Kadee coupler on the front do MTH Mohawk?

I haven't done any MTH steam but I did my Legacy GS4s. Used a Kadee, cut the shank to the length I needed, drill a hole in the shank to clear the shoulder screw and mounted in the dummy coupler slot. Its hangs a little low but under load it is the perfect height.

Now that I'm home I can post the photos: The process would work exactly the same for your MTH engine.

Cut off the shank and drilled a hole

Coupler sat a bit high so I milled down the shank a bit using the bench grinder

You can see when not in use it hangs a little low because there isn't much shank to hold it level. But when coupled to another engine and under a load, it is at the perfect height and works well. I wanted to connect the factory cut lever chain to the coupler with a lift ring, just never got around to it.

Cool, I'll try just that. Thanks

 If you need a little more length in the coupler shank. The ones Atlas use to include with their freight cars will work. Not the greatest coupler but you have a little more meat to work with. If you need more swing. File some notches in the shank where it contacts the coupler box. I've had success with the freight style pilots. Not sure on the passenger type.

 I'm assuming my Mohawk is involved in this. I'm guessing it's the lead engine seeing it has a Kadee on the tender. Looking forward to the video if it works. In order to justify the doubleheader. You will need every piece of rolling stock you own to put behind it.

I did the same as Laidoffsick. Brainstormed a few ideas then came up with this. Figured it would be the easiest way after experimenting with the dummy scale couplers and testing their range of motion. I made mine the exact same length as the dummy coupler, and they work well pulling my scale 70' passenger cars through all my curves. They will even pull my auto racks but they are at the extreme end of travel. I was even able to add one to the C&O 614, though it required significant filing to be able to swing into the hidden position. The only one not done is the small 4-4-2, as the pocket is much higher than the rest, so I will need a different offset coupler. 

Ben,

Nice steam collection.

Dave_C posted:

 If you need a little more length in the coupler shank. The ones Atlas use to include with their freight cars will work. Not the greatest coupler but you have a little more meat to work with. If you need more swing. File some notches in the shank where it contacts the coupler box. I've had success with the freight style pilots. Not sure on the passenger type.

 I'm assuming my Mohawk is involved in this. I'm guessing it's the lead engine seeing it has a Kadee on the tender. Looking forward to the video if it works. In order to justify the doubleheader. You will need every piece of rolling stock you own to put behind it.

 

No modification as of yet Dave, your engine just in the pic for effect.  LOL

I had grave reservations about this whole procedure!

But I tried it on a 3-rd Rail CP Mikado (streamlined version). Center punching the Kadee long shank #746 was an adventure! Nearly lost it as it became airborne but found it. Drilled the shank as Doug shows and here we are . . .

As can be seen, it sits a little high. I haven't put a Kadee on the tender of the second engine yet, so I am unsure how well it will work but I think it will be fine.

So, this method works on other than Lionel/MTH engines. But wear eye protection when punching/drilling!

Just grind down the bottom of the Kadee shank to get the correct height. Bench grinding wheel took a couple seconds.

For my double headed Mohawks, I replaced the Kadee coupler on the rear of the tender of the lead engine with one made of plastic. I had to file the open part of the plastic coupler behind the knuckle to have it mate with the drop coupler on the #2 engine, also a Mohawk. Might be easier than modifying or replacing the drop coupler in front.