by Raymond » 17 Jul 2011 20:47
Thanks for the suggestion but this gear is worn way beyond that easy of a fix. There is a geared rack driven by about a 1/4 diameter inch spring. The rack is harder steel. The case is so loose that the weight of the lever handles drop the gear past the rack. It then gets stuck and cannot come back up. Note from the picture that the rack only contacted half of the gear to begin with. The gear and rack were both quite adequately covered with grease so it was not a lubrication issue. I have thought about replacing each gear tooth with a 1/16 roll pin but I would have to thin the whole gear to add a support washer on top. I have considered JB welding the whole gear and then Dremeling the gear teeth back. I've thought about making a new rack that would contact the full width of the gear. I have also thought about adding some kind of outside the case return spring. All of this is a lot of detail work and I'm not sure it would last. Now that I have begun the quest I would like to find a replacement lock. Temp fixes as mentioned have a tendency to not last.
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