Lionel Legacy F3 couplers

Hey sure...  im glad u posted.  I would like to know too.  There are some F3s that had much shorter couplers...

I have not connected my ABBA Sante Fe Units Yet, is there really that much gap in the newer Diesels? If so, I too would be interested in the closer coupling. I am not really concerned with the electronic couplers on B Units, so, wonder why Lionel changed their strategy....The AA Units look great.

The parts listing for these engines is now up at lionelsupport.com.

Here is the dummy coupler. You should be able to replace the electro coupler with this.

The electro coupler is only 1.44" long so you aren't going to be able to find a shorter one.

I suspect the reason for the large gap is the fact that these engines use the Liondrive system. The TMCC versions from the early to mid 2000s had standard china drives. The trucks are totally different and apparently the coupler mounts are different as well.

I'll stick with my TMCC engines. Even though the gap was smaller it was still too big for my tastes. Kadees worked for me, maybe they will work on the Legacy engines.

Pete

You know, someone or some company should make a slip over diaphragm that’s flexible to connect these beautiful units together, eliminating the close coupler syndrome....This would be a good way to actually close couple passenger cars together to.  Wow, the older Heavyweight cars, older 18 inch passengers cars, and a multitude of F and B Units.......and the list could go on and on....Happy Railroading 

Norton, thanks. Ordered some this evening 

Larry, the A units aren't bad, but for some reason Lionel used two different coupler lengths on the B's. They look really odd all strung together. 

Surefire posted:

Norton, thanks. Ordered some this evening 

Larry, the A units aren't bad, but for some reason Lionel used two different coupler lengths on the B's. They look really odd all strung together. 

The Bs have one dummy and one electro coupler. Its the latter that sticks out further even though its the shortest electro coupler you can find. The TMCC F units also have one dummy and one electro coupler but on those the mounts are much more inboard and distance is the same on both ends. The dummy is just as long as the electro coupler on those.

Pete

Surefire posted:

Norton, thanks. Ordered some this evening 

Larry, the A units aren't bad, but for some reason Lionel used two different coupler lengths on the B's. They look really odd all strung together. 

The reason the A's may not look as odd is because the electro coupler is on the nose and doesn't affect coupling distance but if you campare it to a TMCC engine that front coupker sticks out about the length of a football field.

TMCC

Legacy

It has little to do with coupler length, its all about the mounting point on the truck.

Pete

I changed the couples on my b units to dummy couples. It helps but is not even close to what it should be. Very disappointing for a set that cost almost 1500,  They look pitiful beside my Atlas fFeunits. The mars lite is a feature that should really stand out on these locomotives but they really dropped the ball on this. Ive sent the f units back twice and the powered b unit once for repair . Lionel fixed them for now but bottom line is i wish I had never bought these. I'm through with BTO.

I submitted a post back in 2003 on this subject.  This was when Lionel came out with the new redesign of their F units.  Since then, Lionel did reduced the gap in later models.

Couple to the right side is a F unit equipped with Lionel’s stock couplers.  Couple to the left side is a F unit equipped with a K-Line short coupler.

Above at top is the Lionel coupler that came installed on the backside of the A units.  This coupler is also the non-operating coupler on the B Unit.  The middle coupler is the one that comes installed on the K-Line F units.  At the bottom is a K-Line F-Unit short coupler.  For people who want to reduce the gap between the F-Units, K-Line supplies each of their 2500 series F units sets with an additional set of these short couplers.  Lionel please take note.

  You will note that the K-Line couplers have a post around the threaded hole, whereas the Lionel coupler does not.  The fillet at the base of the threaded post prevents the coupler from sitting flush to the top of the truck.  This problem was solved by placing a teflon washer between the coupler and truck.  One disadvantage of replacing the stock couplers, is you lose the self centering feature of the Lionel coupler.  But how often do you uncouple these units. 

   This fix will not work if you are running with just the A units.  There is not enough spaced between the top of the coupler and the rear platform to engage the mating dummy coupler.

Looking at the parts page again, if you plan to swap the electro coupler with the dummy shown above you should get the mount as well as its different from the electro mount.

Here is the dummy mount.

Coil mount.

Here is the truck used in the TMCC engines.

And the one used in the Legacy version.

The legacy truck requires that little bracket above for the coil coupler moving it further away from the truck. On the TMCC engine the coupler requires no extra bracket as it mounts directly on to the truck. Even though the coil coupler is 1.85" long it still extends less than the 1.44" coupler used on the Legacy engine.

No easy way to swap trucks as the motor mounts and frames are also different.

You would have to actually modify the Legacy truck frame to allow mounting directly to the frame without those little sheet metal brackets.

Pete

Norton, so I would need the top bracket, or the coils bracket, or both? Guessing just the dummy mount?

The coils bracket should be on the engine already but not sure it will work with the dummy coupler. Best get the dummy bracket with the dummy coupler to be sure.

You could actually check now by removing both couplers and see if the dummy coupler will work on the coil side. 

By the same token, if you have both B units you could use the dummy from one on the other until your order comes in and check the new coupling distance.

Pete