As close to a rant as you'll see me get. I know this will work. Everybody is just making it so hard. I'm frustrated because I'm trying to get Z couplers on my N shay and N EMC 40. OK, finally found a supplier online that had them. Ordered the preassembled. Backordered. UPS Shipment delays (UP??).... got here last night.... Of course, NOBODY has any pictures of these online, or what the dimensions are and what they are intended for. Including Microtrains, BTW. The Walthers drawing of the part looked just like a 1015/16 box.....WRONG! So what I got, apparently, were typical freight car couplers. Nice, but the boxes are way too long for locomotive applications. I 'need' a Z-scale equivalent of an N 1015/16; short box, I don't care about knuckle height because I'm making my own frames here. OK, so this burned 4+ weeks of time and I still don't have couplers that will work. Anybody out there know what WILL work for short-clearance locomotive pilot applications? Sigh...... Link & pin with .010 wire is looking really good about now. Either that or settle with the regular N ones - I've found that the passenger car 'extender' boxes are about as close-clearance as it gets. But they still look so BIG on a bitty engine.....
Randgust: Try the MT Z scale #905 coupler. Chuck at Feather River trains has them. http://featherrivertrains.com
I'll measure the box from the coupler off the back of the Kato business car and see if it is shorter. I didn't think the 905's had longer boxes than the 1015's, but I guess I've never had them side by side. Will look when I get home.
I got "905's" which the description says are assembled "903's"...... Here's the 'illustration' on the Walthers page for a Z coupler that bears nothing at all to do with what I got... http://www.walthers.com/prodimage/79959382/10132263926182.gif What I actually got looks more like this: http://www.walthers.com/prodimage/79959382/10132263926163.gif Which is cool and all (I can do all my Alan Curtis log cars with them) but sure won't fit the spot where this was: http://www.walthers.com/prodimage/79959382/10132263939594.gif There's no picture of the passenger car coupler boxes that I find so useful.
If you do not want to use the automatic coupling you can remove the guts from a Z scale draft gear box and just ridged mount them to the locomotive frame. For small engines with a short wheel base, the coupler on the car connected to it will flex and rotate enough to negotiate most curves.
There is only one version of the Z scale coupler, so I'm sure Randy has the right ones. The only difference between the 903 and the 905 is that one is kit form and the other is assembled.
There is also the 902 that is show in one of the links above. It is used for converting the giant Marklin hooks to MT. They can be useful in applications where tight clearance is a problem. I have fassioned a half round mounting peg with a screw and washer to hold the couplers on for some of my Nn3 passenger cars.
Russell got me. The above should read "only one /preassembled/ version" as Randy said he ordered the preassembled variety.
Russ..... Yeah, see, I thought the 905 was a little assembled box that used apparently the 902, not the 903 freight car one..... I thought I was OK because of the shank design in the diagram. That would make sense. Got any pictures of that Nn3 installation???? Do they fit in any regular coupler boxes? I'd really like them to work. If I'm torn between oversize couplers that work or smaller ones that don't, I'm gonna have to go with regular ones that work. Got any idea where to FIND those 902 couplers? I've never seen one except in the diagram. Walthers is out of stock.
Here is what I got. From left to right, the first is a 902 installed in a Marklin box. The second is a box I made with some half round to hold a 902 and the third is a side view of the same with a coupler and the base plate installed. The forth is a standard 905. Next is a 1023 and finally a 1015 for comparison. One could make a shorter box for the 902 than I did. You might try Caboose Hobbies for stock.
This pic might help someone out there: They are lined up by mounting holes. 1023 = 1025 905 = 903 Last 2 in the photo are an accumate and a box cut from a MT truck
