Kadee's to Lionel Knuckles, will not stay coupled

JdevleerjrOGR Forum Member

I am on a quest to covert all my rolling stock to kadees. I purchased a few boxes of kadees this afternoon to experiment with. So far so good, as I am able to easily convert several Atlas O cars in a matter of a few minutes. Kadee to Kadee it couples perfect. Can roll right up to the car and couple it up with no smashing involved.

My issues now comes with coupling those cars to the old style big fat knuckles. One day I plan to covert all my locomotives also but for now I want to get all the cars done. I do not want to have a transition car, but to couple up with the kadees right to the locomotive. Just about everyone has told me this isn't an issue and will work perfect. I on the other hand am having issues. These will not couple with my locomotives at all. The loco can pull the car about 3 inches before the kadee lets go. Am I doing something wrong?

I am using Kadees #746 with medium centerset shanks. I also purchased a package of long shanks not knowing what I need. Any tips on getting this done right?

Thank you.

3/4/1310:48 PM

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Former Member

Well I have noticed that the new 700 series don't couple and uncouple with the 800 series properly 100% of the time. If you stick with one series or the other, they work as intended 100% of the time.

My 805's work with the claw 100% of the time, I've never had an issue with them. I'm guessing (strcitly my opinion) that the new 700 series is the problem when trying to couple and stay coupled to a claw. You might try to file the claw down some (make it thinner) where the Kadee holds onto it. This will allow the Kadee to close a little tighter and hold onto the claw like the 805's do.

Again, it's just my thoughts on it because I've never had a problem with an 805 to claw coupling. I do have issues with 805 to 700's though.

3/4/1311:20 PM

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JdevleerjrOGR Forum Member

I will go back tomorrow and see if they have any of the 805 series.

3/4/1311:30 PM

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Hot WaterOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER

I have found that some lobster claw brands couple better with the Kadee #805 than other brands. I found that the Sunset/3rd Rail claws tend to couple pretty well with the #805, MTH was 50-50, and the Lionel claws seems to be about 30-70. Eventually I got everything up-graded to Kadee, so now there are no more issues.

3/5/138:11 AM

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Jim PolicastroOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER

Filing a shallow vertical groove on the inside of the knuckle of the lobster claw will give the Kadee 805 something to grab and prevent unwanted uncoupling. This won't affect the normal operation of the lobster claw in any way other than to stay better coupled to a Kadee.