dsloan

More than likely the collar was used to control end play, front to rear. It's a very clean hammer good score. The video's will tell you all you need to know. Dave from diller

Yes, you can't do better than that . Pictures please Dave from diller

Not sure where you folks have been watching hammer pricing. Ebay has been crazy for the last 5 years on 25# hammers. I've seen them sell for as high as 6800$. For a rebuilt hammer not rebuilt by Sid Suedmeier. I do know you can call Sid right now if you know his number and get one for around 5K. Depends on how you want it set up. I spoke with him less than a week ago and he had 2 available. Hammerfall if your in KS and it's not a Sid rebuild. I'd not pay those kinds of prices. As far as holding their value I'd say yes, Once again depending on who did the rebuild. If your not familiar with Sid he is the previous owner of Little Giant. You can still contact LG and they will put you in touch with him. He is quite aware of hammer pricing and also knows the best rebuilders besides himself. If you'd like to see what kind of quality your dealing with in the rebuild. Dave from diller

After rereading your post if you haven't found a decent answer to your question. If you cut the sow block area off cut about where the cradle comes up. Which is probably six inches down. You have a chance of hitting the casting void. These hammers were cast upside down. The anvil base is where the void usually sets. The only other concern I'd have is your drilling and tapping into cast iron. Dave from diller

I think I can help you. The first thing you need to do is get both dies out. (Both dies are to short). Then if you can post a photo of the ram and sow block area (Side and from top down to show any damage). As far as the photo's posted you won't need a machine shop. Just a right angle grinder and some time. (maybe a six pack of beer also). Dave from diller

At the point that Mr. Suedmeier (the past owner of LG) sold out you could still get a 25# hammer with complete rebuild from him for 4800. The hammers from him rebuilt were above factory specs. I've spent the last 10 years around Sid and working closely with him for 6500 I've got a 50. That I'd deliver within 500miles and set up ready to run. Dave from diller

I agree with everyone else your losing sleep over this. If your off a a half inch make up for it with buffering material. On my slab I added 8 layers of tar paper, but I only needed to make up about a 3/16 of an inch. Over that. I would try and make up for the lost concrete. Simple answer tuffco. Amazing stuff. tough as nails it's an epoxy based stuff come in 5 gallon buckets. Put it over your concrete and level. Set hammer in and enjoy. Dave from diller

Dave, Take the time with Rob. He'll tell you everything you need to know about buying a hammer and how to run it. For example they say "a photo is worth a thousand words" well a minute with Rob is about twice that. Dave from diller

RogueRugger, If you live in Albuquerque, you need to contact the Gunthers in I believe (forgive the spelling) Moriarity. Here's a link to their website. (http://g3blacksmithing.com/) It would be worth your time to contact them and if possible go vist with them. They are running 4-25lb LG's. They could give you a quick run down of how they operate and what to look for. Their dad's name is Rob, (highly respected blacksmith and his boys equally as talented), Chad and Brad. Tell them that Sid's friend Dave Sloan sent you their way. They might even know of the hammer that you are refering to. Dave from Diller

I've found with my 100 flats are what I use. I spent a lot of time tuning mine to get the most power out of it. I probably ran it for like 20hrs just adjusting things, spring tension, pitman height and ram guide adjustment. Just to find the sweet spot so to speak. My 100 will actually draw faster with flat dies than my 25 will with drawing. I can also straighten fast and square the bar as I go with the flats. Come to think of it. I've not really seen anyone run anything other than flats after you get to a larger weight hammer. This is a good line of questioning. Don Hanson runs slightly radiused dies in his 100, but the middle 1/3 of the die is still truly flat. Hope this helps Dave from diller

We can really help you out here but we will need some better photo's. Show the overall hammer, dies ram guide, flywheel and clutch pulley would help alot. Thanks dave from diller

Really great idea. Make sure your toggle arms did not cut a groove in your ram. This can cause some misalignment. Like I said good idea I was going to recommend a carbide burr. To clean these up. Dave from diller

Adair, Excellant job, that will work better than your stops that you previously had. If you didn't damage the end to bad you could reuse your current spider key. I would recommend that, the keys were custom fit at the factory. You could run into a lot of fitting to get a new key to work properly. Since your sliding your clutch pulley ahead to make up for clearence you will have a little extra key sticking out the rear. Dave from diller

