I recently picked up my SD40-2s from 3rd Rail, and while they are beautiful locomotives the look of the couplers has really been annoying me. I've decided to convert them to Kadees but since I've never done it before I could use some help.
1. What are the best type of Kadees to use for these engines?
2. Are these engines difficult to convert?
3. How exactly do I perform the operation? I don't want to cause any serious damage that can't be repaired.
Thanks for the help.
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The 740 couplers are probably what you want. But it sounds like you are new to Kadee’s. They don’t mate well with many 3 rail couplers. The 805 Kadee pretty much mates with all 3 rail couplers. It’s not as attractive looking with an exposed spring. Both share the same mounting box.
Going with Kadee’s on a fixed pilot you will have a more limited coupler swing. Sometimes fixed or body mounted couplers don’t play well with truck mounted couplers resulting in derailments. You may need to make a transition car if you intend on keeping your 3 rail couplers. Wide radius curves are not an absolute must. But they certainly help.
I don't plan on converting everything I have (that would take a lot of time and money), but I don't mind doing a few transition cars. The locomotives need O-72 curves anyway so the radius shouldn't be too much of a concern.
For mine I ended up using 747 underset couplers because using 745s caused it to be only about half way to the proper height via the height gauge. Doing a few transitions cars is a good idea if you plan to only do a few pieces of rolling stock and the locomotives. As for converting the locomotives to scale couplers, it's rather simple to do so on these compared to having to take the shell off for Lionel models.
You do need the 747 coupler for proper height if using the supplied mount. The plug for the factory coupler is on the truck bottom, as are the mounting screws. Unplug it, remove the screws and carefully work it out through the pilot. Then install the Kadee mount supplied in the box, then the Kadee coupler. It’s pretty straightforward. The model operates fine on 072 curves with Kadees.
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