Repro Crosby Drum Alert

[PhilOhio]

Good. I'm really hoping we have not seen the last batch to come in, because of importers being frightened off by the earlier markings issue. While they aren't quite as solid as WW-II vintage drums, these are decent, functional, and inexpensive. Truth be told, I'd kind of like to see Kahr import them with their own specified markings. It would be the solution to a lot of problems. But the exclusive import rights issue might come up.

[Mike Hammer]

Phil, I believe FortuneLot is still selling these for $169.95 which is by far the best price on these drums.

 

Mike Hammer

[hrt4me]

Phil, I believe FortuneLot is still selling these for $169.95 which is by far the best price on these drums.

 

Mike Hammer

 

Thanks for the info, I had never heard of FortuneLot.

 

[Mk VII]

the pictures seem to have disappeared. Any chance of getting them back?

[PhilOhio]

the pictures seem to have disappeared. Any chance of getting them back?

 

Somebody has changed the software without telling us about it, or else I misssed it. The pictures are all where I parked them, with correct URLs in the original post, leading to that site. It may be that we again have the capability to upload pictures to this site instead. But I'm still trying to figure it out. Notice that when you draft a post, there is now a green "Upload" button in the lower right corner, with a notation that you can upload a 4MB attachment.

 

Yes, that's exactly what happened. Thanks for the new enhancement, Dalbert. I expect an announcement and instructions on its use are forthcoming. Some people might not automatically understand it. It's very neat.

 

I'm going back to edit the original post and we'll see...

 

I wonder if this means we have lost the ability to share with other members URLs to pictures, by inserting them the old way?

 

For sure, it means that any member who has posted parked pictures in the past, from Photobucket or someplace, has to go back and edit each of his posts to link to the same pictures newly uploaded to this site and parked. For perishable posts, this is irrelevant. For more durable posts of broad interest, their authors now have to go back and run through this process for each picture...quite a hassle. But it's a good feature in the end. We had this years ago, on Nick and Frank's board, but it was less easy.

 

I just lost my avatar picture here; same deal. Will reconstruct. ....Yep, back to abnormal.

Edited September 24, 2008 by PhilOhio

[Lancer]

Phil

I just checked some old posts of mine with pics linked to my Photobucket acct., they appear to be working OK.

Edited September 26, 2008 by Lancer

[artie in miami]

I just had a conversation with Merle, who suggested that all of you who have bought these great drums should be alerted. Even if they are great, they need to be lubricated.

 

A board member here dropped one, damaging it, and Merle has been checking/repairing it. It appears that the factory never packed it with grease. As in "not any".

 

We don't know if this applies to all of them, but we are guessing it does. The Chinese manufacturer people have no experience with automatic weapons and no way of testing their product. They simply copied one Crosby, and did a pretty good job. But apparently, nobody told them the rotor cavity, housing the flat clock spring, has to be packed with grease.

 

A special fixture is available to do this. Not too many are around. Sometimes one is brought to a major Thompson shoot, and everybody gets their orifice packed.

 

Merle says Frank has one of these, as does Tracie, and probably PK, who made them. There's a thread on what these are, how you could make one, and how they are used. You clamp this thing on the drum and hook your greasegun (real one) onto a zerk fitting and pump 'er full. But without grease, you will have problems eventually. Probably sooner rather than later.

 

Merle says the grease choice is not critical. Any good bearing grease, such as the lithium greases from any auto parts store, are fine.

 

So I guess I have to get busy and make up this nifty little C-clamp type rig and pump my two Crosby repros full; and maybe treat my nearly 80-year-old Colt "L" drum to the same. It will have no way of knowing it should thank the Chinese for motivating me to do so.

 

 

I would like to make one of the drum greasers...I saw a picture of one once, it looked like a deep jawed C clamp, a grease gun and a piece with the grease fitting in it...where do you buy the piece with the grease fitting in it ?? I have lots of zirk fittings, but do not know what the piece that connects the drum to the grease fitting looks like...or where to buy that piece. Anybody know about that ?? Thanks

 

artie in miami

[TAS1921AC]

artie in miami, Just this week I started looking into this. The fittings you're seeing are turned on a lathe and drilled and tapped for the grease zirc. I work in a machine shop and thought I would make a setup for myself. But then I wondered if something could me done that would allow the folks who may have just a drill press or hand drill in the garage. So I did some measuring: The hole through the rotor shafts on the drums I have varied from .510 to .520. (New York L, Crosby Repo L, Numrich Export Only L- no hole, and a Kahr C) So I took a 5/16" hex bolt that had a section of unthreaded shaft and cut it to around .625 in length. I slipped on a 1/4" washer (witha 5/16" clearance hole) and put an O ring under that. That took care of the plug for the bottom of the rotor shaft. If your hole is a bit on the small side put the bolt in a drill chuck and spin it while hitting it with a file or emery cloth.

