Anthony Kaye
08-30-2020, 11:29 AM
Hello, everyone.
I recently managed to find a 10” Stanley 2101A brace -- the Bell Labs model (eBay) -- and I’m in the middle of trying to restore it so it will work properly. I was able to disassemble the head, clean it out, repack the bearings in fresh grease, and put everything back together -- that part now works great.
The next part is the shell — the part that holds the jaws that hold the auger bits. I unscrewed it all the way and took the end cap off. Inside is a little spring clip that’s holding the cone-shaped race and the ball bearings. I cannot get the spring clip out. I’ve tried everything I can think of, and all it does is laugh at me. I’ve cleaned a lot of the outside-ish parts, and things certainly move better (they were frozen when I got it), but given the condition of the ball bearings in the head, these probably need attention, too, so I don’t want to give up on this part.
The ratchet mechanism will be the last major part to address, and I suspect it’s going to be a real nightmare inside. But before I get to that, does anyone have any suggestions about getting that little spring clip out?
Thanks!
I recently managed to find a 10” Stanley 2101A brace -- the Bell Labs model (eBay) -- and I’m in the middle of trying to restore it so it will work properly. I was able to disassemble the head, clean it out, repack the bearings in fresh grease, and put everything back together -- that part now works great.
The next part is the shell — the part that holds the jaws that hold the auger bits. I unscrewed it all the way and took the end cap off. Inside is a little spring clip that’s holding the cone-shaped race and the ball bearings. I cannot get the spring clip out. I’ve tried everything I can think of, and all it does is laugh at me. I’ve cleaned a lot of the outside-ish parts, and things certainly move better (they were frozen when I got it), but given the condition of the ball bearings in the head, these probably need attention, too, so I don’t want to give up on this part.
The ratchet mechanism will be the last major part to address, and I suspect it’s going to be a real nightmare inside. But before I get to that, does anyone have any suggestions about getting that little spring clip out?
Thanks!