# My Kadee Coupler Mods for Aristo, USAT, and LGB rolling stock.



## BodsRailRoad (Jul 26, 2008)

I am in the process of changing all my rolling stock to the new Kadee 900 series couplers.
I really like the look and strength of these couplers, and I like the fact that once completed any engine will be able to pull any car regardless of who it's made by.
I realize that many of you have already done this or have done it a different way but I figured that maybe some of the new people would like the information.
I tried to find the least complicated way to do each car. I also prefer to use the new 907's when possible, but thats just me







. 

I will post my other mods on this thread just to keep them all in one easy place to find.

Ron

(PS. I had another thread with some of the mods in them but am changing picture servers and they might lose their pics,
so I am redoing it here.)


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## BodsRailRoad (Jul 26, 2008)

After having converted my Dash 9's, SD-45's to Kadee body mounted couplers I decided to start converting my other equipment as well.
The first thing I did was my body mount my B&O heavyweights with 906's and I really liked the results so the next step was to convert my B&O E8.

I didn't like the flex in the pedestal so I decided to cut it off and build a platform to mount a Kadee 906 coupler.

 I used 1x1 PVC Stock as the material for my base. Trimmed it down to cause as little interference with the rear motor block as possible.

 I then centered and pilot drilled the base, and checked the fit.

 
 
Then I painted the blocks.

 
Then completed the final install, I ended up removing the rear brake shoes for additional clearance with the rear motor block and the 906.

 
 
Finally the complete install and how it lines up with the Kadee gauge.




It came out pretty good and now I have a solid secure coupler with no flex or play in it.

Ron


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## BodsRailRoad (Jul 26, 2008)

I started the installing Kadee 907's on all of my Aristo Craft 2 Bay Coal Hoppers this week and thought I would share it.
While installing the 906's is easier I don't like the way the coupler arm slides in and out, and the size of the box restricts the truck movement a lot more than the 907's
( the shims are the same size as the 906 coupler box, so you can see the size difference ) 
It is a quite simple modification, it takes me less than 15 minutes to do one car, and it has great benefits if your wanting to run long trains.

Below are the parts needed, 1 Kadee 941 1/16" shim (831 for a black one), 3 ea 4 x 3/8" screws to mount the shim to the car, 1 ea 6 x 3/8" screw, 1 ea 6 x 1/2" screw, and 1 pair of Kadee 907's.

 

The first step is to cut off the Aristo coupler, (I put the cut end to the inside of the car so it doesn't show)


 

Then you center the coupler on the shim and pick up the two holes on the 907 through the shim.
I use the 6 x 3/8 screw for the forward hole through the shim to the coupler;


 

The I use the 6 x 1/2" screw through the coupler into the shim


 

Then the assembly is mounted to the car with the 3 ea 4 x 3/8" screws


 

I plan to paint the screw heads later 


 

Here are some before and after shots of the mod, the original distance between the cars was 2.735" (69.47 mm) 
and after it was 1.650" (41.94 mm), thats more than a 1 inch reduction in distance between the cars, a huge improvement to me.

Before the mod; 



And after the Kadee install


 




I had several PMs asking what the minimum curve radius is using the 907's

I set up a 4 foot diameter curved sections, and while very close the 2 bays were able to make the curve without the cars touching or the wheels hitting the 907 coupler box.

Ron


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## BodsRailRoad (Jul 26, 2008)

This is my Kadee 907 install on the Aristo Craft ECLST dow chemical tanker.

The only parts needed for this mod is 1 package of Kadee 907 couplers (which comes with the screws you'll need), 
and 1 Kadee 1/16" shim which you cut in half and use one half for each coupler(841 for black, 941 for brown)


 
The fist thing to do is remove the truck and cut off the coupler support arm, which is pretty straight forward.
Then I trim about 2mm from each side of the coupler mounting base, I use the 907 coupler as the gage on how much material to remove.
Just trim evenly from both sides untill the coupler lies flat and centered on the frame.


 
The next step is to place and center the 907 in the opening of the car frame and pick up the hole closest to the coupler.
I then take one of the shim half's and pick up the same hole on it, it's easier to place the shim on the coupler and drill through the coupler into the shim. 

Once you have that done use the #4 3/4" screw that comes with the coupler and screw it through the car frame and the shim into the 907
until it is flush and secure on the car frame.

I then center the 907 once more and pick up the remaining hole through the shim and car frame, 

NOTE !! be careful NOT to drill into the tank itself just through the shim and car frame. 

Use the #4 1/2" screw for that hole. 


 
 
Once you have that done just trim off the point of the screw sticking out the bottom of the coupler (once you see the length that you need you can precut the screws which is how I did it), paint the screw heads and your all set!

 
The whole process only takes about 15 minutes start to finish once you get the hang of it.

Ron


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## BodsRailRoad (Jul 26, 2008)

My next installment will be the conversion of a USA Trains Union Pacific Aluminum Combine using a Kadee 907 coupler.
I only mod the lead car because the couplers that come with them are very good and don't need to be changed.

