Converting locomotives to Kadees

I strongly suggest that you go over to the 3RS Forum and read all the "stickies" that are posted at the top. There is also a welth of information posted over the last year or two about body mounting various part number Kadee couplers.

Concerning your Atlas cars vs. Kadee couplers, you should take note that the pre-drilled holes in the under frames, of MOST Atlas freight cars, are NOT in the correct location for the Kadee coupler gear box, i.e. the Kadee coupler will stick out too far past the end sill of the car! Those holes in the Atlas O under frames are for mounting the Atlas O scale coupler & gear box ONLY. Should you desire to correct that situation, be VERY CAREFUL when drilling new holes, as the Atlas plastic under frames have a metal weight INSIDE the car, which will play h%$$ with drill bits (been there, done that)! That is one of the reasons I no longer purchase Atlas O freight cars, plus they have simply priced themselves out of MY market anyway.

In regards to AtlasO cars the over hang of the Kadee gear box is not that bad and I don't even notice it.  Hot Water is correct the 3RS forum is the best place to go for Kadee install info.

As for ATlasO prices, All I can say Is Weaver has been making the cars I want of late while MTH and Lionel cars are a pain in the butt to convert but all this is covered in the 3RS forum.

Good luck with your engine conversion, I have decided not to do my steamers as the Kadees latch up wheel now and I have a couple of transition cars just in case.

Yeah the  over hang on a atlas car looks fine to me and i look at that stuff all the time.when you take the screws out of the atlas trucks the screw on top which holds the tinplate coupler to the truck is also the kadee mounting screw for the car...FYI...conrail john

Mounting Kadees to engines, whether steam or diesel is a whole different ball game. It almost always requires custom fabrication, modification, and some scratch building of spacers for the pilots. Plan on spending a lot of time per engine, although the steam tenders are too dificult. Coupler height is normally the biggest issue there, needing spacers to drop the Kadee down to the correct height.

As far as couplers, with the new 700 series, it is a bit easier to find one that will work now. Short, medium, and long shanks, as well as center set, under set, and over set for different heights. I don't like using the long shank couplers because it makes it look like the coupler is sticking out there 3-4 feet. So I will use the medium or even short shank coupler, and modify the shank and the box just a bit, to allow for maximum swing in the curves.

Rich Montague has a lot of experience with this in the diesel area. Spacers, new handrails.... the whole deal... and they really look great.

The cars are easy, but get out the whole tool box for the engines, buy some styrene in different thicknesses to use as spacers, sharp drill bits, a good tap and handle, and a variety of screws sizes and lengths.

Sorry about posting this in the wrong forum, as I thought i was in the 3 rail scale forum. 

As for the locomotives, if I kept the claw couplers, I understand they mount easily with the kadees, but they would need me to line them up correctly.   There is a few sidings that are in arms reach but it wouldn't be ideal to have to 5 finger the locomotive to the car I am coupling up with.  

My advice is to use the new generation AAR Kadee couplers. I am installing them nowon a GGD set. They are terrific, look much more scale than regular Kadees, and the coupler spring is hidden, eliminating the chore of replacing them when they fall out. They are more expensive, but I won't put anything else on now moving forward.

I've installed Kadees on all my engines.  You'll have to drill & tap holes, use shims or file down some metal, but it's well worth it.  If an engine needed some material removed, I roughed out the spot using a metal bit in my Dremel then finished it using a file.

On my 2 steam engines (Railking 2-8-0 and RK Imperial 0-6-0) I used the short shank Kadees on the front and regular Kadees on the tenders.  All diesels got regular Kadees along with fixed pilots.

It can be done, just take your time and plan ahead.

Actually, as long as the "claw" is closed, it will connect with the Kadees with just slight bump, not like slamming the claws together. I did a video on switching cars with Kadees vs the Claw, and it's in my youtube page. It can definitely be done, but converting the engines to Kadees with fixed pilots look soooo much better.

Thanks Laidoffsick

I guess the best way for me to find out is to try it out myself.  I will go and get some Kadees this week and install them on some Atlas Cars and see how easy it is to switch them with my claws on my locomotives.  

I can run this way for awhile until I get my locomotives switched to Kadees.  

Hi Guys,

Boy I have done so many convertions over the years, both steam and diesel. Atlas, Lionel and MTH. Hardest part of a diesel convertion is disassembly of the engine to drop the truck and remove the OEM lobster claw coupler. Steam is easy but both steam and diesel take a bit of enginnering to design the mounting of the coupler and to fix the pilot on diesel models. That is part of the fun of model railroading

All future purchases are MTH scale wheel models. I have a MTH trainmaster in Wabash on order from Jason's. It is a different body style that the last Lionel version. Different end walkway height.

George

I couldn't get the new style Kadees to latch with the claw. I still like the new ones better because I'm changing over to all Kadee's.

Although Soo Nut is the "expert" at up-grading diesel models to fixed pilots and Kadee couplers, I think I have probably up-graded close to 100 steam locomotives by now. Pretty much all manufacturers, from MTH, Lionel, Sunset/3rd Rail, and K-Line; it really isn't all that difficult. I think the "worst" things I've ever up-graded, were Lionel cabooses!