Yup, I finally did it. My beloved PGP from high school is officially In Pieces.
I won't bore you with the details (its taking apart a PGP, some of y'all can probably do that in your sleep) but suffice to say, I got the thing down to its bits with minimal effort; even the valve came out without too much trouble, although I did have to pound the valve body out with a dowel. Anyhow, here's what came out of the lower tube, in the order it came out:
As you can see there was not much left of ANY of the valve seals. Both O-rings had disintegrated into basically black stains, and the cup seal is just a few crumbled bits of schoo inside the front of the valve. Unsurprising, as since the lead washer was still present the valve has not been disassembled since the gun was built decades ago. Fortunately I have replacements for all. The valve components are also quite grotty, being all covered in sticky black gunk I attribute to the steady diet of Crosman Powerelets this guy was fed back when I used it in the 90s (plus who knows what else was put through it before I owned it - again, it was already beat up and used when I bought it in 1995). I figure a good cleaning is in order before reassembly.
However, I did have a couple of questions before I get too much further:
-I noticed that the tip of the piercer (the sharp bit) is a tad wiggly. is it supposed to be like that or should I replace it? I have a spare from Palmer's, but if I don't have to use it I'd rather save it for another gun should one wash up on my beach. It still seems to be sharp despite being a tad loose.
-There was a black ring of...something that was stuck on the brass valve body between the front bit and the brass cylinder. It isn't called out in the specs listed here. Is that just a remnant of the o-ring that's supposed to be there, or something else? It appears to have (or rather once had) a square profile so I doubt it was a ring. Any ideas?
-There's likewise a black ring of...stuff...on the rim of the valve that likewise isn't called out as a place for an O-ring (the bit I'm pointing at with the piercer);
Is that another o-ring remnant, or something else that's supposed to be there? In the specs I've seen on here the O-ring sits behind that (on the narrower part of the cylinder) but I've seen similar black rings on other Sheridan valves pictured here. Should I leave it, or clean it off?
Anyhow, thanks in advance for any advice y'all have. I'm going to busy myself cleaning the obvious ick off the rest of the valve, and try to figure out what the other black objects might be. Thus far however, my first Sheridan rebuild so far goes well.
Cheers!
***ETA: I discovered the exact size of the front sight hex bolt section is 3/16". not sure if that was a known fact before, but it is now. ***
I won't bore you with the details (its taking apart a PGP, some of y'all can probably do that in your sleep) but suffice to say, I got the thing down to its bits with minimal effort; even the valve came out without too much trouble, although I did have to pound the valve body out with a dowel. Anyhow, here's what came out of the lower tube, in the order it came out:
As you can see there was not much left of ANY of the valve seals. Both O-rings had disintegrated into basically black stains, and the cup seal is just a few crumbled bits of schoo inside the front of the valve. Unsurprising, as since the lead washer was still present the valve has not been disassembled since the gun was built decades ago. Fortunately I have replacements for all. The valve components are also quite grotty, being all covered in sticky black gunk I attribute to the steady diet of Crosman Powerelets this guy was fed back when I used it in the 90s (plus who knows what else was put through it before I owned it - again, it was already beat up and used when I bought it in 1995). I figure a good cleaning is in order before reassembly.
However, I did have a couple of questions before I get too much further:
-I noticed that the tip of the piercer (the sharp bit) is a tad wiggly. is it supposed to be like that or should I replace it? I have a spare from Palmer's, but if I don't have to use it I'd rather save it for another gun should one wash up on my beach. It still seems to be sharp despite being a tad loose.
-There was a black ring of...something that was stuck on the brass valve body between the front bit and the brass cylinder. It isn't called out in the specs listed here. Is that just a remnant of the o-ring that's supposed to be there, or something else? It appears to have (or rather once had) a square profile so I doubt it was a ring. Any ideas?
-There's likewise a black ring of...stuff...on the rim of the valve that likewise isn't called out as a place for an O-ring (the bit I'm pointing at with the piercer);
Is that another o-ring remnant, or something else that's supposed to be there? In the specs I've seen on here the O-ring sits behind that (on the narrower part of the cylinder) but I've seen similar black rings on other Sheridan valves pictured here. Should I leave it, or clean it off?
Anyhow, thanks in advance for any advice y'all have. I'm going to busy myself cleaning the obvious ick off the rest of the valve, and try to figure out what the other black objects might be. Thus far however, my first Sheridan rebuild so far goes well.
Cheers!
***ETA: I discovered the exact size of the front sight hex bolt section is 3/16". not sure if that was a known fact before, but it is now. ***
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