# Unstuck My Bridgeport Ram This Evening



## jmarkwolf (Feb 20, 2016)

When I bought my 1967 V-ram 9x42 Series 1 Bridgeport mill a few years ago, the ram pinion handle was broken off flush. I assumed the ram was stuck, hence the broken handle, but hadn't investigated any further.

Thankfully, there was no evidence that anyone had attempted to force the ram by using a pipe wrench on the pinion as I have read about.

I've been using the mill with the ram where it sat without problem, but I got the bug recently to free it up.

The web had a wealth of accounts of others' experiences while freeing up their ram. I expected my experience would be similar, so I picked up some WD40 rust dissolving penetrating oil in an aerosol can with the straw, and an easy-out to remove and replace the broken pinion handle.

I sprayed the penetrating oil in all the nooks and crannies, and scotch-brighted the accessible dovetail surfaces. The oil would soak in while I worked on the broken pinion handle.

I removed the pinion easily after unscrewing the keeper screw. It was quite clean with no evidence of rust nor overstress.

Simply unscrewing the broken 3/8in stub from the pinion by tapping it tangentially with a small hammer and center punch was only partially successful. It did move about a half-turn but then locked. I worked it back and forth a little, but it would only turn so far. Then I drilled a hole into the center of the stub,  and screwed in the easy-out. I was able to gingerly unscrew the stub an additional half-turn or so, then snap! The easy-out broke! I don't think I've ever had a happy ending with an easy-out.

I debated simply milling some flats on the pinion, as others have done, so I could use an open-end wrench on it here-after, but decided to attempt to remove the broken easy-out and continue to work on the broken stub. If I buggered it up badly I could still mill two flats on the pinion.

I drilled small holes around the broken easy-out and was able to pick it out. I then enlarged the hole until I could remove the pieces of the broken stub. Unfortunately, I had damaged the threads a little bit. I was able to chase the threads with a fresh 3/8in bolt but I've decided I'll likely drill and tap to a larger size. The temporary bolt would hold well enough while I resumed the task of freeing up the ram.

I painted a line across the seam between the ram and the turret, with a Sharpie marker, so it would be obvious when and if the ram moved.

I applied a fresh dose of the penetrating oil, loosened the ram locking bolts, and put two of the squeeze-handle type Irwin clamps on either side of the ram. I was about to turn off the shop lights and call it an evening, but I checked my magic marker line one last time and found that it had split about 1/4inch!

Shocked the heck out of me! I know this ram hasn't moved in about 8 years. 3 years while it's been in my possession, and about 4-5 years while it sat in the pawn shop where I found it!

The clamps had indeed slackened a little bit. I removed the clamps and was able to move the ram back and forth about an inch and a half with the temporary pinion handle! It was stiff, and it would then tighten up but seemed to come to a "soft" stop, so I'm hopeful that after some additional application of the penetrating oil, and some time, it will free up for the entire travel.

I thought it would take me a large portion of my weekend to free up the ram, or longer, but it only ended up taking a couple of hours including the time spent removing the broken handle stub. Must be the Irish in me, and the fact that the ram just wasn't severly stuck after all!

I'll probably just move the ram back to where it's been sitting and lock it down. But I'll know it's not stuck anymore!


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## FOMOGO (Feb 20, 2016)

Progress, no matter how small, always comes with a dose of satisfaction. Mike


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## Bob Korves (Feb 20, 2016)

Nice explanation of how you did the job, and I think you used the correct approach.  I have had two Millrite mills, and on both of them the rams were frozen solid.  First rule of the job is that they have been frozen for years, and you do not need to break it loose in five minutes!  Patience is the key to success without damage.  I loosened the clamp bolts and soaked the area with Kroil, my go to penetrant for the tough jobs.  Removed as much visible crud from the dovetails and slides and soaked them some more.  And then walked away for a while.  Millrite mills do not have a pinion to move the ram.  A steel hammer is not the tool to try to move the ram and head!  You are only going to break the castings.  Cast iron is brittle.  I found a 4x4 post, about 4 feet long. and hung it with ropes from the shop ceiling joists so it was in line with the ram, with rope loops aimed at both ends of the ram.  That makes a massive but controllable "persuader" with a soft face.  It is also easy to swing accurately to bump the head.  Marked the head with a Sharpie like you did.  Started at the back end, bumped it solidly but not excessively a few times, moved to the head side, bumped that end a few times, looked for movement, and walked away.  Came back at intervals and repeated, with fresh penetrant.  Finally, after a couple days on one mill, and a couple hours on the other one -- movement!  Once there is any movement, the war is essentially over.  Clean and squirt the newly exposed surfaces, repeat in opposite directions, and soon it will free right up.  Keep sliding the ram back and forth and cleaning the gunk on the slides, and keep adding fresh penetrant until it stays clean, then wipe it all off and switch to way oil and work it well into all the sliding surfaces.  Done!  Make a mental vow to move the ram a couple times a year, minimum, and re-oil.  The important rules are:  Do not get in a hurry, and use a massive, soft headed, dead blow persuader, fairly gently.  Do not increase the power of the blows to achieve movement.  You will only break something, and will not necessarily make quicker progress.  I did not even damage the paint on my two Millrites.  Work on the turret while you are at it...


