best 3 rail manual uncoupling tool ever made for lobster claws now with homemade cleaning car added.

Love it!!  Nothing like good ol Yankee ingenuity!

Great idea. but why not just bend and insulate apiece of coat hanger wire/

Roger,

Thanks for posting this. The videos really help. I will have to make one.

- Tom

Thanks Roger, it’s really slick.  I’ll have to make one, too!

Larry

guys, after the coat hanger suggestion and realizing I was over thinking this two much I have redone my original post. enjoy. 

KISS!

Al Smeraldo posted:

Great idea. but why not just bend and insulate apiece of coat hanger wire/

Ah yes; what we have here is elegance vs. practicality; both get the job done.

Just took a look at the new improved design - I like the light and bends - testimony to continuous quality improvement - W. Deming would be proud of you!!

Lionelzwl2012 posted:

Guys I was watching youtube the other day and ran across a European modeler who had a slick trick for uncoupling his cars. it worked,was cheap and most of all it was very easy to make.

 

RickM46 posted:

Love it!!  Nothing like good ol Yankee ingenuity!

Yankee?

Roger, I like the new "improved" version. Will make one today. Thanks for posting the video and photos.

- Tom

Al Smeraldo posted:

Great idea. but why not just bend and insulate apiece of coat hanger wire/

Because some of us old farts need a bit of light.....LOL.....Me being one of those O Fs

For my large scale trains I bought an extendable rod with a magnet at it's end.  Looks like an antenna.  I removed the magnet and soldered on a piece of thin sheet metal, about the size of a credit card.  It makes uncoupling the hook & loop style couplers a snap.  

I made one today, but I didn’t review the prototype and didn’t add the little bend at the end.  I used a piece of cyclone black fencing fabric.  Straightened it out, took off an inch of the vinyl covering after the 90 degree bend and used some shrink wrap on the bare metal end.  Gorilla taped a small Harbor Freight LED flashlight to it to complete it.

Larry

larry, just curios how did it work for you? I cant stop using mine. I aso found I love it for night time operations with the room lights off. the lighted uncoupler also comes in handy to see the engine trucks as they sometimes jump the track. also I can shine the light on my remote to see the screen real fast when setting speeds and such without taxing the battery in the remote. as we all know using the backlit feature on the remote drains the battery much faster. I have even got good at uncoupling cars on the fly at slow speed. this tool has changed my way of operating my trains. I feel like an ho guy cause now I can really truly switch cars anywhere at anytime.

also I found with the hidden uncouplers if you put some light oil on the moving parts in the nuckle itself it uncouples much easer with the tool. just dont use to much. 

I have tryed every brand of car I own lionel,kline,mth and no matter whether it has a cheap plastic truck or a good diecast truck this uncoupling tool works on them all. the secret is the U shape bend at the end. I also have cars with the plastic mu hose on the claw. this tool gets right past the plastic hose and pushes the uncoupling lever with ease. everyone who likes realistic operation and switching in 3 rail and dont want to spend coutless dollars and time in converting to kaydees needs one of these. just wish I had found this uncoupling tool trick years ago. 

VERY USEFUL gadget!  ☺  BTW, my "tool" for uncoupling those pesky LGB loop and link couplers is just a business card! Did someone mention the acronym, KISS? For the younger forum members: Keep It Simple Simon! (My Army seargent usually substituted "Stupid" for Simon.) LOL!

Great idea. I've got big hands and can't get my fat fingers in between the cars sometimes.

Gotta raid my closet now.....

Roger, it seems to work fairly well when I can see/find the tab even without the little hook on the end.

 Larry 

I like the wire and flashlight idea.  I've been doing something similar with just a length of wooden dowel (and no flashlight).

Now we need to work on something for those hidden uncouplers.  They might end up being a bit of a booger.  Unless somebody's already got a good method that I'm unaware of. 

Mixed Freight,  good question. How does one get to the hidden ones ? I noticed those on my Menards Morton Salt hoppers. Have not figured out a manual way to uncouple these unless they are attached to a coupler I can get to.

