I purchased and just received my Coleman CV removal tool. I got it on eBay. If you fettle Coleman stoves or lanterns, you really need this tool. It works splendidly (he says affecting a proper British accent)!
Did you get the one with the locking screw and the o-ring? I've been eyeing one of those for quite some time and just haven't popped for it yet. Still using my modified screwdriver. Luckily I only had one OOPSO! with it, and think/know it wouldn't have happened with this tool. But I also avoided trying to remove any more check valves unless all else failed. Mike
Sarge, Yes, I got the one with the O-ring. It comes with two threaded shafts to fit virtually all Coleman CV's. It quickly loostened the CV in my 502 rebuild even though I really rounded the shoulders of the slot. By threading into the CV it keeps the torque surface positioned perfectly to turn the valve. I don't do a lot of Coleman products but it seems a lot of the ones I get need the CV worked on.
Following that post of mine in a thread earlier this year on the same subject ... In deference to Dan and the original source of the design, I have to say that ebay-sourced tool is still working and the 'ears' (heat treated or not, I don't know) haven't yet succumbed to a succession of valve removal/replacement cycles. John
Great tool to have. It has paid itself off in my Coleman collection Matthew Reid designed it and now Dan MacPherson I think makes it. Jeff
I believe the eBay tool is now heat treated. I saw evidence of tempering colors on the tool. I doubt I will wear it out in my lifetime. On a positive note, the 502 I bought on eBay for real cheap is now a working model. This "fully functional" stove only needed a new valve, a new generator and pricker, new gasket and pump cup and a new CV. Other than that, it was fully functional. I got it burning tonight and it works just fine.
I hope you contacted the seller for a partial refund on that stove. I've had good results from that. Unless it's still a bargain in the condition it arrives. I mean, if you got it for 5 bucks, what's the point. But if it was 25 then some compensation is in order. I love 502s. So dependable and simmer better than anything else in my opinion. Thanks for the info on the tool. I'm getting one soon. Mike
It was $18 with the aluminum storage box. He said he sold it for $2 less than he paid for it. I told him we both got screwed. I picked one up at the flea market in mint condition in the orginal box with all the paperwork for $15 with no shipping. As a precaution, read the definition of "used" that eBay supplies for each used item. Then read what the seller says. They can be polar oposites and eBay will back the seller everytime. I gave him my jaundiced opinion of his business practices and that was worth the money.
You didn't get screwed if it had the case. You got a decent deal. Though misleading descriptions piss me off...BAD! Mike
It's not hard to recognize great desing. This removal tool is a clear examplo. Perhaps we can design our own standard NRV removal tool using coleman's concept. I mean, what we need is a tool that prevents from coming out when force is aplied. This situation usually occurs when the NRV head is bit worn and when you try again, you keeping worning more... I was think that I could take a solid cilinder with the pump tube diameter and make a notch at one end to fit tightly the NRV head. Well, nothing new so far... Then, insert the cilinder into the tube and cut it to the tube size. Then, I could put the pump tube cap on and use the hole to insert a scredriver or something to turn the cilinder (making a notch to fit the screwdriver's tip). The pump cap would prevent the removal tool from getting up and out. The problem, so far, is that the cap's hole is to small to fit a good strong screwdriver... Maybe someone could develop this idea. Rafael
Early users said the tabs of the eBay copy sometimes sheared off when attempting to remove a check valve, but all indications are that the maker/seller has remedied the flaw, and stood behind the product for the affected customers. The tool Dan MacPherson sells is the one I own and has served well. It doesn't cost much more than the eBay tool. I appreciate the fact that the tool I have doesn't contact the pump tube - I would worry about distorting the thin brass on older founts if I need to apply a lot of torque - but I don't think that's really likely to affect actual usage for most people. Here's a check valve I was able to remove. It was so corroded to the fount that I thought I was applying enough force to distort the fount when I pulled it - it turned out OK though. No screwdriver-type tool could have succeeded here - one had obviously already failed sometime in the past. The Reid/MacPherson tool just dug in and pulled it out.
