Freeing a stuck bolt/door latch

[EatenByLimestone]

The latch on my ash door didn't want to turn when I went to empty the pan tonight.

I ended up opening it with a pair of vise grips, but I really don't want to have to do this on a regular basis. I had some creosote on it, and on the back of the door that I burnt off with a propane torch. It still turns a little tough.

What's the best way to loosen this screw?

Matt

 

[wg_bent]

I would take that ash door outside and clean it with Carborator cleaner like gumout. Then try my PTFE trick

 

[EatenByLimestone]

A bar is screwed onto the bolt and held in place with a small screw. It rides up against a wedge.


It's a Cons. Dutchwest Rocky Mountain.

Matt

 

[EatenByLimestone]

PTFE... Isn't that one of the names for teflon?

 

[wg_bent]

PTFE... Isn't that one of the names for teflon?

yup. Not sure if it will work on this stove, but it sure helped on mine. Source was Pedro's Dry Lube. (Cold stove application only)

 

[elkimmeg]

Page 22 of your manual tell how to adjust latches

 

[kd460]

Don't forget about a good old stand by lube that wont burn off, no odor when using or when hot, very cheap, available at any auto parts store, is also great for the hinge pins as well. Graphite powder. It is used to lube the old fashion cable type speedometers as well as some of the older motorcycle brake and clutch cables (I bet gooserider has some in his shop). Get the dry powder, not the spray liquid.

I agree, you need to clean it up first, maybe even some penetrating oil to get things apart. The other product I would suggest is Loc-tite antisieze. It handles up to 2300 degrees, but, you can get an odor till it burns off. Even after it "burns off" it still is doing it's job. It comes in a paste (like grease) form. Also bought at auto stores. KD

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Thanks guys. I'll pick up the stuff today and clean it up.

 

[Gooserider]

Don't forget about a good old stand by lube that wont burn off, no odor when using or when hot, very cheap, available at any auto parts store, is also great for the hinge pins as well. Graphite powder. It is used to lube the old fashion cable type speedometers as well as some of the older motorcycle brake and clutch cables (I bet gooserider has some in his shop). Get the dry powder, not the spray liquid.

I agree, you need to clean it up first, maybe even some penetrating oil to get things apart. The other product I would suggest is Loc-tite antisieze. It handles up to 2300 degrees, but, you can get an odor till it burns off. Even after it "burns off" it still is doing it's job. It comes in a paste (like grease) form. Also bought at auto stores. KD

Actually I don't use graphite for my cables though it is a good lube and I'd consider it suitable for this application. My preferred bike cable lube is a green aeresol can called "Cable Life - 70" or some something like that. It's been around for years and is the best stuff I've ever found for cables, INCLUDING graphite and teflon. I found that graphite doesn't last well, and the teflons that I tried picked up crud and turned into "chewing gum". The trick is to get a lube injector which is a little aluminum clamp dealy with a split rubber insert. The process is to free up one end of the cable, and stick it into the rubber insert so that the cable sheath is clamped on one side and the cable end sticks out the other. This makes a (hopefully) air and liquid tight seal. There is a little hole in the insert for an aeresol "snorkel tube" - stick the tube in and spray till it drips out the other end. It doesn't gum up the cables and lasts well enough that I only need to do it about once a year.

For this application, I would agree with the earlier reccomendations of cleaning the pivot thoroughly and then reassembling with a good coat of high temp neversieze - which is something I *DO* keep in the garage and consider one of my essential lubricants - it goes on everything unless I have reason to use a different lube or have explicit reason to do something dry.

Gooserider