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How Do You Restore A Speed King

Posts: 728 Threads: 92

Hello - this is my first post - so happy to have found this place!

Anyway, heres another helpful tip for popping the grease caps off of your old speedkings. After removing the screws at the bottom of the posts, and then the spring and rods, you can actually pop the caps off pretty easily (at least in my case) with the rod end of an old bass drum beater. Just insert the rod part of the beater into the post and push the grease cap from the inside out. To get the grease caps back on I used a mallet to knock the caps back in place. However, in order to avoid scratching or damaging the cap, I placed a towel between the mallet and and the cap as a cushion. It didnt take much too much force to get the cap back on.

Hope this is helpful,

James

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent; it is the one most adaptable to change.” - Charles Darwin
Posted on 15 years ago
#11
Posts: 10 Threads: 0

I clean the bearings on my gig pedals about once a year due to some interesting stage shows. I have been usings a procedure very close to this on mine.

I use acetone to soak my bearings for about an hour then spin them quickly with a rotary tool and repeat soaking for about 5 min apart until all the old gunk is gone. When the bearing is clean it will spin freely as the bearing is now "dry" meaning it has no oil in it. I then oil the bearing with a thin, clear, oil and assemble the pedals.

The purpose of oil, greese or whatever is to protect the bearing from rust, and keep the pedal quiet not to speed the pedal up so. I dont find any use for heavy oils and you dont need to nor should you soak the bearing in oil as it will just drain out causing your pedal to get more gunk build up under the shields. Put enough in to coat the inside of the bearing only.

If absolutely never want anyone to ever need to do this again then buy new sealed bearings from an online bearing company and just replace them it will not cost you much at all.

Posted on 15 years ago
#12
Posts: 2713 Threads: 555

From checker758

I sprayed some WD40 around the edges of the cap and let it soak into whatever microscopic gap there was between the cap and the housing. Then I grabbed a can of air used to blow dust off of computer keyboards. If you simply spray this air as directed, the temperature of the air is cool, but if you invert the can and spray while it's upside down, the spray comes out as a super-frigid liquid (cold enough to cause instant frostbite on your skin, so be careful!) Using this method I squirted the center of the grease cap for a couple of seconds until it was obviously frosted over. Then I gave it another squirt of WD40 to lubricate what I hoped was now a slightly opened gap around the grease cap. Another very quick squirt of 'liquid air', and then I tapped the pedal housing sharply a couple of times against a piece of wood (the edge of my work bench) so as not to damage the housing, and the cap popped out. Voila!I hope this helps someone out!Scott

Sounds sound.......I'll give it a try on the "nasty" little pedal. I say nasty because I inherited some really neglected and abused drums stuff when I bought a 1958 Gretsch kit last week. I think the Speed King was the dirtiest and plain ole nastiest of all the gear. Got the springs and camshafts out but there is no way I was going to get the endcaps off.

I've got all the parts soaking in WD40 (bought the 3.8ltr can) for now.

Posted on 15 years ago
#13
Posts: 2713 Threads: 555

I just started to restore the Ludwig SpeedKing hat stand that came with the 58 Gretsch kit. It's in dismal condition.......but I'm going to do the best I can to get it up-n-running.

Anyone use one?

Posted on 14 years ago
#14
Posts: 2713 Threads: 555

The Ludwig People told me to "leave the end-caps ON"!

The photos they have with them off are only for show.........tours and employees etc.

Gary

Just got some information from Ludwig Experts and they sent me this. Thought it might help just in case there are others that take stuff apart like I do sometimes and do not pay attention to see how "it" goes back togetherDOH

f y i

Posted on 14 years ago
#15
Posts: 73 Threads: 12

As far as worrying about damaging the end caps/bearing covers, I would just drill a hole in them and pry them out and replace them after you regrease the bearings. As fars as the compression springs, soak them until they are clean and repack heeavily with bearing grease. Ludwig stills sells the caps and they have not changed in 50+years. And i dont think they are more than $5.00 per cap but i just looked on their online parts catalog and it looks like they are selling the bearing cams with the caps as a whole unit now. I just redid a speed king but i had bearing covers around also. If you need caps, I have extras. $6.00 per set shipped to you.

