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Thread: HW100 cylinder end cap removal.

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Leeds
    Posts
    157

    HW100 cylinder end cap removal.

    Hi
    After four years my HW100 has developed a leak from the inlet valve so I need to unscrew the end cap. I've looked at various items on the net that use either a 36mm socket or 8mm bar through the probe hole to get the cap off. The end caps at both ends of the cylinder on mine are tight, as in very, very tight. I'd like to get both end caps off and just put them back hand tight so I can get them off easily if I ever need to again. I have a 36mm single hex socket and a length of 8mm silver steel but I think the silver steel is going to bend, or the probe hole distort, before the cap comes loose.

    So I need to hold the cylinder by some means very tightly but hopefully without scratching the (I assume) powder coating. HW tuning seem to suggest wrapping the cylinder with tape and holding it in a vice. I know without trying that mine is too tight for that to work without marring the finish. I've tried an oil filter strap wrench on the cylinder and I can generate quite a lot of torque, but it still slips before cracking the end caps loose.

    I have a lathe and mill and am about to make a clamp along the lines of a barrel vise as the only way I can see to get this done. Before I do, has anyone got these caps off successfully without scratching the cylinder and if so, by what method?

    Thanks

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Westbury
    Posts
    2,995
    there use to be pictures on this link oh how to do it

    https://www.hw100tuning.co.uk/page/c..._removal_guide


    they used wood in the vice to clamp the tube
    Cheers Lloyd

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Location
    London
    Posts
    365
    Who gives a sh*t if the paint flakes off a bit, it is a tool not an ornament. I have done mine both times the paint came off a bit. Very tiny bit. The gauge end is very easy ��
    If you sell second hand they still sell way too cheap so keep it.

    Whack on the 8mm bar with a hammer or heat the thread a bit. Make sure you don’t clamp that thick section where the long thread is in you are trying to unscrew
    Last edited by krisko; 16-10-2018 at 06:57 AM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Leeds
    Posts
    157
    I think you're probably right Krisko - I'm being anal about this. I just tried clamping the hex of the end cap in a 6 inch vice and, using my biggest Stillson pipe wrench on the cylinder, it's come right off. Result! Bit of paint damage but who cares - it still works!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Crawley, West Sussex, UK
    Posts
    4,661
    When faced with similar situ's, here's what I do : I grip the end plug (flats preferably) in a vice fitted with thick lead sheet over the jaws, wrap a leather sheet around the cylinder and then wrap a few feet of rope around the leather (winding two filaments at the same time, side by side), then I slip a long bar through the loop of rope at the end and slowly tighten the rope by rotating the bar around the cylinder vertical axis, at which point I gradually increase the leverage until the cylinder unscrews. It's never failed for me and with any luck, with no damage to the finish of any parts.

    Vic Thompson.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Location
    East Mids.
    Posts
    1,410
    Mine was a bitch, 2 bits of wood in the vice jaws, wrapped the tube in leather and swung on a screwdriver through the hole.
    Took me a while to have the confidence to keep tightening the vice but got there in the end.

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