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So I boo boo’d and I’m not sure what to do next…..

So there I was running AWL and AWR graphs. Got thru both and determined 90L was wheel 3 and 41R was wheel 2. Ran the dial to no avail. Was in the process of moving 41 and 90 1 increment (either side) at a time one wheel at a time. Still nothing…. The dial was indicating on the down stroke just fine. But the wheel was spinning like it had a 10 year old molasses spill inside.

So I place the safe in the horizontal and hose the top of the dial with brake cleaner. Out comes some whitish blue crud. Looks to me like lithium grease flowing in a river of brake cleaner. The dial spins fine now, but…….


Now the dial does not indicate CP on the way down at all. But seems to catch (hard) on the way back up. And it is doing so still showing a rough indication of gates. ???? Like I park xx 41R 90L the catch happens .003-.005 lower than if I park xx 30R 90L

I’m at a loss here. I guess I migrated old lube where it shouldn’t be, and perhaps removed it from where it should be??

Nothing in the safe (already scoped in mounting holes) so no worries about what happens next. Lol Do I stand it up and fill with more brake cleaner or WD40? Lol

Can you see into the change key hole?

Yes, yes I can!!!

And yes I did. Made for whole new host of calculations I never thought about before.

Gotta calculate the first dial from any feature you can see thru the gates or change holes of the other two dials. That took a bit of farting around. It’s about 10 + or - points minus fly, minus fly to move #1 from a side hole into the change key hole. Once you figure out which direction you need to go. In case you’re not keeping up with current events the hole on either side of the change key slot look the same when you’re staring at through a few gates and a keyhole. lol

I feel like I cheated crawling up it’s butt with a microscope… litterally. Lol But it seems to have issues with the mechanism. I gotta get it cleaned up and functioning again so I can manipulate the lock from the front this time.

Strip it totally, clean it (not with brake cleaner) lube it properly then reassemble.
Never fill something you can't open with brake cleaner, by all means flood it with lube as a last resort but never brake cleaner.

There was something in there that didn't belong besides brake cleaner. I didn't get a chance to figure out what but ill get to it tomorrow. Black stuff was running out of every poor and the pins where corroded so bad I had to use a strap wrench to unlock it. Its a hot mess of who knows what.

Great you got it open! Wishing your safe a speedy recovery.

Holy cow everything in the safe was lubed with glue. Lol Oh my is this ugly. Melting the glue with brake cleaner didn’t help much either. Lol So would normal people lube the bolt pins in this type of safe. They where slathered with Elmer’s glue. Which I assume might have been white lithium grease at some point. Clearly not a product for this application. Or at least someone should’ve taken it apart 100 years ago and cleaned it. Lol.

Questions:
What’s the proper lube for the pins, pivots, and sliding fence plate areas?

Same question for dial shaft?

What is under the plate the wheel shaft is staked to?

Do I need to get the plate out to address anything under it?

The three staked pins are sticky. Do I need to unstake them or just clean the pockets and call it a day? (Unclear of their exact roll) I guess they only keep the locking pins from falling out while servicing??? Dub!!! Relocker pins I get it now. Was cleaning the back cap and it hit me.

Thanks again for all the help on my indevors. T

Lube is good. More lube is better. And the best of all is, when it is completely full of lube.

The proper lube for bolt work is a little of what you have. Same for the dial, where it connects something which should be around the dial ring center. Under the plate might be the relocking mechanism? The cutaway shows a bit.

The lock should be lube with even less than the bolt work. In normal locks only the outside of the tube is lubed. I don't know if there is anything else that should be lubed in this push dial lock.

That first line makes me want to grab the Astroglide.

I use the Aeroshell 22 inside group 2's. I don't see why I couldn't use it on the rest?

If you have it, then it satisfies "what you have". But you could also use Aeroshell 22 if you have it. Aeroshell has the benefit of less relubing.

Now that I'm all up in this mechanism, I wanna know how I mapped AWL and AWR and came up with gates, BUT I did it by measuring the down stroke. Now that I see this contraption you should be looking at the up stroke when the drive cam hits the fence plate. Somehow the I, the unknowing, and BEFORE I turned the lube to Elmers glue I could feel the gate on the down stroke. I cant even figure out what/how/why I could feel anything the way I was taking readings. ?????

Well its all back together and I will have my wife set "combo unknown" and give it my best frontal attack. And this time its the upstroke and we gonna leave the brake cleaner alone.