How to Fix Coupler Height HO Scale Couplers 

Hi guys, I live in England and i am 64 years of age. After a 40 year break from model railways i am building a layout once again. Goes to show you are never too old to start in this great hobby. I am a great fan of Kadee couplings and think they are really good quality.All my rolling stock is being converted at the moment.I am using Kadee NEM plug in couplers and 140 series "whisker" couplers. Many model railway builders in this country are turning to Kadee. Happy modelling Martin Guyat

If the coupler's too high, you can always try an underset coupler instead of shaving stuff off. For some like Dan, they'll probably look off, but if you're working with a large fleet of hundreds of cars, they won't stand out. It's going to be one of those things that has to be decided by the individual within their constraints; if you're building a super-detailed shelf layout, you'll probably want to go all-in on each car, but if you're angling for a basement empire or a large club layout with hundreds of cars, you're realistically going to have to make some compromises somewhere.

Three 27 gallon tubes full of cars just came out of storage about 600 or so. They all need the treatment. Thanks for sharpening the pencil for me. To work on cars, set up a simple camera to a laptop and put it on the side view like this video. I have worked on a lot of cars, but when you see them closeup like this video, the details of height, pin height, wheel size, wheel space, etc. really make correcting a science. Thanks, great work.

Finally a video explaining how to adjust coupler height when it’s to high. Thanks

Atlas always goes the cheap route and the pins are crap. I like the change to screw and adding the larger semi fine scale wheel. Looks like the flange is taller.

I find it amazing that manufacturers are very quick to advertise the scale accuracy of their product and then the purchaser finds that it is not compliant with other makes of so called accurate rolling stock ,why can't they make wheels the correct dimensions if they are so keen to push all the other aspects of the so called "correct" scale.

I was always told that 33" wheels were for freight and 36" were for passenger cars. So I learned something other than how to raise lower couplers.👍

Thanks so much for that. I was about to abandon all hope with my Kadee couplers but this has sorted things right out for me!

Very informative video! I went to ebay and bought a Kadee coupler height guage and two shim packets. I notice their is always a height difference between Athearn and Walthers now I can just standardize all my rolling stock coupler heights great!

Nice work on your details and like the coupler gauge

It's amazing to me that you modify the CAR to fix the COUPLER! I have found if you remove the COUPLER, you can easily modify (or just bend)the coupler shaft to raise or lower the coupler. Shims can also be added under the coupler box (between car and coupler box) to lower the coupler. ALSO, almost All manufacturers offer "upper set, center set, and lower set couplers. Bachmann, for example, makes pretty much all of their coupler styles in THREE heights!

Yeah, and cabooses generally prototypically have 28 inch wheels. How many cabooses have you seen in HO scale with 28" wheels? I've converted over 100 pieces of rolling stock from truck mounted couplers (talgo trucks) to body mounted Kaydee couplers and took the time to weather most as I went. Took me several months. I also converted to all metal wheel sets--33" & 36" where required. I also changed all incandescent lighting to LED illumination (coaches, engines and cabooses). Scale tire tread is not very forgiving. I only use code 100 track and code 100 wheel sets. Never have derailments. Cheers from eastern TN

Another thing you can do with a high coupler is lower the coupler box. If the box is not permanently attached, then you can just take it off. Usually works on Kadee, Walthers, and certain Athearns, but most bluebox Athearns and similar have permanently attached boxes and cannot be ajusted...

To I B Trippin, you are right about the size of the inner hole. I also have found it too small

So when you're adding shim under the knuckle you're basically adding a wear plate just how they are in real life. I know this from when we swap out wheels lifting whole car end and rolling them out.

Usually putting one of those Kadee shims in the coupler box fixes drooping. Personally I view raising or lowering the whole car as a last resort method.

Gotta love them Kadee bolster washers, they almost never fit without reaming out the hole. If only Kadee gets a clue, they might start making them with a larger hole, nahhhh.

This was just great conversation, lot of use full info, many thanks for taking your time producing this, happy RR!

The rational behind truck pins vs. truck screws is that sometimes novice modellers when building a kit will over-tighten the truck screw which can strip the threads or crack the bolster area of the model. With a push pin type of truck fastener, it becomes more difficult to break, strip or destroy the freight car. Nowadays few kits are being offered for sale and most cars are R-T-R, so this argument is a now a moot point. Hopefully I have shed some light on the pins vs. screws history. Good Video

I just came across your channel!! and what a great job you do.!!! I also subscribe cause I want to see more of your technical stuff.

Of course you can use couplers with center, high or low bar to achieve height requirements.

I try to paint all my couplers when I change them

Nice video. How do you adjust coupler height on a locomotive ? Thanks

My Superliner cars ALWAYS ALWAYS UNCOUPLE , what couplers are best

Very helpful. Thanks.

I have that problem with my Walthers Proto Superliners , how would you fix that...

Good video on coupler height

Gut erklärt. Liebe Grüsse from Bavaria

Gracias

Why wouldn't you use kadee underset or overset couplers to adjust height without cutting up the bolster or raising the car height with washers?

What’s the trip pen?

Great video thanks

Thank you

damn why have that problem :S ... thanks for give me the solution.

Are the weathering DVDs still available?

did you know that some bachmann train cars couplers have screws at the coupler and you can screw them tighter if they are to low and looser if they are to high

It is a fantastic video*******************

How do you fix an Atlas GP40-2 with low couplers on both ends?

nice video. thanks for the tips

Why don't you use a Kadee coupler with a higher shank to "lower" the coupler?

I had to retire a m St. Louis car for this reason

shaft length is a issue also...no standards between mfg.

Wot coupler is that 😁😁😁

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