Con-Cor old dummy couplers (on Budd passenger cars) - what to do?

[nickelplate759]

When Con-Cor first released their Budd passenger cars, they came with dummy couplers.  They had the advantage of a nice coupling distance, and the distinct disadvantage of not staying coupled.  They also were a different height than other couplers, so they really wouldn't couple to anything else.

I've a bunch of cars with these couplers.  I've tried bending the "thumb" of them to get them to stay coupled - it helps, but not enough, and I break about 1/3 of the couplers I try this on.   I've tried replacing them with Unimates, but even the "Long" Unimate is a little shorter and thus tad short for reliable operation.

I know ConCor replaced these with new rigid couplers, but you have to replace the entire truck frame to apply those.

I use these cars in runner trains - so dummy couplers are fine.  Has anyone found a better solution than Long Unimates?

George

[nkalanaga]

Mine have body mounted 1025s, so I can't help.  One idea would be to cut the shank on your Unimates, drill both pieces, and lengthen them with a piece of brass rod.  You could use any of the Unimate lengths, since the rod length can be varied, and and you can set the coupling distance however you like it.

Another option, and probably a lot more work, would be to screw a piece of brass to the truck, in place of the coupler box, and screw one of the body-mount Unimates to that.  I actually did that to an N scale European low-deck flatcar to truck mount MT Z couplers for my narrow gauge.  It's a pain getting everything at the right height, but the idea does work.

[nickelplate759]

Body-mounts is my fall-back.  Easy enough to do - easier than extending the Unimates.

George

[brokemoto]

Funny thing about those couplers.  They will not stay coupled to each other, but they will stay coupled to UniMates, MT, Kato and just about anything else except MDC knuckle couplers.  You could alternate the cars:  one with factory couplers, one with long shank unimates.

I changed the trucks on  mine to the MTs.   As I have had problems getting the B-mann 1133/1134 onto some of my E-R sharks, I have used these C-Cs as an alternative for the nose of the A-unit.

[nickelplate759]

After some tinkering, I found a solution that works for me. 

Unimate "Long" truck-mounts give almost exactly the same coupling distance as the original ConCor dummies.  However, the ConCor couplers have a much wider space inside the knuckle, so on curves they give a little more space between the cars than the Unimates do.  With the Unimates the diaphragms tend to snag each other.  My solution is to use the Unimates, then round the sides of the diaphragm striker plates, and especially the lower edge where the torsion bars meet the striker plate.

George

[nkalanaga]

Good to hear it's been solved, and a much easier solution than either of mine.