Some tips for getting the reg off a tank

[t0nnn]

I had some tanks hyrdro’d a few months ago, the place couldn’t test one of them. It’s a high pressure crossfire 68/4500 carbon wrapped. This is the first time I sent it to get tested and it was a few months past the date. When I went to pick the tanks up they said they couldn’t test it because they couldn’t get the reg off the tank. Apparently the loc-tite was so strong it they were afraid it was going to strip the tank threads, the reg threads, or both. So now I have to give it a try to get the reg off, any tips for this? I have a heat gun available to heat the loc-tite up, but as far as anything else goes …any other ideas? I’m aware that I could ruin the tank and reg or maybe both will be fine, either way I have to give it a try since the tank is just sitting here useless.

Help?

[93civiccpe]

Hey,
I had a reg like that which the previous user had used a TON of red loctite on. I tried heating & all other sorts to get it off. Finally, the ticket was to clamp down on the reg itself on a workbench vise clamp. Then I took a rubber strap wrench around the fiber tank, while my friend twisted with his bare hands. Took us about 10 minutes.. it would turn about 1/8th of a turn at a time until finally it freed up... the idiot owner before me had used a ton of red loctite.. hopefully yours isn't as bad.

What I did scarred up the reg, but that wasn't an issue as it was already leaking and not a friendly user servicable one anyways.. I already had a replacement one. Best of luck!!

[t0nnn]

well the good news is you didn't strip your threads, hopefully mine won't either. I'm not worried about the reg, I bought a Myth when Guerilla air dropped their price to $30

[BigEvil]

FYI - they arent loc-tited on. They are usually torqued, to about 25 ft-lbs. Some of them are a real pain to get off.

My suggestion is to send it to Hydrotesters.com. They do top notch work, ive used them many times.

[t0nnn]

that's an option, the place I used unscrewed the reg maybe 2-4 turns, you can tell it's been attempted to unscrew...would they still take it? They also nicked up my other reg on my other tank, wasn't too happy about that...prolly shoulda just used hyrotesters.com like I was going too

[rmg]

What I did was remove the gauge, fill nipple and burst disk. The fill nipple and gauge are pipe threads, the burst disk was a bolt thread. I put a short bolt in the burst disk hole and a pipe nipple in the gauge hole (these were on opposite sides of the reg) Then put the reg in a vice, with the jaws against the bolt and pipe nipple, put a strap wrench on the tank and turn.
Worked for me and it didn't mess the reg up. I will say there was no loctite of any kind on the threads, but it did take a good bit of force to get it started.

[angrysasquatch]

If you can't get enough torque down with a strap wrench you can wrap the tank with a huge layer of tape (1/8th") and use a chain whip.

[TnDeathInc]

Here's what i have done since i have places a few i regs and centerlines on recently.

Put the tank in a real nice cover, i use the dye thick padded covers with the non slip insides. lock it in the vice, now take the reg off. It has never damaged the tank or the reg in this fashion.