Kadee couple boxes on Scratchbuilt cars.

[Noah Hofrichter]

I plan on attaching some Kadee Coupler boxes to a car I'm scratchbuilding. I know I have to glue the one peice directly to the car, but what about the second piece? 2-56 screws are two small to fit in the center, like most coupler boxes are attached. Do I put some thing in the two little side holes or what? Any help is apreciated, as this is my first scratchbuild so I'm totaly lost.

Noah

[Anonymous]

I fitted Kadee boxes to an old Model Power flat car - I glued one part of the box, assembled the coupler and the other half, then put a couple of tiny drops of glue on the "lugs" on the side of the box to secure it - worked well, though you do need to be careful not to glue the coupler solid - I used normal poly cement. Hope this helps!

[Noah Hofrichter]

Any idea on a way to do it so you can take the coupler box bottom back off, incase something goes wrong with a coupler?

Noah

[Anonymous]

Ah. That's the problem! Luckily I was doing up an old car as a way of saving it from the scrapbox, so I fitted a set of spare E-Z Mates from a kit that I'd fitted Kadees to. I hardly ever run the car, so have not had any problems with them. I have found that so long as you use a minimal amount of poly cement they will come off with some "persuasion"...

An alternative approach, that works with styrene car floors, is to drill a hole to accept the plastic bolts supplied with 30-series couplers - these are just about self-tapping in my experience.

[Anonymous]

Noah,

What about the 58's that come already in boxes??? Just screw the box to the car and you're done. I have also glued boxes together with the coupler in them, and then glued them directly to cars with no problems. I find that I haven't had enough problems with couplers to worry about the replacement issue. If I have a problem, I just pry the coupler box off the car with an x-acto and glue on another one. Perhaps in 20 years I'll feel differently.

Guy

[tomwatkins]

Noah, what works for me is to assemble the coupler and box prior to mounting anything to the bottom of the car. I use a very small amount of Tenax 7R applied to both sides and the rear of the box. All it takes is a couple of drops on each. After the solvent dries check to make sure the coupler moves freely and centers properly. I've used too much solvent occassinally and glued everything up solid. I'll put a couple of small dabs of Walthers Goo on the couple box and position it on the bottom of the car. After it sets up I check coupler height and adjust if needed. When it's OK I'll either glue the box to the car with super glue ( I use Zap A Gap CA+) or drill a starter hole down through the center hole in the coupler box. The I pop the coupler box off, drill and tap the hole and screw the box on. I use 2-56 screws for that. Either way works fine as long as the couple box is centered and straight. Lately I've been drilling and tapping most often.

Hope This Helps,
Tom Watkins

[Anonymous]

Noah - I don't undersand you're comment about 2-56 screws being too small. This is what I've been using very successfully. I am assuming you are using Kadee #5 couplers and draft boxes?

I pre-assemble the coupler in the box, then carefully align the the box along the dead centre of the car and mark the position through the main hole in the centre of the box. I drill down through the floor of the car with a #50 drill, holding the drill in a pin vice. I tap the hole 2-56 and attach the pre-assembled box. At this point I check the coupler height carefully and add shims to the top of the box or washers to the truck bosses as appropriate. If the box is twisting because its not tight against the centre beam of the car I add a tiny drop of CA round the back of the box away from any moving parts. This way the 2-56 screw holds the lower portion of the box on and by removing the screw you can get inside the box to lubricate or replace the centering spring in the future.

If you're feeling really good, or for some reason you can't drill and tap 2-56 on the centre line of the car you can drill and tap 0-80 through each of the side mounting lugs.

[Noah Hofrichter]

James, that last statement was it. I should have explained better, that the area the coupler will be mounted to is an area like a flat car, so I can't have any thing drilled into the car itself. I'll see if I can't find some 0-80 screws at a hobby shop or electronic store. I really apreciate everybody's help alot, it's nice ot know I can get my question ansewered in a few hours almost every time.

Noah

[Anonymous]

Ok Noah - now I understand your problem. I'm not sure if the 0-80 mounting option will work for you either. Try these sugestions:

I had this problem mounting a coupler on the pilot of my Athearn Genesis Mike. Here I used a #36 coupler, but no matter the principle's the same, I used a plastic 2-56 screw that Kadee supply in their 30 series coupler packs. I drilled and tapped as before but once the coupler was mounted right I trimmed the screw flush with the upper side of the pilot deck with a sharp blade. The pilot deck was checker plate, so I scored across the top of the screw in line with the rest of the grooves and touched it up with grimy black paint, you had to look fairly hard to see it.

If the area where the screw is going to come through is really obvious you could try mounting the box with the plastic 0-80 screws. The ideas the same but the screws that come up through the car floor are now much much smaller.

Otherwise you are into cementing the box in place and praying nothing goes wrong[}:)]

[Anonymous]

What I do is mock up a Kadee coupler box on the bottom of the car, place a center punch through the center hole in the coupler box and mark the floor of the car. Remove the coupler box and drill a #56 hole where you marked with the center punch. Then tap the hole with the 2-56 tap and you can now screw on your coupler with no need to glue anything. Thats how I have done all my coupler mountings and the method has worked well for me.

James R. Mitich.

Quickly becoming the master of Big Sky Blueness.