Good morning
Will the Bachman couplers work reliably or should I use Kadee's ? if Kadee's, which ones ?
Clem
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Bachman couplers work ok but tend to droop over time so I replace the cover. Kadee #5 are good and my kit models have these. They also play well with the Bachmann versions.
The Bachmann ones work just fine with Kadees.
Some of their early ones didn't use springs, though and instead used a plastic tab that will likely fail, over time.
Thank you Neiler..... I bought some #5's I'm making an ON30 Inglenook
Clem
We have found that Kadees are the answer if you use magnetic uncoupling, Bachmanns work fine while in a train or with manual 'pick' uncoupling. Russ
For On30, I tend to use the Bachmann coupler as long as it has the metal coil spring on the knuckle, if the car came with a plastic leaf knuckle spring, it gets tossed in favor of a Kadee. Since the advent of Kadee's whisker spring, that's what I prefer to use when switching to Kadee's, but I still have a lot of equipment with the old flat phosphor-bronze centering springs. The Bachmann coupler boxes seem to be a few thousandths of an inch shallower than the Kadee's, enough so that the screw holding the lid can't be fully tightened, or else the Kadee won't return to center. If the screw keeps working loose, allowing the coupler to fall off, filing the Kadee shank so that it's thinner may work, or use the Kadee box after removing the molded in box on the car frame.
Bill in FtL
clem k posted:Thank you Neiler..... I bought some #5's I'm making an ON30 Inglenook
Clem
Interesting that this comment was almost a year ago now. I’ve been experimenting with Kadee On3 couplers lately and like the size but the gathering range is so much better as well for those less than perfect track issues!
