Lyman 45 disassembly

[ricwb]

I'm in the process of restoring a Lyman 45 lubricator that was glued together with 50 year old lube. Can anyone describe how to remove the pressure screw and lube reservoir? I thought the screw unscrewed out the bottom of the cast body, but mine seems to stop after screwing out about one inch. Is the reservoir press fit, or does it unscrew somehow? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[imashooter2]

The reservoir is a fine thread into the casting and very thin. You need a strap wrench to get it off. Might have to heat it too. The pressure screw just pushes out the bottom of the casting.

[fryboy]

best bet is to boil it or heat it to get all the old lube out , the reservoir is as stated a fine thread with standard lefty righty loosie titey threads , a bit of heat once the old lube out also helps , getting the strap close to the base also helps , if indeed the rod stops after 1" then i'm going to guess that the threads are full of lube , someone may of put a nut on it to hold it in but the only way to tell is to remove all the old lube but as he stated above it should just push out

[imashooter2]

You'll be able to see the rod clearly once the tube is off. It'll make troubleshooting easy.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

If the pressure nut has been removed and no one has buggered the pressure screw.
the Presure screw will just push out the bottom.

Obviously the old lube is making you 'unscrew' it and maybe only the one inch that you are able to 'unscrew' it.

I'd boil the old lube out. Get a old large stock pot and have at it.
OR, I'm not sure where you are located, but it's HOT outside in most of the USA.
just let it sit in the sun for a few hours.
Jon

[mold maker]

Add a mirror on each side to reflect the sun on it, and watch that the liquid lube doesn't ruin what ever its sitting on.

[ricwb]

After a weekend of soaking in mineral spirits, the screw dropped out clean. Now all I need to do is somehow remove the undersize snap rings to complete the disassembly, and I'll be ready to paint. Thanks for all the advice. What a great forum.

[thehouseproduct]

FWIW I restored one without removing the reservoir. I just boiled the whole thing, wire brushed leftover paint off, and then taped off the blued tube and painted. Turned out great.

[Bad Water Bill]

Borrow mama's hair drier for a few minutes and hold the sizer over a bucket. Shouldn't take more than a couple minutes and remember to clean out the lube in the reservoir as well. Next thing is to order the new style pressure setup, It is worth the extra couple bucks. Don't ask me how I know.

[montana_charlie]

Next thing is to order the new style pressure setup.
If you still have the old style pressure nut, don't throw it away.
When wrapped in it's brass cover and positioned inside the reservoir, it makes a perfect 'backup' for supporting the tube against buckling, when using a strap wrench to unscrew it from the frame.

CM

[Four-Sixty]

I just cleaned out a rather dirty Lyman 45 I bought off a site member using gasoline. The gasoline rapidly disolved the old lube and made the threaded rod look like new. Just wanted to say you may try gasoline to clean up old lubers instead of using mineral spirits or by boling them. Beware, gasoline does disolve the paint though.

[ricwb]

Thanks for all the good advice. I left the lube reservoir in place, and just masked it before painting. I didn't see any good reason to risk damaging it by trying to get it to unscrew. Painted the cast parts with Chevy Engine Orange after masking most of the holes. Only problem now is that it looks to pretty to use!

[josper]

please use something other than gasoline. The vapors can get in your clothing ,any kind of spark [static] and you will go up like a roman candle.