New autoracks....Amyone having uncoupling issues?

I usually just drop some CA glue on the underside of the offending coupler

Rubber bands for braces work most of the time. You can color them black with a sharpie.

The orthodontic rubber bands can be bought in black, but they only work on the up/down tabs. The sliding tabs need to be glued shut. If you have no plans of switching the cars with the uncoupling tabs, this is an easy way to go because you'll never have to worry about it again.

If you want a working coupler, the only solution would be call Atlas. They're still being delivered to dealers so they may not have parts ready yet, but if you call in, I'm sure the issue would be taken care of.

No glue or rubber bands if you want them to function. You have to file the area where the slider is hitting the end towards the coupler so it can slide further in to engage fully.

Pete

Thanks for the input Pete, this is a common issue with all brands of rolling stock.

Do you have any pictures of how you filed it down?  

@Cogen1981 posted:

Thanks for the input Pete, this is a common issue with all brands of rolling stock.

Do you have any pictures of how you filed it down?  

I have done this on Lionel trucks. Not sure if Atlas are the same but suspect they are similar. I will see what I have.

My Atlas reefers have thumbtacks.

This is a Lionel truck. On these trucks the blue circle shows where the slider stop is. That is what limits travel. Remove material from either the slider or coupler arm will move the slider further into the knuckle.

Pete

No uncoupling Issues, but they sit almost 1/8th" Lower than my MTH Autoracks.

The sliding drawbar inside the long bolster is a intricate design- but will be problematic. I just got a multimax that has a uncoupling tab that's hanging down and shorting out the track. I'm thinking it's gonna get cut off.

Geno

The new long couplers are a distinct design.

The corrections are going to need to be done carefully.

Andrew

@72blackbird posted:

The sliding drawbar inside the long bolster is a intricate design- but will be problematic. I just got a multimax that has a uncoupling tab that's hanging down and shorting out the track. I'm thinking it's gonna get cut off.

Geno

I took one apart and discovered the long sliding bar  has a bent up end that catches the magnetic uncoupling tab. When the bar is engaged from the magnetic tab, it slides to coupler and opens the coupler. What I found is that this bar did not have enough travel to completely lock the coupler. The coupler kept opening up at different places around the layout. I ended up opening up the bend on that slider bar which in turn gave the bar more sliding travel. Issue fixed. Even though I shouldn't have to fix an issue on a brand new item, I am glad it is finally fixed.  I also noticed that 2 of the 3 cars had drooping couplers when I opened them for the first time.

@jini5 posted:

I took one apart and discovered the long sliding bar  has a bent up end that catches the magnetic uncoupling tab. When the bar is engaged from the magnetic tab, it slides to coupler and opens the coupler. What I found is that this bar did not have enough travel to completely lock the coupler. The coupler kept opening up at different places around the layout. I ended up opening up the bend on that slider bar which in turn gave the bar more sliding travel. Issue fixed. Even though I shouldn't have to fix an issue on a brand new item, I am glad it is finally fixed.  I also noticed that 2 of the 3 cars had drooping couplers when I opened them for the first time.

I ended up opening up the coupler as you did, playing with the drawbar to get it to push the uncoupling tab up enough to keep it from contacting the center rail. It doesn't allow the coupler to open when the side tab is pushed- so I'm going to ask Atlas to send me a replacement truck. After "adjusting" the doors, having to separate the flat car section from the body to remove loose parts, having to deal with these couplers has me saying "enough". This multi-max autorack was rushed into production- it's going to be problematic as these issues pop up more and more. I think I have enough of them.

Geno

@72blackbird posted:

I ended up opening up the coupler as you did, playing with the drawbar to get it to push the uncoupling tab up enough to keep it from contacting the center rail. It doesn't allow the coupler to open when the side tab is pushed- so I'm going to ask Atlas to send me a replacement truck. After "adjusting" the doors, having to separate the flat car section from the body to remove loose parts, having to deal with these couplers has me saying "enough". This multi-max autorack was rushed into production- it's going to be problematic as these issues pop up more and more. I think I have enough of them.

Geno

Interesting.......So you had the body seperated from the "flat car"  A question comes to mind........Since you got to see the inside of the body, Are the doors actually glued shut or is there a solid wall on the inside and molded-in doors on the outside?  Assuming doors are glued shut, Do you have an opinion about how hard it would be to make these end doors open?

@jini5 posted:

Interesting.......So you had the body seperated from the "flat car"  A question comes to mind........Since you got to see the inside of the body, Are the doors actually glued shut or is there a solid wall on the inside and molded-in doors on the outside?  Assuming doors are glued shut, Do you have an opinion about how hard it would be to make these end doors open?

The doors are "glued" to the body with some black RTV - type silicone. Atlas also glued a rectangular piece of plastic to hold the doors in alignment, but packed the car in the plastic shells before the RTV dried- so the doors sometimes are misaligned out of the packing. You have to push the doors back into place, or cut them loose and reglue them. I suppose some ingenious person will fabricate hinges from plastic, glue them to the inside and the doors to make them functional. The flatcar section is nicely weighted, so putting cars inside isn't required- maybe better to do it to Lionel autoracks.

Geno

@72blackbird posted:

The doors are "glued" to the body with some black RTV - type silicone. Atlas also glued a rectangular piece of plastic to hold the doors in alignment, but packed the car in the plastic shells before the RTV dried- so the doors sometimes are misaligned out of the packing. You have to push the doors back into place, or cut them loose and reglue them. I suppose some ingenious person will fabricate hinges from plastic, glue them to the inside and the doors to make them functional. The flatcar section is nicely weighted, so putting cars inside isn't required- maybe better to do it to Lionel autoracks.

Geno

good to know Thanks for the answers, I looked at doing a seperation myself.  I decided against it because of all the details. So how difficult was it?

I have been using Neoprene O Rings sold at Flea Market variety stores for about $2.00 for a assortment. I never looked but Harbour Freight may sell then also.

@jini5 posted:

good to know Thanks for the answers, I looked at doing a seperation myself.  I decided against it because of all the details. So how difficult was it?

It's just turning screws- not very difficult at all. After you lift the car body off the flatcar section, you'll see the plastic blocks Atlas uses to hold the doors together. Sometimes they fall off and rattle around inside.

Geno