Adair, I love the shim photo. The first photo of the ram is not right it should be to the sides not the front. The wear points to the left or right. I'll not offer an opinion on the ram guide as of yet. Just that if you can see any light between your straight edge and the ends. Your bowed in the middle. From your second photo it looks like there is some bow, but that can be from your flash. The human eye can see .030" with a proper light source behind it you can see .010". This is enough of misalignment to cause the tight in middle and loose on the end. An added note: PM or message me I will provide you with shim material. Like I said before I just takes a touch to throw these hammers out. Wrap around ram guides can be a pain. Zerts are all pipe thread. I think your on plan. Dave

Adair, I can almost bet a dollar when you have the ram guide off, lay a straigt edge in the vee way on the inside. I bet it will be bent to either end. Bolted up to the frame can really put some torque on these things. On shimming there is no rule to say you can't put more on one side than the other. I'm trying to think of a come shim material that is easy to locate. You could go with steel, brass or copper for the thicker stuff. If you have a good auto parts store gasket material for the thinner. I've spent up to eight hours trying to get the best shim fit on an old style. It came down to bending and straightening the ram guide. After I beat, pryed and pulled on it for an hour things came together. When it all comes together and your hammer is running good it will put a smile on your face. I recommend using scrap wood to test the power. Use a piece about the size of the material that you will be forging. It saves time from heating a piece of steel. Don't be afraid to play with the spring tension and the pitman height. When you hit the sweet spot you'll know it. When I found mine I ate up every piece of scrap in the shop and said I wonder what would happen if I stuck this lead hammer in it. Well need less to say I have a lead hammer with two flat sides. Good luck I can't wait for the results. Dave from diller

Adair, Wow, great I been a help to you. Your square on the front on the ram guide was a good picture. The picture of the frame with a square was better. Your wear if any is on the inside. On the ram guide. Mechinacal hammer wear at weird places. Shims, they can be made from brass to gascket material. (which Sid uses to blue that materilal being used by a red neck).The only thing you want is a material that will not swell when wet or with oil). Belts in this discussion one that runs three inches wide total width compared to three that can cover over that. A solid belt wll only cover three inches, three belts over the crown will always pull back to center. Center belt will cover a hallf inch and one to side will cover a half inch over an inch away (then pull back to center). Three Vee belts will cover more sufrace area than on solid belt. Like I said before it's amazing how these belts track center. One thing that I will note is I note sure which way this belt should be off for proper clutch disengagment. (Center to rear clutch) they are opposite. When you engage the clutch it should pull the belts out of alignment. Causing the at rest running position to be true dead center this helps with disengagement. The belts will acually pull the clutch to disengaged position. We've fixed the end play and the spring looks good. Some good shims would be a bonus, try it wihout any shims. Then add only the same amount of shims on both sides Itt will freeze on one side quicker than the other (a guess the left side). When we get done this hammeer will hit hard clockwise or counterwise the same way dave from diller

Gentleman, Wow we woke this thread up. First off Don your photo's didn't kill it :P . Good luck and have fun this weekend. Second, if possible I'd like Phil to jump in here with his insight. Adair; once again let us look at your spring not under compression it should measure 7-1/2 inches long. A new style spring will measure 8 inches. This could cause problems. Next question are your shims for the ram guide green paper with white in the middle? If so this is what you want to use. They are from Sid and work well. Next tight in the middle loose on the top and bottom. Not a problem I have had this problem before and I did not have to see a doctor. This is not new for an old style hammer, but the addition of a brass lined ram guide will cure this as I noted before but we can work with what you have. Your ram guide looks like this )( front to back. All you have to do is straighten it. You will need several tools all are relatively cheap. In your case I'd start with a 1 inch bolt the length of the ram front to back. Grind a Vee on the bolt head to fit in the frame vee or rail. Install a nut and a small plate and put it in the center of the ram guide and loosen the nut so it will stretch out the )( in the center. Oh just the ram guide installed not with the ram in place. You can also put this in place and smack the ram guide in the center top and bottom with a sledge hammer to bring it back in line. Side note tight at the bottom on an old style strike with two hammers on the side of the ram guide toward the top. Does this make since? I can add photo's on the bolt and how to install. Next if you have play front of the machine to back of the machine (Grabbing the fly wheel and pulling forward or pushing back you should not have over an 1/8 of an inch.) You will need to fix this. Next subject pulley diameter. I've been working with Sid and these hammers since 2005. And the discussed subject is the speed at which these hammers run. How to say this with out sounding bad. First off a Little Giant and other mechincal hammer run of centfical force (if I spelled that right). You have to have enough rpm plus hp to pick the ram back up. Next your running a wet clutch (I hope). I've actually stood behind Don's hammer when running and seen the hammer stop when it made a strike. Because or the speed and hp it picked it up without missing a beat. Your caculator can not take this into account. I realize everyone wants exact answers but with these types of hammer you have to take some experience into account. I've found that a 1/4 inch over size pulley work extremely well. I've used 3-1/4 to 3-1/2 outside diameter pulleys on 25's. The larger pulley worked better on new style hammers. Letting them run a little faster. If running Vee belts go for the B belts they are tougher and are oversize to fit in the groove. Me personally I'd run 3 easier to find in this O.D. of pulley. The parts store guy will stop straching his head. Last point for Adair: A serpintine belt is a belt that is wide with notchs in it. Speciality belt with a specialty pulley I'm sure Roger can hook you up for a price$$$. A three Vee belt 3 inch in OD what Don recommend will be a hell of a lot cheaper. Phil has had really good luck with these on a 25 a 100 would be a different story. Mike we should save this for a later disscusion. You are right the tee bolt area's are tough to reach I know your problem, pics would help. dave from diller

