Williams Tender Coupler Conversion...

I had both these engines many years ago in the Crown Edition line. I know on the Mikado. Removing the coupler was pretty straight forward. Like anything you see today with a T bar, spring, washers and an E clip.   It got a full QSI treatment with a coil coupler. I don’t believe it had a pickup roller or an axle wiper.

The Pacific I never really worked on. I believe they had the same USRA tenders. Is the Pacific from the late 80’s before the Crown Edition models ?  I just kind of question the truck in the picture as original. If anything the roller and wiper are an upgrade. I run Kadee’s exclusively. On some there’s no turning back as you have to lop off the mount to clear the Kadee box. I don’t know of an easy way. Once the truck is off it will be easier to see what needs to be done.

@Dave_C posted:

I had both these engines many years ago in the Crown Edition line. I know on the Mikado. Removing the coupler was pretty straight forward. Like anything you see today with a T bar, spring, washers and an E clip.   It got a full QSI treatment with a coil coupler. I don’t believe it had a pickup roller or an axle wiper.

The Pacific I never really worked on. I believe they had the same USRA tenders. Is the Pacific from the late 80’s before the Crown Edition models ?  I just kind of question the truck in the picture as original. If anything the roller and wiper are an upgrade. I run Kadee’s exclusively. On some there’s no turning back as you have to lop off the mount to clear the Kadee box. I don’t know of an easy way. Once the truck is off it will be easier to see what needs to be done.

Hi Dave C

Once I started to really look into this, I see the trucks are marked "MTH", so you are right on.

These two engines came to me via a well-known and respected fellow on this Site, so I'm not surprised he upgraded the trucks as part of his usual excellent work.

Will keep you posted how I get on...

Mark in Oregon

I took everything  apart (that needed to be) last night, just to familiarize myself with how it was put together in the first place, reassembled it, and started anew this morning.

I decided to use a Weaver coupler, as I have a bunch of those on hand.

Removed body, drilled and tapped for a 2-56 screw, using the rear mounting hole on the coupler box as a guide:

Test fit from above:

Time to remove the coupler arm; since I'm using hand tools, lots of oil (and patience!) was needed:

Cut complete; re-assembled truck:

Test on track: it seems to be pretty close!

Here it's coupled to a converted Lionel tanker. If the Weaver looks to be a little high, it's because they are slightly larger over-all than the Kadee; I checked it with come other brands of cars, and it looks the same, so I think we're good to go.

Here's an over-view of the installation from below, after the body has been re-attached:

Am pretty happy with how this turned out.

Mark in Oregon

You are more patient than I am.  I use a metal blade on a chop saw and the sparks fly when I chop those claws off the trucks!

Nice work.  I am taking another look at my collection of Williams steam locomotives these days after thinking I was going to sell them.  Some of them I want to super detail and convert to 2 rail, but I lack the skills needed to turn the drivers even though I have had a Uni-Mat lathe for years.  Others, I just want to detail better and leave in 3 rail.  That is probably more achievable. 

Look forward to seeing the finished project!

Thank you Jonathan; that means a lot, coming from you.  The "original" huge coupler worked, but looked awful, so it was time.

I opted to go the "hand tool" route this time, simply because I wanted to be extra cautious and not muck something up.  Plus, I rather like doing things that way.

This Weaver might be sitting just a hair high after all, so at some point I will probably take it apart (again) and lower it just a bit; a washer or two should do the trick.

These Williams brass engines are really nice; they run well and are "user friendly" in that they don't have too many fine details that may become dislodged in normal handling.

The Mikado is next...

Mark in Oregon

Well...that was easy!

Once I took a close look at the Mikado tender, I could see it was pretty much stock:

...with the "T Bar, etc"  as mentioned by Dave C.

The only change I really had to do after the coupler was installed was to turn that rear truck around, so the remaining "loop" section of the truck casing wouldn't interfere with the coupler box.

All in all, it took maybe an hour to do this.

Now both of these USRA engines are set up for 3 Rail Scale...

Mark in Oregon

Well now... I decided to attempt a similar conversion on a Williams Hudson tender; it took almost 3 hours(!) and was way more complicated than I would have guessed.

First off, I had to lower the coupler more on this than the others: I "Goo'ed" a piece of basswood to the endplate, drilled as before and mounted everything: (once again, I used a Weaver coupler and used the rear mounting hole, as the center hole would have interfered with the body.)

I then had to allow for that nut and screw now riding above the deck, so drilling a hole (the second one in from the end) into the brace/mounting piece in the body was needed:

Here it is, hooked up to a Lionel E6 tender on which I used a "Roundhouse" coupler:

...we are good to go! 

Mark in Oregon

PS: I have a bunch of those "Roundhouse" couplers: am trying to figure out how to use 'em more, as they are really nice, work well and (I think) look good too...