Macdonald-Cartier Couplers(?)

[maxman]

I understand that these are Kadee clones, but I don't remember them being mentioned in any of the "anything other than a Kadee is junk" discussions.

Recent Rapido locos come with them installed.

Is it worthwhile replacing them with Kadees?

Thanks

[gmpullman]

I think there was a redesign of the M-C coupler in the past few years. The recent run seems to be a pretty decent "clone" of the original Kadee.

Jason readily admits that there were some flaws in that first batch of couplers. Most recent Rapido "blurbs" mention the "improved" M-C coupler.

I clip the trip pins off nearly all my engines and rolling stock. When I was clipping some Rapido cars a while back I discovered that the material used for the trip pin must have been high carbon, vanadium steel. Certainly much harder than the soft "iron" that Kadee uses.

Some of the earlier designed Macdonald-Cartier couplers, if I recsall, had an extra nub near the spring and this interfered with smooth coupling.

Lately they have been painted a rust color as seen on the pilot of this Hudson:

CPR_4-6-4 by Edmund, on Flickr

Since it is so prominent, I will be replacing that coupler with one of the Kadee "scale-head" couplers as soon as I get that engine in the shop. The coupler on the tender will stay for a while.

maxman

Is it worthwhile replacing them with Kadees?

Eventually, all my equipment gets Kadees. In a few cases I keep the clone for a while, such as the Walthers ProtoMax, which seem to operate trouble-free and the later M-Cs are OK, too. Anything else I change out right away.

Good Luck, Ed

[wp8thsub]

maxman

Is it worthwhile replacing them with Kadees?

Unless they fail, or you want scale head types, no.  The Rapido couplers seem to perform just as well as Kedees from my experience (but I don't have any of the early ones that were reportedly problematic).