So back to stripping the carrier…or so I thought.
After e-mailing Lee’s support desk and enquiring how to do this I was told by Lee that there is no need to remove the carrier, as per Lee the carrier is aligned at the factory and there is no need to remove it.
Well, this morning I thought let’s see what’s what in any case.
I started by taking out all the dies and accessories again. Removed the case ejector and shell plate and removed the case retainers. Then I found 4 screws underneath the carrier holding the carrier cover to the retainer plate…after running to the hardware to find a short enough screw driver I had the carrier cover removed.
In the carrier you will find a spring and ball much like the one found in the Pro1000. After making sure I do not lose any parts such as that spring and the o rings under the case retainers, I got the drive bolt (?) and clutch system out.
Now this is the heart of the machine. This drive bolt (Can’t find a name for it but it reminds me of the drive bolt on the Pro1000, so I shall call it a drive bolt), driven clutch and driver clutch in working with the index rod is the magic of this press. These are the only moving parts of the press.
This indexing system works fantastic, I have gushed on before about the indexing of the press so won’t waste your time with that again…it just works!
The carrier is basically just a shell that holds the clutch system; it has no other moving parts or function. It is just there to house everything. I understand why Lee says there is no need to remove it.
But maybe there will be a need to remove it, how else would you get the retainer plate out? Then again I can’t think of a reason why you would need to replace the retainer plate. It has no bearing surface and from what I can see only keeps the clutch system in place.
The carrier cover might need to be replaced after heavy usage but this can be removed without removing the carrier.
After studying the carrier and clutch system I started getting everything back in place and got the press set up to decap and resize some more cases…yes I will be hand priming again, quite enjoyed it the last time.
In any case, I need to watch Arno Barlow’s new training dvd, might as well hand prime while I do that.
But in closing, this press is a winner!
Just remember it is not a replacement for the Pro1000 or Loadmaster…it is a new concept in automatic reloading presses.
