N-scale is so small that "realism" when it comes to truck mounted couplers really isn't an issue. If your curves are gradual enough, you'll never notice. I for one don't watch my trains from 2" away looking to see if I can notice any potential swing from the coupler. I actually prefer truck mounted couplers in n-scale. I'm not as limited by the location of uncoupler magnets that way. In larger scales where it gets more obvious, I'd prefer to have body mounted.
My minimum radius is 15", and I have a growing number of cars with body mounted couplers.
Couplers are truck mounted because, quite simply, that's the way N scale started out. And yes, it was designed to account for those itty bitty 9-3/4" curves that someone decided decades ago would be a standard. More recently, N scalers are taking advantage of the size of the trains to build large radius curves and scenic vistas that look more realistic, and don't require the unrealistic and less reliable truck mounted couplers.
If you've got the old trucks with the big flanges and rapido couplers, (they're the big square looking jobbies) I would recommend ditching the whole truck and getting the bulk pack of replacements from Micro Trains. Still truck mounted, but this is probably the most economical way to go. Works out to about $3 per car.
Make sure you get the bulk pack with low-profile wheels, though.
If you want to body mount, and you have newer cars with better wheel sets, get the 1015's as a kit in the pack with 10 pair for $10. Yes, it can be a pain to assemble them, but once you get the hang of it (and realize how much money you're saving) then you'll find yourself whipping through them. Take off the factory truck and carefully trim the couple box off of the truck with a sharp knife, install the coupler, then replace the truck making sure that the wheels roll freely and don't bind up on the coupler box. It's important to make sure your coupler is perfectly centered.
If you're cutting off Atlas Accumate couplers (their brand of knuckle coupler) send them to me!
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
Jacktal...I've always wondered why manufacturers have elected to have the couplers truck mounted.There probably is a good reason for this...
Body mounted couplers can work well, and will actually work better for backing long trains, but you need to keep a couple of things in mind(these will also improve operations with truck mounted couplers). First of all, you do not want really sharp curves("really sharp" is a relative term, what is really sharp for an auto rack is not necessarily really sharp fro a 40' box car). Second is you really need to use easements into your curves. Easements are a gradual transition from straight track to curved track. If you take the two cars I mentioned before and place them in the middle of a sharp curve, the ends will be offset from the center of the track but, if the cars are similar, they will be offset roughly the same amount so they will not be offset from each other much. The biggest problem with the ends being offset is when one car is completely in the curve and one is complete on the straight section. Easements can greatly reduce the amount the cars will ever get offset from each other as they go into the curve.
Another area where body mounted couplers can cause problems is if you have sudden transitions of grades. This is similar to the problem of going into a curve, but in the vertical axis instead of horizontal. If body mounted, the couplers follow the end of the car, but if truck mounted they don't. You can see this easily just by slightly lifting one end of a car. Again, easements(vertical easements in this case) will help immensely.
Hi from Belgium,
There is two ways to conveert your cars to MT couplers, body mounted or truck mounted.
MT offer the two possibiliies.
Personaly, I prefer body mounted, especialy if you want to do a lot of operations and running long string of cars in reverse.
But if you body mount the coupler you need to erase, filling and shimming the frame of the car to place the coupler.
It exist in the MT lines some type of coupler which can take the place of the Rapido ones directly in the Rapido box, but I don't like them and adjustement is not easy.
To mount the future MT coupler, they offer some jig to help the mounting.
Good luck.
Marc
You could always try replacing the entire truck assembly with MT ones. It's really easy. On the other hand if you run fairly large radius curves and short to medium length trains, you could do like I did and convert them to body mounted Z scale couplers. Their draft gear boxes are a lot smaller than body mount N couplers and give you more clearance. The conversion is covered in the January, 2007 issue of "Model Railroader."
I have a bundle of N scale cars (around forty or so) that I want to gradually convert to MT couplers BUT these are a pain to install.Removing the original hardware from the original truck,even have some filing to do and then hold the MT components together while installing that darn little spring...a daunting task for my diminishing eyesight a normally sized hands.I don't have big fingers but for this job,it seems that they way too big.
What I have in mind is installing the same MT couplers I've installed on my locos some time in the past.These came pre-assembled and were relatively easy to install with a small screw through them.But that would mean that I'd have to install them directly to the car bodies,likely with some filing and shimming however,but still a manageable job for me.
What worries me is if the cars will roll well with such an arrangement.I've always wondered why manufacturers have elected to have the couplers truck mounted.There probably is a good reason for this but I'm tempted to give body mounting a try anyway.What do you guys think?