Big Cat Apex seal won't go on..

[WesCombs]

No matter what I try, I can't get the dang seal to go on the piston! I've tried warming it up in hot water and a hair dryer, spinning it down on to the dovetail..nothin will work. I also tried putting the old one back on just for kicks and can't do it! This is no fun. Any words of wisdom?

[longislandhunter]

Try this........ warm up the seal with hot water AND warm up the piston head with the hair dryer.......   when they're both nice and warm try it again......   the combination of BOTH being warm may give you the edge you need  :)

Jeff

[SDale]

Get a wooden dowel or something similar to the diameter of the dovetail. Grind or sand a taper on the end of it so the seal slides on pretty easily. Lube it up with a little silicone gease or a tiiiiiiiny bit of moly, butt the big end up against the piston dovetail then slide the seal down and past the dovetail head. Now rotate the seal a few times to seat it and you're done!

A Stepped 1/2 inch drive socket works pretty good. A 9mm deep well 1/2 inch drive socket is what I use.

[WesCombs]

Just when I have about 1/4" left to push into the chamber, the spring just won't budge..at this point, all I'm doing is putting excess tension on a stationary object..which is definitely threatening the integrity of my spring compressor. Anyone ever come across this?

[longislandhunter]

I've had it happen once.  Took everything back out, tried it again making sure everything was straight and level in the spring compressor and went slowly and it went in fine.  I never did find out what the problem was.  I'm sure someone with more knowledge will  be able to give you a better answer....  but you're doing the right thing by holding off and not forcing it.....

Jeff

[WesCombs]

My brand new JM spring is now bent. Oh well, that's how you learn, I guess. I'll be putting this project off until sometime later.

[speedturtle]

Just curious, how were you able to bend your JM spring? Re your apex seal issue, is it the small apex seal (red in color)? Perhaps you have not heated it enough to soften it a little bit. Try submerging it on a basin of hot water for a longer period of time. Those apex seals are quite stubborn to install when new but once it's in it can be reinstalled easier.

My technique is to use two precision screwdrivers (the small ones with the MINUS - head) and guide it in just like the way those tire mechanics install your tire on your tire wheel. Hope this helps.

[WesCombs]

Don't really know how the spring bent..after taking everything out to try again, as Jeff suggested, I noticed that it had warped.

[Phil_B]

Bend it back

[Fritz]

Warm seal. Put the seal on the workbench upside down. Place piston on top, and push down. Done.

When I did the seal on my Diana 34 I could not the thing on there, until I tried the above.

[tjk]

Hey Wes, I use the same method as Fritz. To me it's the easiest. Just a dab of Maccarri clear silicone to the rear side of the seal,...then with a pressing twist motion, it will pop it on in no time. Then give the seal a few turns to make sure is seated properly on the piston. Then wipe off any excess silicone.
Now for running out of room. Once I install the piston with the seal completely passed the cut outs of the action, I press it home with a dowel using my SC. I hav a feeling that the spring end may have caught the edge of your top-hat. So try this. Remove the spring, and let the top hat slide out of the action. Place the top hat on the spring end, dab a bit of moly to it and insetr the top hat, spring and rear guide into the action as a whole unit. Then compress every thing together. If the spring got bent some,...like stated before,...just bend it back if you can. Maccarri springs are pretty tough and durable. As you compress the spring, it will cant sometimes,...but after you fire it off once or twice,...the spring will set and you should be good to go!!!!!! Hope this was helpful, Thomas

[Magnum]

Wes, I also had a tough time and finally used the clear silicon grease as above and it went on:) as for bent spring I would not worry to much as I had a similar bendy looking spring after compressing it ..I felt like I had the wrong spring at one point!! but after a few shots it  set in place looks perfect.   I decided to pushed seal into place first as suggested above I polished the spring ends and applied moly grease..assembled the hat and spring with maccari tar and slide it into place. Hope this helps, Tony.

[tjk]

Hey Wes, One thing that I forgot to add was that you want to make sure the little tabbed end of the piston sear is up and over the action between the trigger set and the cocking slot. tjk