Next I took a 3/8 pipe cap (3/8" ID iron pipe) and drilled out the threads with an 11/16" drill. (You could use a Dremel to do the same.) I then drilled a hole (11/32 if I remember right) at about the half way point in the side of the cap. Tap the hole with an 1/8-27 NPT pipe tap and screw in your grease zirc. I used a 65 degree angled fitting so it can be rotated to get clearance for the grease gun fitting. The zircs also come 1/4-28 thread but I wanted something that would tighten up well. You don't want to tap too deep as it's a tapered thread. I used a Dremel to remove what protruded into the cap. Be sure to remove all chips before using. I put a garden hose gasket under the cap but it kept slipping so I gave up and just used the cap alone. The New York drum leaked a little so I repositioned it and it and the other two L drums took the grease without any problems. And it helps to file the open part of the cap so it sits flat on the rotor top. On the Numrich drum with the solid shaft you don't need the bottom plug. In fact it did have some reddish grease already in it. The C drum had grease squeezing out already so I left it alone. I removed the rotor assemblies from the drums so a standard C clamp was deep enough. And as Phil pointed out that is a good time to grease the bottom of the flat springs that "snap" when you wind it. Put the C clamp in a vise if possible so you don't need four hands to set everything up.

Now I wouldn't want to put my name on such a crude set up, but for something I'll probably never use again it's a cost effective way to accomplish your goal. It sure doesn't have the nice appearance of what deerslayer, Merle, or Phil put together. (Nice work guys) The pipe cap, grease zirc, washer and O ring (which is probably unneccessary) cost very little. And you can pick up a couple of cheap drills and a tap for just a few bucks. The iron pipe is soft so expensive cobalt or tin coated cutting tools aren't needed. I'll try to post a couple of pics when I get some time. If anyone wants to duplicate this Mickey Mouse set up and has any questions give me a shout.

Good Luck,

Tom

[PhilOhio]

Tom,

 

That's a very nice contrtibution...how to make a functional greaser for folks without lathes or milling machines, which are most people. This is the kind of thing which should be in some easily searchable FAQs section or Thompson hobbyist database. Dalbert has some rather similar features on the Biggerhammer site, vis a vis Swiss military weapons, so if all this gets melded together eventually, maybe there will be a common set of features for various weapons covered.

 

Lancer,

 

That's really strange that your pictures still link to these posts and mine didn't. I see that yours were parked in Photobucket and mine were on a Time-Warner server where I have space. My link address was correct and had always worked until this week. Everything was still there and functional, with no address change. But there apparently was some new incompatability involving software. The important thing is that we no longer have to park pictures elsewhere. You can do it all here, on David's server, at the time you write your post...or edit it later to include a picture. And you can upload up to 4 MB! That's gigantic. You only need less than 100 K Bytes for very good on-screen resolution. I hope everybody who uses this feature edits their picture files to very small .jpg size first, so readers of the board don't have to wait and wait for the thread to load.

Edited September 25, 2008 by PhilOhio

[TAS1921AC]

Hey Guys, I need to correct a couple of numbers on my earlier post. The correct ID for the rotor shaft holes varies from .310 to .320, not .510 to .520. That's why the 5/16 bolt works. (.312) Guess I shouldn't post so close to bed time. : )

Here are a couple of pics:

 

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h266/TAS21AC/Fittings1.jpg

 

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h266/TAS21AC/Fittings2.jpg

 

Phil, Thanks for the kind words. I've gotten so much from this board I like to try and give something back whenever I can. Now I have to make a slick one like you made. I'll probably never need it but isn't it just fun tinkering around and building things?

 

[PhilOhio]

...Phil, Thanks for the kind words. I've gotten so much from this board I like to try and give something back whenever I can. Now I have to make a slick one like you made. I'll probably never need it but isn't it just fun tinkering around and building things?...

