Modding the Lee Classic Cast for leverage

[20nickels]

Although it's not well known, some in the swaging forum have drilled the linkages and reset the pivot pin closer to the ram for more leverage. This will effectively give you more leverage at the cost of less ram stroke.
Yer gonna do what?
Before anyone says "you shouldn't do that" let me just say that a few have and it seems to work quite well for easing tough sizing operations like swaging.
1st things 1st, getting it apart. If anyone has disassembled one I'm all ears. I have the ram top removed, see pic, and the link pins are exposed fron the inside. I'll try to push them in or out this evening. I'm hoping some who have already done this will chime in and we can document this for others as well.

[ANeat]

Its been a while but from what I recall.........

For the dis-assembly youre part way there, as you show, the top part of the ram unscrews, and it needs to be removed.

That will get you access to the 2 pins at the top that go in the press, They are knurled and a press fit, they need to be driven OUT away from the press, one pin has a hole in it, you need to use a long 1/8 punch, go thru the pin with the hole in it and drive the other one out, after that you can use a larger punch and drive the remaining pin out, then everything will fall free (be ready to catch it or watch your toes.....)

[BT Sniper]

Yes the Lee is a perfect canadit for mods, especially for adding more leverage exactly as you have stated.

Quick answers for you,

Be sure the ram is all the way down and drive one of the pins inward so it falls into the ram slot. Then you can drive the other pin outward.

Then you can remove the lincages and ram for disasembly.

Use 1/2" grade 8 bolt for the replacment bolt rather then the factory shoulder bolt.

I relocate the 1/2" holes aproxamatly 1" from their current postion.

You will have to grind off one side of the over cam stops.

Then you should be good to go.

Measure twice and three times before drilling any holes. If you have any questions feel free to ask. I have done severial of these mods as well as severial others that use this press to swage bullets with.

BT

Do not use the factory supplied shoulder bolt for the new holes.

[BT Sniper]

Yes driving pin out is better if you have teh 1/8 punch pin, me I just drove one all teh way threw and seemed to be OK.

BT

[ANeat]

For those who havent seen it, this is what unscrews from the top of the ram.




And this is the top of the ram, the Lee ram is made from a piece of tubing.




And this is a shot of the linkage, this is after I had bored new pivot holes.

[ANeat]

Dont drive the pins IN, if you do youre in for a much tougher ordeal, the outside of the pins have a radial knurl for retention and you really dont want to force that thru the finished hole.

Go to Harbor Freight or somewhere and get a set of long punches, you will be glad you did.


Like BT said, you will need to get rid of the factory shoulder bolt so you can quickly change back from regular to short stroke.

I ended up making a long pin for mine.

[20nickels]

Tks for the responses guys. A couple of questions;
Why grind off one of the travel stops, does it interfere with the toggle arm in the swaging position?
Is a 1/2" or so trailer hitch pin suitable for a pivot pin? Use washers to snug it up. Just trying to make it easily changeable from high to low gear.
Nobody has the long punches locally. I'll get a hard 1/8" bolt in the morning and hack the head off of it. I'll use it as a "punch extender" to knock out the pins.

[20nickels]

Press is in pieces! I used an 1/8" punch and had some 1/8" hardware store round stock laying around so I used that as an "extension" for the punch to get it started. Was easier after I got it started, then use a longer piece to poke it out the rest of the way. Thought the soft stuff would mushroom under the hammering but no such thing happened. Claw hammer was enough.
Watch your toes, it falls right out! I caught it with a bucket.

[BT Sniper]

You don't have to grind off the stops if you only drill one set of the links, as in Aneats pic. With that set up you do increase the leverage and shorten the stroke of the ram but the ram is that much further now from the top of the press. If you drill both sets of the links then the stops would need to be ground off.

Up to you as to how close you need the ram to the top of the press.

Mine has yet a few extra parts in the links but you can see how I repostioned the bolt hole in both pairs of links to give it a higher top of stroke allowing the ram to be back at it's orginal hight at the top of the stroke. It does not go all the way down like it did before this way. The support links are upside down too, I got drill happy with the holes I guess?

[20nickels]

I see, excellent explanation. I have a couple ideas to bring it back to original height but I won't be able to judge which is best until the dust settles from this part of the project.

[20nickels]

The Lee in pieces;

[r1kk1]

Any chance Aneat or BTSniper offer the Lee presses with the conversion done?

Wow. All I can say is wow.

Wonderful talent,

r1kk1

[20nickels]

Ready to drill.

[geargnasher]

Don't forget to center punch and drill a pilot hole through both pieces first.

Gear

[20nickels]

If you look close you can see I used utility knife blades for shims on each end. The pieces do not sit flush with each other and the door shims are a must to hold it in a vice due to it's angle.
Maybe I can drill and reassemble tonight, we will see if I have time.

Oh, and I'm told Lee sells these links for $14 ea. if you mangle them.

[BT Sniper]

Any chance Aneat or BTSniper offer the Lee presses with the conversion done?

Wow. All I can say is wow.

Wonderful talent,

r1kk1

Anything is possible. Send me a PM.

BT

[20nickels]

Project on hold until next week. Holes are drilled @ 1/2" but I decided to go w/ 9/16" pivot pin as that is the size of the original pivot pin holes and I'll need to borrow a 9/16 bit this weekend from a friend. This will make it easily switchable from high to low gear.

[r1kk1]

Pm sent bt sniper

Take care

R1kk1

[20nickels]

All done. Keep in mind there is no shell plate screwed in the top of the ram in the measurement pic and the ram is all the way up in it's highest position. The bolt is grade eight 9/16" X 4.5" long. I used a second nut to lock the 1st one in place. Ram travel is about 1 3/4" to 1 7/8"in high leverage mode, sorry I didn't get a better measurement.

[JeremyLong]

Been lurking for a while now I am going to try this mod. Just got the press in the mail today and apart it comes. I think I am going to make both sets of holes in the linkage.

This is such a good forum

Thanks for the walk though. Any other tips?