Major Cleaning and Lubing of the Dillon Precision RL550B

[@williampowell8083]

wow. Guess i'm long overdue. Reloaded 10's of thousands over years with my 550B and with almost no deep cleaning/ lubing/ disassembly, it's doing great!

[@DillonPrecisionVideos]

We love to hear that! Sounds like it has treated you well over the years.

[@williampowell8083]

@@DillonPrecisionVideos it has. Reloading with the 550 is easy, accurate, and the Dillon needs very little maintenance with regular TLC. Glad someone told me to get the Dillon machine when i first started. It also saves me around 50% compared to buying new ammo.

[@stephengilley6900]

1993 RL 550B, 50,000 plus, dang, I'm long overdue

[@PoppaWheelies]

0:05 is a good message . I inherited my grandfathers original 550, it’s been sitting in an open door shop for 20 years. I was about to hose that puppy down in WD-40!

[@MRKSCH101]

So many answered questions :) Only from dillon people I’ve reloaded thousands of rounds through my 550Bs and had used WD40 ( DON’T DO THAT ) and I should’ve watched this ages ago.

[@davidclark5155]

I pulled the set screw out of the main piston at the bottom but the cross piece didnt slide out, im leaving it for the moment and will clean what i can. Should this be tapped out? Im scared i wont be able to get it back in

[@AMXSShirt]

I was all in until “alignment tool” a good time to do maintenance as my 550 has seen sparse use.

[@xenonram]

That isn't an 8D nail. ("8 penny" or "8 pennyweight." D is short for dwt, which is short for Denarius.) Maybe you meant 80D nail. They're 8"/20½ cm long That's what it looks like. (Or maybe a 60D, which is 6"/15¼ cm)

[@cpd969]

@ 4:22 it looks very similar to a powder funnel. A powder funnel can be used as alignment tool?

[@DillonPrecisionVideos]

No you can not.

[@danielmorrison7579]

Here is a perfect example of "if a little is good, more is better."

[@dougsmith2954]

THANK YOU

[@skipallen3309]

Didn't assemble in same sequence as disassemble as they said and didn't address cleaning primer bar (which sticks to the rear w/my 550)!

[@JDVulcan]

Skip Allen What did you use to clean the primer bar? I am having the exact same problem! The primer bar sticks all the time. I was thinking about using just regular rubbing alcohol, but it looks like there is some light colored corrosion. Is this just me?

[@skipallen3309]

@@JDVulcan Haven't cleaned mine yet but yes, I would use either rubbing alcohol or lacquer thinner, alcohol probably being the better of the two.

@@skipallen3309 Check ebay for an exchange of that primer bar plate with a bearing on it. That fixed the issue for me. Nothing else dig.

[@ernieparker4309]

@@JDVulcan I just did mine yesterday. I cleaned everything with rubbing alcohol and lightly filed the primer bar and the block that it rides in, I also increased the chamfer on all sharp corners. I ran 100 rounds through afterwards with zero issues! Before I would have to pull slightly on the bar to get a primer to drop.

[@JDVulcan]

@@ernieparker4309 Yes, the filing was key for me. It seems that I tightened the bolts too much and it pulled the heli-coils from the tube assy. Once I filed them smooth, everything has worked excellently!!

[@rlknight57]

Should have been using either a brass or nylon hammer to install those pins.

[@stewbeef3464]

OK Dillon, you left out something very important. You showed me how to disassemble and lube a RL550B press. But you did not show me how to CLEAN a dirty press and what kind and/or brand of solvent cleaner to use because your press is perfectly new and clean.

[@brianonthego]

How offen should this be done?

[@DillonPrecisionVideos]

About every 50,000 rounds or every other year.

[@michael184272]

No zerk fitting on mine..

[@aliciabullard3892]

What kind of grease should I use?

[@xenonram]

Any grease. This is a VERY slow moving, low load, application. Nothing fancy is needed.

[@GuitarGunner]

I use Mobile 1 wheel bearing grease, works like a dream. You can get it from any auto-parts or tractor supply store.

[@edmundooliver7584]

looks like PENN reel grease, its blue and water proof,saltwater resistance.

[@larryreinke6136]

Dillon recommends Sheaffer 229 Ultra Red Supreme grease.

[@prebaned]

My Lord, keep this guy away from my machine with that hammer and grease job. Looks like he thinks he's still driving train rail spikes.

[@DillonPrecisionVideos]

This is Gary, our Human Manual. You would be so lucky to have this wizard work on your machine. (Said respectfully)

[@scottperson9487]

Step one. Start with a brand new press....

[@GuitarGunner]

Haha! Underrated comment. I just had to disassemble my press because the right-side upper armature link pin had started seizing up on the up / down stroke. Literally took me an hour to get it tapped out and I thought I was going to damage my press body. Was finally able to get it out by spraying gun oil into it and moving it back and forth until it started to lube up again, then finally got the damn thing out. Would be nice if videos like this covered a few troubleshooting steps for those of us with much older presses.

[@3er328]

I’d only start with a new press if I owned anything other than a Dillion!

[@PatriotPaulUSA]

Don't use WD 40 for anything except sticker/glue removal! :)

[@xenonram]

Oh no. I've been seeing more and more people perpetuating the myth, "WD40 isn't actually a lubricant," and, "WD40 doesn't lubricate because it evaporates." I don't know where people got these erroneous sayings. (Probably some KZbin "maker" that thinks because they've used a saw and MIG welder, they're tradesmen.") WD40 is a lubricant. I hope you didn't believe then when they told you that. It gets perpetuated because most people don't have trade experience or material science knowledge. So you can't fully blame them.

[@PatriotPaulUSA]

@@xenonram Exactly Andrew, Most people have no idea. They just keep buying their kerosene and coconut oil, in small blue and yellow spray cans.