Truck or body mounted couplers

[SWA737]

Is truck mounted the way to always go for HO scale.

Thanks,

 Rob

[gandydancer19]

Most of the HO cars that are sold these days have the couplers mounted on the body.  This, in effect, has become the standard for most modelers.  There are HO trucks available that have  couplers mounted to them, but these are mostly used in special applications where body mounted couplers won't work well.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I have only one car with truck mounted couplers in my consist. All the rest are body mounted.

[dehusman]

Short answer for HO: no.

The only cars that come with truck mounted couplers are "train set" quality cars designed for new or beginner modelers.  They are typically of lower quality on the detail and paint scheme end of the spectrum.

Virtually ALL cars purchased separately and those of good quality and detail have body mounted couplers.

Dave H.

[dale8chevyss]

I've used both and recommend the body mounted ones over the truck ones anyday. 

[jecorbett]

Truck mounted couplers are not prototypical. The advantage to them on a model railroad is they allow the couplers to swivel on tight curves, such as the 18" radius curves of a typical HO trainset. The biggest disadvantage, other than being unprototypical, is that it is difficult to maintain the proper coupler height since they will tend to sag. Most cars today have body mounts. Athearn, Rivarossi, and Bachmann have used truck mounted couplers on their passenger cars, but I have replaced all of them with car mounted couplers.

[dehusman]

The biggest disadvantage, other than being unprototypical, is that it is difficult to maintain the proper coupler height since they will tend to sag.

Another problem is that under "buff" forces (pushing a cut) the couplers tend to swivel out, tending to turn the truck causing the truck to derail.

Dave H.

[Don Gibson]

Is truck mounted the way to always go for HO scale.

Thanks,

No. Body mounting is to be preferred. 'Talgo' or 'truck' mounting' is manufactured/offered to allow following 'sharper-than normal' Curves.

 Rivarossi, IHC, ConCor, Athearn, and some European manufacturers have offered their 'Passenger' equipment with "truck-mounted" couplers anticipating 'their' buyers are uusing 'too -sharp' curves.

'Walthers' pioneered a far more sophitisticated 'swivilling- body-mount' for their 'Budd' Passenger cars. Current NMRA wisdom is to keep car lengths to 3X curve radius. (A 12" long car is restricted to 36"radius).

SOME  with limitted talent or "space" use 2X, others need 4X to 'look' right. so it depends on the individual.

[jfugate]

To expand on Don's comments, see the Layout Design SIG's curve radius rule of thumb discussion. Make sure and also read Fred Wright's comments.

Essentially, truck mounted couplers are strictly a model railroading trick to allow cars to operate reliably on tighter curves. But that trick is only good to a point ... the longer your model trains, the more likely the truck mounted couplers will transfer lateral forces to the trucks and cause your equipment to start derailing at every less-than-perfect rail joint or other track imperfection.

It gets even worse when backing a train with truck mounted couplers. Derailments are virtually guaranteed.

In short, truck mounted couplers are an act of desperation to get really long cars to run on tighter radius curves, but is also a recipe for more derailments. So NO, do not use truck mounted couplers if at all possible. 

[Ted Marshall]

I agree...Truck mounted couplers are a joke in HO scale or larger. N and Z, it is a must if I'm not mistaken.

Corrections?

 

 

[fwright]

I agree...Truck mounted couplers are a joke in HO scale or larger. N and Z, it is a must if I'm not mistaken.

Corrections? 

It is not a "must" at all.  Truck mounted couplers are more common in N and Z than in HO.  But remember, both N and Z got their start as a way to cram model trains into a very tiny space compared to the larger scales.  Train set minimum radius - on the order of 2X times longest car length - was the norm in the beginning, just as it once was in HO.

Because N and Z are smaller than HO, the lever arm for backing with truck mounted couplers is much shorter, so derailments aren't quite as "guaranteed".  It is also much more common in N to just change out the whole truck to change from Rapido or other couplers to MicroTrains (the present "gold" standard) because of the tiny parts involved in assembling and mounting a body mounted coupler.

