Removing seized glow head...any tricks?

astropattern Sun Jan 11, 2015 8:44 pm

I picked up a Dragonfly in very nice NIB condition, but needs to be limbered up and cleaned of the factory lube. I tried removing the glow head, but it won't budge, and neither will the cylinder spin off. It is so seized that I'm bending my tools.

My plan is to disassemble the engine carefully, and using gentle heat to warm the cylinder so it expands faster than the head, and then try to spin the head and/or crankcase off that way. At this point, I will need to replace the head anyway because the fins are deformed.

Anybody have other tricks?...soak in penetrating fluid? Other ways?

I don't want to run it, but I do want all my boxed collection engines to turn properly.

Thanks!

John

Oldenginerod Sun Jan 11, 2015 9:06 pm

John. I think you're on the right track. Heat is the only way to do it. Even if you gently heat the head first so it expands and then as it cools it can pull away from the thread in the cylinder a little. You could even try heating the whole engine (minus the plastic parts) and carefully dip the head only in ice-water. I may shock it loose.

Rod.

dckrsn Sun Jan 11, 2015 9:28 pm

Welcome to the forum John.
There are several ways to remove a siezed glow head,
and most of them work pretty well. I suggest hitting
the search feature(top left of the page).
One thing I do, is put the wrench in a vise on the flat.
By that I mean grab the thin edges in the vise jaws, not
the flat width of the wrench. Much more efficient than
a wrench in one hand and the engine in the other.
Solvents and heat are also your friends. Some of us use
(and I swear by) Hoppe's #9 solvent. Available at outdoor/gun
stores, or Amazon.
In the meantime, this thread touches on the subject.
https://www.coxengineforum.com/t6640-cleaning-old-cox-049ers
Once again, Welcome John!! Hand Shake

Edit: Flesh out your profile too. Clapping

pkrankow Sun Jan 11, 2015 11:17 pm

Take the tank off is best. Use a heat gun or hair dryer (ok, many hair dryers are not powerful enough) to heat until there are some there is some cooked castor smell, or bubbles. Then use a natural fiber rag (cotton, wool, etc) to hold the engine and a good wrench to take the parts off. Allow to cool naturally on a heat resistant surface.

(I might get bubbles because I soak in denatured alcohol overnight before trying anything at all)

Phil

WingingIt74 Sun Jan 11, 2015 11:20 pm

Take all plastic parts off, put it on a cookie tray in the oven at 200ºF for 10 minutes, should come right apart.

Mark Boesen Sun Jan 11, 2015 11:28 pm

heat, heat, and more heat...did I mention heat? It's the dried oil that acts like Loc-tite and keeps it hard to turn.

**Cribbs74** Sun Jan 11, 2015 11:36 pm

As you can see heat is the preferred method. However, I will say this: If you choose to use heat then heat the cylinder only and not the head. Aluminum expands much quicker than the iron cylinder. Less chance of damaging the head this way.

Cox recommended never removing the head when the engine is hot for this very reason.

I personally like to use a monokote type heat gun.

I am also a Hoppes#9 advocate.

TDbandit Sun Jan 11, 2015 11:55 pm

What I do is take a heat gun to the cylinder and once hot, take a icecube and lay it on the head that usually does the trick for me if it gets stubborn i use hoppes 9 solvent to soften the gunk in the threads then re-heat and repeat.
(Bandit)

Oldenginerod Mon Jan 12, 2015 12:41 am

Cribbs74 wrote:
I am also a Hoppes#9 advocate.

Is this the stuff you guys are referring to?
Removing seized glow head...any tricks? Pictur11

Sure looks like plenty of you swear by it.

I don't know if it's available here in AUS but we have a local hunting shop where I can ask. I got gun blue from there that I used to re-blue cylinders. It worked well.

There's been no engine so far that I haven't been able to get apart using glow fuel, acetone, carb cleaner, anti-freeze, heat or a combination. Cooking in anti-freeze has worked best for me.

Rod.

TDbandit Mon Jan 12, 2015 1:04 am

Oldenginerod wrote:
Cribbs74 wrote:
I am also a Hoppes#9 advocate.

Is this the stuff you guys are referring to?

Sure looks like plenty of you swear by it.

I don't know if it's available here in AUS but we have a local hunting shop where I can ask. I got gun blue from there that I used to re-blue cylinders. It worked well.

