I have not been able to get MTH's HO remote couplers to work very well. The muted engines will not stay coupled and coupling to just a few cars is nothing but luck after several tries. Is anyone else having issues with MTH's HO remote couplers?
Your not the only one, on the engines I have from MTH I removed them and put on the Kadee couplers, I have always thought the remote couplers were a little to big.
Yep remove those couplers and install Kadee #5s. Those MTH one's are useless really.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
The MTH remote couplers are too big, they're ugly and they're clunky. And that's their good points. They don't work a darn.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
I have read that a lot of speed helps. This would tend to reinforce the assessment by some of us who feel that MTH products in HO are a little too toy-like; yuh gotta crash-em and bash-em.
-Crandell
selector I have read that a lot of speed helps. This would tend to reinforce the assessment by some of us who feel that MTH products in HO are a little too toy-like; yuh gotta crash-em and bash-em. -Crandell
HO Highrail toys at their best!
The UNcouple just fine (and sometimes when you don;t want them to) but to couple them, you have to slam together far harder than I would ever want to subject my equipment to.
So the ones between my A and B units I replaced with Kadee, since these are the ones that would come apart even though I never pressed either of the uncouple functions. The ones on the end, once coupled to a train, seem to stay coupled until I hot the function button. I believe you have to hit the same function again or the coupler will never close. But, it takes more force than I prefer to impart on my rolling stock. Between that and the sound shutting off and not being able to restart it while in motion, I'm pretty much done with these. They do run well, pull a huge train, and are nice and heavy. Maybe I'll rip out the Protosound board and put in an ESu sound decoder, they have fresh new Alco recordings.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
From Hikel:
The MTH remote operating couplers work best with McHenry scale couplers. Kadee #58 scale couplers are a close second and will work very well. Kadee #5s are a distant third. They work, but not nearly as well as the "scale" couplers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqgE-7kPot0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cwr3Ch7MjA
Basically, MTH's HO remote couplers work just like Lionel, Atlas, MTH, Weaver and K-Line O gauge tinplate couplers, which are not really suitable for switching as we in other scales practice it.
Before he passed away, the proprietor of my local-hobby-shop-of-choice built a switching layout with O gauge tinplate equipment from the manufacturers I listed above, using nice Atlas O track with gentle curves. He found that he had to convert all of the locomotives and cars to using Kadee's O scale couplers if he wanted to couple gently, or to not shove cars off of the end of the layout.
-Fritz Milhaupt, Publications Editor, Pere Marquette Historical Society, Inc.http://www.pmhistsoc.org
Hi Erie. I bought a used MTH Big Boy Modified, with remote control coupler. Could you give me the function number for operate it ? Thanks for your help
This thread is 4 years old. Let's see if he's still around. Seams like all that responded, back then, didn't like them.
Mike.
My You Tube
mbinsewiThis thread is 4 years old.
...but it was nice to see a post from Jeffrey again.
Ed
mbinsewi This thread is 4 years old. Let's see if he's still around. Seams like all that responded, back then, didn't like them. Mike.
Erie only posted twive and the last time was in Jan 2014.
Jeff was the best, miss him.
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
DSchmitt mbinsewi This thread is 4 years old. Let's see if he's still around. Seams like all that responded, back then, didn't like them. Mike. Erie only posted twive and the last time was in Jan 2014. Jeff was the best, miss him.
Though this post is very old, It is very much useful. Thanks.
Your right about seeing Jeffry. Some searches I do on the net, you'll find lots of old references back to this forum. Jeff pops up alot.
I'm resurrecting this thread simply to slam MTH for their terrible coupler design, which you then have to replace to use their locomotives, and you're launched into the hell of trying to line up the bottom plate, coupler box, and top cover over the tiny screw holes, parts falling off and getting stuck under the truck, forcing you to flip it over to get it back out, then repeating the process 4-5 times til you FINALLY have a USABLE COUPLER on a $250-300 locomotive
MTH deserves to go out of business for this aggravating process they put their customers through. Oh, wait....
Savage take, I know. But I'm nearly at the point of returning this Dash 9 I just bought because I CANNOT get the screws to tighten on the front coupler. I play operation for 5 minutes getting everything lined up, and the threads will not catch on the screw.
mattyjoe I'm resurrecting this thread simply to slam MTH for their terrible coupler design, which you then have to replace to use their locomotives, and you're launched into the hell of trying to line up the bottom plate, coupler box, and top cover over the tiny screw holes, parts falling off and getting stuck under the truck, forcing you to flip it over to get it back out, then repeating the process 4-5 times til you FINALLY have a USABLE COUPLER on a $250-300 locomotive MTH deserves to go out of business for this aggravating process they put their customers through. Oh, wait.... Savage take, I know. But I'm nearly at the point of returning this Dash 9 I just bought because I CANNOT get the screws to tighten on the front coupler. I play operation for 5 minutes getting everything lined up, and the threads will not catch on the screw.
Well, I'm sorry you're having trouble with installing the alternate couplers.
And in addition to their gimmicky couplers, I never saw the attraction to their products at all.
Non compatible control system, gimmicky toy like "extra" sounds, often over sized toy like detail, and I have not even gotten into how they did business.
I change the couplers on everything I buy, because I only use genuine Kadee couplers. Some newer models are a little more tricky, but this is a hobby that generally requires some level of mechanical skill.
And as for MTH shutting down, one of my theories is the sales of HO did not meet expectations, and it is a known fact that the O gauge market has cooled off, so Mike decided to get out while the getting was good.
If this task is so difficult, have you considered consulting a professional model train mechanic?
The target market for MTH products seemed to be those interested in collecting and running vs too much model building. I have never purchased an MTH locomotive.
Good luck with the coupler install.
Sheldon
Dunno, only took a few minutes to repalce the silly 'operating' couplers on my MTH locos with the supplied Kadees.
But I build a lot of kits, and have rolling stock old enough that it didn;t come with knuckle couplers so they had to be switched out - not to mention I switch anything not Kadee with real Kadees anyway - they just work better. So I have no idea how many hundreds of couplers I had repalced before I got the the MTH locos. The MTH ones didn't seem any more difficult that most.
I've replaced hundreds of couplers on rolling stock and locos, and I have 2 other MTH locos that I had no problem replacing the couplers on. Something was just not right about that Dash 9. Perhaps the holes weren't drilled properly? Very odd. I kid you not, I tried at least 20 times to get everything lined up and get the screws to catch. They just wouldn't.
My rant was simply because I wouldn't even have to go through that if MTH didn't employ a very pointless coupler system to begin with.
Rants are always welcome on the forum.
Rich
Alton Junction