Izzy Brake Removal?

[carsoca2]

I just picked up my first 450 the other day and absolutely love it! I ran into a little trouble though. I'm trying to remove the factory Izzy brake in order to install a Ross brake. It is on there extremely tight and I can't get it to spin with a wrench in the vice. I currently have it cooking over a candle since my torch is out. I'll try to spin it once it gets nice and red! Any suggestions? Thanks.

[Texas Sheepdawg]

Welcome to the forum! Did you get the Izzy off yet?

[carsoca2]

Welcome to the forum! Did you get the Izzy off yet?

I finally succeeded with the heat and a little M-A-N! Now, I have a bigger problem- the barrel nut. That thing is on there, man. I tried a heat gun, which made some gooey stuff seep out of it. I also tried freezing it for an hour. No luck. Going to take it in tomorrow to put it in a vice. Why does BM have to torque it so tight?

[rugersr556]

Took my 450 20 inch upper apart yesterday. had a gunsmith cut off threaded end and recrown the barrel. came apart no problen with a gg&g armorers wrench and a upper vise block. back together and ready for action now. had no problem with removal of factory flash suppresor or barrel nut removal. hope things go better for you.

[Texas Sheepdawg]

Torque should only be around 45-50 FtLbs. The old Bushmaster, (Windham), released a video DVD showing how to assemble an upper. At no time, did they suggest anything gooey applied to the barrel nut during assembly. Only a good lubricant like 30Wt motor oil.

[commander faschisto]

True, but I vaguely recall there being previous discussions around the campfire here that some, not all, were finding Loc-Tite type sealants on various threaded components, nothing consistent as I remember it...?

[9x19MdM]

The Izzy on my 16" was not even hand tight! When I pulled the upper out of the box and grabbed the end of the barrel to unwrap the bubble wrap the Izzy twisted in my hand.

[firehawk]

I had no problems removing the Izzy on my upper with an armorers wrench and a slight tap with a deadblow mallet, same with the the barrel nut. Only component I found any locktite on was the set screws on the bottom of the gas block.

BTW, did you use an action block to support the upper? I could see where torquing on the Izzy or barrel nut could easily damage the aluminum receiver.

[carsoca2]

I had no problems removing the Izzy on my upper with an armorers wrench and a slight tap with a deadblow mallet, same with the the barrel nut. Only component I found any locktite on was the set screws on the bottom of the gas block.

BTW, did you use an action block to support the upper? I could see where torquing on the Izzy or barrel nut could easily damage the aluminum receiver.

Actually, I muscled the Izzy off without a vise. I think the heat burned off the remaining adhesive and a little bit of force got it. The bigger pain was the barrel nut from the tube. I got it in the block and it was still too tight. After needing a beer and a night off from fighting with that nut, I put a little oil on the outside of the threading and let it sit vertically in the vise for about 24 hours.

The next night I set it back up in the vise, got ready for a showdown, and it came off with minimal pressure in two seconds! I looked at the inner threads of the barrel nut and it appears the oil actually did its job and seeped into them. Trying to remove the barrel for cleaning after that was, however, a different story. Now that sucker was in there with something foreign and sticky. I gave it a few seconds and said hell with it. I was more interested in getting the new barrel nut on there for the free floating rails.

Ross brake came today and I'm just about done. I'll get some pics up probably tomorrow. Thanks to all.