MTH 2 rail SD-35/Kadee

If by "work around" you are asking if it is possible to cut the coupler shank off and install a Kadee, the answer is yes, and a nice end mill makes mounting the Kadee easier.  I machine two pieces of brass to encase the coupler box and fill the hole in the vertical pilot sheet.  Takes a pair of 2-56 screws to hold the pilot to the body, and one screw to hold the two- piece coupler holder to the pilot casting.  You have to cut enough of the coupler boss off the truck to avoid contact with the steps.

Tom:

If you're putting a Kadee 805 into a six-axle MTH diesel, you just need to shave about 1/8" from the rear of the 805 coupler box and cover. That'll clear the three-rail coupler mount on the truck and you'll have the full swing and slack from the 805. I've done all my six-axle MTH locomotives that way and it works fine. The 806's MTH recommends have a short shank and don't have enough swing to them.

Hope this helps.

If the clearance is anything like the SD45 (and I suspect it is --I've heard similar things about the GP35), the 806 will just barely fit without fouling the truck. At least that's what I found on the SD45. The three-rail coupler tab rubs the back of the 806 box, but it's delrin, I guess, so no harm done, and no derailments.

But you might want to to the dremel surgery. Again if its like the two-rail SD45, the 806 will mount, but it comes out too low, in which event you might want one of the new offset-shank Kadees, which only come in medium length. Cutting the tabs off to install the offset shank Kadees is on my list of projects.

(On some of the bigger MTH diesels, you can simply trim a little off the Kadee box, but my hunch is you're asking because that won't work).

RM

Is there a way of cutting off the coupler tabs, without removing the trucks from the locomotive?

Not as safely as you'll have metal chips flying everywhere. By they way, removing that tab will solve the problem. The technique I use is the simplest to do. It has worked on C40-8W's, SD70ACe's, and ES44's. I haven't gotten around to the C44-9W and C40-8 I got this week (out of couplers) but expect it to work. Will post photos. Operationally, here's a video that shows how well they work -- on 36" radius through the tunnel. To paraphrase the Wizard of Oz "Pay no attention to that rail in the middle! The equipment is running on scale wheels!"

Matt,

The box-cutting trick works on the C40s and Dash 9s too. It won't work on the SD45. The problem there is not the box, but that the clearance is so tight that no matter how short one cuts the box, the three-rail coupler tab would nonetheless foul on the end of a medium shank Kadee (presumably peeking through the short box).

You have to cut that tab off the truck or go to the 806 short-shank coupler. I think someone reported the same problem with the GP35 and I'll bet Tom had the same problem with his SD35.

RM

Matt and Rich thank you....The SD45T-2 are the ones i'm working on, the short box Kadee works on the front, but the rear really could use a long shank coupler (Kadee#746) Already did one locomotive that way. Guess I'll take the other one apart also. I am still having a clearance issue mounting the snowplow pilots with the Kadee's. The uncouple trip pin hangs up.

Clem 

Thanks for the info. Didn't know the clearances were that close on the SD45's and SD35's.  On the SD70ACe's the cut-down 805's work fine. The 805's work fine on the U25's and GP38's unmodified.