Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Removing Erie 71 sight glass

Wanted to remove the sight glass from my Erie 71 pump to clean it but couldn't see anyway but the small screwdriver size slits to somehow move the washer ring. Tried putting screwdriver in slit and hitting with hammer, wouldn't budge. No screws on bottom to take it off. Anyone have ideas?

You're going at it the right way...that ring screws-out much like the inner sightglass nut on a Wayne 60. UNFORTUNATELY, they usually rust solid. If you can't get it with the hammer and chisel method (and lots of heat), you might need to build (or have built) a tool to get it out. I made a very simple tool that fit in to those slits and gave me some leverage. Good luck!

Heat and vibration are two things that will cause bolts to loosen. Even if you don't want them to loosen. Sometimes lightly tapping, for a long time, on a cast peice that is super rusted will allow the oil to penetrate better. Especially after heating.

A heating and cooling will sometimes help the oil penetrate better. There really is no set way to get anything loose.....it's all trial and error.

A peice of 1 1/2" or two inch pipe could be cut so that it has "castlelations" protruding from the end...then put a pipe wrench on the pipe to turn.

after having removed a bunch of these, i can tell you: expect the result to be a broken sight glass. relax, ron scobie sells them. but maybe you will get lucky.