WHO's makes a better couplers???

Kadee 805. All metal; doesn't let go until you want it to.

I second Matt's vote... Kadee 805

Third it.

KD

Don't overlook the new "700 series" of Kadee couplers. I especially like the #740. Go to their web site and checkout the new 700 series of O-Scale couplers.

I'll modify my vote by saying this....

Most of my current inventory already has the 805's, so anytime I add a car to an exsisting train, I stay with the 805's. My passenger car trains have 805's, my reefer block has 805's, so when I just got the new Lionel Map Reefers, I used 805's to match the rest of the train.

For whatever reason, the 805's and 700 series just don't uncouple as smoothly when they are mix and matched. If you never seperate your train, it's not a big deal. When I switch cars on my switching layout, the 805 just doesn't want to uncouple right from the 700 series. Now if I use all 805's....no problem uncoupling. If I use all 700's...no problems with uncoupling.

I am using the new 700 series for new diesels (MTH Dash 8's) and my new 3rd Rail GS4 on the tender. My Golden Gate Daylight cars already have modified 805's, and that train runs as a solid train, obvioulsy I don't switch the passenger cars so the 805 to the 700 coupler doesn't matter.

If I were starting a coupler conversion from scratch, I would go with the new 700 series. They look better and operate just fine with like couplers. If you switch cars using Kadee's and the magnet system of any kind, I would stay with the same type, which ever you may have. If you just couple cars together and run soild trains, it really doesn't matter if mix and match the 700 and 800 series. 

Got to follow my second's modification...

Kadee couplers are IMHO the ONLY way to go.  Having said that, I have not made my first conversion.............yet.  I've completed my initial trackwork (GG and Ross) and planned to retrofit electromag uncoupling points here and there.

Well.....

The more I read this forum and listen to the people who have plunged into Kadee conversion for O3R, the more dead-in-my-tracks (pun intended) I am about the electromags for the bodacious couplers on the factory products.

I've seen operating sessions in HO scale where they have manually (gizmo-in-hand) uncoupled to do yard work, industrial drop-offs, etc., and I really like the personal interaction.  Especially since you don't have to carve up the track, run wires, limit your uncoupling points, etc. 

It's in my bucket list.  And I've decided to ditch the argument of conversion's effect on re-sale value.  When I'm gone, I don't care what it's worth.

Kadee has been an American bedrock to the hobby for more than 60 years.  I'm starting feel even more stupid about this every day.  Maybe NOW is the time? And maybe, just maybe, because some of the manufacturers have begun to provide integral accommodation for the conversion to Kadees, they too understand that it's worth more than a passing thought??

Then there's my initials...they're haunting me on this very topic!

KD

I'll third the votes for the Kadee #700 series.  The #740 and #745 are the "center shank" couplers that are preferable for most conversions.  The #740's come with metal draft boxes that are the most durable.  The #747 is the same coupler as the #740 package with plastic draft boxes.  The plastic draft box ensures electrical insulation between engines.

There is built in wiggle room with #742 overset and the #747 underset  couplers.  800's are only centerset. tt

+1 for Kadee's 

If you haven't started converting cars, I would use the 700 series and not mess with the 805's unless you get them at a super price. :-) They do interoperate so no issues there.  The 700 series have a closer to scale head.

I've got Kadee's New Generation 743's, with  "Prototype Head's" -

they're short centerset metal couplers with plastic short body-mount gearboxes, installed, in my new Dash 9.

I like them better than the 800 series.

Rick

hello guys and gals.......

How much work is needed to put on Kadee 805's on the S.F # 5011 class 2-10-4 from Sunset 3RD and  Williams scale 72 foot heavyweights ?   I have done this type of work using Kadee's # 5 for H.O. back in 80's when i had a PFM brass S.F. #5011 and set of athearn heavyweights as they already had mounting done at the factory but wondering if doing on the O scale Sunset and Williams would be more work ?

the woman who loves toy trains

Tiffany

No big deal, just drill a #50 hole (for the center mounting hole in the Kadee box), tap that hole with a 2-56 tap, and use a 2-56 X 1/2" long machine screw to mount the Kadee #805 or the new #740 coupler assembly. You will also need a shim between the Kadee box and the tender frame, probably .080 to .100 inch thick (some take as much as .125 inch thick)by .250 inch wide styrene.

Being interested in modeling the early 1990's, is the 700 series a good model of couplers from the 90's.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that Kadee website keeps mentioning "AAR Type "E" O scale couplers as the newest 700 series, not knowing what that means, is this AAR type E a modern coupler design or something from what was used in earlier periods(40's, 50's)?

hello hot Water...............

Thanks, seems easy to do .   Is the Kadee # 805's all die-cast including the housing ?

the woman who loves toy trains

Tiffany

Well, yes and no. The AAR "type E" coupler has been in use since the turn of the century, i.e. since the late 1890s thru the current era. The Kadee "700 series" is simply MUCH more prototypical than the previous #805/804/806 O-Scale couplers.  

Don't know about "die cast", but they are certainly ALL METAL!