Sargent couplers?

[TrainHo]

I did a quick search on the topic and only found a couple posts but not much detail about these.

Do any of you HO folks use them? What are your thoughts on them? I really enjoyed the couple of videos I have watched on them. I really like the way they look though And it appears if properly assembled and broken in they are pretty reliable!

Got any photoes or links to some reliable reviews?

Thanks in advance!

[faraway]

I read a lot of discussions in various forums over the time.
Most discussions end with a statement like a very nice alternative for a smaller layout but how should I migrate 100 engines and 500 cars from Kadee to Sargent. It is mostly dropped due to pure practical reasons.
You have one engine on order and no engine and no cars in house. It is worth a closer look if you intend a smaller layout with good physical access due to the none automatic centering couplers. Do you intend to run on a close by club layout or will you stay on your layout?

[TrainHo]

Yes, I can see where re-outfitting an entire fleet would be a pain and rather costly. I have one locomotive coming and I have purchased maybe half a dozen pieces of rollingstock so I think I'm going to give this a shot from the get-go. I really like the way they look.

I will strictly be running on a smallish home layout and will not be running at any clubs.

[BR60103]

I haven't found a hobby shop that stocks them.
I don't think they have a great variety of mounting styles (I could be wrong :oops: ). I also think that they might be hard to undo under the ends of passenger cars.

[TrainHo]

That is fair enough and good info to have before I order anything. I did some research and found they are located in KNoxville TN which is only a couple hours away. I do not plan on running any passenger equipment so that should not be a problem for me. I haven't invested anything but time yet so we will see.

I picked up a couple gondolas on the Bay. When I get them in I will research a little more and decide. I just really like the way they look and operate. I have no plans for any kind of auto coupling/uncoupling. I plan to do it all by hand anyway.

[FCIN]

The October 2013 issue of Model Railroader has a pretty good article by Pelle Søeborg showing how he installed the Sergent couplers on his equipment. Don't have it handy right now, but he shows some of the modifications he had to make to coupler pockets, locomotive pilots, etc. in order to install them. In some cases, he had to add shims to the pockets on some cars and other modifications.

The Sergent couplers really look great and I've thought about trying them out myself, but with over 100 cars and a dozen locomotives, the cost is just too much; not to mention I can't see myself putting them together! Have thought about installing them on one locomotive and a few cars, but for now I'll just stick with manually uncoupling the scale size couplers I already have on all my equipment.

[Rscott417]

I bought enough for 4 locomotives and 8 cars just to test them out and i switched them back to kadees. Unless I did something wrong, they didn't couple nearly as easy as the videos I saw online. Kadees couple more smoothly at slower (more realistic) speeds, where sergent seems to need an extra "oomph". Also if you're dealing with a switching layout and has an interior loading/unloading siding you basically cant use them. I do like sergent uncoupling much more than kadees. I see videos where people use a scewer to uncouple kadees and to me is much more of pain than the sergent magnetic wand. I have a magnet underneath my track for a siding for the kadees and when you drive over it at low speeds going forward sometimes my cars uncople which is also annoying. I'm going to give the sergents another go only because I saw that if you rub the inside of the pocket where the ball bearing is with graphite from a pencil it acts as lubricant for the knuckle to react more smoothly. But as of now kadees for coupling and sergents for uncoupling.

[eje]

Pencil "graphite" uses clay and other binders, as well as other ingredients. Maybe try Kadee "Grease-Em".

[Rscott417]

Pencil "graphite" uses clay and other binders, as well as other ingredients. Maybe try Kadee "Grease-Em".

I'll look into the product you mentioned but this it right from their website. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.sergentengineering.com">http://www.sergentengineering.com</a><!-- m --> click on “Instructions, Etc” and then click on “Click Here for Instructions”, finally click on “View RC87K , RN87K, RNB87K, RNC87K Instructions”

[Rscott417]

I got kadee greas-em to use on the sergent couplers. I would definitely recommend using this product if you decide to convert to sergents, it really helped 100% but what a mess to use. Squeeze the tube very gently when applying to the coupler. Thanks for the tip eje. Now I'll just have to pick up another tube and about 50 more couplers.

[pacbelt]

Post some photatoes of the Sergeants installed, please?

[Rscott417]

Here's your photatoes, let me know if you need anymore of anything specific.

[Rscott417]

I just picked up an Exactrail bulkhead flatcar, I was looking over it to figure out how to change the couplers but there's no screw for them. I'm thinking it might need to be done by removing the screw that goes through the trucks. As I was looking it over I noticed that the Sergent couplers are compatible with these particular couplers that came with the flatcar. I still plan on changing them with most likely the extended shank, but I know it's been said Sergents will not work with any other manufacturers.

[Russ Bellinis]

Sergents will couple to Kadees, but they won't go around most model curves while coupled without derailing one or both cars.

At an RPM meet a couple of years ago Blake from Exact Rail spoke at a clinic where he said that to replace the kadee couplers on some of the newer Exact Rail cars, you would need to pry off the draft gear bottom cover with a small screw driver. I think you would need a little solvent type cement to dissolve the glue first before prying. After changing out the coupler, you need to glue the cover back on the model.

[Fluesheet]

Photato attached. Unfortunately, they aren't made with this finish anymore.