Upgrading Old Style Tyco Couplers

[jimk4490]

Hello again. I have a lot of Tyco Locos and rolling stock from the 1970's. The couplers do not work very well (springs are weak) and I'd like to convert them all to something better, or to something that is now commonly used in say, Bachmann or Athern type locos and cars. Is this going to be difficult? Where can I go to buy the new couplers? Mostly my current couplers are attached directly to the trucks. Thanks.

[ABC]

Here's what you need to do replace the trucks with coupler with standard trucks. Then mount Kadee couplers on the cars. I'm not sure what all trucks are compatible with Tyco cars, but you can experiment and find some that work. Be sure to buy couplers that can be body mounted.

[jward]

you don't really need to replace the trucks unless you want to. but i would replace the wheelsets with something conforming to nmra rp25 specs. if you decide to reuse the trucks, cut the coupler pocket off of them with a hobby knife or rail nippers.

what i would recommend is that you do not try to replace the couplers with other truck mounted couplers. for one thing, the coupler height of the coupler boxes on the trucks is way too low. for another thing, your cars will perform much better with body mounted couplers, particularly when backing them.

body mounting couplers is not that hard. kadee #5 couplers come with their own boxes which can be screwed to the car floor. you'll need the following tools for the job: a pin vise, a drill and tap set for 2-56 screws, a kadee coupler height guage, a small screwdriver and some 2-56 screws about 1/8 or 1/4 inch.


find the centerline of the car underframe. this should be in line with the pivot points of the truck bolsters.  using the lid of the kadee coupler box tas a template tlocate, drill and tap a hole on each end of the car. assemble the coupler and coupler box, screw them to the car floor and  and checque the height with the kadee guage. you must have the car reassembled and on the track to do this. make any adjustments necessary to coupler height. if it sits too low, you can leave the lid off the coupler box for minor adjustments. if as is more likely, it sits too high, you can add shims of styrene, or kadee sells washers which can be placed between the coupler box and the car floor.

finally, you will need to tighten the coupler screws just tight enough to keep the box from swivelling, but not enough to crush the box or prevent the coupler from moving freely.

[jimk4490]

Thanks ABC and Jward.  I have one more concern. Last night I noticed that at least with the 9.25 inch passenger cars that when they are on my 18" radii turns the ends of the cars get significantly out of alignment, making me wonder if body mounted couplers will work on them. I guess that is why they were originally designed with truck mounted couplers. Thanks for you assistance again. This forum has been a terrific source of information for me.

[jward]

passsenger cars are probably the one area i would recommend trying to truck mount the couplers. passenger trains usually aren't backed much, and the extreme length of the passenger cars makes them likely to derail on sharp curves with body mounted couplers. if your curves are wide radius, say 30" radius or larger, you can body mount the couplers, but less than that i wouldn't. the same goes with long freight cars such as full size autoracks.