I have been trying for 2 weeks to get the sight glass nut loose on my Jensen 75. My engine is in great shape, has no problems. Shiny. Looks like new. But it is from the late 80’s. Well taken care of. I have soaked the sight glass nut in PB blast and WD40 and even have used vinegar and everything else imaginable, overnight. It still will not budge. There is no visible scale. I have bent the tool Jensen sent me to loosen it. Hasn’t budged. I do not want to damage it. I need to replace the gaskets!!!!! Anyone have any other tips.
Here’s my engine in action:
https://youtu.be/Jd3By2ChT1A?si=UinPzOGOuj6LfvmU
Here are a couple of hints that may help, but first please be sure that you are trying to turn in a counter-clockwise direction to unscrew the nut-ring.
If that is true, then first I would try to turn it a little in the clockwise direction with a fair amount of force to see if you get any movement at all in a tightening direction. If so, you should probably be able to work it back and forth, clockwise / counter-clockwise, with ever increasing movement, until it finally keeps unscrewing.
Next up, use something a bit stiffer than the rather flimsy material provided by Jensen, which is actually quite adequate under normal circumstances, but is too soft when up against a stuck nut. I have had some luck using a pair of needle nose pliers as a sort of pin spanner wrench, but care must be taken not to slip out of the slots as you will almost certainly mar the surface of the boiler face if you do so. A flat piece of stiffer steel sized like the Jensen tool is a far better idea, clamped in a vise, such that the boiler is twisted with good down pressure to insure the "wrench" stays in the ring nut slots while turning.
A small blunt chisel and hammer driving the ring nut slots. Again alternating directions of drift to "loosen" it up, then going back to the "tool" to unscrew the rest of the way.
Before you totally mangle your ring nut, or if you already have, it is wise to get a couple of replacement for that and the glass too, as spares to have on hand for future needs. If you have them, you'll likely never need them, but if you don't, then of course you will. Murphy's law you know!
Finally, if you must, after damaging the slots too far for them to be of any further use, you can just cut the ring nut out, carefully so as not to damage the boiler's threads, and replace it with the spare mentioned above.
One final thought is to be sure and use some anti-seize compound on the threads when reinstalling and consider switching to Teflon gasket rings on both sides of the glass at the same time, instead of the fiber ring gaskets supplied. I like older style plumbers Teflon paste, the lumpy kind with the brownish oil that separates out and found it to be very serviceable over the long haul.
Best of luck and keep us informed of your progress.
Greetings and warm welcome to the forum Travis 😊
Daniel has given you sound advice, what most people done realize is that sometimes you can move it to tighten slightly... Any movement is a good thing. I made my own "heavy duty" spanner out of a piece of angle iron trimmed down for a good fit with lots of leveraging power, I've still bent it occasionally on a really stuck ring.
My last resort would be to heat the ring nut a bit with a fine tip torch like a butane one.
Keep the tip of the flame barely touching the ring and keep it moving around it. Not to much,
you don't want it to get discolored just kind of hot. Then try the wrench again.
Thank you all of you for your help on this. Will keep you posted!
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Everyone's pretty much already said what I was going talk about, but here's a picture of the last stubborn one I removed.
I did soak it with CLR and various penetrating oils to no avail. A little careful heating with the little torch did the trick, but the heat did shatter the glass. The turning tool I used was made from a washer as seen at the bottom of the picture.
I have used short length of flat iron that fits snugly in the slots and an adjustable wrench to turn it, kind of a three hand procedure.
I have used short length of flat iron that fits snugly in the slots and an adjustable wrench to turn it, kind of a three hand procedure.
May I ask what flat-iron, and where did you find it? I can't seem to find anything that will work with this. Unfortunately I am very limited in the tools that I have available to me.
Probably something I found on the tray of my bandsaw.
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Everyone's pretty much already said what I was going talk about, but here's a picture of the last stubborn one I removed.
I did soak it with CLR and various penetrating oils to no avail. A little careful heating with the little torch did the trick, but the heat did shatter the glass. The turning tool I used was made from a washer as seen at the bottom of the picture.
After heating it, how much force did it take to get er' loose? I don't want to be dealing with hot parts and still be putting 500footlbs of torque on it, then it snaps off and flies into my eye ball and burns it.
(Attachment Link)
Everyone's pretty much already said what I was going talk about, but here's a picture of the last stubborn one I removed.
I did soak it with CLR and various penetrating oils to no avail. A little careful heating with the little torch did the trick, but the heat did shatter the glass. The turning tool I used was made from a washer as seen at the bottom of the picture.
After heating it, how much force did it take to get er' loose? I don't want to be dealing with hot parts and still be putting 500footlbs of torque on it, then it snaps off and flies into my eye ball and burns it.
I've never seen one "snap". strip out the slots ,Yes..very common, unscrew slowly, yes again that is common. If your worried about things flying apart, I would wear safety glasses . We can't tell you how much force it will take,unfortunately they release at different torque levels (if at all).
I FINALLY GOT IT!!!!!!! PB blaster and soak longer. Then used a torch and a chisel to hammer it loose. Did all this without breaking the sight glass!
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Nice work Travis...!!!
A combination of toil and patience usually works wonders.
Gil
Congrats! The most important thing was that the boiler was unscathed.
I don't recommend the gaskets Jensen uses for this. Somewhere I have a sheet of thicker PTFE gasket material that works great and doesn't leak a drop.