The problem with them, as a lot of my USA stuff, is they are WAY to low when compared to the Kadee height gage.





The first step is to remove the coupler and its support base from the car, 4 screws. Then remove the coupler from the support base by removing the single screw on top 
and then popping off the plastic cover and removing the two screws that secure it to the base.


 

Next step is to mount the 907 to the underside of the coupler base. 
I then secured the 907 to the bottom of the base with two 4 x 1/2" screws.


 


The last step is to trim off about 1/4" from the bottom of the rubber bumper and then reattach the coupler base to the bottom of the car using the four screws

and two shims to adjust and level the coupler ( I used two #6 stainless flat washers from Lowes they measured .6mm thick).




 






 
The end result is a clean easy 907 install that brings the coupler up to the correct height, and allows the cars to still maintain their minimum curves.


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## BodsRailRoad (Jul 26, 2008)

The next mod is for the LGB ore cars using Kadee 907's.
This was one of the easiest one's to do and also had the greatest improvement vs the stock couplers.

The first step is to remove the trucks, trim off the stock coupler arm flush, and replace the plastic wheels with Aristo 29111b metal wheels, 
if you use different wheels you may need to shim the coupler to get the correct height.

Then turn the car upside down and remove the single black screw and the trim piece on the front of the car (its just pressed in).
I used that screw hole as the main mounting point for the 907 making for exact spacing for all the cars.


 

screw and trim piece removed 

 

Then I trimmed off the rear of 907 to allow wheel truck travel, I made my cut in the center of the hole on the 907 shank. 

 


The 907 is then mounted to the car, using the existing hole from where you removed the screw, with a 4 x 3/4" screw through the existing hole on the coupler body (I pilot drilled the hole with a #40 bit). Then center the 907 and secure the first screw. I then added another screw threw the shank of the 907 to keep it from twisting (be careful not to over tighten the rear screw or else you'll crack the shank). Another option is to cut the shank off completely and use just the single mounting screw. 


 

The last step is to remove the truck mounting pad.
Then install a 1/16th inch shim under the pad(I used a piece of a Kadee 841 shim between the mounting screw holes to make it easy).

 
Then reattach the mounting pad and install the truck and your all set.
Here is how it lines up to the Kadee height gage.

 

The consist now looks much more realistic and the cars can still handle 4 foot curves. 
A nice side effect of moving the cars closer together is that the hoses on the front and rear of the car appear to all be connected










 

That's all there is to it, very simple with great operating results









The next mod will be for Aristo Craft covered gondola's.

Ron


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## BodsRailRoad (Jul 26, 2008)

Next up is the Aristo Craft Nickel Plate Road covered gondola from ECLSTS.
This is also a very simple one to do. 
For this mod I will be using Kadee 908's (because the covered gondola's sit very low and I didn't want to cut up the car's frame), 
1 trimmed kadee 841 1/16" shim (or two 1/32" shims, which I used because I had a lot of the left over from other mods







)
and one 6 x 1" and 6 x 3/4" screws (I used the 6's this time because Lowes did not have any 4 x 1" screws).

 

The first step is to remove the trucks and remove the coupler's. You won't have to cut off the coupler arms this time, just turn them around 
so the long arm is pointed towards the middle of the car.

Then take one 1/16" (or two 1/32") Kadee 841 shim and trim off the end just past the 3 screw holes.
Place the shim on top of the raised lips of the car floor and flush to the front of the car.
Next thing is to center the 908 and pilot drill the hole in the coupler body, through the shim and the car floor.
Secure the coupler using the 1" screw and recheck to make sure it's centered.
Then drill the second hole through the existing hole in the coupler shank, through the shim and car floor, and secure it using the 3/4" screw.

 

Then reinstall the trucks making sure to put the long arm towards the center of the car.

 

Here are the results with the height gage.

 

Again another simple mod that will bring you great results.

Ron


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## BodsRailRoad (Jul 26, 2008)

I finished up adding Kadee 907's to my 2012 ECLSTS Aristo 100 ton shows cars this past month.
The main problem with the Aristo 100 ton car's is that they don't have a solid frame to mount the couplers to.
I read over Ted's vin on how he accomplished it and was really impressed with his method (as usual







), but since I didn't have any sheet metal or a mini brace I decided to try a different way.
I have had great success using Weld-On 16 in fusing plastic for some other projects I had been working on, and was really impressed with the outcomes.
I decided to give it a try on the 100 ton coal cars.

The first thing you have to do is remove the paint from the mating surfaces to assure a solid weld.
I placed some Weld-on on them, let it sit for a few seconds and then wiped off the paint/glue, perfect.

Then I placed a small bead of Weld-on on both mating surfaces and allowed them to setup for about 30 seconds, and then mated the two surfaces and held them flush until the glue set (about 5 minutes or so).
Once one end was secured I did the same thing to the other end. Keep in mind that the surfaces must be flush so the shims will sit level. I let the cars cure over night before mounting the couplers.
Remember to be careful with the excess glue as it will remove the paint. 