There's been no engine so far that I haven't been able to get apart using glow fuel, acetone, carb cleaner, anti-freeze, heat or a combination. Cooking in anti-freeze has worked best for me.

Rod.

Yup that the stuff works well. (Bandit)

astropattern Mon Jan 12, 2015 7:39 am

Sounds very good!!
Thanks all for your help.
I'll try the stove and head icing method first.

John

rsv1cox Mon Jan 12, 2015 8:43 am

I use Simple Green heated in a microwave to just below boiling, drop the engine/parts in and wait about fifteen minutes. Frees everything right up for an easy disassembly. Brush, rinse with hot water, blow out with compressed air, lube with Remoil and reassemble.

Removing seized glow head...any tricks? Ptandsnj002_zps167abe59

Removing seized glow head...any tricks? Ptandsnj002_zps167abe59

Removing seized glow head...any tricks? Ptandsnj003_zpsf260c8cf

Both of these engines were done yesterday, both were totally locked up, crank, piston, glow heads etc.

Removing seized glow head...any tricks? Ptandsnj014_zpse3d047c2

Removing seized glow head...any tricks? Ptandsnj014_zpse3d047c2

Removing seized glow head...any tricks? Ptandsnj016_zpsa07d51f7

Removing seized glow head...any tricks? PTengine005_zpsa8188a2e

I used to struggle with these using heat guns, hair dryers, solvents. No longer, safe and available Simple Green works for me.

getback Mon Jan 12, 2015 1:45 pm

I AM WARNING YOU AGAIN DONT SOAK TOO LONG IN HOBBIES #9 1 hr. at a time , I have left engines in there overnight and got tarnish especially on BB back plates that I could not remove ////// All the stuff the members have said works in different ways . Simple Green is very easy to work with at 3 to 1 SG. # 9 I get at Wal-Mart a lot cheaper than Gun Stores ( if they have hunting dept ) Eric Very Happy

dinsdale Wed Jan 14, 2015 10:44 pm

Oldenginerod wrote:
Cribbs74 wrote:
I am also a Hoppes#9 advocate.

Is this the stuff you guys are referring to?

Sure looks like plenty of you swear by it.

I don't know if it's available here in AUS but we have a local hunting shop where I can ask. I got gun blue from there that I used to re-blue cylinders. It worked well.

There's been no engine so far that I haven't been able to get apart using glow fuel, acetone, carb cleaner, anti-freeze, heat or a combination. Cooking in anti-freeze has worked best for me.

Rod.

Rod, it sure IS available here in Oz, and it's the best stuff since sliced bread. Any decent gun/hunting store will sell it. If you find one that doesn't sell it then it can't be a decent gun shop.

dinsdale Wed Jan 14, 2015 10:48 pm

rsv1cox wrote:I use Simple Green ...

For we antipodeans, what is "Simple Green"?

dinsdale Wed Jan 14, 2015 10:55 pm

Actually, after I posted the above I remembered that "Google is my friend". Seems that it is commonly available here, but there are a dozen or more varieties of it - see here: http://australia.simplegreen.com/
So which one is it that works so well?

rsv1cox Thu Jan 15, 2015 8:59 am

That's it, Green bottle works great heated. But as with Hoppee's don't leave it in forever especially cast, not so much so on Cox aluminum.

If your thrifty like me, you can strain it through a cloth and reuse it many times. That said, it's cheap enough to begin with.

Turn-about being fair play your antipodeans referance also sent me to Mr. Google. I was always told as a child that if I dug deep enough I would come out in China. Geographically not the same, but perhaps I could share your situation. Smile

dinsdale Thu Jan 15, 2015 9:57 pm

rsv1cox wrote:Turn-about being fair play your antipodeans referance also sent me to Mr. Google. I was always told as a child that if I dug deep enough I would come out in China. Geographically not the same, but perhaps I could share your situation.

IIrc, and I'm a bit too lazy to Google it at the mo, my opposite on the globe is around Bermuda, or a little North.
I'm in Albany, on the south coast of Western Australia (WestOz) - God's home town tongue

getback Fri Jan 16, 2015 7:38 am

Some body had an idea but didn't work I used there same method since they were already messed up with heat and a rubber hose // The sad thing is the glows still work will I run them probably ........ Removing seized glow head...any tricks? Wp_20114

Removing seized glow head...any tricks? Wp_20114

Eric

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