mike-hr, New style or old??? I can give tips on both. New style I would recomend using grease on your ram guides. I've found that the oil we use on these will wick away. The grease will actually stay longer. On the break in of mine I had oiler installed and used anti-seize. Now I'm running straight grease on the ram guides and oilers on the frame side. Old style hammer the main improvement would be a brass lined ram guide. Also on a 100# hammer never work on it alone if you don't have a hoist or lift. Strictly a two man job. Fact time: All 100# hammers had removable sow blocks new and old. 2. There where only 1600 made and I know where the last three live. (Note shiny photo above for one). Dave from diller

Sir, Don is right the crosshead goes below the pitman. What I woud try is this the crosshead ears up with an 1" 3/4. Between the dies with the spring as loose as possible. To tight of a spring never works well. Again age of the spring? Replace it if you have any doubts. The transitional arms are not the problem, but a welcome addition. These hammers run on centrifical force. So if you impede this with to tight of a spring or a weak spring it seriously disrupts the action. This is where the punch comes in. Catching that upper die in just the right spot in it's downward stroke. Spring compression: All thread with two ear like this (). Just tighten the bolts. One note on this if your are over half a hole off you've got to much compression. You should hanging loosely be under half a hole on compression. Make sure you have the old style spring they are shorter. In this case I'd leave the spring loose and play with the die gap first 1-3/4 to 2-1/4. Tighten the spring only if you get fludder. With my 100 I can forge a 2 inch piece of round stock down to 3/8ths in two heats. dave from diller

If the dies are shorter than 3 inches I would not recommend using them. On the plus side if they are original Little Giant dies they make excellent knives. Dave from Diller

I'm with Glenn, we need a little more information. The one thing I've seen in the past is that the pad that the hammer sits on was not isolated from the ajoining concrete. The same can be said what your pad of concrete sets on? A cushioning pad under the hammer I don't think will help. Dave

Lamey Glad to hear you got it and sorry it took so long :D. Sask Mark, I'll check with Keri on Monday and see what we can come up with. Also if Peacock will chime in he might have some insight. I do know that Meyer brother hammers not made in Mankato are off just enough that it could require major changes. Dave

dmac27, Man, I hope you get these parts before this weekend. I've been on the edge of my seat. If you have any problems. Let me know. I held back until now to post. Dave

Sid and Keri truly mean it when they say Thank you for your support. But not to worry. Sid's still going to be around in the wings. If nothing else to slap me on the back of the head and for insight. Keri on the other hand is either going to give me the flight of the bumble bee's or flight of the Valkerye's song when she see's me doing something wrong. I can offer this up about myself right now. When you call Little Giant and you hear "Little Giant this is Dave", I am on my toes ready to help (I have some really really big shoes to fill). Roger has been making the parts for the last 20 years, so you can expect the same quality. I spent the last 10 years around Sid and Keri talking hammers (either rebuild or history). If you've called Little Giant and said "My hammer is not running right" short pause because the hammer in the back ground sounded like yours should. I was there or "I have a Little Giant Perfect serial Number 6, which was original sold in Odell Ne." Dave from Diller soon to be Ne. City.

Kyboy, It's with much regret, but I've never owned a 50#er though. On the other hand it could quite well be one that Sid had. Dave from Diller