It's not that I'm not mechanical or without motivation but sometimes it's better to find a master and offer them reward for service rendered. In my case this involves the repair of an Optimus 99R. Why repair this ancient creature? I've decided after many many backpacks to return to my roots-a Jansport D3; and in that journey return to the stove I carried the most miles and the most years. I'm hoping there exist someone who would allow me to grace their porch with a package containing said 99R, return it to its glory days as best as possible, and accept payment. If any are interested please let me know. Most sincerely, Robert
Hi MedicineMan, Welcome to CCS! You've come to the place where you don't have to give reasons for wanting to repair and old stove. We repair any old stove just because it is an old stove, and those were built to last forever. Do you know anything specific that is wrong with your 99, or do you just want a "general overhaul"? How many years since you last used it? Can you post a photo of your stove? In most cases, all that a 99 would require is replacement of the filler cap seal, and some tightening of the nut on the spindle. Yonadav
Yep, if all the metal parts are intact, it shouldn't be much to getting it running well. Have you tried it recently? What happens?
Hi MedicineMan Your 99 and the Optimus 8R are both very simple stoves. With very little that can go wrong with them. Your 99 my be ready to with out shipping it anywhere. A cap washer and some fresh fuel and it'll probaly come to life. Barring have been squished under a truck or thrown of a cliff. The only other bad thing that can happen on these is the wick in the feul tank can become charred if the stove is allowed to run out of fuel. These are really great stoves I carry one in my pack. Not that much luck is needed to make them go, good luck. Rick
Wow great and fast responses! The last time I tried to fire it up was last fall and flames were shooting out somewhere between the shield and the fuel tank.....that scared me so I extinguished it and let it be. Then discovered this site and thought maybe it is possible to get it up to a safe operating condition. The stove is circa 1974-1977 range....can't remember exactly when I bought it but my first steps on the AT were in 1973. I can get some pics up later in the week. I did look at pics of the new Optimus Hiker and ordered the 'repair/replacement' for it hoping/thinking it might have some application on the 99r-fingers crossed. ....and no never fell off a truck but did see years and years of use.
can you take the tank and burner assembly out of the case. take a close photo of the area around the connection between the pipe to the burner and the tank then give this area a good clean and take another photo. 2 possibilities. One is very easy one is not
geeves- I work every other week and until Wednesday a.m. the hospital owns me---so Wednesday afternoon I will begin the disassembly process and take pictures. I have a big 'retro' hike beginnin Dec. 29 for 4 days and hope to use this stove.....however there is a Svea sitting on the shelf that has never been used!
Welcome MedicineMan. I tried to get our group to do a "retro" hike a few years ago out here in CA, very little interest. The last couple years since I began collecting stoves, I've wanted to get out more and use them in their element. I try to take two at a time since I have so many now. Have fun on your trip. Duane
I've taken a big step and bought a set of line wrenches Removed the tank from the line and inspected the wick...not black or brown, plain white and very dry. Replaced it and did a test burn....a little fuel in the cup and in the aluminum housing of the 99R case. Good news-no flames anywhere but the burner. Bad news- flame size 1/4-1/2 inch after at least 3 minutes of priming on an insulated surface. Made sure to have a bit over 1/2 tank of fuel. What is my next step? I did buy carburator cleaner this morning, pipe cleaners, WD-40. I took pics but they are way too big for this forum. I place them in a webshots album if any are interested. To be honest I truly enjoyed polishing the brass and if I can get this beat truly running I'll shine it up even more.
Success and special thanks to CCS and the fine gentleman who is selling a 99R on ebay as I type. O-rings for the lid were easily found at HomeDepot...the cotton twine a bit harder to find but was found at a Kroger-the butcher does something with meat with it. Now I'm talking pure 100% cotton-Home Depot had a cotton poly blend I felt needed to be avoid. While I was shopping for the twine and o-rings my parts steeped in carb fluid. I'd removed the old worn out wick so first thing when I returned was make a new wick with wire. The hardest part of this entire revamp was working the wick and wire into the tube-I remember having read that you want it all the way to the turn and occlusive to air. Removed the parts from the cleaning bath and scrubbed them all down good with a pipe cleaner in and out. Moment of truth-tis cold so primed for two minutes then released the valve then listened to that beautiful roar. I haven't heard its song in over 2 decades-got down on my hands/knees and looked at a gorgeous blue flame. Put some water on and in 6-8 minutes the roiling began. I didn't mess with the control tube and its parts but did remove the cleaning needle and made sure it was shiny. My total cash outlay for the revamping of the 99R is close to $70 but 40 of that was for a set of Craftsman line wrenches. If any reads this and wonders if they can rehab a 99 have no doubts, know its easy and if you go through the process you'll for the first time 'know' your stove. I didn't know for certain if the lid was allowing pressure to drop-I did know the wick was long gone; by replacing both and the thorough cleaning job I felt my chances were good for a powerful constant burn. OK, so now I've got the bug and am looking for old forgotten stoves!
Hi, I am so glad that your fettle was successful and that you have been joined the CCS Brotherhood. Good Luck with the next stove...you have to find a use those line-wrenches! Best Regards, Kerophile.
Congratulations, MedicineMan, Your next challenge is to figure out how to resize your photos so you can post them here. If you are using Picasa, select the photos you want resized and do a file/export on them with a size of 640 pixels. Enjoy! Yonadav
I do use Picasa as well as Webshots and will get on that soon. I did shoot a Droid video and sent it to she that rules the world--5 seconds of water boiling! She really couldn't see the gravity of what was happening Honetly this process was not without fault and injury. The nut on my vaporization tube will never look the same-this prior and leading to the discovery of the line wrenches.....so, me now scouring the internet for this tube that connects tank to burner-odds of finding one I already surmise to be near zero but I've already figured out that in stovesport finding is as much fun and turning the little wrenches. Each forum's rules differ and I can't remember CSS's policy on posting links-so I won't, but if any would like to see 5 seconds of my little burner in action simply surf to Youtube and search for MedicineMan4040; then scroll down and look for a pot of boiling water.
