how to free cylinders

Just read about some guy struggling getting the barrels to "let go" Many ,many years ago, back in the early seventies i was shown how to lift stubbern cylinders.

Easy to do, with no risk to breaking off fins,,, place two pieces of wood onto the pistons.and bolt a stout piece of wood across the top cylinder face using the head bolt holes...a sharp kick on the start lever, and the pistons will "punch" the cylinders off! easy..... done it a few times when the last owner had glued them on with hard set gasket gooo. bit tricky when the engines out :!:

That doesn't sound like good idea. I just take a rubber mallet and gently tap the cylinder from all sides to to break it free.
Using the piston and rods to free them is wrong. If they are "glued" down then what you are trying to do trying to separate them by pull them apart. Not good.

Done it loads of times :? But if you prefer the fin knock off method.

No need to knock off fins. That said, I'm sure the force is less to get the cylinders loose by breaking one side than pulling the whole gasket up at once. You can get a lot more leverage with the head on and there are good areas on the head to beat on with a block of wood. And if the primary is already apart?

Dave
69S

If you're talking about the Norton electric starter, methinks that if it's REALLY stuck that anemic POS won't budge it!

With heat, it really didn't take much of a whomp to get it to loosen. But hey, I've used a similar proceedure (loosening head bolts) to get a stuck head off an Alfa.

Sorry John , but thats not good for keeping rods straight

Id clamp em with the head , and get Tarzan at one side , whilst hes sober .

Its like wrestling a steering wheel loose , youre possibly best with some nuts replaced a few turns .

Could prevent you ending up at the bottom of a pile of bits . One way or another .

the SUBTLE application of Brute Force . Belting things leads to tears , if not done in a educated manner .

I've been watching these threads with interest, as I was in a similar predicament with my barrels being stuck fast. Whether it was the 'right' way of getting them off I have no idea. I cut part of a plank out of an old packing crate (soft pine), about 8" long, used it as a drift. I laid the engine on its side (The head was already off +had a helper hold it still), put the wooden drift up against the root of the bottom fin and gave the drift a few smart strikes at about a 45 degree angle to the vertical line of the engine. Did that on both sides of the engine a couple of times and that was all was needed and zero damage.

Acceptable way of doing it, or not?

Barrels on my 850 wouldn't lift easily, so I put the head & pushrods back on with all the barrel to crankcase fasteners removed or loosened. Tightened the four main head bolts carefully and evenly and the valve spring pressure lifted the barrels off the crankcase. Mine clearly wasn't stuck that hard, but the spring pressure might help if you have to whack it. Just a thought........

(edited for stupidity - mitch)