 wheels were set to close together.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I filed the inside surfaces of the couplers to relive the pressure a bit, that helped a bunch.


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## L0stS0ul (Feb 6, 2015)

do these boxcars use these couplers?


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

I had early issues - flashing and/or poor casting could be corrected just by filing them out a bit so they weren't as tight a fit, one coupler to the next.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

The spring sticking out has always bothered me, I fixed a couple with new springs. I think their assembly folks didn't know how to put the coupler springs in properly.


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## rogruth (Mar 6, 2012)

The photo above shows what might develop a problem in the future.
I'm not sure what kind but you can see how rough the wheels are.
Possibly retaining dirt. I wonder if they can be smoothed?
Would it make any difference? Wait and see.


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## L0stS0ul (Feb 6, 2015)

All wheels will accumulate dirt. I will be watching to see how fast but so far those wheels have not picked up anything after at least 120 hours running. At least it will be easy to see when they do


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## Lamster (Jul 18, 2015)

Pat,

Thanks for posting your diagram, I was trying to take pictures of the boxcars coupled together but they really didn't show what I tried to explain in my first post. Lostsoul you picture of the coupler is the same as mine with the spring partially hanging out. The couplers on my box and flat cars are metal.

Tom


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