Yes, it is now being heat treated and if you look at the Coleman Collector's Forum Dan himself has defended the ebay seller himself. The tool is now NOT defective. I own one and have pulled some really tough check valves out with it and no problems, breakage or bending of the tool or pump tube. It also comes with an assortment of O-rings that protect the pump tube. 2 cents sam
Thats what I like to hear... I think I will be getting one to service my surprisingly large number of Colemans. I say surprisingly because I didnt think I had a 'thing' for them, but I seem to have ended up with seven, including two lanterns.
Actually that thin tube is amazingly strong in torque. The tube is, ounce for ounce, THE strongest structural member in compression, tension, and torque that exists. But once dented or deformed, it fails easily. Hence the old stand on an empty beer can trick. FWIW Mike
I just looked at my old 9C, different all together. I took the cap off and pulled the shaft and cup out, that left the shaft that opens to let you pump air into the tank, when I unscrewed it, there was a slight hiss, which confirms the fact that when I first tried it there was fuel leakage from the tank into the tube. I guess I can live with that as long as when I have pumped the tank up and close the valve it prevents fuel from further entry.
Duane, Did these early ones have the air tube that isolates the pump from the liquid? I know that later models were pure genius. You can't overfill them and even if the cap is off, you can't spill fuel, not much anyway. And if the pump check completely failed, you only got air. Mike
Yes, it has a tube. I'll try to explain. Coleman's, you have to unscrew the pump before pumping to pressurize the tank of course. I unscrewed the cap without unscrewing the pump shaft first. This allowed the removal of the cap along with the pump shaft intact. There is a rod/spindle that goes inside the whole length of the pump shaft whose function is to open and allow one to pump air into the fuel tank when you unscrew the pump shaft at the start of pumping. Clear I hope now. Anyway, after I removed the cap and pump shaft, I then was able to grip the protruding end of this shaft/spindle and completely unscrew it and remove. The fuel in the tank is low enough that no fuel comes out at the moment. This shaft is tapered at the end and seats in the CV? I was thinking that maybe the removal of the CV is done from the hole at the end of the tank where the tank fill cap is.
I've dismantled hundreds of Coleman pump assemblies. What I was wondering, is if this was designed the same as the tanks from the late 30s onward. The cv on those isn't in the fuel. It's encased in a little bell thats soldered on the end of the pump tube. Soldered into that bell is a capillary tube that goes above the fuel level in the tank, so that if it fails, no liquid, only air escapes. The only similar internal drawing of what im talking about available to me now is here: Coleman 520 patent drawing I know this is a single burner, but the concept it the same. Notice the curved tube on the pump tube. Mike
Sorry, I was trying to not make it like you needed a picture drawn, didn't succeed. After I posted, I took another look and the tube looks like it is secured by a nut, similar to what holds a toggle switch. I wonder if the whole tube could be removed if that nut is taken off? It is skinny and the tube end is threaded of course and already has a tiny bit missing from having the cap removed a few times I guess. The stove and tank have been repainted by a previous owner so there is some paint on the nut, not much. I'll have to check it out next weekend, I've a short day on Sunday, going for a motorcycle ride.
No problem. On a 520 like my drawing there is a nut but its soldered after its tightened, so I had to heat it and unscrew it. PITA!! While holding the pump tube from spinning. I used an old multipiece cap and put a piece of threaded rod through the screw hole and nutted both sides as a handle to screw onto the pump tube to keep from messing it up and burning my digits. When I did this, I didn't know about the air tube, and ended up breaking it off to get it out. If it's working, I recommend leaving it alone(mine wasn't, the air tube was completely blocked). It's a slippery slope, my friend. You, like me, may end up making it worse, so be careful. I truly believe these were assembled as separate ends and the last step was soldering in these completed end caps(with fill tube and pump tube) into the main tank body. Mike