 

Yes, for me, all the fun is in figuring it out and building it. My friends kid me about that all the time. I design and build a gun, or some kind of related device or accessory and after it is thoroughly tested, it goes on "the pile". Maybe a few years later I dust it off and try it out again. It's then like a new toy on Christmas morning. They complain about not being able to get me interested in IDPA match shooting, etc. That's it. Lack of interest. I love designing and problem solving. I leave playing with the toys to somebody else. But with Thompsons, I like to do both. It's at least as much fun as lighting firecrackers when we were kids. A truly joyless society would be the one where people like Obama and Nancy Pelosi succeed in preventing the whole population from enjoying any kind of harmless fun like this, and anybody who doesn't like it and tries to resist will be thrown into prison.

 

But then, I guess that's where we are right now. We were just talking about the role ATF plays in this...or rather, a few key people within ATF and the left wing politicians pulling their strings, and helping advance these ATF guys' careers in return for playing ball with the long range political program.

[TAS1921AC]

Phil,

"I design and build a gun, or some kind of related device or accessory and after it is thoroughly tested, it goes on "the pile"

 

You read my mind. I've built a number of AR15s, 45s, tinkered with AKs, etc, etc. And when I'm done.....Into the safe and what's next? I've finally figured out that what I enjoy is the project, not necessarily the finished product. So whenever a friend asks if I will help with some gun related job my reply is: "Sure, bring it over!"

Guess I got that from my grandpa and dad. They both grew up in an environment (and time) when if you needed something you figured out a way to make it. It's sad that nowadays everyone's answer to everything is to pick up the phone or run to the store. Because they will never know the feeling you get when someone asks where you got something and you can reply: "I made it."

That's what's fun about this forum. The problem solving and cool projects you run into here are fascinating. I think if the laws were to change and all the guys here put their heads together, all we'd need is to find another Thomas Fortune Ryan and we could be back in the Tommy Gun business again. (Hey, in doesn't hurt to dream.)

[artie in miami]

Yesterday I built a drum greaser, parkerized it today, and just had fun successfully greasing my two Chinese repro "L" drums and original numbered Colt drum. Based on what I learned, I would strongly advise all of you with the new repros to grease them ASAP. My Chinese drums are from two different generations (before and after Kahr's groundless threats about the markings), and after carefully examining all the joints where at least some traces of grease should have been evident, there wasn't any. As in not one bit. This confirms what Merle Bitikofer found in one he opened up for repair, because it wouldn't run or wind right; POSITIVELY BECAUSE OF NO GREASE INSIDE, CAUSING GALLING, he told me.

 

I started with the second generation drum, without the "Thompson" or "Crosby" markings. I used my full size automotive greasegun, which takes the large cartridges...good quality lithium auto bearing grease which never ever hardens. I thought the drum might take six or eight pumps. After ten or fifteen, I thought my gun wasn't working or was out of grease. I took it off the zerk fitting, gave the lever a shot, and out came plenty of grease. So I kept pumping...and pumping...and pumping...and... Anyhow, I hadn't thought to count. But finally, on one pump, grease began coming out of all the right places at exactly the same time. So the thing was full. Clearly it had been totally empty.

 

Second came my first generation repro drum, with the markings which were included before Kahr management began making all their hollow threats about use of the word "Thompson". This time I counted; 36 pumps to fill 'er up.

 

On a roll, with my new greaser working O.K. and easily, I got out my Colt drum. It was evident that there was still plenty of fresh looking, live grease around the joint between the rotor face and the shaft. I've had the drum since 1969 and never greased it before. I'm sure it was not greased since leaving some factory, maybe around the mid 1930s. I thought it was utterly amazing that the grease was still soft and live after more than 70 years! Good stuff. But still...had to top it off. It took exactly 31 pumps.

 

Afterward, I was sorry I didn't think to take a pic of my fixture with a rotor assembly in it. I've never seen one of PK's greasers, but understand how it and the others work. You just have a "C"-clamp arrangement and force grease inside the spring housing through the tolerance between the hole in the face of the rotor and the shaft running through it. Here's what I made, welding my "C" out of 1" square tubing, touching up a few areas on the mill, and making a couple pieces on the lathe. In the pic, I have a piece of wooden dowel holding parts together, so I don't lose them; the dowel is in position where the rotor shaft would be. The round red piece is a standard hardware store 1" diameter garden hose rubber seal washer, 1/8" thick...makes replacement easy...no hunting all over for some odd size "O"-ring. It is recessed 1/16 into the face of the cup and captured there by a sharp edge. So it protrudes 1/16" to make the seal. And you DON'T compress it that much; just snug, and the grease is positively retained.

