I have two E7A units with Life Like shells and Kato E8/9 chassis. I've tried several couplers on the front of one of the units, but some are too high, and some don't have enough side to side play to make it around curves, derailing the following Kato passenger car. I was wondering if anyone knows if the shell would fit on the E8/9B unit, since the truck mounted couplers might solve the problem. Thanks, John
Not with the pilot in place. If the first passenger car had a body-mount coupler, it might stay on track.
Do your shells still have the original LL coupler mount? I've had my best luck with the original LL couplers although something better would be nice. Have you tried any long shank couplers? Sometimes those will work if you are having problems with the locos derailing the cars behind the engine. You can also carefully cut back the sides of the coupler box to give a little more "swing" to the coupler. I'm unaware of ANY chassis that have truck mounted couplers on the front, other than the ancient Atlas version.
I did what you have done -- LL on Kato mechs. However, I run an ABB set. So, for me the coupler swing is not an issue. One thing you have not mentioned -- what radius curve do you have-? This could make a huge difference in how to proceed. -- you could possibly use MT 1015's with a longer shank (This may be MT 1016's) if you have sharper radius curves. I used MT true scale couplers: (Minimum mainline curve on my layout: 20-1/2") Thanks,
I am running an ABA set of E7's. The two A units are Lifelike E7A shells on Kato E8 chassis. The B unit is an unpowered LifeLike shell on a Lifelike chassis. I use Unimate couplers between units while the front of the A units have MT couplers. I believe they are the 1015's. I am running on an Ntrak layout with minimum curves of 24 inches. What radius curves are you running?
I ran a pair of L/L E6s. The original stock dummy coupler worked well after I trimmed back the centering whiskers so it could swing easily. I didn’t have to change the opening in the shell at all. I ran these with ConCor 85’ passenger cars with truck mounted couplers on 12” radius curves at the old club layout.
The LL bodies were originally designed to be able to take a MT 1015 in the nose and when I had a set that is what I replaced them with. It was simple remove the retaining pin in the nose an replace the dummy coupler with a MT 1015 and then secure it with the pin. The MT 1016 is simply a 1015 with a draft gear box designed for a greater swing and fits the same.
I believe the 1015 and the 1016 use the same coupler box. According to Micro Trains, the difference is that the 1015's are short shank while the 1016's have a medium shank. Micro Trains packages them together. https://www.micro-trains.com/index.php?_route_=rda-body-mt-coupler-1015-1016-00102000
I'm using Kato Unitrack and the mainline curves are 13 3/4 (Kato 348). I run my challengers on them without any problems.
If the Kato E8B chassis has truck mounted couplers then the answer to your question is yes, it will work. Truck mounted couplers always are, more or less, aligned with the centerline of the track. Body mounts, especially on long equipment and sharp curves, can extend outside the outer rail on a curve thus pulling the following car in that direction causing a derailment.
Thanks for your information and suggestions. I went with MTL 1016-1 couplers. I had to sand the couplers as they were too thick, and I cut away some of the bottom lip of the coupler box to get the proper height. I tested the couplers on the layout and there were no problems.
Thanks for your information and suggestions. I went with MTL 1016-1 couplers. I had to sand the couplers as they were too thick, and I cut away some of the bottom lip of the coupler box to get the proper height. I tested the couplers on the layout and there were no problems.
Thanks for your information and suggestions. I went with the MTL 1016-1 couplers. I had to sand the couplers since they were a little too thick and I had to cut away some of the bottom lip of the coupler box to get the proper height. A test on the layout found them to work fine.