-Tom

mixed frieght, that is what the U shape bend in the wire is for. just go straight down between the cars and slide the wire up next to the claw on the side where the little push tab is for the hidden uncouplers and push inward on that lever and presto its uncoupled. see my second to last video titled straight down between the cars. with a little practice you can use the other car as leverage and they uncouple very easily. also as I stated on these hidden typ uncouplers espcially, if you put some light oil inside the nuckle and on the moving lever itsef (just a drop do not over do it) and work it in. it will allow the mechanism to work smoother and make using the uncoupling tool on these type of couplers at lot easer.

unfortunately the menards cars will not be abled to be uncoupled very easily if at all. reason is they have no little tab up next to the claw to push by hand like lionel and mth do. this could be for copyright purposes or just thier design I dont know. I wish now they would have included this lever tab on there truck design. they have a few cars I would like to have. 

Lionelzwl2012 posted:

mixed frieght, that is what the U shape bend in the wire is for. just go straight down between the cars and slide the wire up next to the claw on the side where the little push tab is for the hidden uncouplers and push inward on that lever and presto its uncoupled. see my second to last video titled straight down between the cars. with a little practice you can use the other car as leverage and they uncouple very easily. also as I stated on these hidden typ uncouplers espcially, if you put some light oil inside the nuckle and on the moving lever itsef (just a drop do not over do it) and work it in. it will allow the mechanism to work smoother and make using the uncoupling tool on these type of couplers at lot easer.

Yes, that works perfect, provided the hidden uncoupler HAS a little push tab included with the mechanism.  Several of my freight cars with hidden uncouplers DO have a little push tab on the side of the coupler shank.

You must not have any Menard's cars with hidden uncouplers.  Or RMT's newest cars with hidden uncouplers.  Or a Lionel 0-6-0 dockside switcher with hidden uncouplers.  And others, I'm sure.

They have NO little push tabs on the side.

Lionelzwl2012 posted:

unfortunately the menards cars will not be abled to be uncoupled very easily if at all. reason is they have no little tab up next to the claw to push by hand like lionel and mth do. this could be for copyright purposes or just thier design I dont know. I wish now they would have included this lever tab on there truck design. they have a few cars I would like to have. 

If there's just a FEW cars you would really like to have, I'd say go for 'em!  You can always upgrade to better trucks later on.

I have a set of Menard's cars I just had to have.  But I haven't swapped out the trucks yet.  Since I don't do that much coupling and uncoupling right now, I just put up with them.  Which ain't hard, they're usually ran in between other cars that do have the uncoupling tabs.

I do have quite a few menards cars mostly box cars and some coal hoppers. I just may replace the trucks or sell them. some box cars already have had thier trucks repaced with better trucks. I also took a menards box car and made a homemade track cleaning car with interchangeable pads. I based it on the ho cars with the little beveled piece of masonite. the kind of homemade cars those guys make. 

If you all here are interested in what my menards homemade cleaning car looks like I am posting a picture if it. I just used some velcro on the bottom of the wooden pad to be able to change out the types of pads being used. I mostly use green scotch brights and craft felt sheets cut to size. one for heavy-duty cleaning and one for light duty cleaning. I just put this car up front next to the engine and run it in a consist for a little bit as I run my trains. it works well and its cheap. it works good for inbetween deep hand track cleanings. not to mention it was cheap to make. two small nails and a scrap piece of wood and some velcro strip.plus some flat wheel weights I use to weight my cars down with.

to make this car drill two small holes in the scrap wood down the center close to either end then insert and glue the nails.next on the top of the wooden pad facing the car bottem I added the car weights. this keeps the downward pressure on the pad when it runs around the track. then to attach to the boxcar  just line up the nails to the bottom of the car getting it where you want it and mark the two drill holes for the nails then drill your two holes. the two pieces should then match up hole wise. then insert the nails into the holes. the wooden block should move up and down with ease no binding. then to keep the wooden pad from falling out and off when the car is right side up. I just took two zip ties and put them on the nail ends inside the car about halfway down on the nail. then I took some velcro pad and glued it to the scrap wood pad bottom to prevent the velcro from comming off when changing the pads. I ended up using two pieces with the plastic one on the top. this one will hold the precut pads. then I just cut my cleaning pads to fit the scrap wood pad, attach and wala thats it. just put wich ever type of pad you desire on the car and place the car in a train and start cleaning. the velcro holds the two types of cleaning pads I chose to use very well. also to note I have all fastrack and it has yet to get snaged on my switches and track. I use this alot. it keeps me from deep cleaning my track as often. I need to make another one somday. hope you like it let me know also if you make one and how it works for you.