I've a bunch of freight cars with Accumate trucks and couplers. In the past, I've replaced them with MT trucks and couplers. But with a 10-pack of MT trucks running $35 each, I'm looking for a more cost-effective solution. For a coal unit train, for example, I thought I'd use Unamate body-mount couplers (instead of the T-mount couplers), which are provided with two pre-drilled mounting holes, enabling one to adjust the extension length. When I pried apart the Accumate coupler box, I found that the mounting pin is too large for the predrilled holes in the Unamate coupler. No problem - I can drill this out to fit, I surmise. BUT it seems the Unamate body-mount couplers are currently out of production. I checked several vendors and they're all out of stock (although they have plenty of T-mounts). There must be an MT or a Kato coupler that's a drop in replacement within the Accumate housing. But MT's Web site is silent on the matter, and I can't find anything specific in the various Accumate vs. MT threads. Has anyone accomplished this? Is it advisable? TIA, Bryan
You can put a Accumate coupler in a MT coupler box. This will eliminate the "slinky" effect of the Mt coupler. The coupler won't break down at all. TB member "Kisatchie" discussed this many times on the old Atlas forum years ago.
