Buy one box of Roco 40397 couplers and you will never look back.
https://www.marklin-user...dunread-change-couplings

couplers are sometimes not the problem but either the coupling shaft they're attached to is flexible enough to distort the height or the coupling shaft is loose at its securing point (screw)

another reason as Matt pointed out the spring mechanism is to weak to hold the coupling in the centre position and therefore is being pushed out where it can no longer be coupled together.

the Roco couplings as shown are relatively different to the Märklin short couplings not because they somewhat look identical but they couple together on either coupling at the same time. giving it a much more securer coupling option. Märklin coupling only couple on one side of either coupling.

John

Edited by user 05 April 2016 02:22:00(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Yes. They are much more universal than M's close coupler.

I have found that Maerklin's close couplers (7203) are easier to manually separate than Roco's 40397. The Maerklin ones usually detach when one car/coach is tilted to one side. The Roco ones absolutely require that you use the little tool to lift the little foot underneath to release the coupling. The other major difference is that the shaft of the Roco coupler is about 1mm longer than the Maerklin one, which means that you will have a gap between cars and coaches. I have found that with certain manufacturers (Heris, Liliput, LSM*, ACME*), that the Roco coupler is better than the Maerklin one because the coupling shaft is slightly shorter than optimal, meaning that the Maerklin couplers do not extend fully as to permit coupling. The Roco couplers with the additional mm solve this issue. LSM and ACME have solved this issue by designing the coupling shaft to have positions that allow the coupler to be only partially inserted.
For Pendelzug (Push-Pull) operation, I rely on the Fleischmann Profi Coupling which seems more rigid and reliable when pushed. I guess that you could use the classic Roco close couplings too. The disadvantage is that these couplings can not be combined with others. My solution was to use Maerklin or Roco couplers on the first and last coaches. This has worked for my Maerklin and Roco SBB EW IV Intercity, Roco SBB IC 2000, Hag/Fleischmann Re 540 S-Bahn, Liliput SBB and BLS EWIII and Liliput and Roco/RailTop NPZ Pendelzug trains.
In some cases, I have duplicates for certain coaches that I can use in combination with other types, e.g. when I want to mix SBB EC and EWIV in the same consist.

Regards

Mike C

Ok I have almost the same problem ,check out the thread about couplers above in the next sub posting .

Question . How many in a box & how much for the box . quote in either USA money or Euro's .

Cheers Tom in Oz

Try with ESU new short couplers!
They are similar looks like Rocos universal short coupler too.

I hate to be the one to tell you this Tom, but that definately includes your PC! Especially if you have Wifi in the home - then you need to move into the radio free dog house..

Well, they obviously don't want you doing what the rubbish truck driver did in Glasgow a couple of Christmas' ago ...

That was a case of a guy who had had blackouts and hadn't told his employers - and he had gone through about three employers like this since his first blackout IIRC.

Tom, I have the same problem being a passenger in my cars. I get my ear chewed too often. Best cure is to lie down in the back seat and close your eyes. You may even get 40 winks. Believe me, it does help to relieve stress.
Dereck

As you say in Aussie. Poor bastard.

They don't have a closed loop, they have a hook.
Both hooks pass each other and both hooks fall down behind the pin. Therefore they engage more easy and more reliable than Mother M*'s original.

Thanks Matt.
Marklin have been champions of metal models for years. [ You could say the were great artificers in metals ]. BUT, they have made a wrong choice in this instant.

The metal loop on Marklin couplers is stamped out of a mild steel sheet.[ they bend very easily ] This means that the edges are sharp, and square. So when 2 square edges come together they want to stay together.

It looks like the Roco couplers have plastic "hooks" which can be moulded to a special shape. { I presumed that must be rounded so that when coming together the have to move past each other. ] Matt has described them as being larger in cross section and shaped with a point. The points coming together are more likely to slide past each other.

The fact that Marklin couplers only latch on one peg is not the problem because when they do latch properly, the don't seem to come apart.

When one loop has coupled, it causes the other loop to slide up and above the pin and pre-uncoupler cap[ PUC ], so it isn't possible with that design for a double latch to happen..

the Roco couplers appear to have a thicker PUC, which causes the hooks to latch [ I may be wrong here ]. They are also one sided so the hooks don't interfere with each other which enables a double latch.


What do we do about it. Lets all go on strike . Why not let them know that we will not buy their merchandise unless they supply free of charge, Roco couplers. "Yeh right" as the saying goes over here .


Maerklin, lf you modified your jig for the loops, so that when a loop is formed, a device comes along and rounds of the leading edge, you may cure the problem . You might even coat them with PTFE to make them very slippery , but that may cause uncoupling ., You could even remove one side of the coupler loop so that the top loop [ now a hook ] is not interfered by the lower loop [ hook ]. Wouldn't that be nice .

Dereck

P S please feel free to upgrade or modify the observations mad here. I need strong glasses now so it is possible [ most likely ] there is something I haven't seen yet.

I think many of us assume the problems are typical of all loop couplers until someone recommends a change. I know I thought it was endemic to loop couplers.

The cap is defined by Marklin as a "pre-uncoupler". It allows you to uncouple the wagens at an uncoupler track and continue to push the wagen to the location desired in your yard without them coupling back together, unless you back away from the opposite wagen.

Hey Kimball, dont be cheeky. That other thread was a lot of fun. This one is supposed to be serious.

Thanks Matt, have adjusted the wording to suit.

Tom, hope you get better before the 6 months is up. Maybe you ought to wear a lead jacket when viewing this forum. Hope you are still allowed to laugh though, and hopefully have a beer. good for the sole and appetite.

Dereck

So far I have managed to bugger 2 of these couplers. I took one side of them off so they coupled together and locked on both pins. Still had the original problem though of them rising together, but caused another problem when pulling the wagons apart. They caught on each other in the opposite direction. Now we know why they stayed with the loop.

At least now I know to leave the loop but find a solution for the sticking together problem. They are fiddly little buggers but didn't take too long to modify.

Dereck

Do you mean the design of the spigot part that goes into the pocket, not the loop and guide part?

Kimball

For a thread dealing with couplers, I am surprised that no one has yet directly referenced this article. http://blog.mailez.de/eb...-couplers-for-h0-models/

I've noticed before that some of the Marklin close couplers have a different design of shaft, but they should all still fit in the pockets.

I'm a fan of these couplers and fit them on all my stock as far as I can. My Roco, Liliput and Piko wagons have no trouble working with the Marklin close couplers.