Hello,
I was hoping I could get some insight on what couplers are being used to replace the straight shank couplers on the Bachmann spectrum cars. For whatever reason I have not had much luck with a few of my cars and the couplers have sheared right where the shank meets the base of the coupler. I am not sure if this is a common problem, but it seems like a different brand may prove more optimal.
Thanks,
Matt
I replaced my few with Accucraft 1:20 couplers as that’s what the rest of my stock had on them. You might want to think about the advantages of standardizing all your couplers.
The shearing coupler, and other detail part failures, are a known issue with one batch of white metal on Spectrum cars. Bachman will replace bad parts if they still have stock.
That being said, I will second Pete’s response. The Accucraft Fn3 couplers will fit in the Bachmann draft gear as a direct replacement with some additional parts and modifications. See This Tread for details. They will play nice with Spectrum couplers if you manually close the Bachmann coupler and let the Accucraft close over it. I run a mixture of both.
EDITED TO CORRECT FIT STATEMENT
Matt Z said:
Hello,
I was hoping I could get some insight on what couplers are being used to replace the straight shank couplers on the Bachmann spectrum cars. For whatever reason I have not had much luck with a few of my cars and the couplers have sheared right where the shank meets the base of the coupler. I am not sure if this is a common problem, but it seems like a different brand may prove more optimal.
Thanks,
Matt
Matt, the Spectrum coupler Box will accept a Kadee 830 without modification to the car or coupler.
Guys,
Thank you for the input. It is unfortunate that I landed some of the “bad batch”, but it is what it is.
I have some Accucraft couplers on hand but didn’t think they would fit. I will have to give them a try.
Kadee’s have made their way on a few pieces of my rolling stock, they hold up great, just wish they’d open like a standard coupler. I am glad that there is a direct conversion.
Hope you have a great Fourth!
Matt
I’ve changed a lot of mine to Accucraft, but I can’t remember if I needed to add an additional draft gear box. I know I had to do that on some cars - I have it documented on here somewhere.
I need to repair one myself as I had the exact problem on a frameless tank today. When I get it open I’ll let you know if if needs additional parts to convert to Accucraft.
Matt - I was wrong. I will correct my post above. The conversion to Accucraft is possible, but does require one additional part from Kadee and some minor modifications. I documented this a long time ago in this thread: http://www.largescalecentral.com/forums/topic/10640/converting-bachman-fn3-cars-to-a
Matt,
Here are some pics I took doing conversions on some Big Hauler tank cars. This first photo is of the tank car with a Kadee 830 coupler and coupler box compared to a Kedee gauge.
This next pic is the same car with a Bachmann Spectrum coupler box with a Kadee 830 straight shank coupler installed. The Bachmann coupler box mounts to the exact same mounting points as the Kadee box. There is a slight height difference, but with the taller coupler face, track work would have to be pretty awful for coupler failures.
Here is a pic of the Kadee coupler box with a Bachmann straight sank coupler installed.
It is my understanding that during the development stages of the Spectrum series of product there were negotiations between Bachmann and Kadee to privide Kadee couplers with the Spectrum products. Somewhere along the way they parted company, leaving Bachmann somewhat committed to the Kadee design. This left Bachmann little choice but develop their own version of the coupler box and a coupler to match. The afore statements are based on my extrapolated interpretations of rumor collected from many places. I pieced these tid bits together and developed my opinion. The photos show the interchangeability.
This is great. Thank you guys for the information.
I spent the day refurbishing some locos with broken gears and did some bashing on an Annie as well. Now on to the next project…
Fixing the couplers is next on my list to gets the cars back into service. It “somewhat” surprises me that there is not a “direct” conversion for these. Looks like the 830/831 will be my best bet. What would be even easier is if Bachmann had continued to produce these couplers for replacement… .(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif) But, who is to say that those wouldn’t be a junk white metal batch as well.
On a different note, Is there any adhesive that’s been used that has seemed to hold on these couplers? It would be great if you could solder or even do some light welding on them. Typical super glue definitely did not work…
Looks like I’ve got some work ahead.
Thank you guys again!
Matt
