Kadee Couplers vs. Aristocraft

All good comments, and Chuck brought out a unique advantage with the prototypical slack, although this is only in the 830/820. Stick with the G scale versions if you have more abrupt vertical transitions. And, no, the Aristo coupler has not improved, recently virtually all GP-40's have been shown to have defective couplers, i.e. pull apart under load, 24-30 cars. With Aristo's change to a new factory, it seems there are more problems than before. (Funny though, USAT stuff has not suffered the same way, even though both are made in the same factory AFAIK by Sanda Kan).

If you want to run long trains, get Kadees now. At under $6 a car, and cars about $60, you are only adding 10% cost to your rolling stock. If you do it as you go, it won't hurt much.

Regards, Greg

Another little-know tip on Kadees, is that the molds to make them meet along the horizontal center of the coupler. The inside of the knuckle is slightly "humped" in the center. This makes the couplers "overriding" themselves on vertical transitions even greater, because when the couplers get slightly one above the other, this "hump" can cause them to lift apart under great stress (like 30 cars up a 3.4% grade, don't ask me how I know!).

Anyway, a small needle file on the inside of the coupler to flatten out the inside makes a large difference.

Regards, Greg

Spent many an hour watching them, and I torture test stuff, I keep adding cars until something derails or disconnects. I stop when 40 cars runs for 7 hours straight...

Of course, long passenger cars with body mounts added a new dimension over 40' freight cars!

Regards, Greg

I tested my E8s and several other Aristo locos with the Aristo couplers before conversions. All the rest of my cars and locos were Kadees. No problems other than occasionally the Aristo loco had a slightly different height centerline.

Regards, Greg

They are nice looking couplers, but of course the thread is about Kadee vs. Aristocraft.

Another issue that is often overlooked, I have never seen a weatherproof uncoupler for Aristo couplers. I have heard about and seen a picture of an LGB uncoupler, but not weather proof as far as I can tell.

Has anyone had experience remotely uncoupling Aristo couplers?

Regards, Greg

Can you shoot some pictures? Are these manual or the electrical ones. I should have been specific, the remote control ones are not weatherproof I am told.

Regards, Greg

Me too, but the cost per coupler would skyrocket!

Scott, are your LGB uncouplers manual or electrical?

Regards, Greg

You know that Kadee showed a prototype of a remote controlled coupler, right?

Regards, Greg

RE: Kadee Couplers vs. Aristocraft: Kadees are more sensitive to being at the right height, and many people do not purchase the coupler height gauge or set them correctly. Many people will just bolt them on and go. When used as truck mounts, the height variations can be quite a bit, sometimes a sprung truck is weak, or the "talgo arm" is bent or deformed.

I have also found that in long trains, it's important to remove the "hump" inside the knuckle at the mold lines. A few swipes with a needle file is all it takes.

Regards, Greg

I have the Aristo HW's and USAT streamliners. If your trip pin is dipping below railhead height enough to cause a problem, I would endeavor to get rid of the humps, since you should have cleared the rails by 1/8" already. I do have 10' diameter curves, and one grade is 3.4%, and another is 5.5% (used downhill only), so trust me, I know what sharp vertical transitions are all about!!

So, I really think if I can do it so can you. The first time I ran these cars I had problems, but I got the "bumps" out, and now they run great. An added bonus is that I can now run really long trains of 40 footers!

Regards, Greg