Finally, due to the smaller size of the models using truck instead of body mounted couplers in N and Z isn't as obvious as it is in the bigger scales. 

Nevertheless, at least in N, those with respectable curve radii and concern about the details or performance during switching of their cars often change to body mounted couplers. 

just my thoughts and experiences

Fred W 

[dstarr]

Is truck mounted the way to always go for HO scale.

Thanks,

 Rob

Body mounted couplers allow backing moves with less derailment than truck mount does.  When backing with truck mounted couplers, the thrust tends to twist the truck sideways, then a wheel flange climbs over the rail head and the car is on the ground.  Body mount transfers the backing thrust to the frame of the car and does not disturb the tracking of the wheels.  

   Truck mount couplers stay closer to the track centerline on curves.  This helps keep the cars on the track, and make it more likely that cars will couple when pushed together on a curve.  Truck mount couplers are often used on long cars where the swing out of the coupler is more extreme than on shorter cars.  

   I have used body mount Kadee #5 couplers on 80 foot passenger cars and the train can negotiate 18" curves successfully.  The secret is only use long cars, and a long engine in the train.  With all the rolling stock roughly the same length, the couplers all swing out the same amount on curves and the train stays on the track.  A long car coupled to a short car (or steam tender)  the long car's coupler swings out much more then the short car's coupler and one car or the other is forced off the track.  

   Given a long truck mounted car[s] that works well, I would be reluctant to mess with it.  My 80 footer's with body mount came about when I was converting over to Kadee couplers from horn hooks.  Local hobby shop didn't have a truck mount conversion coupler, so to get on with the job I tried body mount #5 Kadee's.  I was pleasantly surprised when they worked. I was dubious at the start of the job.  

   Short (40-50 foot) freight cars always work well with body mount, and I have no qualms about converting a truck mount to a body mount.  When improving train set freight cars (better paint and decals, wire grabs, loads) I routinely convert truck mount couplers to body mount.  Long cars will retain their truck mount couplers so long as they operate well.  

 

[dcfixer]

My rail is a little roundy figure 8 with 22r curves - one 4% upgrade and one 5%down grade.  Over the years it has seen Athearn, Rivarossi and TSP talcos (the Rivarossi were the best performers by far), short/end mounted body couplers and the Waltharossi extended body couplers.  The extended body couplers have been the best - necessary on a few of the cars.  I have had no problems with the end mounted couplers on my brass, probably due to all the weight.

Here's a pic of the grade that I am referring to. 

DC 

[brucec12]

I tried mounting couplers on the body of my Athearn streamlined passenger cars but they consistently derailed on my 20 to 22 inch curves so gave up.

 One problem with the Athearn trucks with couplers is that on some of them the plastic arm the coupler is mounted on is slightly angled up or down which causes problems with the couplers. Is there any after market trucks w/coulpers that people have had good luck with??

 

Bruce 

[BRAKIE]

I tried mounting couplers on the body of my Athearn streamlined passenger cars but they consistently derailed on my 20 to 22 inch curves so gave up.

 One problem with the Athearn trucks with couplers is that on some of them the plastic arm the coupler is mounted on is slightly angled up or down which causes problems with the couplers. Is there any after market trucks w/coulpers that people have had good luck with??

 

Bruce 

 

Bruce,A lot of guys I know either body mount the couplers on their Athearn passenger cars or simply straightens the arm on the older BB auto part cars and the 85 foot flats..

At any rate it should be fixable without the need to  replace the trucks.

[BRAKIE]

Is truck mounted the way to always go for HO scale.

Thanks,

 Rob

Only for some long cars..

IF one feels the need to use truck mounted couplers then I recommend using KD's trucks with the mounted coupler.However,these does not come with roller bearings like you see on modern freight cars.

http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/page104.htm