EZ mate couplers attachment to Tyco rolling stock

[racorsr]

Have a Bachmann locomotive but it can not couple with Tyco or Mantua rolling stock. Does anyone know of any adapter or modification for this?
Thanks

[OldTimer]

Kadee 20 series couplers come with an adapter that will let you replace newer TYCO horn-hook truck mounted couplers (plastic trucks) with knuckle couplers compatible with your Bachmann engine.

Older Tyco and Mantua cars pose a different problem.  If your cars have truck mounted couplers, you'll have to do some surgery.  The coupler box is riveted together and the truck attaches to the car with a machine screw passed through a sheet metal bolster.  The best bet is probably to remove the truck mounted box and body-mount Kadee or EZ-mate couplers using a draft gear box.  That will require drilling and tapping for a 2-56 screw.

If your Mantua cars are so old that they have the old hook and loop couplers, you'll have to remove the old coupler (one screw as I recall), and modify the underframe to accept a draft gear box. 

A Kadee coupler height gauge is your best friend for these types of operations.  Good luck.
Kadee's web site is here:  http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/HOplc.htm
OldTimer

[racorsr]

Thanks, your suggestion will help a lot.

[Len]

The Kadee #212 'talgo' adapters are also sold by the pack, for use with any Kadee, EZ-Mate, or McHenry coupler.

There's also the Life-Like "SceneMaster" knuckle couplers for quick conversions of Tyco, Life-Like, etc., cars until body mounts can be done. These are the cars with the small hole X2F couplers that can be popped out of the trucks with a twisting motion.

You can get them from Walthers in either a 10 pair pack, 433-1427, or a 2 pair pack, 433-1436. On most cars you either need to trim the 'stop blocks' from the front opening of the coupler pocket, or snip off about 18in of the centering springs on each side. I usually snip the centering springs.

Eventually you'll want to switch to body mounts. But if you're like me, with a bunch of the old cars around, the Life-Like couplers are a quick way to eliminate the side pressure on the trucks X2F couplers create.

Len

[jward]

it should be noted that it is the talgo coupler mounting that puts the side pressure on the trucks, not the couplers themselves. this is true no matter what type of coupler you use. but body mounted couplers, especially on older cars from tyco, ahm, etc. can be difficult to install....

that said, there is an easy solution to running your horn hook couplers with the knuckle couplers of your locomotive. you can replace one of the couplers on one of your cars, so that this car has one coupler of each type. these are known as conversion cars, or adapter cars, and they were common years ago when everything had horn hook couplers out of the box. the knuckle type couplers have always worked and looked better than the horn hooks, and every 40-50 years ago most modellers converted their cars to knuckle (kadee) couplers.

the conversion cars were (and still are) a way to use the cars you haven't gotten around to modifying yet.

[Len]

it should be noted that it is the talgo coupler mounting that puts the side pressure on the trucks, not the couplers themselves. this is true no matter what type of coupler you use. but body mounted couplers, especially on older cars from tyco, ahm, etc. can be difficult to install....

Not to argue, but because of the built in spring design, just sitting on the track the X2F couplers snap to one side if you pull them to center and let them go. By design, if you pull a properly installed truck mount knuckle coupler to one side and let it go, it snaps back to the center position.

The offset spring of an X2F coupler exerts opposing side pressures on the truck assemblies when coupled, whether moving forward, standing still, or moving in reverse. Combined with the backing pressure of the couplers on the trucks, this side force makes reversing moves with X2F couplers, even when body mounted,  more problematic than with truck mounted knuckle couplers.

Like I said above, eventually you'll want to go all body mounted, but in the interim truck mounted knuckle couplers are still an improvement.

Len

[jward]

regardless of the horn hook spring, backing up with body mounted couplers iis preferable to backing with truck mounted couplers. the side pressure exerted is minimal and doesn't skew the truck. the forces exerted tend to keep the wheels in proper alignment with the rails. this is truewith both types of couplers. the horn hooks, however, tend to uncouple when they are not under tension, and uncoupled cars are the major problem with horn hooks during switching.

truck mounted couplers, on the other hand, are alot like trying to push on a rope. all couplers will push off to the side when backing, regardless of their mounting. with a talgo type mounting, you are in effect providing a huge lever that tries to turn the truck when backing. this causes the wheels to ride skewed, at an angle to the rail where the flanges will derail at any imperfection. knuckle couplers will tend to exert less sideways pressure than horn hooks, to be sure. but both types are putting this pressure on the wheels.

because of this, i do not recommend using talgo mounted kadee couplers. it is much better to take the time and effort to body mount the couplers when you convert over, and to use the adapter cars as an interim solution. it is also adviseable to keep the talgo cars to the rear of the train, where they will be subject to fewer reverse moves, and much less train weight to push against when they do have to back up.

[Doneldon]

Len-

X2F couplers put negligible side pressure on Talgo trucks when sitting still while coupled or when moving. The same is actually true for body-mounted X2F couplers except that the negligible side pressure is exerted on the car body instead of just the truck. I'm no fan of X2Fs at all but even I have to say that the key word is negligible. The real issue with Talgo couplers is that all couplers exert side pressure when backing making Talgo trucks a bad idea. X2F couplers are a bad idea regardless of how they're mounted for all kinds of reasons, both operational and esthetic.
                                                                                                       -- D