Boxcar Coupler Sits Too Low

 I'm going to guess it's a Weaver. They did a lot of custom runs for clubs. Is the knuckle on the coupler opening?It's pretty hard for 3 rail couplers to become disengaged from track unevenness. They are way oversized. There is no standard but most manufactures are close enough. Weaver couplers if the truck pivots are loose tend to droop down slightly. If it gets to bad the thumbtack will short on the center rail. Tightening the screw and backing it off till the truck pivots freely will solve this. 

If the knuckles opening. You can rubber band it and disable the coupler. If it's a height issue. A few more pics would be helpful.

If they are truck mounted couplers it might be difficult to try and fix it, can't tell from the picture the kind of coupler and how it is mounted to the truck. Usually they are riveted to the truck frame, and the fact that it is too low makes it more difficult. If the the coupler is riveted to a relatively thin flange, in theory you might be able to bend the coupler shank upwards , deflecting it enough to make it mate better......but if the coupler shank is plastic, that may not work well or at all.  

If you think it is a williams car, you may want to try and contact them, you may be able to get replacement trucks from them. I would measure with the car on a level piece of track the height between the top of the rail and the bottom of the coupler, so that you can give that to Williams if you contact them. It could be the trucks on that car were defective and they could send you another set. The other option would be depending on how the trucks are mounted to swap them with another set from a junk car and see how that goes. 

Thanks for all the input. I don't have any spare trucks that fit.  It is screwed in from the bottom, not rivited in. Here are some additional photos. Is it a Kadee coupler? I would not know.

George 

Looks like a Weaver truck and coupler. I would say if you want the car on the left to couple better then you would have to use the type of truck and coupler that is on the car on the right............Paul

George,

   There is a simple way to match the rolling stock couplers, just install a spacer (Small Washer) on the opposite Car's Trucks, lowering the Trucks on the joining car to equal that of the Weaver FCTT Box Car.  The draw back is you must join these two pieces of rolling stock on your consist all the time.

PCRR/Dave

 Not a Kadee.  This is a Weaver car. Did you try tightening the screw for the truck pivot ?  The diecast coupler with it's weight and length relies on the truck mount screw to keep it level. Just a little bit loose results in a drooping coupler. I believe it was Bob Bartizek that recommended gluing the coupler to the truck to keep it on a level plane. There is a difference in the photo between the 2 cars. It sure looks like the thumbtack for uncoupling is awfully close the the center rail. Enough so that you probably can't uncouple over a magnet. It won't pull far enough. Still. A Kadee coupler is about 1/3 the thickness of a the 3 rail coupler. With decent track they seem to stay coupled.  Have you tried coupling to a different car ?  Those Weaver trucks and couplers have been around forever without major issues. They are rare enough now since Weaver went out. The trucks and couplers alone are selling for what the entire car used to go for. You can replace the trucks if it comes down to that. You may end up with a car that rides on the high side. 

 More so than just looks. This is the main reason I switched everything over to body mounted Kadee's.

Pine Creek Railroad posted:

George,

   There is a simple way to match the rolling stock couplers, just install a spacer (Small Washer) on the opposite Car's Trucks, lowering the Trucks on the joining car to equal that of the Weaver FCTT Box Car.  The draw back is you must join these two pieces of rolling stock on your consist all the time.

PCRR/Dave

HUH???

How can adding spacers on the opposite car between the car and truck lower the truck?  All that does is raise the body of the opposite car.

It's pretty obvious that the truck and coupler are two separate pieces.  What needs to be done is adding spacers between the coupler shank and truck of the FCTT car to raise the coupler.  This will also raise the car slightly, but should remedy the uncoupling problem.

Rusty

Its a Weaver LD die cast truck & coupler which is fine. You problem is you are attempting to run an O scale Weaver car with a Lionel non scale O gauge 027 box car. No can do.  

The problem was induced by the operator trying to mix 2 different scales together.   

It's a Weaver.  See:

https://ogrforum.com/...-hi-railers-club-car

Stu

Rusty,

  You are correct I engineered in the wrong manner!  Your fix is correct.

PCRR/Dave

Rusty has the right idea. You want to get the coupler higher than the truck. This will raise the car height. You will have an issue though. The Weaver coupler is notched to engage the truck. When the truck pivots. The coupler moves with it. Not a great design. Remember though. These cars were also designed for the 2 rail market. By adding washers. The coupler will now float independently of the truck. This could be solved with some glue. Still there are thousands of Weaver cars out there running fine.

Gentlemen,

   SIRT is absolutely correct these 2 were not engineered to run together, Rusty's custom alteration is required to due so.

PCRR/Dave

Here are photo's of the Weaver die cast truck. You can see how they go together, one screw holds the truck and the coupler on, they should line up with any MTH, Lionel, K-Line, Williams, Crown, or just about any three rail coupler, Scale size car or post war. Personally I think the screw is loose. Just take it off and inspect the car mounting or a long shot coupler or truck not right, MTH on left Weaver on right. 

Remove the coupler and slightly bend the shank so that it matches the height you need. Careful not to bend to much too fast it will snap off. Make sure to fully tighten the screw when you put it back on. 

If all your track is flat, that coupler height difference shouldn't be a problem. If you have grades with drastic changes in elevation, then it will obviously uncouple. I can only assume this is why you're having the uncoupling problem.

The Weaver die-cast couplers are sometimes problematic; yours does sit too low, but a contributing factor (from experience) is that the uncoupling plate (the "thumbtack") on these couplers hangs too low as part of the same structure. I've seen them spark when no other trucks are sparking - and I have seen them uncouple from interaction with the track (bumping the middle rail; uncouplers).

Basically, that thumbtack hangs too low and allows it to be jostled - leading to uncoupling sometimes. This may be contributing to the issue.

I think you're correct about the thumbtack. What do you think about a solution? Electrical tape over it?

George