 

Notice how my press fit drill rod screw handle didn't take the parkerizing. Too much nickel, I guess. Cheap crap parks best.

 

 

Here is the greaser apart, below. The top cup with the seal is not permanently attached to the clamp. Its inside cavity is about 1/16" larger in diameter than the OD of the rotor shaft. The depth of the hole in this cup is about 1/16" more than the height the shaft protrudes from the rotor, so it doesn't bottom in the cup; the cup's rubber seal mates with the rotor face. I machined a rounded indentation in the top of the cup, so the screw stays centered in it when tightened. And then the cup and seal stay centered on the face of the rotor.

 

In the bottom of the "C" clamp, the anvil piece for the lower end of the rotor shaft has a recess about 3/16" deep, and seated in it is a 1/16" thick piece of rubber I cut from an old inner tube. This seals the shaft, so grease doesn't squirt out. The only place grease can go is in between the top part of the shaft and the hole in the rotor. ...I hoped. And so it did.

 

 

To use this, you slip the greaser cup over the upright top of the rotor shaft, move it into the "C", and hold the bottom of the shaft against the rubber seal at the bottom of the "C" while you snug up the screw against the top of the cup. Then pump away, watching for the first ooze that stays "stop".

 

So you do-it-yourselfers, I overengineered this, as usual. You can build something like this much more easily. All you really need to make is the grease cup that goes on top. You could do that with a Dremel tool and an electric drill. You could hold it onto the rotor assembly with any clamp or vise having the right reach, clamping a flexible piece of anything on the bottom of the hollow shaft to seal it.

 

And yes, you could make one of these to grease the drum without taking the rotor out of the shell at all. But it takes a very wide and special (expensive?) "C" clamp to start with. Or you have to make a much bigger deal. Also, when it's time to grease that coiled clock spring, it's also long past time to inspect and grease the camming surfaces of the winding ratchet. So the rotor should come out anyway. Thus I made a more compact fixture, for use on a removed rotor assembly.

 

In another 70 years or so, when these drums need to be greased again, I hope I remember where I stored the greaser...and what my name is.

 

 

 

 

Thanks very much for the description of the greaser....I found one of the deep jawed c clamps at harbor freight for around $6...even deep enough for the C drums. Is there something available at the hardware store or home depot that I could make the "cup" from...I do not have a lathe, but I have lots of grease fittings (zirks I think they are called) and a good set of taps and dies to thread the cup with. Any ideas on that ?? Would a piece of steel pipe work ??

 

artie in miami

[artie in miami]

Yesterday I built a drum greaser, parkerized it today, and just had fun successfully greasing my two Chinese repro "L" drums and original numbered Colt drum. Based on what I learned, I would strongly advise all of you with the new repros to grease them ASAP. My Chinese drums are from two different generations (before and after Kahr's groundless threats about the markings), and after carefully examining all the joints where at least some traces of grease should have been evident, there wasn't any. As in not one bit. This confirms what Merle Bitikofer found in one he opened up for repair, because it wouldn't run or wind right; POSITIVELY BECAUSE OF NO GREASE INSIDE, CAUSING GALLING, he told me.

 

I started with the second generation drum, without the "Thompson" or "Crosby" markings. I used my full size automotive greasegun, which takes the large cartridges...good quality lithium auto bearing grease which never ever hardens. I thought the drum might take six or eight pumps. After ten or fifteen, I thought my gun wasn't working or was out of grease. I took it off the zerk fitting, gave the lever a shot, and out came plenty of grease. So I kept pumping...and pumping...and pumping...and... Anyhow, I hadn't thought to count. But finally, on one pump, grease began coming out of all the right places at exactly the same time. So the thing was full. Clearly it had been totally empty.

 

Second came my first generation repro drum, with the markings which were included before Kahr management began making all their hollow threats about use of the word "Thompson". This time I counted; 36 pumps to fill 'er up.

 

On a roll, with my new greaser working O.K. and easily, I got out my Colt drum. It was evident that there was still plenty of fresh looking, live grease around the joint between the rotor face and the shaft. I've had the drum since 1969 and never greased it before. I'm sure it was not greased since leaving some factory, maybe around the mid 1930s. I thought it was utterly amazing that the grease was still soft and live after more than 70 years! Good stuff. But still...had to top it off. It took exactly 31 pumps.

