Menards Flat Car Coupler too High, Help

When Williams cars had their couplers too high, the factory just bent the coupler arm down. That made the coupler height correct, but now the whole coupler was at an angle.

Even though Menards says their cars have no relation to Williams cars, many of the molds look the same. It appears that the same mistakes are being made regarding couplers also.

Maybe it's the same factory or sub contractor.

The coupler on the left looks as if it is bent down.

Hi Don,

I just checked again and the coupler on the Menards Flatcar is higher than most of my other trains. I ran it around about 50 times and it did not come apart, so I guess I will just live with it. The truck is pressed onto the flat car so I can not take it apart to possibly put a shim or two to lower it.

RoyBoy and DMASSO, thanks for the feedback. I also sent Menards a pic and asked for an explanation.

Be safe out there..

Menards doesn’t use the same trucks as the old Williams models, so there is no correlation in that respect between the two brands. (But Kader, Bachmann’s parent company, took over the Williams tooling with Bachmann’s acquisition of Williams, as well as other tooling when Kader purchased the Sanda Kan facility, so, yes, I agree that Menards’ boxcars and hoppers at least have some connection to the former Williams line.)

As for varied coupler height, I see that often enough in my mix of freight cars, which span from postwar to the latest available. In my opinion, this is a non-issue if the cars stay coupled. I make an adjustment if something seems awry. Most of the time, there isn’t.

Jim R.

Thanks for the reply. I was trying to adjust the coupler so it would be a bit lower, but the truck is crimped on the flat car. I looked around inside the truck if I can drill out the crimped piece but there will be no way for me to reconnect the truck. At least I can not figure a way to do it.

I ran the train around the layout for about 50 times around with different cars and it never detached so I will Live with it..

Isn't the coupler attached to the truck? How is removing the body and adjusting going to check the height of the coupler?

Train Nut posted:

Isn't the coupler attached to the truck?

Generally yes.

How is removing the body and adjusting going to check the height of the coupler?

It will not. I wondered about that statement also.

Train Nut posted:

Isn't the coupler attached to the truck? How is removing the body and adjusting going to check the height of the coupler?

You remove the body so that you can get to the topside of the truck and the coupler attachment point.  After that you can add shims between the underside of the truck and the coupler arm.

Hi Brian,

In your close-up picture, the truck on the right appears to be a Bettendorf-style truck.  Take a look at my topic that I posted a week or so ago on these trucks.  It would be possible to lower the coupler if you can bend it down a little (by bending the stamped metal truck frame).  You MAY be able to do it without removing it from the flat car.  You would have to be careful to not break anything else in the process, however.

I haven't tried this "link inserting" thing before.  Hopefully one of these can take you to the topic..............

https://ogrforum.com/...-assembly-and-review

Menards Bettendorf Style Truck Tear Down, Re-Assembly, and Review

Byrdie posted:

Train Nut posted:

Isn't the coupler attached to the truck? How is removing the body and adjusting going to check the height of the coupler?

You remove the body so that you can get to the topside of the truck and the coupler attachment point.  After that you can add shims between the underside of the truck and the coupler arm.  But im not that familiar with Menards trucks.  Maybe there is a way to raise the wheels in relation to the arm.

Unless you physically move the wheels closer to the coupler arm somehow, there is no way moving the body or shimming is going to help anything to do with the coupler height on a truck mounted coupler arm.