I'm new to this forum. I'm a scout leader and have found myself learning to maintain our white gas gear. I have unearthed a couple of 400 generators. the prickers in them both look short (relative to a working and healthy one I have) I've seen this thread 400 pricker wire broke or recessed? - The Coleman Collectors Forum and believe I need to replace the currently shortened bit with 28 gauge wire. The problem is I've tried pulling the black handle out (after fully opening the packing nut) and I'm reluctant to pull much harder than I've already tried. Is there a trick or clever thing I could do to make this removal feel less like I'm trying to wreck these relatively rare and difficult to find pieces of brass? I have 2 working 400 coleman stoves but I'd really like to be able to restore these two generators if it's possible, as backups for what we currently have or replacements in the event I find yet another stove I didn't know we had. I have managed to get a number of our stoves working partly due to information available on this forum. Thank you so much to all of you who post what you find and how you did things. I am very grateful.
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There is a member on the Coleman site who makes replacement generators and repairs these generators, and he will also have the answers you seek. His name is Arthur, and he goes by fjfj765 . Really sharp young man.
Welcome to CCS @mstewart14 This might be helpful Repacking Coleman Generator #400-5891 @fjfj765 is also a member here.
@ROBBO55 thank you for the link, I have seen that posting but the only reference to pulling the black handle is brief "I removed the packing nut, extracted the black lever, removed the jet, and removed the pricker / throttle nib. Cleaned out the packing box. The original packing crumbled easily." so I'm still not really sure how much force or what clever thing I can do to free everything at this end of the assembly. I have just registered with the CCF and will try to contact @fjfj765 there if I don't see them here. Thank you for the replies.
Thank you for the pointer to fjfj765. I sent an email directly and he was very helpful. So what I needed was substantial force and courage with a certain amount of patience. I now have both apart and am now looking to source the necessary wire. The suggestion was to use a butane torch to heat up the packing to glowing then quench in cold water and have another go a pulling the handle through the packing, cycle as necessary. I didn't need to do this, I just was persistent and pulled until the packing nut was free of the housing and then put a screwdriver in between the nut and the housing and pried. For one of them I still had some pulling to do once it was too far off to keep prying. For the other it mostly just came free. note both blew a bunch of graphite packing out as they came free, not that I should have been surprised by this but just letting other know what to expect. The handle on the left has substantial damage near the nut. This is worrying as if I ever have to take it apart again the possibility that it will break right there seems high. I do recall seeing another posting where someone showed a handle that had broken in exactly this spot. The other handle has a little wear in the same spot but it's not worrying me right now but the other is substantial, you can see it in this photo (the handle on the left). Where does this wear come from? Is there any way to mitigate it?
so apparently this isn't a good result. these should have a piece of brass on them before the bend and after the packing nut. So not quite sure I can get this working after all... I'll have a go at the wires in the prickers for sure but after that, I'm not sure how much success I can have packing the graphite in with out some idea of where it should sit on the handle... I've seen other postings where it appears that folks have succeeded with this level of dissassembly. Apparently I should have used the heat. Sigh.
mstewart, I haven't worked on one but looking at other posts that have, you do not appear to be missing any parts. Looking at the service manual in the Reference Gallery the problem is, they were not designed to be serviced. The generator and valve were sold a one piece consumable. This doesn't mean you can't, but it does mean you need to work with what you have or fabricate and make the best of it. I hope you succeed
Hi mstewart! Yes, those Coleman 400 generators are challenging to work on. Coleman did not design them for repair. Sorry I did not mention "pull hard" regarding removal of the black lever from brass valve body. The packing was crumbly on my generator so did not hinder removal. No brass washer was present in the packing box. The generator works fine without a washer. The wear observed on your lever wires was also present on my unit. I think it is pitting corrosion. I dressed it smooth with sandpaper but the deeper pits were still present. It worked, but now I know better. fjfj765's method of making a new wire, delaying the last bend until after tightening the packing nut, greatly simplifies reassembly. It also gets rid of old corrosion-damaged wire. School of Hard Knocks. 3/32" stainless steel Tig welding wire should work. Duplicating the dog-leg tip will be the hardest part. Suggest heating the wire red hot to make the bends. Or buy rebuilt generators from fjfj765. He uses jigs to make these bends. Last hint; before installing the new packing, practice assembling the dog-leg tip into the slot in the pricker carrier. Check that the carrier moves correctly, matching the "Hi" and "Low" valve positions marked on the tank. It can be installed backwards. Don't ask how I know. Good luck, and keep us updated! We all hope your Scout Troop gets their stoves back in service. Hungry campers need lots of spaghetti and macaroni-n-cheese.
