As in the image, I have several box cars with these cushioned couplers that extend further out from the car than normal ones.
Has anyone converted this type to Kadees and maintained the prototypical extra length of the cushioning mechanism?
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Weaver makes plastic coupler extensions, look at their mechanical reefer car parts, and I've used brass ones from a company who's name I can't recall ( they were kinda pricey though) . The other way I've done it is to make an extension from brass flat bar then drill it for the coupler mounting screws...DaveB
A quick-fix is to use the Weaver "Shock Control" couplers. They're $10/pair and look like they can be disassembled to replace the Weaver coupler with A Kadee 740. The photo in their catalog is of the unfinished prototype, but they come painted black and lettered "No Step/Keep off". I just put some on a set of 57-foot mechanical reefers. Since they're plastic, you should have no trouble modifying them to suit a particular application.
Matt, talk is cheap... we need pix 
Only ones I know of are made by Mike Gougen. Ed Reutling had made some castings for these too, but alas he isn't with us anymore to make them. One could do as Mike Gougen did, make a master, mold them, cast them, and sell them.
I still have some of the original ones Mike did. He used the Atlas box and milled them out to fit the kadee draft gear box. It didn't leave much meat to screw the Kadee to, but a short screw and some epoxy worked just fine.
Hey, where's that dude that does the 3-D printing?? Ohhhhh Mario, we have another project for you
These are the ones Mike Gougen made. You can see where they were milled out on the inside to make room for the Kadee draft gear box. I don't know if you can even buy these from Atlas any more....but a mold or 3-D printing would be just fine.
NO....I won't let them go 
Those holes only attach the extension box to the floor of the car. The ones I bought from him were Atlas parts and I had to make my own hole or mounting method to attach the Kadee.
Correct. I still had to drill/tap my own holes on both styles for my kadees. The pre-drilled holes in those parts were different; Mike's for AtlasO, Ed's for everyone else.
Didn't Lionel include their own version in their recent cars? Maybe some non-kadee users will sell those or Lionel will sell theirs as a separate part? Still room for someone to make and offer these. I just don't have the time.
The ones Lionel supplies with their 86-foot excess-height cars are flared at the end to allow a long-shank 746 to swing farther for sharper curves. Not really a good candidate. The atlas boxes had the best look, but were designed for Atlas cars and would sit too low on a car with 33" wheels.
Doug:
Here's the photo of what the Weaver couplers boxes look like. This is the one that came with the 2-rail car I recently purchased and I hadn't put the couplers in yet. This prompted me to buy five more pairs for the other cars and remove the Kadees I had installed. I'm planning to buy more to convert some Atlas 53-foot Evans cars over.
Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of them in a train yet (maybe tomorrow) but the big irony here is that with the correct scale couplers installed, the cars are actually farther apart than with the three-rail couplers installed.
Why is it necessary to remove the Weaver scale couplers at all? Will they not couple with the Kadees on other cars?
"Why is it necessary to remove the Weaver scale couplers at all? Will they not couple with the Kadees on other cars?"
The older Weaver 2 rail couplers were not very well designed, the trip pins spin around and end up facing backwards most of the time and they lack the positive knuckle springs that Kadees use.. Kadees take a different box than the Weaver couplers so they likely won't drop in to the Weaver extended draft gear. I can't recall if it's possible to modify the Weaver box for Kadees. This might be why I built my own extenders from brass flat bar stock. I haven't worked with the latest Weaver cars so they might have improved the couplers recently?......DaveB
I am not well educated about these cars. Didn't the entire carbody slide along the beam that holds the couplers?
K&S sells some brass rectangular tubing that looks ideal for this sort of thing.
Kinda Bob, but the car really doesn't move. The cushion drawbar slides back and forth under the car on the ends. It's like a shock absorber.
That's why it says "NO STEP". Our old head conductor that was once a Local Chairman in LA was standing with 1 foot on the drawbar, and 1 foot on the walkway. When the crew came to a hook on that car, the drawbar compressed and there went his foot. He didn't lose it completely, but never did come back to work.
Maybe Matt will stop back and address if the newer Weaver scale couplers will work with Kadees? The pic of the draft boxes looks good. I have seven of these cars to do and am reluctant to place an order with Weaver if their coupler is not suitable.
That leaves me with a quandary though. Will Kadees fit the Weaver draft boxes?
In the interim, I'll "cheat the system!"
Mount the KDs with the draft box in the "box out" position! 
Back on this topic. I just received a two rail Atlas O Master car that has the cushioned coupler.
These really DO need to be available as separate items!
Kadee ought to be making them!
Seems Kadee DO make them?? But don't sell them?? For HO anyway.
Maybe Matt will stop back and address if the newer Weaver scale couplers will work with Kadees? The pic of the draft boxes looks good. I have seven of these cars to do and am reluctant to place an order with Weaver if their coupler is not suitable.
Hi Terry.
They work fine with Kadee couplers -- 800 and 700 series, but as Doug said above, the physical construction of the Weaver coupler is a bit on the cheap side. I've been busy prepping for the York/Houston trip and just got back. The plan is to get a few more pairs and disassemble the housing to see how a Kadee fits. My recollection is that the Weaver shank and the Kadee shank are very similar and I think the Kadee will fit in a Weaver box, but I have to run some tests.
One of the guys on the 2-rail forum 3-D printed some shock control boxes for Kadees. The thread might still be up so you can do a search. His were pretty detailed, but I don't know how strong they are.
Had stack of work waiting for me when I got back. I did take a photo of the coupled distance between the Weaver 57-foot Mechanical Reefers using the scale "shock control" couplers. It's actually farther apart than the 3-rail couplers. Go figure. The box design is pretty simple and I'm sure could be enhanced with a little bit of styrene glued in strategic places. I'm going to take a couple of them apart to see if I can put Kadee 740's in their place.
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