Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion This is odd for a glass cylinder

Picked up a top of a pump yesterday and needed the glass. It was a complete top to a Wayne either 515 or 615 I do not know the difference. When we went to take the bolts off the rods of course they were rusted stiff. Not the odd thing, the caulking which is usually a dental tool pick out came right out of its grove. It had been sitting in the rain for a couple of years. Could this possibly be another way of getting the caulking out by water ? Never seen this before, or could this just be rotting caulk?

There all sit outside, rain, snow etc. My guess is that the cylinder had been removed and re caulked at least once in its life. Just a different product was used at that time. Nothing I have ever tried softens the old stuff

I just did a visi gauge that had hard dry caulking and found WD-40 would soften it up enough to do about 1/8" every half hour or so with a pick. When it came to the cork gasket I soaked it overnight and the glass came off in one piece. As Jack said in my post about visible cylinders, be patient and don't force anything.

The couple visibles I have dealt with, I've done the very slow way. Lots of time with a dental pick. But with the visi gauge from calculating pumps, I've found that soaking them in the laundry sink in water and soap, the sight glasses come right off the manifold. Usually the next day. And then that old orange-brown wipes right out of the glass.