Box Coupler sliding shoe issue

maybe the plastic on the shoe needs filed a bit so the contact will reach the rail?

Is the spring on the show working?  Check that the wire isn't fouling and keeping the shoe from going all the way down.

Are these LIonel UCS tracks, or are you just using the term generically?  Make sure the contact rail is the same height as the adjoining rails, and equidistant from them.  Also, double check under the track to make sure the soldered joint is a solid connection; if there is a tiny crack, the weight of a heavier car m,ight be enough to make contact, but not the lighter.

With the car on the UCS, look from the end and see if for some reason the guides on the shoe are keeping the pin from making contact.  Also chec k to make sure the pin protrudes slightly from the shoe.

While I don't have the current issue, I have had many sliding coupler shoes over the years including the box couplers on the set I was given in 1941, and have had no problems with them.

The UCS track is an 027 UCS and works with all my sliding shoes except this car. The spring is fine......the shoes go all the way down. But I'm getting the feeling that the height of the wheels is a bit too much and it's preventing the shoe from solidly contacting the rail. I can hear the magnet engaging in the track, but unless I push down on the car or push it sideways, it doesn't work. Seems like I have to somehow lower the sliding shoe (or the bottom plate) somehow.    I will cut away a bit of plastic in front and behind the metal contact button in the shoe and see if that helps, but...I'm thinking not.

Roger

Roger, does the pin protrude through the shoe a tad?

RJR,

Yes, it looks like all my other sliding shoes, but for some reason, it appears that the whole bottom plate it's mounted on is not close enough to the rail to make good contact. Usually you see the shoe lift up quite a bit when it hits the activation rail. Not so with this car.

Roger

I'm looking at the tabs that hold the plate on the axles and thinking maybe I'll open them up and lower the plate. I don't want to do that, though, until I exhaust any other possibles.

Roger

Ok.....having some success finally. I found that if I pushed the car sideways, the coupler would work. And the rivet was a bit lower in the shoe than most of my other sliding shoes. So, I ground down the groove in front of the rivet a bit and then.....added a thrust washer to the washer on the axles on one side of the car. That had the effect of pushing the car towards the activation rail. The clips holding the axles were loose as well which created lateral movement of the car. Tightened them up a bit as well. They are both working most of the time now (especially if there's a car hooked to it in front).  The addition of the thrust washer (used that because it was the right size) seemed to have the most corrective effect. 

Roger