Weak or Flimsy Couplers on RK Pass. Cars

[Bob Baker]

Good Evening, I have two sets of Railking passenger cars. I noticed on a couple of the cars, the couplers droop down and the magnetic uncoupler thingy actually touches the center rail. I have rigged one of these cars with some loctite, but does anyone here know the right way to fix this weak coupler problem? Thanks! -Bob

[dougdagrump]

Bob,

If you look up the item number of your passenger cars you should be able to see a "parts breakdown & exploded view".

By your description it sounds as if the screw that holds the coupler arm to the truck body is loose. Normally only way to get access to that screw is to remove the truck from the chassis which will require that you open the passenger car by taking off the roof. Your owner's manual should tell you how to do that, if you don't have one it can be downloaded & printed from the MTH website.

Once the roof is off the screw that holds the truck on should be very visible but slightly recessed in the floor at each end of the car. Remember if you remove the trucks to tighten the coupler arm screw be careful of the p/u roller wires.

Hope this was helpful.

[Bob Keller]

Interesting, I have a NYC bobber caboose sitting on my desk with the same problem. Bought it on eBay knowing it wasn't perfect, just didn't expect the uncoupler tabs to touch the rail. 

[BigAl 956]

This is a common problem with these cars and some older MPC type Lionel cars. When my kids were in braces I squirreled away a couple bags of orthodontic rubber bands. Slip one over the coupler and that takes care of the problem.

[Bob Baker]

Thank you for the rundown of the problem. Now I have a direction to go about solving the problem. I appreciate it! -Bob

[phillyreading]

Do you know what model passenger cars this effects? As I have a Pennsylvania RR passenger car by MTH and so far have no trouble with it.