Coupler findings

[rrinker]

Say what you will about Kadee, but there is a reason they're the originals...
I saw the hand Rix uncoupler tool, so I bought one to try it out. C-shaped plastic with a handle, holds two magnets, you drop it between the cars you want to uncouple and it opens them up. Well, it seemed a little tricky at first,t hen I seemed to get the hang of it and was getting a clean uncouple every time. Lately my father in law has been breaking out a lot of his rolling stock to check couplers, wheel gauge, and run them around the layout a bit, since most of it has never ever been run, he never had a layout before and just built the cars up and painted and decalled them. Anyway, he complained about how hard it was to uncouple cars with this tool. I mentioned the 'pick' idea, and attempted to demonstrate this with a small screwdriver. On Kadee couples, this works great. On Accumate couplers, forget it. Of course, Accurail has their OWN uncoupling pick that works with those. That got me thinking though, so I pulled out the Rix tool again and tried a few other things. With both cars having actual Kadee couplers - both of us can uncouple 100% with the Rix tool, no hands on the cars. If one car is a Kadee and the other car is an Accumate or P2K (the only other brands any of our stock has), it's a 50/50 situation. Sometimes they uncouple, sometimes they don't, and it usually requires fiddling with the cars. If both cars have P2K or Accumate couplers - forget it, they NEVER uncouple with the Rix tool, no matter how much I wiggle and jiggle it around.
I suspect this has to do with the knuckle itself being metal in the Kadee couplers and not in the other brands. But I am NOT going to install track magnets or electromagnets everywhere I want to uncouple cars, I am either going to use the Rix tools or make picks from bamboo skewers (anyone have pictures of EXACTLY what need to be done? I understand the concept is to get a flat like a small screwdriver blade, and everyone talks about using the bamboo skewers because they are insanely cheap and you can make dozens for a buck, to loss or breakage isn't a problem). And since the other brands of 'compatible' couplers are unreliable when it comes to uncoupling with these tools, ot they go. I never liked the three-piece Accumates, nor did I like the plastic whisker knuckle spring on P2K couplers. This uncoupling fiasco has cemented my decision, Kadee, and nothing but Kadee on all my locos and rolling stock.

--Randy

[jwar]

Randy.I feel the same, after returning after more then three decades to model railroading, my old kadee's not only still work like a charm, but now I have a lot of newer cars, cant tell which are the old ones. Had problens from the get go with the other brands and changed them out of the box, along whth getting rid of the plastic wheels....John

[cwclark]

moral to the story?....use Kadee couplers!...to me..they're the best!...Randy...instead of the chop sticks, I use a small jeweler's screwdriver (the wood will eventually wear out and they won't work anymore, not to mention they always get put in places ending up to get broken) ...Chuck

[mikebonellisr]

I've tried them all,and I keep going back to kadee.They work perfect when used together and they don't take a "set" when kept in the same position for a long time.They also have a coupler for most problem installations

[rrinker]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cwclark

moral to the story?....use Kadee couplers!...to me..they're the best!...Randy...instead of the chop sticks, I use a small jeweler's screwdriver (the wood will eventually wear out and they won't work anymore, not to mention they always get put in places ending up to get broken) ...Chuck

Well, the non-kadees I have are only because that's what already came installed on that particular car or loco - and they ARE being repalced with real Kadees. No more of this junk.
I dunno about screwdrivers, they certainly work, and won't break - but it's hard to beat a bundle of skewers for $1, loss really doesn't matter when they're that cheap. Of course, I NEVER [:D] misplace any of MY tools, so those screwdrivers would never become 'lost' . Actually, I really like the Rix tool since there's NO physical contact (except with open hoppers, darn those weights in the slope sheets...), and now that I've discovered it works 100% with actual Kadee couplers, it's no longer in the reject tool pile.

--Randy

[Anonymous]

Randy,

the coolest uncoupling tool I have is a penlight flashlihlight with a skewer duct taped to it. To uncouple, turn on the light (hey I can see) and place the skewer in the space between the the knuckles at the the throat of the coupler and gently twist . Works great.

[BRVRR]

Randy,
Amen.
Trainnut, I'm going to tape a skewer to my penlight tonight. Thanks for the idea!

[CBQ_Guy]

For couplers, I go with Kadee hands down.

I have yet to find an uncoupling tool that works 100 per cent with "every" coupling.

Regarding the RIX uncoupler, I have one that I filed an angle on all of the top edges of the tool which has greatly reduced the incidence of them snagging on roofwalk or caboose roof overhangs when lifting it out from between the cars.

[dacort]

I prefer Kadees, too. I have them on most of my equipment. Some of my cars came with other brands of couplers but I've had some of those fail so that they can't stay coupled. I generally replace them with Kadees as needed.

I have a couple of the RIX tools, and they work pretty well though sometimes not so good on curves (I have a curved yard due to space constraints). Sometimes I find myself giving the cars a little extra slack with my finger to make them come apart. I've used small screwdrivers, too, though those don't work 100% either without some "encouragement". One thing with the RIX tools is that on very detailed cars and locomotives, I have to be careful not to damage cut levers and air hoses and such. Overall though it's a nice product.

I have one Kadee under the ties magnet installed (regular not an electromagnet) on a spur near the back of the layout where reaching over to uncouple would be difficult. Those things are STRONG. I had to adjust the track to eliminate a slight grade, or sometimes the cars would get pulled to the magnet all by themselves. It works well now.

[Anonymous]

Kaydee all the way.

With that settled, I tolerate the other couplers while waiting for them to fail. It is nice that I dont have to swap them plastics right away. But I buy several sets of Kaydee #5's a year and the failure rates of the plastic wanna be has not yet overrun my availible kaydee supply. I run my cars as trains once a month or so and 3-5 couplers will fail. I hate to see the casualty rates on daily operations.

Long live Kaydee.

[Anonymous]

I find the failure rates of plastic couplers (McHenry) to be totally unacceptable when running like I do on a daily basis. (I can't believe I was dumb enough to listen to my not so local hobby shop and got some short shank McHenry couplers for one of my passenger consists.) Believe me they will be swapped out with Kadees very soon!

The good thing about the McHenry's and most other plastic couplers is that they are rust colored and make good junk loads!

[cwclark]

I'd like to also add that the only problem i've had with the #5 kadee is when i attach snow plows to my locomotives...the snowplow always presses against the coupler hose and i end up filing the snowplow down for the coupler to work...I'm going to try on my next attempt at this, but instead, use the kadee #46..it has the same coupler head as the #5 but the shank is much longer...chuck

[claycts]

I have a BIG LOAD (200) Mchenery Couplers still in packages. JUNK I GUESS?

[mcouvillion]

I've tried all of the new knuckle couplers and, except for a few very specific-use exceptions, have gone back to KaDee couplers. I have a whole pile of plastic knuckle couplers I have removed from new rolling stock because I don't want one to fail in use. Kadees don't often fail, and if they do, it is usually the knuckle spring that has disappeared.

Mark C.

[Anonymous]

Springs can be replaced. Just stab one with a xacto knive and slip the spring on.

When other couplers fail they are no good and must be thrown away. You can get years of life out of kaydee.