Lose arbor 1860 Colt

[rifle]

A gentleman stopped by the other day with a nice 1860 Army with a loose arbor. He thought it would be a major chore makng a new arbor to fix it and tighten the arbor and all that. Not so though. I helped him out and in short order out the door with a tight arbor.
While he waited I drilled the arbor lock pin out and unscrewed the arbor sos I could work it.
I set it on the machine vice(yep it has a few dents in it's surface) with the shoulder of the arbor making contact with the vice flat and the arbor at about a 25 degree angle to the steel vice. I used a small hammer to strike the arbor right on the edge of the shoulder sorta blacksmith hammering and did this all the way around and evenly on the shoulder edge.
That set metal backwards on the arbor shoulder thus making contact with the frame sooner when screwed in. I did the hammering a little at a time till I had the arbor screwed in tight just a tad short of the wedge slot being where it should be.Then all I had to do was cinch er up real tight with the wedge slot where it should be even with the barrels slots. I was lucky the arbor didn't get crooked in the frame since I did the shoulder evenly set back. Sometimes an arbor with the shoulder set back can then screw in the frame a little crooked and then needs backed out and set back some a little here and there to straighten it out.
Made sure the arbor was still straight and true and fit another arbor lock pin made of soft "nail metal" and the old gun had a perfectly tight arbor again. A person can use a perfectly thinned steel shim on the shoulder too,to fix a slightly loose arbor, but that is more work. The shim needs to be split in one place too to set it between the threads and the shoulder,which is a smaller diameter, and then close it around the arbor so it takes up space at the shoulder.
The gentleman's 1860 Colt arbor was a little too loose in the beginning to do the "slight loose" arbor fix. What's that?
I'll tellya!
If an arbor is just a little loose it can be left in the frame and with the barrel on and the wedge and cylinder off the end of the barrel is set face down and flush on the nice solid steel vise flat on a thin cardboard pad ........and..........with a flat faced punch that is a tad smaller than the lock pin the punch is wacked semi hard to upset the lock pin in it's hole. Then the barrel is removed (it was on there in the first place to keep the arbor from getting crooked) and the same thing is done again....wack the lock pin harder this time. The end of the arbor flat and flush on the vice and the lockpin wacked to upset it pushes the arbor back against the frame where it should be and tightens the threads together in that position and....re-tightens a slightly loose arbor.
Some believe the arbor lock pin is there only to keep the arbor from turning. Only partly true. The lock pin is also there to push most of the threads together tighter to stop the forward loosening of the arbor. It drives most of the threads deeper in between each other to lessen the tolerance between them. That's why a lock pin is made of softer steel and a little bigger than the hole it goes in. A slight bevel on it's forward edge lets it start in the hole.
Knowing that, the use of a set screw instead of a "pin" is not as mechanically sound as the pin.
Anywhoooo....if yer arbor is a little loose don't dispair....it can be spiffed up easily sos ya can get back to shootin without a loose arbor.

[Pettifogger]

If it's just a little loose I just use red loctite.  Never had that fail or loosen up while shooting.

[rifle]

Thanks for the tip Pettifogger. I do use that RED but only on an arbor already tightened up steel to steel and only as an insurance. Nice to know that the stuff works better than I figgered or thunked it would.
What kind of longevity does the RED have to it regarding shooting span? I've checked it out when I find pieces of it that are hardened up and it doesn't seem to have good compression stength to it...but of course that's when it isn't trapped between threads.
Anywhoooooo.....just usin RED is too easy. I guess I like work or pain or sumpthin. I'll have to explore that in therapy someday. I'm only an old schooler in my sixties sos I gots plenty of time to learn new tricks. Probably another day or even three according to the doomsdayers.
I haven't gotten used to the new fangled stuff. I'm a steel to steel man. Or at least metal to metal man. Maybe a crazy man too!
I have to compliment you on yer articles and sech about gunsmithin the cap&ballers. They have to be helpful to many with the simple straight forward explanations and the pics and the "Kitchen Table Gunsmith" way of doin stuff sos people without a lot of machine shop stuff can get to tunin and fixin and then to shootin .......right at home. Well maybe not "shootin" right at home since not everyone lives out in the sticks like me and Thumper. I used to have neighbors. Maybe they were not likin me shootin in the front yard?

