I bought ioff eBay a 370 diesel locomative now the locomative come with any knuckle couplers now how do you put the couplers on the loonatllve or does the locomative even use knuckle couplers
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
The 370 is a link coupler engine. The link couplers of the cars attach to the bars on the front or rear of the engine. The equivalent knuckle coupler engine is the 371, they are harder to find. There were many other GP7's made in different road names with knuckle couplers.
To make a 370 into a KC engine the two end rail assemblies must be swapped for the equivalent pieces from a KC GP7 engine. Then the two truck side frame assemblies need to be swapped for ones with the KC's attached. It is not trivial to get all these pieces for the swap but it can be done.
@Doni posted:I bought ioff eBay a 370 diesel locomative now the locomative come with any knuckle couplers now how do you put the couplers on the loonatllve or does the locomative even use knuckle couplers
Sounds like you have the version with the bar across the front for link coupler rolling stock. It probably isn’t worth the time, cost and effort to convert it to knuckle couplers unless you have most of the parts in hand. Might be easier to put it back on eBay and look for a later one that did come with knuckle couplers already fitted.
Port Lines now sells a conversion kit for the 370 that includes all the parts plus instructions. It is sku2017 and costs $24. I would recommending buying that kit and keeping the 370, it will be cheaper than getting the KC version. The 370 also has a better motorized truck chassis that does not develop the ovaled axle holes common to the KC versions.
Thank you
@AmFlyer posted:Port Lines now sells a conversion kit for the 370 that includes all the parts plus instructions. It is sku2017 and costs $24. I would recommending buying that kit and keeping the 370, it will be cheaper than getting the KC version. The 370 also has a better motorized truck chassis that does not develop the ovaled axle holes common to the KC versions.
That’s interesting, didn’t realise a kit was available. I had a look and it seems that this is just for one truck, so you would need two to complete a full conversion, if that is what you may want to do.
With regards to bearings on these trucks not wearing out I have to say that I have had to change out quite a few of these ‘knock’ out bearings that have galloping wear. They are much easier than later chassis that don’t have these.
Were it my 370 I would only change the rear truck to a KC so one kit should be good.
My experience with the 370 is after decades of use none have any axle play, but I have lightly used KC diesels that barely run due to the worn axle holes. The KC trucks can be rebushed for a permanent fix but it costs a few dollars to send them out to an experienced professional and then pay for the return shipping. Rebushing is beyond my skill and interest level.
The downside of the 370 is (with a very few exceptions) they do not have PullMor. The pulling capability of the 370 is low and they do not do grades well.
The "bearing wear" that folks talk about is actually electrical arcing wear since the power to the locomotive has to pass through the axle bearings. This was alleviated some by adding the slider shoes (which were actually added to replace the pull-more covered whee, which no longer picked up power). The bronze bushings used as replacements are more durable than the pot-metal bearings of the truck chassis.