Posted on 14 years ago
#16
Posts: 5227 Threads: 555

From checker758

Hi All,Thought I'd share this helpful hint about removing Speed King grease caps with fellow Speed King owners. I recently picked up my first Speed King, and it needed a good going over. I searched here and elsewhere online for recommendations on the best way to remove the grease caps, which are pressed tightly into their holes and not easily removed. No one seemed to have "the" answer. Someone said drilling a tiny hole in the top of the housing so you can insert a skinny implement and push the cap out from the inside works (but then you're left with a hole that needs to be filled, something I didn't want to do.) Someone elsewhere said that after you take the springs and pushrods out from the bottom, you can use an air compressor with some sort of fitting on the end of the hose that will fit into the hole at the bottom of the base to force the cap out with air pressure - I actually tried this with no luck, because I couldn't get a seal around the hole, and the other end where the cap and bearings are is isn't airtight either, so I couldn't get enough pressure. Elsewhere in this thread it was recommended that forcing grease into the hole will build up enough pressure to push the cap off from the inside - it seems like a good plan, but I didn't try this one because I don't have an automtive grease gun handy. One suggestion I read elsewhere seemed logical and promising: use heat from a propane or similar torch to heat up the housing the cap is pressed into, being careful to not heat the cap as well, so that the expansion of the housing would allow the cap to come loose. But then someone else pointed out that this would damage the paint or the finish of the metal, and could damage or warp the housing and/or bearings as well.I was thinking about this problem later, and had a sudden brainstorm. What if instead of using [COLOR="Red"]heat[/COLOR] to expand the housing the cap is fitted into, you used [COLOR="MediumTurquoise"]COLD[/COLOR] to just shrink the cap?So here's what I did: first I sprayed some WD40 around the edges of the cap and let it soak into whatever microscopic gap there was between the cap and the housing. Then I grabbed a can of air used to blow dust off of computer keyboards. If you simply spray this air as directed, the temperature of the air is cool, but if you invert the can and spray while it's upside down, the spray comes out as a super-frigid liquid (cold enough to cause instant frostbite on your skin, so be careful!) Using this method I squirted the center of the grease cap for a couple of seconds until it was obviously frosted over. Then I gave it another squirt of WD40 to lubricate what I hoped was now a slightly opened gap around the grease cap. Another very quick squirt of 'liquid air', and then I tapped the pedal housing sharply a couple of times against a piece of wood (the edge of my work bench) so as not to damage the housing, and the cap popped out. Voila!The entire time from "brainstorm" to "grease cap in hand" was about 3 minutes.I hope this helps someone out!Scott

Hi All,I know this maybe late but this is the best way to remove the end caps..This was showed to me years ago by roy hearte he had "DRUM CITY" in hollywood,ca from the 1950s-1992,anyway you removed the screws and springs from pedal,then put the pedal in a vise[with a rag around it] with cap facing up,take a small rubber hammer about 2" down on side of pedal,it takes from about 2-6 times hitting it the cap will pop off..I have done this on 100's of the pedals and it has always work...Mikey

Posted on 14 years ago
#17
Posts: 2713 Threads: 555

I found out yesterday that the way to take the endcaps off is you get yourself a wooden or plastic resin mallet and give the edge where the cap sits a quick little knock and it should fall out. To get it back in you put it in place and give it a sharp knock with the mallet and it should pop right back in. It's a friction convex-type fit.

I was told this by a well known and very experienced drum builder that that has taken many ludwig pedals apart.

I haven't tried it yet but I will one of these days.

Let me know if any of you do this and how it goes for you.

Posted on 14 years ago
#18
Posts: 135 Threads: 24

From onemat

HI Guys,I have a couple older Speed Kings, both are very stiff. I figure whatever grease is left in the bearings/springs is good and hard. What is the step by step orocedute in bringing these pedals back to usable condition? I did a search on this and didn't see anything. If there already is a thread on this subject, please let me know.Matt

I have just done mine last week, this is what I done I am a fitter by trade.

Removed the screws from the bottom I left the caps in, you will have to replace them if removing them unless a key hole surgeon! Then used brake cleaner then CRC to free up the rods. Long nose pliers to pull the rods out, soaked the pedal & cleaned the old dry grease up in a tub of Kerosine which is oil based. Cleaned the old grease out of the springs with a stainless wire brush, a welding rod wraped in a rag to clean the chamber out. Once clean blew it out with compressed air, one of the rods was apart so used loctite & tapped it back into place again. "Dont use oil" it will leak out of the top when on its side, use spray grease. Spray it on the springs & in the bores then assemble it. Wipe off the excess you will be amazed at how much a difference it makes, cheers Dno

Posted on 14 years ago
#19
Posts: 1 Threads: 0

Reviving an old thread....I picked up a 1963 speed king yesterday and started the restoration last night. I tried everything listed in these posts to remove the end caps short of drilling a hole to pull it. Finally after 12 hours of fighting with it I figured it out and thought I would share.

Tools Needed :

Heat gun - In my case a Crastman professional 1500 watt heat gun that will heat to over 1000 degrees.

Small hammer

Rag or oven mitt to hold the speed king.

Instructions:

At this point the Speed King should be disassembled as much as possible. I had everything removed that I could.

Heat the top of the "goal post" for about 1 min. You will see smoke coming out of the screw adjustment holes....don't freak out !

Grap your rag or oven mitt and hold the Speed king in one hand, and lightly tap the goal posts (not the cap) Mine took 3 taps on one side and one tap on the other.

TADA !!!! Caps are off.

That;s it folks....less than 2 min per side and its off to cleaning the bearings and cams.

Posted on 14 years ago
#20
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