bending couplers

[Anonymous]

i recently i brought a box of knuckel couplers but to my despair none of them made it round my track cause the metal thing on the bottom always hits the ties
i tryed bending one by holding it in a vice and tapping it with a light hammer but it squashed it flat then i tryed some long nose pliers but it ripped the metal thing out what do i do in this situation.

[Anonymous]

What type of couplers? Body or wheel? The microtrains *I think* are metal...others are plastic...you can bend metal but plastic usually fatigues and cracks and breaks...if the bottom part is hitting the rails...i'd think your trucks are too low...and am currently playing a bit with that myself...

[rogerhensley]

If we are talking HO, take a look at http://www.nmra.org/beginner/couplers.html for some advice. Kadee makes a special plier like tool to bend the glad hand. I use needlenose plies myself and hold the coupler solidly in my hand to support it as I form the glad hand. If they are not Kadees, I can't really speak to not tearing it apart. I have never had a problem with Kadees.

As a further note, you do need to be sure that the couplers are mounted at the correct height and some people do cut off the glad hand.

[Anonymous]

If the "air hose" is striking the track, it's often a case of a coupler hanging too low. If it's properly mounted, the coupler will be level; if not, the knuckle hangs lower than the mounting pad.

You can bend these airhoses carefully with needlenose pliers and they will not break. Make sure all the pressure you apply is on the hose, NOT the coupler itself.

[willy6]

i recommend buy a KADEE COUPLER HEIGHT GAUGE and mount a piece of track on scrap wood and measure each one upon installation.

[Jetrock]

Indeed--the first test is to check the height of the coupler with a height gauge, and if that is correct, bend the air hose upward with a small needle-nose pliers. Also make sure the coupler is snug in the pocket with little vertical play--I discovered that an engine with air-hose bottom-out problems that tested okay had a tendency to "drag" its coupler because the coupler pocket wasn't tight enough.