Kadees on Altas Freight cars

Ron

I Dremel off the 2 round nubs which gives enough clearance for most curves except maybe the loop around the Christmas tree.  The truck is rotated 180 degrees when mounted.  The claw coupler can still be restored by the new owner if I ever sell the car.  Now if I could only remember to put the coupler parts back in the box . . .

Bob

Thanks Bob... Will get out the Dremel tool.  I'm good at destruction.

That's an MTH car.  Atlas refers to them as it "Premire" line.

Jan

Best thing to do is swap to Atlas trucks. They'll lower the car and eliminate all that junk thats in the way. With 2 rail Atlas trucks, you need 1.5mm of spacers for a kadee. If you swap the MTH trucks out for atlas ones, the atlas ones come with a "button" that you insert in the truck mounting hole since the screw for atlas trucks comes up through the bottom. For whatever reason, the truck mount for the high cubes is a larger diameter than a lot of other MTH tooled cars, so the atlas button fits in it kinda sloppily. I 3D printed new buttons out of ABS that can be bonded into the floor of the car without any slop. Since it's then part of the car floor, you can run the atlas truck screws in without worrying about it wiggling around in the hole.

The quickest way to deal with the MTH trucks if you want to use them is to drill the coupler mounting hole progressively larger until its no longer there.  

If you keep the MTH trucks, I think you need a 3mm spacer to lower the coupler away from the floor. With 2 rail Atlas trucks, you need 1.5mm of spacers for a kadee to match the height gauge.

I've converted 4 MTH Premier 50' high cube box cars to 2-rail using Atlas 100T RB trucks and Kadee 745's. No shims or spacers required to get the correct coupler height. The Atlas plastic truck adaptor works fine, no need for any modifications here. Not sure why some people like to make things more difficult than they should be.

As for the MTH trucks, I cut away the extra metal with bolt cutters so they clear the draft gear box. Intermountain wheels work great with MTH trucks for 70T RB applications.

The fact that this is an MTH car in Atlas clothing explains why it was so easy to install Kadees.  The holes were perfect.

I ended up totally cutting up the trucks.  Dremel tool 1 and trucks 0.

First cut the "nubs" off as Bob suggested.

Then had a problem with the coupler plate falling and catching the center rail.  Gone.

Then upon reassembly the wheel kept catching part of the metal frame of the truck.  Gone.

I ended up disassembling the entire truck, removing any part no longer necessary, cutting back the frame further since parts were removed and then reassembling.  I'm really good at removing and reinstalling those little springs now.

Also, as a result of the Kadee screws being too long I put some spacers between the frame and metal weight.

A lot of work just to install Kadees, but it looks good.

I also swap the MTH trucks out for Atlas O 100 ton trucks.  They look so much better anyway and you don’t destroy the MTH trucks.  

Ron

I did not pick up on the fact that this is an Atlas Premiere car with MTH trucks.  MTH trucks make Kadee conversion a pain.  Your only options are to make a bunch of Dremel cuts and remove most of the hardware as you have done or remove every single spring (6) and screw (around 10), completely disassemble the truck, remove these parts (below right) and re-assemble.  I left on the stamped metal frame although I believe the truck is stable without it.

It would be nice if you could do all your Dremel cuts without any disassembly.  I don't think that is the case due to the way some parts are interlocked.

Here is the reassembled truck.  The truck on the left shows the 2 round nubs cut off.  

I have not yet mastered the art of removing and replacing the springs.  I have lowered the bar such that a successful reassembly means that 4 of the 6 springs have been replaced.  The remaining springs are somewhere in a 12 foot radius of my workbench.

Bob

@Jeff78rr posted:

I also swap the MTH trucks out for Atlas O 100 ton trucks.  They look so much better anyway and you don’t destroy the MTH trucks.  

While that may be the smart play... it just burns me to know I just spent $70 on a freight car and would have to spend another $30 on trucks for it.

@RRDOC posted:

Ron

I have not yet mastered the art of removing and replacing the springs.  I have lowered the bar such that a successful reassembly means that 4 of the 6 springs have been replaced.  The remaining springs are somewhere in a 12 foot radius of my workbench.

Bob

I know all about that.  I have a foam floor and will lay down with a high-powered flashlight with my face on the floor looking for a shine or something.

Neodymium magnets taped to a wooden square stick, or light metal bar like the ones in hanging file folders are great for finding and picking up truck springs, tiny truck screws and other steel parts that inevitably hit the carpeted floor under my work bench