Coupler difficulties

Thanks Rob.
I appreciate your assistance and willingness to make my situation right. Since this problem is a reoccurring one involving not just the autoracks, but also the hoppers and tankers, you can well understand how disappointed and frustrated I am with these cars. As I stated at the beginning of this thread, they just don't seem to have the ability or strength to hold more then 5 cars of equal or less weight when going up a grade of 2%. They simply pull apart and it doesn't matter where on the grade they are when this happens. As for the coupling issue, I have replaced the couplers on all but two of my hoppers with Bowser Bucklers as they are called and they are working much, much better. Now I understand that Bowser Bucklers are made by the same manufacturer as your Autolatch couplers, and that being the case, it begs the question, why do the Bowser's seem to work better? It doesn't make sense. As for the tankers, I have installed MTL couplers on all of them. Again, they seem to hold together much better on the grade. As for the autoracks, well Bowser doesn't make long shank couplers that would be suitable for the racks, hence all the testing and experimentation. It is rather strange that my 8 first run autoracks cause me no problem at all. They all go up my grade with no separation, and couple with the slightest of effort. It's all the racks that came after your initial run that I've had the constant problem with. Like I said before, even when I intermix the newer racks with the older ones, they will not hold together on the grade. They will however couple so long as a newer rack couples to an older one. If they are all manufactured the same, then why does this happen? Your suggestion that perhaps the couplers were damaged in transit, might be true for one or even two, but all 8? And 4 of these were a set encased in foam in the box. I have to say that I'm about to throw in the towel and just use these racks for display only on a siding somewhere and just run my original 8.
Your suggestion of sending me replacement truck/coupler assemblies makes sense and I accept that as long as I can get the results I need with little or no frustration. And I don't consider this as FUN. I would need a price on replacements for 8 racks. I will give my friend one of my older racks for him to do a comparison of couplers. If necessary, under a microscope to determine if there has been some kind of deformity. Perhaps this could be the issue.
One final thing Rob and I mentioned this once before. I purchased one of your hoppers brand new from my dealer and I ran into the coupling issue when I took it right out of the box. On close inspection, I found that both couplers were facing the same way, not opposite as it should be. Therefore the hopper wouldn't couple to another car on one end. Now I don't have the manual dexterity to actually take a coupler out of the box, turn it over and put it back in, so I simply replaced the entire assembly with another one I had laying around. I was lucky in that regard but to have both couplers facing the same direction would be a production or quality control issue at the factory. This should have been caught there. In any case, that issue was resolved quickly and the car works perfectly.
Once again I appreciate your efforts to help solve my problem. It's been an uphill battle, (no pun intended) trying to get these racks to couple, and stay coupled on the grade. Maybe new coupler/trucks will help. Who knows. Just send me the details and cost and we will go from there.
Thanks again.
Ken

I'm really surprised at the problems boxcarwilly has been having with his AZL Auto Latch couplers especially the part where he can't get them to latch together like they should. I've never had any problem getting these to latch together. However, I was surprised to find a brand new AZL 89' flatcar I ordered was fitted with the old non auto latch style coupler! I discovered this when I tried to latch it to one of my AZL SD75's which still has the old non auto latch couplers on it and it wouldn't go. I've found the auto latch type coupler will latch to the old non auto latch type but the old non auto latch ones won't latch to each other. There is a physical difference between the new and old type couplers; if you look down on the coupler the old style coupler has a small square shaped projection that sticks out the righthand side just behind the curved part of the coupler. The Auto Latch type does not have this, so I wonder, does he have some new cars with the old couplers? Can't imagine him having that many though.

Glen

if you look down on the coupler the old style coupler has a small square shaped projection that sticks out the righthand side just behind the curved part of the coupler. The Auto Latch type does not have this,

Glen, I have inspected these couplers under a magnifying glass and have found no discernable difference between the couplers on my original autoracks and the newest additions.

I've come to a decision. I'm going to to remove the 8 newest autoracks from service and relegate them to a display track and just use the original 8 which I bought when they were first introduced. At least I know they work flawlessly. This is most disappointing but necessary. Until someone comes up with a universal replacement coupler that I can use instead of AZL's autolatch couplers, I have no other option. Of course we are still experimenting with a home ground quick fix to the problem, but for the present, and probably the future, they will sit on a siding and gather dust.

Rob K. Please take note as per Rob A

they will sit on a siding and gather dust.

[/quote]Expensive siding display...[/quote]


Yes it will be. Sadly, there is nothing else that can be done at this time.

Umm I am the one who replaced twice to you initially...

We can send you replacement trucks but they will have the same couplers. But reading your recent post, this does not appear to be acceptable as you are asking for a universal coupler replacement.

Drop me an email offline with your address if you want the replacements. I will send you a few to try out and see if they make a difference.

rob@ztrack.com

Rob Kluz

I sent 6 coupler/wheel sets back to Rob Kluz for replacement. I haven't received these as yet. Hope they arrive soon.

Continued from last, I've done all the experimentation I can think of with these racks and although all 16 now couple easily enough and hold together on flat surfaces, the problem with separation on my 2% grade still persists. I have tried repeatedly to haul all 16 racks up this grade, and on a solid piece of 1x3 and still the separation continues. I've interspersed my original 8 racks with the newer 8 and have met with no better success. I added a long straight at both the upper and lower ends of the wood, and added an additional piece of 1x3 so that I had a 16 foot run. This was no help. I have to agree with my engineering friend when he speculates that the couplers on these racks are just too week to handle the weight of more then 6 cars to say nothing of the stress. They simply let go. This is disappointing in that one of the things I wanted to accomplish on my layout is running theme trains through the main focal point of my layout. A consist of just auto racks, one of tankers, one of hoppers, and of course a mixed general freight. The whole idea being that these trains would be long enough that the same train could be seen in three different places at the same time. In short, a maximum of 50 cars. Now to be fair, I have run trains of mixed freight up to 35 cars and made it up this grade without separation, but that with mixing heavy cars at the front behind the engines and lighter cars in the rear so that I didn't get clotheslining. I've also tried consists of just hoppers with AZL, MTL, Intermountain, and Full Throttle but again the most I can pull up this grade is 37 before separation happens. Likewise with the tankers. So I'm really at a loss to explain why this is happening or how to remedy the problem except to shorten my consists. I guess what I can do for now is stay away from the long theme trains of 30+ cars, and just stick to a consist of general freight with a mix of heavy and light cars. Start with as many as I know I can pull up the grade, and then gradually add a car every revolution until I reach the desired length and visual affect. If I can't get that, then I'll settle for whatever works. Sometimes one has to make sacrifices in order to achieve an alternate goal.