I agree with Jim de Bree, the Kadee #5 [and most other Kadees], have been the best I've used over the past 45 years in HO. Some of my late, great Heroes of the hobby used other couplers, always strictly for reliable performance, not looks. [ie: John Allen-Bakers, and Jack Work-Mantuas].
Never had any insurmountable sagging problems with the Kadees in Athearn or Atlas engines, but needed extra work shimming, in '80's and early 90's P2K and Spectrum...now these come with generic knuckle couplers. Toughest jobs I remember was fitting Kadees to Rivarossi steam engines,especially at pilot end. Freight / passenger cars...Athearn or MDC took Kadees with zero problem. My Rivarossi passenger KD retrofits were fairly difficult, mainly because I epoxied KD'S to the Rivarossi shanks.
Regarding Bob's comment: The newer available knuckle couplers are pretty good, but to me none are as good as Kadee.I do like the McHenry ''Rivarossi adaptable snap-ins'' for passenger cars and steam engines.These are REALLY handy. Have tried McHenry, P2K and Accumate standard knuckle types. Accumate requires subassembly, which I find awkward.They all work, but lack the strength and durability of Kadee.
I am currently experimenting with the McHenry offset shanks [high and low, long and short] for a friend who does not want to replace the truck-mounted arrangement on some Bachmann and LifeLike freight cars.Once we replace the wheelsets and add weight, we'll see how the new couplers work out.
regards/Mike
Never had any insurmountable sagging problems with the Kadees in Athearn or Atlas engines, but needed extra work shimming, in '80's and early 90's P2K and Spectrum...now these come with generic knuckle couplers. Toughest jobs I remember was fitting Kadees to Rivarossi steam engines,especially at pilot end. Freight / passenger cars...Athearn or MDC took Kadees with zero problem. My Rivarossi passenger KD retrofits were fairly difficult, mainly because I epoxied KD'S to the Rivarossi shanks.
Regarding Bob's comment: The newer available knuckle couplers are pretty good, but to me none are as good as Kadee.I do like the McHenry ''Rivarossi adaptable snap-ins'' for passenger cars and steam engines.These are REALLY handy. Have tried McHenry, P2K and Accumate standard knuckle types. Accumate requires subassembly, which I find awkward.They all work, but lack the strength and durability of Kadee.
I am currently experimenting with the McHenry offset shanks [high and low, long and short] for a friend who does not want to replace the truck-mounted arrangement on some Bachmann and LifeLike freight cars.Once we replace the wheelsets and add weight, we'll see how the new couplers work out.
regards/Mike