Restoration advice

[Strider_z71]

Recently acquired my dads old wood stove, I believe its a papa bear model? Any advice on getting these aluminum dampers off and cleaned up? Theyre siezed pretty good. Also any information anyone has about it would be appreciated

 

[coaly]

Do the damper knobs turn on the bolts, or are the bolts what are seized removing from the door?

Have you applied any penetrating fluid yet?

Yes, it’s a Papa, c 1979.

 

[Strider_z71]

Do the damper knobs turn on the bolts, or are the bolts what are seized removing from the door?

Have you applied any penetrating fluid yet?

Yes, it’s a Papa, c 1979.

The knobs are stuck on the bolts, only thing I have right now is WD40 and its soaking in it right now

 

[coaly]

That’s not a great penetrant. Better than nothing, so let it soak. It takes time to get stuck, and time to loosen.

There are a few other things to use, Kroil is the best, PB Blaster, Deep Creep, Liquid Wrench….. try something else first and let soak over night. Soak from both sides, through the air opening on back of door.

I use a copper fitting brush through the opening on back of door to clean threads. Get them clean if dampers are open with threads exposed.

If they won’t move by hand, don’t force them. The cast iron door piece across the opening is the weakest part.

If that doesn’t do it, remove door. Sometimes the pins need to be driven out, or soaked the same way and rotate with pliers until they break loose and remove. Then bring a teapot of water to boiling on a stove. Use the steam to heat one knob. Holding door over steam stream, this will heat the knob quickly. This is as good as a torch that will melt the aluminum if you try anything with a flame. With gloves, they should break loose when hot.

Most knobs have a steel insert, so you’re dealing with steel on steel, not aluminum and steel that will corrode together. Probably a rust issue, not aluminum corrosion. But some do not have the steel nut. They can be a problem with dissimilar metals. Looking through the opening on the back with a light, you should be able to see if there is a steel insert or if the knob is threaded.

If they move, apply silver anti-seize to the threads through the hole in the back. Apply anti-seize to door hinge pins as well.

People have broken the casting where damper bolt is attached to door. Be patient, and support the nut on the back side of door with wrench when trying to rotate knob with gloves to prevent putting force on the connecting bar across the hole.

 

[Strider_z71]

That’s not a great penetrant. Better than nothing, so let it soak. It takes time to get stuck, and time to loosen.

There are a few other things to use, Kroil is the best, PB Blaster, Deep Creep, Liquid Wrench….. try something else first and let soak over night. Soak from both sides, through the air opening on back of door.

I use a copper fitting brush through the opening on back of door to clean threads. Get them clean if dampers are open with threads exposed.

If they won’t move by hand, don’t force them. The cast iron door piece across the opening is the weakest part.

If that doesn’t do it, remove door. Sometimes the pins need to be driven out, or soaked the same way and rotate with pliers until they break loose and remove. Then bring a teapot of water to boiling on a stove. Use the steam to heat one knob. Holding door over steam stream, this will heat the knob quickly. This is as good as a torch that will melt the aluminum if you try anything with a flame. With gloves, they should break loose when hot.

Most knobs have a steel insert, so you’re dealing with steel on steel, not aluminum and steel that will corrode together. Probably a rust issue, not aluminum corrosion. But some do not have the steel nut. They can be a problem with dissimilar metals. Looking through the opening on the back with a light, you should be able to see if there is a steel insert or if the knob is threaded.

If they move, apply silver anti-seize to the threads through the hole in the back. Apply anti-seize to door hinge pins as well.

People have broken the casting where damper bolt is attached to door. Be patient, and support the nut on the back side of door with wrench when trying to rotate knob with gloves to prevent putting force on the connecting bar across the hole.

Thanks, I will go get some better penetrating oil soon and give your advice a try. Thanks for the warning about breaking the casting

 

[Frankdozer]

Thanks, I will go get some better penetrating oil soon and give your advice a try. Thanks for the warning about breaking the casting

I use PB Blaster on everything stuck. I had a bolt stuck on a dozer. Everyday for a month I’d give it a squirt of PB without touching it. Then I put a wrench on it and Voala It came unstuck easily!

 

[coaly]

I use PB Blaster on everything stuck. I had a bolt stuck on a dozer. Everyday for a month I’d give it a squirt of PB without touching it. Then I put a wrench on it and Voala It came unstuck easily!

I had a Ford Ranger service truck that the brake pedal creeped down while holding brakes on. No fluid loss, just leaking around master cylinder piston back into reservoir. Bought a new master cylinder and realized all the steel nuts on the brake lines were stuck to the lines and were going to twist the lines, destroying them. Sprayed it up with PB a few times and forgot about it for a month. Driving it getting warm and cold, and time soaking, put a wrench on them and every one turned free on the lines!

Picked up an antique coal fired base burner today, will start the soak process. The guy was selling it as a “pellet stove in new condition”. It was never used much, I think he tried it and gave up just blackening the hopper inside slightly. Literally an unfired base burner parlor going to be new again!