Takedown lever spring PITA!
 

In "The Rise & Fall of the Third Reich", Adolf Hitler was quoted as saying "I'd rather have 3 teeth pulled, than to go through that again.". Perhaps he was referring to re-installation of a Luger takedown lever after installation of a new spring!

I couldn't understand why I couldn't find any clear, step by step instructions for this operation - or a video. Now I think I do understand - no two experiences are going to be alike!

Thank Goddess I had a "Luger punch" (drift), I used it to remove the "L" part of the old spring from the frame, and used it again to gently tap the new spring in place. In my case, there was no protruding part of the spring on the bottomside once it was bottomed out in its hole/groove.

The flail was, of course, getting the takedown lever back into the farside of the frame. I thrashed around with it for about 2 hours before I got it done. I had removed the grips and tried holding it (the frame) in a vice with soft jaws, which didn't work because I didn't dare tighten the vice anymore than I had. I tried "leading" the lever across with a similar sized drill bit (shank end) - no dice. I finally had success when I had the frame wedged against the edge of a plastic slop sink, was pushing down on the axis of the lever with a piece of aluminum bar stock, and was trying to press the lever straight from inside with a screwdriver. The whole affair started sliding, so I did what any Belly Dancer would do - I put my hip into it to hold the darn thing still, and was rewarded with the long anticipated "click" of the lever finally slipping home!

The results are great, good and tight locking in each position, although opening it requires a bit of "help" because its hard to get to the lever when its in the closed position. I'm sure it'll break in with time. No scratches to the firearm, no gouges in my hands, and no broken nails. What more could you ask for? :roflmao:

Whew!

Luger mechanics 101..Why did you take it out?

Congrats!
 

Nothing ventured, nothing gained!! Good job keeping your eye on the prize... :)... Ill bet the one who did this for a living, had some serious talent... Welcome to the, " Shade tree luger smiths club!" :cheers: ... best to you, til...lat'r...GT

Half the spring was missing - someone pointed this fact out to me in one of my Luger picture threads, I was clueless! I bought a new one from LugerDoc.

I know I'm going to regret this...But what is a 'plastic slop sink'???

One of those square plastic utility sinks generally found in a laundry room. Was fighting with the Luger and its takedown lever on the laundry room counter! I won. That'll show it!

Won't have to worry about the side plate coming off next time I'm at the range!

Good job Zorba... What you experienced is not unusual when you're dealing with a firearm with tolerances as close as the Luger.

A good gunsmith develops a feel for these things and (with experience) some strategies that tend to work effectively without angst.

I have a small rubber padded vise (with a vacuum base) that I use to carefully press parts in. It's helped me out of many tight places...


Marc

Zprba, Congrats on your success. Doing that job for the first time, is the hardest, Tom

'plastic slop sink'??? I have a half dozen of the type they give you in hospital..plastic basins. Really handy for gun parts..

So what's the correct procedure for this? I tried to install one a while back, but it wouldn't go in and I didn't want to force it, so it's still on my to-do list. It felt like the lever was coming to a dead stop against the end of the spring, so should it be seated deep down in the hole before you insert the lever, or is it better to let the lever push it down as you're installing it?

You first must install the lever spring into the hole in the frame as deeply as possible with a pin punch, so the the lever can fit into the frame, then as you are pushing down on the lever from the top, push it all the way into the frame and thru the hole on the right side (that's the most difficult part). TH PS: My new email address is lugerdoc@charter.net

First of all, clean all surfaces, (the tiny toothbrush on the end of GI cleaning brushes is ideal for this). If your spring was missing or partially broken off, there will be debris in the small channel the spring sits in. Work the spring in completely, pushing it down with the small end of the same brush or something similar.

You should have the spring firmly set within the channel before proceeding. New springs may stick up a bit. Use the same small end of the brush, (or some similar, non marring probe) and hold down the spring through the right side of the pistol while you slowly work the takedown lever through the left side. Wiggle back and forth along the arch that it would normally swing down within and slowly press inward.
You should be able to work the lever in using this method.

Ok, that sounds good. I probably didn't press on the spring hard enough, as I was afraid that it would lose its shape right at the bend. I will use the force. :)

This is exactly what I did. First, I set the spring into place as deeply as possible using my pin-punch. Then I used a piece of aluminum flat stock to push on the axis of the lever so I wouldn't mar same while simultaneously pushing the lever into correct alignment with a flat-blade on the inside. Braced the Luger against the lip of a plastic (non marring) slop sink with my hip while the rest of this fiasco was going on.

No one makes mention of grease in this procedure. Would it not help to apply some grease? Don't the parts need grease for smoothness, etc. and longer life, better function, etc.?

Grease or oil certainly wouldn't hurt! When I do a good lube, all moving parts get a drop.

Actually, in this scenario, where tolerances are so tight, I would not grease or lube anything until AFTER the pin was in. Grease, for example, would have enough mass that if applied to the tiny spring channel, would prevent the long arm of the spring from seating properly.