Need Advice on installing Kadees on a set of MTH Heavyweight cars

Hi J Daddy, here are a couple of pictures of how I did my MTH Amtrak cars. I am not sure if they are the same!

J Daddy,

Good topic. I've always wanted to convert an MTH set myself.

JDaddy,

Great topic, I have a couple of MTH passenger sets I would convert.  So I will be watching these thread closely

Mike

I have the infamous MTH Premier Amtrak Amfleet cars from long ago with disintegrating couplings. Would love to see if anyone converted these to kadees.

Good morning  J DADDY

Bring one of the cars with you to the meet tonight. You need to get a Kadee Height gage, I'll have mine with me, so we can measure the shim size.

Clem 

I only have one MTH Heavyweight. An RPO. The cars if fairly recent should have mounting holes in the chassis and there are mounting shims usually supplied in the packaging. A 2mm x 10mm long threaded screw should work. As far as removing the stock coupler. I actually switched out my trucks to a 2 axle from Weaver. Not sure how the MTH Heavyweight trucks come apart. Pictures shows the coupler mounted and the height. Even with the Weaver trucks the ride height remained pretty close. So if your cars have the provided shim. You should be good to go.

 Not sure if it's going to be a problem. Looking at the coupler on the car. It resides under the diapraghm. 

The pic below shows it coupled to a GGD Heavyweight. 

The MTH cars were designed for the 3 rail world with swinging couplers. The couplers are long and the diaprahgms are long as well to make them close to touching. I only have the one MTH car. Not sure how they would couple together using the standard 805 couplers. They do make a longer version. The 746. 

 As far as minimum radius. I run body mounted standard Kadee's on scale length cars. Pretty much 072 radius curves. What I do have though is easements entering and exiting each curve. Not a problem even when backing up. As long as it's done slowly. What was a problem. Was entering the yard. From straight. Right into an 072. Instant derailment. You mileage may vary seeing the MTH cars are a few inches shorter. Unless someone has a direct answer and has done a complete set. I'd do one end only of 2 cars and try it out. Removing the couplers on the MTH trucks may not be that simple if it's like their freight car trucks. Best to only fool with 2 of them.

Thanks Dave,

I received my set second hand, no boxes. They have the better detailed trucks, but alas the shims were long gone.

I will look to see if the mounting pads are there.

I will look more closely on how to get the trucks off.

So a Kadee 746 should be what I look for at York this week.

Morning Guys,  J Daddy, thanks for this great thread, I have been kicking changing over to Kadee couplers for quite some time now.  Also my thanks to the guys who have posted the pictures, I will be saving those so I can study them.  If I may, I would like to know where to order Kadee's and what numbers would I ask for.  I have no hobby shops in my area, (the armpit of Texas, far west Texas, El Paso to be exact) so everything will have to be mail order.  Would someone mind pointing me in the right direction.  Thanks for your help, your comments are greatly appreciated.

By the way, J Daddy, I have basically the same amount of room/space for my new soon to be started layout.  Ken Hoganson designed a layout for me to fit my space.  It is basically an around the walls type and my new AC-9 should run on it very nicely.

Well this will be my first time for MTH passenger cars in O. I converted all my HO stuff when I was a kid.

So doing some additional reading .... the 740 type appears to be the appropriate couplers for passenger cars...

the 746 as mentioned above seems to be the best bet. I did not see any for sale at York, but then again... there was LOTS to see!

Does anyone know if Kadee offers the couplers in a bulk pack like HO no. 5's  ?

I MUST not FORGET to order extra springs and the height gauge ....

One other question is ... do I have to use the plastic nylon screws in 3 rail applications ?

Hi JDaddy, just my 2 cents worth I would go with the metal gear box , for me it made it easier to put together. If you have time you could watch some of Laidoffsick's videos on youtube. He shows how to do a lot of conversions.

P.S. I used all metal screws .

I also use metal screws, Metal box to plastic, Plastic box to metal, P&D was the last place I bought Kadee's

clem