Generally speaking, is it always preferrable (will it always give better performance) to switch over truck mounted couplers to body mounted?
I have some 67 foot passenger cars that I am sure the coupler arm on the truck hits the stairs and tends to knock the car off on otherwise passible curve radii. I can easily install body mounts on these particular models.
I was wondering also if I should let the body mount coupler boxes have a bit of side to side rotation. This was suggested for the installation of some other boxes on some Jasybee body mounting pads I purchased for another set of passenger cars I have yet to get to.
Gerome Generally speaking, is it always preferrable (will it always give better performance) to switch over truck mounted couplers to body mounted?
Generally body mounted are better than truck mounted.
Generally its better not to let the couplers BOXES rotate. The couplers normally have some swith to them inside the coupler box.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
GeromeGenerally speaking, is it always preferrable (will it always give better performance) to switch over truck mounted couplers to body mounted?
If your truck-mounted couplers are hitting the stairs, you are probably running these on tight-radius curves, right? For 67-foot cars, standard body-mounted couplers won't take 18-inch curves, and probably not 22-inch, either. What's your minimum radius that you're running these over?
I believe you can buy a body-mounted coupler system which includes some swing capability. The coupler box (draft gear) is not mounted directly to the car, but rather to a pivoting piece which gives it some sideways play.
In general, though, body-mounted couplers will perform better than truck-mounted. However, truck-mounted is sometimes the only way to go for the long-car, tight-turn situations. You may have to trim a bit off the back of those stairs.
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Gerome Generally speaking, is it always preferrable (will it always give better performance) to switch over truck mounted couplers to body mounted? I have some 67 foot passenger cars that I am sure the coupler arm on the truck hits the stairs and tends to knock the car off on otherwise passible curve radii. I can easily install body mounts on these particular models. I was wondering also if I should let the body mount coupler boxes have a bit of side to side rotation. This was suggested for the installation of some other boxes on some Jasybee body mounting pads I purchased for another set of passenger cars I have yet to get to.
Like any other general question, it depends on several factors. Scale, radius of curve, distance from end of car to kingpin (truck mounting pin or screw) all come into consideration. If you have truck mounted couplers on a 67 scale foot car and it hits the steps on curves, body mounting the coupler will almost surely cause derailments. Walthers makes a swing coupler mount, but it may not be enough to compensate for your sharp curves.
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-997
Body mount couplers look better and back up better. In a backing move with truck mounted couplers, the thrust of the locomotive is transferred to the trucks, which tends to twist them sideways and then a flange climbs over the railhead and the car is on the ground.
Long cars on tight curves (18 inch is tight) need extra coupler swing to stay on the track. 67 foot passenger cars are marginal-to-impossible with body mount couplers and 18 inch curves. If you have couplers hitting steps or other underbody details on curves the only fix is to carve away the obstruction as much as you can without affecting the looks of the car.
If you try body mount couplers on long cars, try making the entire train of long cars. On curves the end of the long car swings to the outside. If both cars are the same length, they swing out the same amount and might make it. A short car coupled to a long car will likely pull off the track. Try a long locomotive like an E7 with long passenger cars.
I never heard of allowing rotation in a coupler box. Let us know how it works out.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
Well,since the truck mounts are hitting the steps on these short passenger cars then it boils down to your curves are to tight..You see the "shortie" passenger cars was built to go around 18" curves.
Sorry,in this case body mounting your couplers won't help.
Yes there should be some coupler side to side play..You see these helps the cars to curve better..Even the prototype couplers swing side to side..
Larry
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What type of cars (what manufacturer) are you running?? The only HO 67' passenger cars I can think of is the Athearn baggage car. IIRC it's 67', the RPO is 63', and the coach and other cars are all 72'. (BTW the baggage RPO and coach cars aren't "shorties", only the other cars are). They're all designed to take 18" curves, as is any HO passenger car with truck-mounted couplers. I know all my Rivarossi cars will take 22" radius with their truck-mounted couplers, even the 80 footers.
As a rule of thumb you don't want to use body-mounted couplers on HO passenger cars unless your minimum radius is at least 24-26", 28-30" might be a more realistic number (especially if you want working diaphragms).