Cylinder Sleeve O-Rings will not come out!!!

[breakbeatz69]

So I’ve been trying to get the o-rings out. The 4 rings that go in the groove on the bottom of the cylinders around the cylinder sleeves. I CANNOT GET THESE THINGS OUT FOR THE LIFE OF ME!!!. They’re so seized in there and dry rotted and nothing I try is working. I was able to get one whole o ring out with a small pick by prying underneath it and it just kind of came out in pieces. That was the first one so I thought “ok, this shouldn’t be too bad”. The other 3 are stuck in there like you would not believe. I’ve tried to soak them in ever chemical in my shop from PB blaster to even trying aircraft stripper to try a soften them. I’ve let them soak overnight and I even tried burning them out with a torch. NOTHING I try is letting me get the pick under them to lift them out of the groove. Anyone have any good ideas or ways you’ve gotten these little bastards out?? Any help would be appreciated because I’m stumped at this point.

 

[breakbeatz69]

So I got em’ out and this is what I did that worked and it may help someone in the future. So I took a small steel straight pick, and ground the diameter super thin so I could definitely get to the bottom of the o-rings. Then I sharpened the pick to a point and then beveled the sharp tip, essentially making a scoop that would cut at the same time. It wasn’t a miracle tool that got them out in 5 seconds. But it got them out. Here’s what the tip looks like in case anyone else needs to make a rough but effective tool to get those stuck, brittle, dry rotted o-rings out….

 

[Iceman-44]

So I got em’ out and this is what I did that worked and it may help someone in the future. So I took a small steel straight pick, and ground the diameter super thin so I could definitely get to the bottom of the o-rings. Then I sharpened the pick to a point and then beveled the sharp tip, essentially making a scoop that would cut at the same time. It wasn’t a miracle tool that got them out in 5 seconds. But it got them out. Here’s what the tip looks like in case anyone else needs to make a rough but effective tool to get those stuck, brittle, dry rotted o-rings out….
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Congrats, thanks for sharing! Just goes to show persistence and a little ingenuity will pay off in the end! Not the first time us DIY-ers have had to "invent" our own specialty tools, ha!

 

[breakbeatz69]

Congrats, thanks for sharing! Just goes to show persistence and a little ingenuity will pay off in the end! Not the first time us DIY-ers have had to "invent" our own specialty tools, ha!

I’ll call it specialty tool JB22A74. Lol