 

Afterward, I was sorry I didn't think to take a pic of my fixture with a rotor assembly in it. I've never seen one of PK's greasers, but understand how it and the others work. You just have a "C"-clamp arrangement and force grease inside the spring housing through the tolerance between the hole in the face of the rotor and the shaft running through it. Here's what I made, welding my "C" out of 1" square tubing, touching up a few areas on the mill, and making a couple pieces on the lathe. In the pic, I have a piece of wooden dowel holding parts together, so I don't lose them; the dowel is in position where the rotor shaft would be. The round red piece is a standard hardware store 1" diameter garden hose rubber seal washer, 1/8" thick...makes replacement easy...no hunting all over for some odd size "O"-ring. It is recessed 1/16 into the face of the cup and captured there by a sharp edge. So it protrudes 1/16" to make the seal. And you DON'T compress it that much; just snug, and the grease is positively retained.

 

Notice how my press fit drill rod screw handle didn't take the parkerizing. Too much nickel, I guess. Cheap crap parks best.

 

 

Here is the greaser apart, below. The top cup with the seal is not permanently attached to the clamp. Its inside cavity is about 1/16" larger in diameter than the OD of the rotor shaft. The depth of the hole in this cup is about 1/16" more than the height the shaft protrudes from the rotor, so it doesn't bottom in the cup; the cup's rubber seal mates with the rotor face. I machined a rounded indentation in the top of the cup, so the screw stays centered in it when tightened. And then the cup and seal stay centered on the face of the rotor.

 

In the bottom of the "C" clamp, the anvil piece for the lower end of the rotor shaft has a recess about 3/16" deep, and seated in it is a 1/16" thick piece of rubber I cut from an old inner tube. This seals the shaft, so grease doesn't squirt out. The only place grease can go is in between the top part of the shaft and the hole in the rotor. ...I hoped. And so it did.

 

 

To use this, you slip the greaser cup over the upright top of the rotor shaft, move it into the "C", and hold the bottom of the shaft against the rubber seal at the bottom of the "C" while you snug up the screw against the top of the cup. Then pump away, watching for the first ooze that stays "stop".

 

So you do-it-yourselfers, I overengineered this, as usual. You can build something like this much more easily. All you really need to make is the grease cup that goes on top. You could do that with a Dremel tool and an electric drill. You could hold it onto the rotor assembly with any clamp or vise having the right reach, clamping a flexible piece of anything on the bottom of the hollow shaft to seal it.

 

And yes, you could make one of these to grease the drum without taking the rotor out of the shell at all. But it takes a very wide and special (expensive?) "C" clamp to start with. Or you have to make a much bigger deal. Also, when it's time to grease that coiled clock spring, it's also long past time to inspect and grease the camming surfaces of the winding ratchet. So the rotor should come out anyway. Thus I made a more compact fixture, for use on a removed rotor assembly.

 

In another 70 years or so, when these drums need to be greased again, I hope I remember where I stored the greaser...and what my name is.

 

 

 

 

Thanks very much for the description of the greaser....I found one of the deep jawed c clamps at harbor freight for around $6...even deep enough for the C drums. Is there something available at the hardware store or home depot that I could make the "cup" from...I do not have a lathe, but I have lots of grease fittings (zirks I think they are called) and a good set of taps and dies to thread the cup with. Any ideas on that ?? Would a piece of steel pipe work ??

 

artie in miami

 

 

Tas

Sorry....I whipped through the thread so fast that I missed your pics of the steel pipe cap assembly...thanks....that is exactly what I meant....I was pretty close with my steel pipe idea...your cap idea is excellent...that will be my weekend project...I can definatley handle that with my current tools !! Thanks very much

 

artie

[TAS1921AC]

artie, You mentioned that you weren't getting the pics from one of the threads. Both times I replied to your posts and the message you sent the blank box for the reply came up with your original message in it. But when I replied to other posts it came up blank like normal. So something in your settings? might be off. I'm no computer pro so I don't know if the two tie in but thought I'd let you know. Maybe someone here can help?

Good luck and happy greasing.

 

[Mk VII]

any tips on how to remove the rotor assembly from the drum. Don't want to break anything...

[Lancer]

any tips on how to remove the rotor assembly from the drum. Don't want to break anything...

 

Remove front cover.

 

 

On back of drum, very carefully pry up on c-clip, inserting an old business card when locking part of clip clears locking slot. This is to prevent any scratches to finish on back of drum body. Carefully slide out c-clip. Remove rotor assembly.

