Does any body know the procedure for removing the cam lever spindle from its holder. The part pointed to with the arrow doesn't pull of easily whats the best way of removing it and when I have removed the cam spindle will I have to replace the two washers in there.

Any help thanks!!!

Christopher

Reattach the acorn nut (5) onto the cam spindle (1) and gently tap the spindle out.



The spindle bushing (4) should then easily remove. Yes, the two rubber "washers" (3) should be replaced. Lightly coat the spindle and the wearable cam surface with Dow 111 or other food-safe grease. Note that the fitting clearance between the spindle and the bushing is very small - there should be practically zilch rocking motion of the bushing when slid onto the spindle.

Great thanks for the advice!

Chris

Perfect, I thought; this is precisely my issue : disassembling and re-lubing the cam after a detergent backflush. I had already separated everything except the spindle, its bushing and the two seals inside. Then the spindle refused to slide out of the bushing. I "gently tapped" and then some, until the brass hammer began to peen over the edges of the screw slot in the cap nut, and still no joy. The outermost of the seals was visible, but I saw no circlip or other retainer (nor is there one on any E61 parts breakdown I've seen), nor damage that might be holding the shaft captive. The spindle was a close but non-binding fit with no perceptible radial play and < 1 mm easy end play. With the bushing in place, it was impossible to angle the cam between the pins, so I had to back out the brew (upper) valve housing to take the upper pin out of the picture. Mission accomplished, but I'm puzzled. The shaft was not bent, or I would have felt it binding as I tried to push it out. This was an essentially new machine, with no abuse/corrosion/scale/crud/wear.

You bring up some real good points that caused me to remember how I have done this on several occasions and make some additional comments. After removing all of the parts from the grouphead (some as an assembly), reattach the lever arm to the cam spindle. With a combination of slight back and forth rotations and pushing of the lever, the cam spindle should start to emerge from the housing. Now, again remove the lever, reattach the lever nut, and a few gentle taps with a hammer should free the spindle completely.

Those rubber washers (essentially valve packing) really grip the spindle tightly.

See this post for removing the brew valve - Checking an E61 Espresso Machine for Scale . In addition, you can loosen the preinfusion chamber assembly from the grouphead about two or three turns to effectively temporarily lower the preinfusion valve. This makes for easy reinsertion of the cam spindle.

A "matchheads" worth of Dow 111 or plumbers grease on the cam surface and the cam spindle make for smooth operation.