Tips on improving Lionel electrocoupler operation?

I read that dry lubricant (graphite?) helps. I have a few that are hard to close and some that won't close at all unless the couplers are PERFECTLY horizontal. I have to lift it up with a finger until connecting with the rolling stock. I feel your frustration!

The mechanism inside the back part of the coupler shank is what hangs up. The  dry graphite lube is what is recommended back in there. My couplers have all gotten better over time, I've also found some that just don't get pushed far enough in to close, I think sometimes the rolling stock couplers are at fault for this. For these I put a small piece of electrical tape on the outside of the knuckle which allows the coupler to reach the fully closed and locked position when pushed against the other coupler.Obviously, longer trains create more resistance and help too, as one car wants to just roll away.

Here is how I addressed the issue. 







Regards,
GNNPNUT

How do you open those with the remote?

Don't tempt me GNNPNUT!

Kadees are awesome. In any scale they just glide together. On my HO layout even a single car will couple on at the slowest of speeds. I'm not really sure what the practical value is of having electrocouplers. I find that I need to couple/uncouple at the same spots on the layout all the time. I can do that with fixed magnets. I don't see a whole lot of value in the ability to open them anywhere. Now maybe if they actually worked at a reasonable speed I might feel better about them? Ironically, the more freely rolling the rolling stock, the harder I have to hit it to couple. I guess too free rolling is a bad thing?!?!

Wouldn't it be great if a laser beam activated Kadee was to be developed.

Maybe knuckles made of earth metals that are magnetized may work. However uncoupling them would require a helper engine on the other end.

I cheat by parking a road engine at one end and feeding it or using a end of track bumper combined with a slight downgrade to get the onery troublesome cars to let go.

Graphite is a very good solution. Not perfect but better.

Kaydees are the ultimate. I have some rolling stock that has kadees which actually hold on to the knuckles really well.

I had one that would not close properly.  I ended up removing the knuckle and doing a bit of shaping with a small file.  Put it all back together and it works fine.  I also recommend the graphite for these, it's been the best lubricant I've found for them as well.

Well since REAL railroad couplers do NOT have a knuckle that opens with a "remote", and since we can't send the "O Scale" Brakeman back to pull the cut lever, we just use sharpened chop sticks. We can also put the car to be spotted on "delay" and push it back into its spot location.

Yes, you have to clean it before using the graphite.  I'm not sure how it would work mixed with oil, my sense is not that good.