Do Prolite Valve Bodies Wear Out?

[Toestr]

So a while back I bought two ex rental Prolites as well as somebody's personal gun.
The two ex rental valve bodies had horrible wear on the bottom and left side, while the other had significantly less.

I've tried swapping the hammer, sear and spring from the personal gun (which I know works) into either of the ex rentals and they don't cycle. I tried putting the hammer sear, and spring from the rentals into the other and it works.

So are the valve bodies wearing out a known issue? It is pretty severe wear but I don't really see how that would contribute to cycling issues. The valves have had their orings changed and the only issue with the ex rentals is they leak for a few seconds until the cups are seated.

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[Myrkul]

The Pro-Lite valves "float" in the body and the entire valve moves every shot (not just the valve pins). If sand & debris got in there and scratched things up it might be having issues floating freely. I actually polished the entire valve body up on mine to help make it smoother. See if you can get us some pictures of the internals. You might just have to sand down & smooth out the scratches on the rental valves.

[Toestr]

The Pro-Lite valves "float" in the body and the entire valve moves every shot (not just the valve pins). If sand & debris got in there and scratched things up it might be having issues floating freely. I actually polished the entire valve body up on mine to help make it smoother. See if you can get us some pictures of the internals. You might just have to sand down & smooth out the scratches on the rental valves.

Thanks. I was aware of the valve movement. I was under the impression that less valve movement would aid in recock if anything. The valve is pictured below. It's gouged but doesn't feel like there's any raised spots. Anyway I'll go at it with some emery cloth and see what happens.

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[snaparen]

what are you using for gas? Co2 or HPA

[Toestr]

what are you using for gas? Co2 or HPA

I've tried CO2 and 1100 PSI HPA.

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[Chappy]

I’d polish it up a bit to eliminate any issues. Your logic is sound but problems with the system can manifest strangely sometimes. Do you have the valve stop in place?
It could be swollen cup seal rings in the rear of the valve. Copious amounts of oil may help. Liquid co2 will definitely help. I have an old beater that won’t recook or get over 230 without liquid. And some of the old rentals were set up that way.

[infamoussmiley]

What kind of oil are you using? It should only be hoppes 9. Also, try cycling without the front bolt.

Best,

Smiley

[Chappy]

Excellent advice on the front bolt we’ve overlooked so far. I’d say airtool oil is fine unless the seals are really swollen but hoppes will get ‘em back in shape a bit if they’re salvageable

[lew]

Hoppe's #9 is a bore solvent, not a lubricant. Use grease on all the Prolite parts and be happy.

[Toestr]

Ok so I tried cleaning the bodies up a bit with some emery cloth and it's more of the same. The gouges are so deep in the bodies that it's impossible to completely get rid of them.

They don't even sputter like they're attempting to recock.

Yes valve stops are in place and I'm using Gold Cup oil (I'm sorry but I'm quite skeptical that the type of oil will make THAT much difference).

These will be going up for sale imminently unless someone here has any more ideas.

Also if anyone has recommendations for what kind of hose to replace the stock frame gas line with that would be appreciated.

[Chappy]

Did you try to see if they would recook without the front bolt? Or at least without the front bolt oring? It’s worth a shot, a swollen front bolt oring could cause the issue you have.
Regarding the oil, hoppes will soften up the old orings much easier then gold cup since it is made with petrol.

[Toestr]

I tried it without the front bolt and now it sputters when recocking. All orings are new factory spec. I'll give it another day to see what the hive mind comes up with. Expect an appraisal and sale thread after that.

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[Myrkul]

You could try swapping out the valve spring with a weaker one, I think I use a chopped down black spider spring from the warrior kit in mine.

[Evilengineer]

Recently bought a pro lite off eBay and it looked like an ex rental. I'm a mechanical engineer with a machine shop at home and when of my son was young about 25 years ago I would take him in the neighborhood kids out to my dad's farm and we would play all day. Anyway he's grown and we're kicking around getting his kids into it so I thought it might be fun to gather up a bunch of pro lites. The budget is slim so we've been picking up used non-working guns off eBay.
Anyway one in particular was this rental gun and the seller said it would fire but not re-cock. Once I got into it the air valve was chewed up just like the photos above. The gun was complete mess.. the power tube facing the ball had gouges in the end like somebody tried to clean it with something more than a squeegee LOL. The air valve plunger had worn so much that it had wallowed out the hole in the brass end stop (held in by the snap ring)
To make a long story short I bought a length of leaded brass off of Amazon and proceeded to reverse engineer and machine a new brass and stop so that it's lip made it up nicely to the cup seal. I don't think the cup seals are available anymore so I soaked the cup seals inside the air valve with automatic transmission fluid for a day and they plumped up nicely. Regarding the power tube, with all the gouges in the end of it my thought was that if the gun shot it was probably getting some noticeable pressure drops for the blowback to normally send the bolt back to the sear... Anyway I made a little steel insert for the end of the power tube that establish the original length of the power tube and also gave the ball a nice surface to rest on before it was fired.

I didn't do anything to the outside of the air valve and mine was pretty nasty. I've got a sunnen hone machine in my shop and I thought if it got bad I would turn a new air valve body on the lathe maybe a bit oversized and hung out the ID of the receiver to match but it wasn't necessary.

Anyway stuck a new set of o-rings in it and bingo cycled like a champ. If there's anybody out there that needs a part machined for these old guns just let me know I've got a lay the Bridgeport and the hone and can make pretty much anything

[Natural Newbie]

^^^ that is pretty awesome. 👍👍

[Evilengineer]

I'd be lying if I didn't say it kind of sucks that Tippmann doesn't offer any of the parts for the Pro-Am pro lite and pro carbine. The way I look at it the engineering drawing still exists somewhere and customer shouldn't have to resort to reverse engineering and existing part that might have wesr. In my case it was kind of a necessity since we had an emotional attachment to that particular model. But they are a very dependable gun and still are great for woods play👍 part