BLMA Trucks and Intermountain Bathtub Coal Gondola

[DrifterNL]

After receiving my order of a few BLMA 100 Ton Trucks I decided to try them out on one of my Intermountain Bathtub Coal Gondolas that I have a double of.
After taking off the MT trucks I had to cut off a few tabs (quick and dirty) on the bottom of the car (I guess that is used as filler because of the high ride height) so that the BLMA tucks would sit properly, and they went on with no fuss.
I am very pleased with the BLMA Trucks, they lowered the car quite considerably to a more prototypical ride height and look great.




Then I put together a MT 1019 coupler, same as used on the RC Auto Racks, cut off the long end but found out that the coupler box is too big to fit between the end platform and wheel axle.
After that I tried a MT#1021 coupler, the draft gear box seems to fit between the end platform and wheel axle but the coupler is too low.
Anybody know if there is a under-slung coupler (like the 1019) with a 1021 draft gear box?
I have already ordered a few MT Z-scale # 905 couplers, just have to wait until they come in.
Who knows, depending on the size of the Z-scale draft gear box I could even go a little bit lower:

Photographer : William Henderson / Picture found at : http://freight.railfan.ca

[Denver Road Doug]

First off, nice job!  Looks good and I can't wait to get the BLMA 100T's that I have on order.

I don't have an answer on the MTL couplers although I am very interested.  I intend to do the same thing to my Atlas coalveyors which I expect will be a similar process.  I was considering 905's or even dummy couplers since they're for unit train service and it doesn't really matter if they work or not. (but, I'm not sure there's a good way to body mount dummy couplers in this scenario?)

[tom mann]

Awesome improvement.  However, it looks like while BLMA has made it easier to lower freight cars (which actually the Atlas truck does too), we will now have to raise the portion of our fleet that already has been lowered! ;D  I hope everyone saved those little MT washers!

[bbussey]

I've never tried it ... but the original body-mount couplers on the 50000-series wood caboose fits inside the 1021 coupler box.  Some of the early conversion kits also use this coupler.  Now, it's not used with the cabooses anymore, but I believe the same coupler is used with the passenger trucks.  You might be able to install that coupler in the 1021 box to get the thinner profile you're looking for.