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## uncle harry (Feb 20, 2016)

Bob Korves said:


> Nice explanation of how you did the job, and I think you used the correct approach.  I have had two Millrite mills, and on both of them the rams were frozen solid.  First rule of the job is that they have been frozen for years, and you do not need to break it loose in five minutes!  Patience is the key to success without damage.  I loosened the clamp bolts and soaked the area with Kroil, my go to penetrant for the tough jobs.  Removed as much visible crud from the dovetails and slides and soaked them some more.  And then walked away for a while.  Millrite mills do not have a pinion to move the ram.  A steel hammer is not the tool to try to move the ram and head!  You are only going to break the castings.  Cast iron is brittle.  I found a 4x4 post, about 4 feet long. and hung it with ropes from the shop ceiling joists so it was in line with the ram, with rope loops aimed at both ends of the ram.  That makes a massive but controllable "persuader" with a soft face.  It is also easy to swing accurately to bump the head.  Marked the head with a Sharpie like you did.  Started at the back end, bumped it solidly but not excessively a few times, moved to the head side, bumped that end a few times, looked for movement, and walked away.  Came back at intervals and repeated, with fresh penetrant.  Finally, after a couple days on one mill, and a couple hours on the other one -- movement!  Once there is any movement, the war is essentially over.  Clean and squirt the newly exposed surfaces, repeat in opposite directions, and soon it will free right up.  Keep sliding the ram back and forth and cleaning the gunk on the slides, and keep adding fresh penetrant until it stays clean, then wipe it all off and switch to way oil and work it well into all the sliding surfaces.  Done!  Make a mental vow to move the ram a couple times a year, minimum, and re-oil.  The important rules are:  Do not get in a hurry, and use a massive, soft headed, dead blow persuader, fairly gently.  Do not increase the power of the blows to achieve movement.  You will only break something, and will not necessarily make quicker progress.  I did not even damage the paint on my two Millrites.  Work on the turret while you are at it...



I too had a "frozen" ram.  I loosened the gib adjusting screw and gently tapped the opposite end of the gib with a soft rod and then loosened it more getting it free & loose. Then I soaked in some WD-40 followed by a 50 50 mix 0f mineral spirits and acetone squirted along the slide outside joint. I could then move it over an inch letting me do the same as you did to increasingly expose more slide surface. Then I applied some Lucas oil additive to make it slippery.  It was all easy from there.  I cleaned it up as much as I could by exposing slide surfaces and applied way oil.  It's working like velvet after re-adjusting the gib.


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## brino (Feb 20, 2016)

Excellent!

Slow and steady is really the way to go. Too often a sledge hammer is used and it really does not help the situation of stuck parts....

Congratulations on the progress, and as noted above now you need to keep it lubed and move it regularly.

-brino


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## jmarkwolf (Feb 20, 2016)

Update:

I've now got the ram moving back and forth almost eight inches now! It's still a little stiff, particularly at each end of the travel. I'll keep working on it with penetrant and way oil.


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## Bob Korves (Feb 20, 2016)

jmarkwolf said:


> Update:
> 
> I've now got the ram moving back and forth almost eight inches now! It's still a little stiff, particularly at each end of the travel. I'll keep working on it with penetrant and way oil.


The outcome is already determined, usually it gets better pretty quickly once it starts moving.


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## f350ca (Feb 21, 2016)

Patience usually gets things moving. I've had good luck with a mix of  automatic transmission fluid and acetone half and half as a penetrating oil. Works better than any of the penetrating oils I've tried.  Have to say the only good use for WD40 is cutting fluid for aluminum but glad it worked for you.

Greg


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## Dabbler (Dec 15, 2016)

I also use WD40 as a cleaner.  and for a heavy cutting oil, I use 50-50 WD40 and sulfated cutting oil.  The sulfated is usually too thick to spread on the cutter, and is easily sloughed off.


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## Ed ke6bnl (Dec 15, 2016)

f350ca said:


> Patience usually gets things moving. I've had good luck with a mix of  automatic transmission fluid and acetone half and half as a penetrating oil. Works better than any of the penetrating oils I've tried.  Have to say the only good use for WD40 is cutting fluid for aluminum but glad it worked for you.
> 
> Greg


I agree better then anything on the store shelf. And even Kroll,  I did purchase it and I am not a believer. 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk


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## Silverbullet (Dec 16, 2016)

Tranny fluid , acetone , kerosene , lanolin, makes eds red gun cleaner . I have proportions some where. But I made a gallon for less then a small container hoppes cleaner. I used a lot when I cleaned guns at trapshoots all over the east here. Times it paid for all my entry fees plus.  I had quite a following of devoted lazy rich and not so rich shooters. I even made custom cleaning rods and chamber cleaners plus port brushes. Brass or aluminum . They must have been good because I found a guy who copied my handles exactly to the knurling  and grooves selling them in Pennsylvania.


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## KBeitz (Jul 26, 2018)

Hummmm.... Now I gotta go check mine. I haven't moved it in years...


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## T Bredehoft (Jul 26, 2018)

I gotta change the subject!

This isn't the first thread that talks about broken Eazy-Outs.  It just occurred to me, "How are you turning them?"  You gotta use a long style tap handle, *not* a Crescent wrench. The Crescent  wrench is guaranteed to break the Easy-Out. 

Thanks, now I feel better, back to stuck rams.


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## Janderso (Aug 6, 2018)

Checked mine last night.
No problem, whew!
Cleaned and used fresh way oil. Now I feel better.
This thread is still going after 2 years.


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