Any tips to loosen knurled die rings?

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stickhunter

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Hi all,

I'm cleaning up some dies that I received, mostly older RCBS, that have knurled lock rings at the top of the die for the sizing and seating stems:

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Sometimes I find these quite tough to loosen up, even after adding some penetrating oil. Once-in-a-while, I'll resort to vice grips with a leather strip to protect the knurling, but I'm not 100% confident that that won't cause damage on a really tight nut. I really dislike having dies with that nice knurling all marked up.

I know the purpose of the knurling is to allow hand tightening and, presumably, hand loosening, but when that's not happening, does anyone have tips or advice on the best way to safely get these free?
 
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Loosened the set screw first right? The lock rings with the set screw that drives into the die threads (Redding, etc) are only fit for the trash. The Hornady style with the cross screw is the only kind worth using. Why they’re not all designed like that I have no idea
 
The leather trick should work fine unless you twist the pliers at an odd angle while you work it loose and they slip off. I keep some pieces of an old belt in my shop for just this sort of thing. I have also slipped short lengths of the clear fuel hose over the jaws of pliers for the same effect.
You can prevent damaging the threads on the older style lock rings with the set screw by dropping a small lead pellet into the hole and tightening the set screw on it. That way, only the soft lead contacts the threads on the die body. If you still bottom out the set screw, use a bigger pellet or you are tightening it way too much.
 
Make sure the set screw is loosened adequately, soak it with Kroil or Deep Creep for a while, then give the lock ring several good raps with a plastic mallet. When you go to retighten it take tbhupe`s advice regarding the small lead pellet.
 
Hey guys, those are good tips on the die lock rings --- fortunately, I find those to be a bit easier to deal with when stuck because they at least have a wide purchase to torque against.

The ones that I really have a pain dealing with, and that tend to be really marked up on some of the dies that I have, are the smaller knurled lock rings at the top of the die, which hold the sizing or seating stem. Some of them, like on a pistol seating die, can be pretty thin, too, so getting vice grips to securely fasten with a piece of soft leather and not start twisting/tilting off is a challenge.

One thing I've found sometimes helpful is to put a couple of strips of wood, like paint stir sticks, inside the jaws of a tabletop vice and then invert the die and hold the small lock ring in the wood, clamping down real good. The knurling bites into the wood and holds better than if the die body threads were clamped --- those slip easily in the wood when torqued. I can then use vice grips with leather to grab the die body and sometimes that'll break the small lock ring free. Unfortunately, that's pretty risky too for damaging the threads, so I do this rarely and with lots of leather.

I was really hoping someone had a great trick that works a charm.
 
Bad Bob said:
Make sure the set screw is loosened adequately, soak it with Kroil or Deep Creep for a while, then give the lock ring several good raps with a plastic mallet. When you go to retighten it take tbhupe`s advice regarding the small lead pellet.
Click to expand...

Yep, I was reading on another forum last night, and someone mentioned also tapping the loosened set screw itself to free any lead or plastic pellet that might be jammed in the threads.
 
Jon87 said:
Loosened the set screw first right? The lock rings with the set screw that drives into the die threads (Redding, etc) are only fit for the trash. The Hornady style with the cross screw is the only kind worth using. Why they’re not all designed like that I have no idea
Click to expand...

Yes, the Hornady clamp-style split rings are great. Aesthetically, they're also a pretty good replacement for older style knurled nuts as they're silver and still have knurling, but with two flats for a wrench --- as you say, really the best designed of the bunch.
 
If you can find them, pliers made specifically for threaded studs have curves jaws for better purchase and actually tighten when pressure applied, similar to how a pipe wrench squeezes

another try is to run the parts throw heat-cold cycles to maybe have them break free through contrary expansion/contraction, if that makes sense
 
Soak them is degreaser/solvent, I assume they are older dies or dies you purchased used so maybe the past owner went to town fighting them up so they wouldn’t move settings! Solvent, a little heat and two pairs of visegrip, one pair on the small knurled knob and one pair on the main body!
 
there's a slot at the top of the shaft right? tighten it a tiny bit and the nut should break free without too much trouble. If not, a padded pair of pliers or channel locks

Penetrating oil won't help - it's friction holding that nut down, not rust.
 
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The rod is 28 T.P.I., replace the knurled ones with two standard nuts. That way you can use a 7/16 O.E. to tighten/loosen.
 
I would use pipe wrenches you could could still use leather padding, the wrenches will squeeze it down. But I would just wrenche them off
 
Thin teflon to protect the nerling, although I've been tempted to file two flat sides on it or maybe a hexagon nut.
 
When you get it apart, use a thin coat of copper coat lube on the thread and bottom of the nut, it will make life easier next time.
 
I've never tried soaking them in an ultra sonic cleaner with the heat on.
I did soak a seized up carb with the jets and seats frozen solid.
A few runs in the sonic cleaner and I was amazed how easy things came apart.
 
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