 

This is how I do it. If someone has a better way, I'd be interested in hearing it.

Edited September 26, 2008 by Lancer

[TAS1921AC]

Lancer, Me too. The only thing I would add is if you push down a little on the drum body while supporting the rotor shaft it will ease up the tension a little on the spring clip. I wouldn't overdo of course. I've done that on all the drums I have with no ill effects.

[PhilOhio]

any tips on how to remove the rotor assembly from the drum. Don't want to break anything...

 

Remove front cover.

 

 

On back of drum, very carefully pry up on c-clip, inserting an old business card when locking part of clip clears locking slot. This is to prevent any scratches to finish on back of drum body. Carefully slide out c-clip. Remove rotor assembly.

 

This is how I do it. If someone has a better way, I'd be interested in hearing it.

 

Lancer,

 

When I do all my prying and pushing, I'm using several favorite narrow putty knives, which have been used for enough years that their leading edges are finely rounded. The screw driver is prying against one of these to lift the spring piece, not against the drum. And one of these then slips under the raised locking tab. And one of these is pushing against the clip end to release it. I would wonder if a business card is strong enough. Maybe a plastic card would be ideal, if it is the right thickness. No matter what you do, it is too easy for something to slip and make a scratch.

[Mk VII]

My version of the drum greaser

 

http://www.fototime.com/9C7E0C63FC833AE/standard.jpg

 

With the grease cup which I made on top and the O-ring plug in the other end of the shaft I was able to clamp the rotor mech in a vice to get a suitable seal before pumping the grease in. I might have managed it without taking the rotor out if I had used a bigger vice.

[ajacksonian]

I'm looking at this as I have one of the Crosby drums on order... as I only have a hand-pump grease gun I am looking at a reduced coupling from 1/8" NPT (female) to 1/2" NPT (female) and putting a gasket in the 1/2" side (like Item# 44605K385 from the McMaster-Carr site although I probably would go for a higher pressure one...), or mix'n'match a right angle elbow in there. But then I am cheap on these things, not being a professional at this, and McMaster is usually anything but cheap... but if you need to find parts, it is invaluable.

[mgdoc8307]

I'm looking at this as I have one of the Crosby drums on order... as I only have a hand-pump grease gun I am looking at a reduced coupling from 1/8" NPT (female) to 1/2" NPT (female) and putting a gasket in the 1/2" side (like Item# 44605K385 from the McMaster-Carr site although I probably would go for a higher pressure one...), or mix'n'match a right angle elbow in there. But then I am cheap on these things, not being a professional at this, and McMaster is usually anything but cheap... but if you need to find parts, it is invaluable.

Anybody willing to "rent" their drum greasers out so we can all get our drums greasy? Thanks.

[hrt4me]

I've had some repro Crosby L drums for over a decade and just this year finally started using one of them with my WH 1928 TSMG. This second range outing I noticed a little bit of the grease which PK had previously pumped in there for me begin to seep out a bit around the edges inside the drum; is this anything of concern?

 

I have filled and wound and used this particular drum maybe a total of 8 times now...

[Motorcar]

Nope, wipe clean, reload, repeat.

[john]

I used to use a homemade CLP and would rinse the drums out after use, letting them drip dry and wiping off excess.

A few years ago after all the grease hype finally made sense to me, (and with me shooting spam cans of corrosive ammo, necessitating washing out the drums) I got pretty good at disassembly and reassembly. As stated, they only need a dose every couple decades.

Disassemble, take a large peanut sized gob of white lithium grease and wipe it on the four "fan blades" on the bottom side of the rotor.

Take another large peanut sized gob and wipe that liberally around the bottom inside of the drum....the four "half-moon detents that the fan blade snaps over (automotive terminology...sorry to you Thompson purists!) Should have a thin coating and in-between too. I grease a circle a bit larger than the fan diameter. And once greased up, reassemble it all. It takes a fair amount of pressure on the rotor to push it far enough to get that retainer clip started but easy enough for solo greasejobs.

You only have to be careful that the retainer doesn't scratch the back of the drum body...I use a plastic screwdriver to pry it up and slip a business card under the end once it's out of the slot, then work it away by hand until it pops loose.

Easy enough to do and puts the grease just where it needs to be.

As for the shaft to rotor, I don't grease that as it might become too stiff if I shoot in cold weather. I just add a couple drops of gun oil or CLP to that and never had a problem.

Edited August 21, 2019 by john