So, have you had trouble keeping it coupled or derailing or ? I ask because I have one I have not run with cars yet.
Haven't converted mine yet but don't expect it to be very difficult. Figure I will run it until the Kato couple gives up or I get caught up on other projects. Mine has at least 3 or 4 total hours of run time pulling the excursion consist with no issues. When I do the upgrade, I will probably start with the pre assembled 1015's.
Mine will not get much running time. It will mostly be pulling an odd assortment of stray passenger cars over a relatively short distance. Some of the cars will be kitbashed from flat cars, gondolas and benches for real 'atmosphere'. excursions.
The easiest trick to make Kato couplers work well with MT ones is to file off the nub on the side of the Kato coupler. I rarely have trouble coupling after doing that.
Yes... I opted to replace the factory truck mounted coupler with a MTL coupler mounted to the rear truck. This DID require some simple modifications to the truck (if you are all at all concerned about making a mistake or returning to the factory coupler in the future, spare tender trucks can be purchased from KATO USA... I got a set). In my first iteration, I used what I think was a MTL 1025. I have some photos... but not really a complete documentation. First, you need to remove the rear tender truck... It just pulls off. It DOES require some force, and I recall using a jewelers screwdriver to wedge it off. I removed the factory coupler, and used a scalpel to shave off the front and sides of the coupler pocket, leaving the center post. I also beveled the edges of the remaining sides slightly... The MTL coupler would then easily fit over the post. I didn't do anything to hold it on... friction on the post was sufficient to hold it in place and keep it aligned. The coupler height was pretty much dead on my MTL (actually, an OLD Kadee) coupler alignment gauge... I then re-installed the truck, by just pushing it on over the post (again, it does require a little pushing). This version worked great... it coupled, uncoupled, negotiated curves and turnouts just fine, and I ran the loco this way for a few months, pulling my 8 car consist of MTL heavyweight passenger cars. However, you can see in the 3rd pic that the MTL coupler box extends a mm or two past the front of the trucks coupler box (what's left of it). So, the coupling distance between the tender and the first car was a little wide. After a couple months of operation, I decided to try and reduce the coupling distance. I don't have any photos, but the modification was trivial... I simply slid off the 1025, cut off the center post, and drilled/tapped (using a screw) a hole in the remaining bottom of the truck coupler pocket to mount (with provided screw) a MTL 1015. I drilled the hole such that the MTL coupler extension would match that of the original KATO coupler. I have been running it for a couple months now, and it operates perfectly.
@Trains Thank you. Well, most likely that won't be an issue for me but I have saved this thread to my, 'Trains > TB > Repairs > Couplers' folder in my browser. ☻
If you do go for this modification... take a moment to clean the electrical contacts on the tender truck and underside before you re-install the truck!