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[Pettifogger]

Don't know the ultimate life as none have ever loosened up.  (This is for ones that wobble, but aren't in terrible condition.)  Use to use red loctite on compensators for IPSC guns.  Those don't have shoulders and the loctite works pretty well.

On the arbors I drill out the lock pin, drill and thread the hole for a set screw, take out the arbor, thoroughly degrease the threads on the arbor and in the frame, apply the loctite, screw the arbor back in, put in the set screw, then put on the barrel and install the wedge.  Let everything set for a few hours and everything is lined up.

[rifle]

Glad to hear about the "Red" working so well from someone that has tested it over time. Taking a shortcut to success by learnin from experienced craftsman is a gift. Not all experienced craftsman will share their "secrets" with the less experienced. Salute!
Hey Pettifogger, you ever hear of the Kit Ravenshar little cheapie books about some of the simple aspects of gunsmithin? Dixie Gun Works sell them. People here should become aware of them. Well not just people here but people in the "Kitchen Table Gunsmith" Guild. 
You ever thunk about doing some of those kinds of little cheapie books to get the ranks of the Home Brew Gunsmiths growing in the Cap&baller Open Top catagory? There's not a whole lot published pertaining specifically to Cap&ballers and Colt Open Tops and Cowboy Guns specifically. Just imagine how many people have looked at their revered cap&baller with a loose arbor and pondered on the dark and bleak unknown abyss on "fixin" sumpthin like that.
I was there at one time and know the despair. My first Open Tops were the cheapest guns on the planet. They broke every time I shot them. Literally. First Colt 1851 cost me $50. First Colt Army 44 cost me $60. Came across them in "The Shotgun News" paper. It used to be chock full of cap&ballers fer sale.
Anywhoooo.....way back then the internet was a ways off and I had to learn from trial and error. Made a lot of mistakes.
I remember one day I was gonna show off for my brother how well I fixed my Colt Army 44. I raised er up and took a shot at a can. When I was left with the frame of the gun and some smoke in my hand and the cylinder and barrel on the ground my brother laughed till he practically wet his pants. I thought it was funny too.
I picked up the parts and threw the whole danged thing out over the hill and into the woods. I later bought a "Uberti" and never looked back.
My brother being the shewd one...picked up the gun parts from out in the woods and went to the sheet metal shop and had the old man weld the gun together and traded it off at a gun show towards an antique double shotgun. I ended up working on that for him. 
I was lucky to have made friends with an old timer Gunsmith in the next county. He gave me a few tips and got me goin down the right road. Good Hombre....didn't mind sharing some of what he knew.
I went on to learn more about the barrel-arbor-frame wedge mechanism than anyone in these parts. (of course that ain't sayin a whole lot) There's a lot more to the old Colts than meets the eye at first glance. 
Anywhooo....that was a long ways back down the road. Many hound dogs ago. Today the road is a little less rocky. Most of my cap&ballers been "gone over" with tricks I have learned over the years. I'm still learnin. I like doin it. Makes things easier.
I don't know ifin I can get myself to use a set screw instead of a lock pin in the back of an old Colts arbor though. I've pondered that before after I read it in the Book about Gunsmithin Guns of the Old West. I did figger that if the hole fer the set screw had a bottom to it as naturally it would.....and there was enough "bite" fer a set screw to hold onto...like the hole was big enough to get the arbor threads out of the way and the set screw into the meat of the arbor then the set screw would draw the arbor back into the frame and help hold it there once it was bottomed out and cinched up.
I've fixed up a few old Colts fer Hombres that had something agin to that in the back of the arbors. Only thing was the "mechanics" that did the jobs didn't do it too well. There were wood screws and pins and peens and a whole aray of damage done with the ends of the arbors wallowed out like a piece of jagged volcanic rock. It's amazing what damage can be done by multible monkies with drills and old scews and a hammer. Ifdin those peopleknew about "Red"loctite and set screws my job fixin the old guns up would have been easier. One of those was an old Dragoon from Replica Arms. I did it up and restored it and it was "pretty" when done. Rust blued....maple wood grips to replace the old ones someone "checkered" with a screw driver and tight as a drum and a real good shooter. I'm rambling again. Better shut this puter off.