Frozen E-1 Fatboy Adjuster Ring

[GlennConti]

I have the two Fat Boys above. The one on the right (E-4) works great. The one on the left (E-1) has a frozen adjuster ring. I have been working on the E-1 for a few hours using hot soaks and I noticed the "gap" shown as an arrow. My E-4 does not have this as can be seen. Does this mean that there is something mechanically wrong with the E-1 and no amount of soaks will free it? Any comments will be appreciated.

 

[Ronnie Aloha]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67G61jYHSEU

Not recommending this method but it is out there.

I seem to recall reading on B&B about disassembling a Fatboy. Luckily yours should have the notches in the base since it is an E series (as far as I can remember I think the crimped base was standard in the later F series.

Most threads talk of long hot water soakings to clean out the handle but yours looks like it is more of a mechanical issue.

 

[alex2363]

Let it soak longer. Then play with the adjustment as you change the water. It takes longer than few hours to see results. There are slight variations on the design of these Fatboys, yours looks OK, unless you did something out of the ordinary. I dont think soaking the razor will alter its appearance. http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/321085-D4-Fatboy-subtle-difference-from-E-F-and-G-years

 

[JazzyJ]

I believe it's a normal variance. I'm not sure if they were produced concurrently or if the models are specific to certain years, but glancing at eBay shows many examples of each style.

 

[Ronnie Aloha]

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...-dot-but-the-adjuster-is-stuck-Any-help/page3

 

[GlennConti]

So it looks like my E-1 and E-4 are both normal (for Gillette that is). So I'm back to razor soaks, drinking beer and watching baseball. Thanks for the info.

 

[GlennConti]

About 5 hours into the hot soaks. I freed up the adjuster. I cheated at the end and only do this at your own risk. I wrapped a towel around the handle and very very gently locked a vise grip on to the razor handle. Then with another towel and pliers I grabbed the adjuster very very gently. Using gentle leverage I worked the adjustment ring back and forth just a smidge. This broke the grip of the frozen gunk. I put the tools away and worked the adjuster by hand in the normal way until it is smooth as silk. One more Fatboy brought back from the dead. Sorry, but I just didn't have days to do this and took a chance. I think it worked only because of the 5 previous hours of soaks. No damage to the FB from using the tools.

 

[alex2363]

About 5 hours into the hot soaks. I freed up the adjuster. I cheated at the end and only do this at your own risk. I wrapped a towel around the handle and very very gently locked a vise grip on to the razor handle. Then with another towel and pliers I grabbed the adjuster very very gently. Using gentle leverage I worked the adjustment ring back and forth just a smidge. This broke the grip of the frozen gunk. I put the tools away and worked the adjuster by hand in the normal way until it is smooth as silk. One more Fatboy brought back from the dead. Sorry, but I just didn't have days to do this and took a chance. I think it worked only because of the 5 previous hours of soaks. No damage to the FB from using the tools.

vICE? gRIPS?