Hello all,
I have recently noticed that my club makes some creaking noises as the spring expands - I think it needs some dow111, but I'm not sure how to best do this. I have no problem getting at the piston on my cremina but I'm not sure how to go about it with the spring group on my club. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I use a machinists jack and a 2x4 cut to span the frame lip under the drip tray. I affixed a rubber disk to wood circle to go between the jack and the piston face. You don't need much upward travel to allow the lock nuts to be loosened, then you can then lower the jack to slowly decompress the spring.

I would second the machinist jack / wood across the frame approach. IIRC, I only needed the jack to push the rod up enough to get the cap nut and jam nut off the piston rod. Here's what I wrote a few years back about reinstallation:

" The trick on the Oly Club was to get the second seal edge in (using the 'tire mounting method' worked best, I found) and then manually pushing up with both thumbs until I had enough threads exposed at the top of the rod to get the lock nut on. From there it was easy and was just a matter of pulling the rod up by tightening the nut while keeping enough pressure on it from below to make sure I wasn't destroying the chrome on top of the group (which sounds more complicated than it was). An oddity of this group is that it has no rod seal, just a small brass washer on top of the spring."

You can get machinist jacks on Amazon or eBay for about $15.

Thank you! I was wondering about this as well. The idea of a piece of 2x4 being needed was a bit distracting and shut down my ability to visualize this. Grog's explanation made the pieces come together.

Basically, the wood is just a stable platform to host the machinist jack. Ordering a jack today.

Thanks for the responses! I'm assuming the shower screen comes off first. With my cremina, I use the lever to push the piston down popping out the screen. I'm assuming I pry the screen off of the club? Maybe using a curved pick or paint can opener?

Thanks again for the help!

I use the paint can opener from HomeDepot. I have a little piece of silicone sheet that provides a cushion between the opener and the chrome of the group head to prevent damage to the chrome. Secondarily, it is cheap. I like the wider surface area of the paint can opener, although I've used a small pick as well without any damage.

jwCrema wrote:I use the paint can opener from HomeDepot. I have a little piece of silicone sheet that provides a cushion between the opener and the chrome of the group head to prevent damage to the chrome. Secondarily, it is cheap. I like the wider surface area of the paint can opener, although I've used a small pick as well without any damage.

Thanks Jack!