BACHMANN CLIMAX INSTALLATION OF KADEE COUPLER

by Ross Webster

Usual disclaimers that there may be other ways to do this, but I came up with this one and it seems to work.

I first tried to use the beam where the Bachmann couplers mounts. It did not work out so I cut it off close to the truck. You can see this in the left of the picture. The easy way to do this is remove the screw cover, remove the screw and cut it off and reinstall. The manual has a diagram explaining this. I then removed the brass pin from the link and pin coupler on the front and rear. of the unit. I cut off the bottom coupler portion leaving only three as per the photo.

The photo is of the unit laying on it's side with the bottom section of the coupler box removed. I drilled out the bottom two holes so the #2 bolt that comes with the Kadee 821 will fit in. The coupler was then mounted to the bottom of the existing box and the nut was put on in the middle compartment.

I added a #2 X 1/2 inch self threading screw in the back hole of the Kadee 821 to stop it from turning. Depending on how flat you cut the bottom of the mount you may need to shim it. Fortunitly by accicdent I did not.

I reinstalled the coupler pin in the top and cut it so it looked the correct length. I will need to touch up the bolt and nut with some black paint, but left it unpainted for the photo. I tested this on 4 foot curves on my test track and it works with no problems.

NOTE: The easy way to do this is remove the coupler to do the work. This can be done by removing the two screws from the bottom and the coupler slips out. These are the same screws you need to remove to put the steps on.

ENGINE DRIVER

I did not like the engineer that came with the Bachman Shay so I used one of the "Just Plain Folk" from John Schneider's

The seat just pushes down and slides out of the way.

Picture taken with roof off for better lighting. Dcc conversion of the Shay to follow.

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