Once the ends had cured I added 3.5 MM of shim stock, cut to fit the beams of course and flush to the end of the car, and also glued them to the beams using weld-on, and allowed them to cure for an hour or so.

Then I mounted the Kadee 907's using a 1/2" #4 screw in the inner , and #4 3/4" screw on the outer one.






The other mod to these cars where adding ball bearings and Aristo Metal wheels.
Here is the finished product, (note I plan to paint the screw heads and shim edges later to complete the mod).







This was a quick and easy Kadee install.
The Weld-on is a very strong bond if done correctly. I tried to pull the frames apart and was unable to, the end of the car started to bow before the Welded ends separated and I didn't want to break the frame.
It remains to be seen how the Weld-on holds up over time, but I think it will be fine, and I will let you know.

Ron


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## BodsRailRoad (Jul 26, 2008)

I picked up a string of seven USAT Autoracks at this years ECLSTS. These are beautiful cars and they are HUGE!

I usually like to use Kadee 907's on all my rolling stock but the Autoracks are just too long to use 907's and still be able to enter the middle lane of my indoor rail yard, 
or be able to use the 9.5' reversing loop on my new Phase of the BRR, so I had to use modded 906's.

I had originally used the 906's unmodded and was able to use the 9.5' reversing loop without a problem, but was unable to handle the "S" curve entering the middle 
lane of my indoor rail yard. I had to trim the corners of them to be able to handle the "S" curve going into the middle lane of the rail yard.

I tried several different ways of mounting the couplers using the different mounting plates that came with the cars but ended up doing it this way.
One nice thing is if you ever decide to sell the cars, it is very easy to return them to stock with only evidence of the mod being two small holes inside the car.

Here are the pics of how I did it.

The materials I used were 2 each 1/16" 841 shims, 1 Kadee 906 coupler, 2 screws from the stock couplers.




The first step is to remove the original coupler. The positioning of the 906 coupler is dependent on the minimum diameter of your curves.
I mounted mine as shown to make my minimums, if you have larger minimums you can move the 906 further back. 
The front hole is 15.5mm from the front lip and the rear hole is 38.5mm from front lip, center is 43mm from the inner edge of the side lip. 
I used a 3/32" drill to drill the holes. 
The easiest and fastest way to do it, without you having to measure exact distances, is to mark your center line then place the mounting screw into the center hole of the 906, 
and butt it up to the inner lip of the channel and then tap the screw head with a small hammer to mark it's location in the channel. 
Then remove the 906 and drill the hole. Then mount the 906 with the single screw, center it on center line, then mark the rear hole through the 906 like before. 






The next step is to trim off the corners of the 906 as shown with a razor saw to allow for greater travel of the coupler arm, and mount the 906 (using the long screws from the original coupler) to the autorack.
(yes I know the aft screw is not the screw from the original couple, it is now though







) 

It is a very easy install and only takes about 15 minutes per car to do. 
Ron

Here are the results; 



This is the stock gap between 2 cars. 


Kadee 906's gap (no load on couplers) 


Kadee 906's gap (with load on couplers) 



The following pictures are of the autoracks entering a parallel siding through an Aristo Wide Radius switch (10ft). 
The cars were able to traverse it going both being pulled and pushed through with the sides touching, this was not possible before notching the corners of the 906's.


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## BodsRailRoad (Jul 26, 2008)

My next mod is to install a Kadee 907 on the front pilot of my Aristo Mallet's.
The stock coupler is mounted to the cow catcher, which is only held onto the frame of the Mallet 
with two small screws. Ok for a cosmetic look but not very strong.

The first step is to remove the cow catcher and cut out the coupler mounting pad flush to the frame as shown below;

Before;

 
after; 

 
Now you will need to build up a solid mounting base for the 907.
I used one .80" shim to butt up to the cow catcher frame lip, making a smooth base for the front of the coupler,
and then two .80" and one .20" shim to build up the back of the mounting base. 
I glued everything to the Mallet frame using Weld-on 16.

Shims;


 
Shims installed on the Mallet frame, it makes a nice solid mounting base for the 907.



 
Next I cut the bar off the 907 knuckle so as not to interfere with the cow catcher. 
I then lined up and installed the 907 using a 4x3/4" screw in the front and a 6x 3/4" (I cut the rear screw flush to the top of the mallet frame)


 
The end result is a very solid and strong front coupler for the Aristo Mallet.

Here are some pics of the final assembly;





Lining up to the Kadee height gage ;



Hooked up to another Mallet tender;



I should be able to pull some real weight now when double and even triple heading my Mallet's now.

Ron


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## Rod Fearnley (Jan 2, 2008)

Brilliant Ron. I just started redoing my mix of cars yesterday. I really need to get me one of those Kadee height blocks before I go any further. 
I'll be saving this thread for sure.


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