Rusted press

1

14idaho

Inactive
Hopefully someone can give me a solution. Due to health and lack of space I had to put my reloading equiptment into storage for over 10years. Unfortunatly the ram on my rcbs press is rusted and doesn't move. Any suggestions to free it? Have a lot of gun powder in ammo cans, hopefully it's still good. Thank you very much.
 
Once you get the ram to move, if the overall rusting is heavy, a heavy duty rust remover is Naval Jelly available from hardware or building supply stores. I have used that for rusted dies and just leaves the surface dull with no apparent negative consequences.

From your above post, maybe the way to try is with the Naval Jelly to begin with. It will dissolve paint from any painted surfaces and is one of rust's worst enemies.
 
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Try heating it with a heat gun and turning at the same time.If you get it to move at all then you're half way there,after that a penetrating fluid of some sort shoud free it.good luck
 
Call RCBS. Their 100% life time, no questions asked, warrantee isn't a myth. Otherwise, put the whole thing in a vat of penetrating oil and leave for several days to a week. Eating rust takes time and one day may not be enough.
 
I have been using Kroil for a few years and it works great as a penetrating oil. Or as Mr. O'Heir's post, get in touch with RCBS, they may replace the whole thing or at least the ram...
 
Stay away from WD-40 and other penetrating oils. They are known to dry over time and turn to varnish. Over time the ram may slow or be tighter from varnishing. If the ram is brown but not coarse rust this is all you will need to do. Kroil is a much better choice to loosen it up. Then Break-Free will protect it from rust.
 
I would venture to say the ram is fully down if it were in storage.

With any rusted ram, clean the rust off the ram where you can get to it, steel wool and kroil works pretty good, and I've never found anything that busts rust like kroil.

Turn the press up side down, tap on the ram.
Use a wood block/hammer.
Coax it along, don't just hammer it through to full 'Up' and have it stuck there...
When it breaks loose, work the ram, work kroil into the mating surfaces as you work the ram, work longer and longer strokes,
Keep wiping the rust off as it gets dragged out of the press body so it doesn't work as 'Liquid Sand Paper' while you are working the ram back and forth.

Keeping that rust wiped off, and fresh/clean lubricant in there will be a biggie, and it will seriously reduce the wear/slop/damage you do while getting everything working again...
 
You could try submerging it in a vat of strong tea. Make it very strong tea and leave it overnight.

Warning: Do not drink the tea after removing your press. :)
 
Try PB Blaster. Spray it liberally on the top of the ram and let it run down into the ram shaft over a few days. Then turn it over and repeat on the bottom. You may need a hammer to free it, though. And if that doesn't work, they make good doorstops.
 
Use good old (Cheap too) transmission fluid. Either soak it, or apply some so it can run into the locked up area. I have loosened a lot of bolts in CAST IRON and cast steel using this. When I was younger and still worked on my cars, once a day for about a week I would apply some to brake bleeders, exhaust bolts, or whatever. It works better than penetrating oils. They seem to evaporate quickly. There are cans of kroil around the shop I work at, but I prefer AT fluid. Works great to cut threads on stainless and aluminum too.
 
If the handle is up, and the ram is down, I'd pull the linkage and yank the ram out and buy a new one. It'll be cheaper than a new press. Since you'll be tossing the old one, you can drill the bottom and use a slide hammer or something just to get it out of the frame. If it's badly rusted which sounds to be the case, I would think it would start wearing the frame of the press and you'll get some wobble in the ram which you dont want.
 
stuck ram

PC Blaster and taping with a dead blow hammer.PC Blaster can be found automotive and farm supply stores.Best rust penetrating oil I've ever found hdbiker
 
PC blaster?

I am at times tempted to blast my PC......

I think you are speaking of PB Blaster, and yes it is an excellent product.
 
Have a lot of gun powders in ammo cans, hopefully it's still good. Thank you very much.
Click to expand...

That makes two of us as in hoping it’s still good.

I purchased three 10” chucks for $5.00 each. One was a W.S.. super 10. I could not pass up the chucks at that price and did not believe there was a down side. I did not find help on the Internet, I did shop for help and advise from my resource people. Every answer started with ‘all you have do is etc., etc.. And none of that worked.

I would not suggest you hammer on one end of the ram or the other. Hammering on the ram can upset it, meaning the ram could increase in diameter and we both know that would complicate matters.

Sending the press back to RCBS is the best suggestion. I would have no reservations about drilling through the housing. I would have no problem adding a high pressure grease fitting. From the beginning I have used Marvel Mystery Oil, ATF D and one of those products that elude my memory. Many years ago they gave me a guarantee; the promised if their product did not help they guaranteed it would not hurt. One product I used was Phillips 66 Tropartic, I liked the detergents.

The got the chucks apart and cleaned, I worked on them off and on for about 4 years. No amount of soaking would penetrate the close tolerances.

F. Guffey
 
Forgot, I do not clean my dies and or presses with chemicals that remove stuff down to clean metal. I clean my dies with a towel on a dowel. I like the idea the towel is embeddable but leaves the finish on my dies etc.. I am not the fan of starting over, I know, one of the fun things about overhauling/rebuilding is the part about honing the cylinders. I like that smooth finish on cylinder walls.

F. Guffey
 
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