How do you remove an NX Lightning Bottle Valve
Thread Starter
10 Second Club
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 1,471
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From: Berkeley, California
How do you remove an NX Lightning Bottle Valve There are no flats. I assume I need to use a strap wrench but I want to know any other tips and precautions. This is a nice piece and I don't want to mess it up. I want to verify the clocking of the pickup tube.
Last edited by Gary Z; Aug 21, 2010 at 09:29 PM.
Teching In
Joined: Jan 2010
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Hi Gary Z,
To easiest way to remove the valve is to sit the bottle on the ground. Put a deep well socket and extention (I use a 12 inch extention) over the outlet fitting. Hold the end of the extention in one hand and hit the deep well socket with a hammer (I use a plastic hammer so i do not mark my socket) so that the valve turns counter clockwise when looking down from the top of the valve. The inertia of the bottle will act against the rotation of the valve so there is no need to clamp the bottle. You'll probably need to hit the socket a few times until the valve rotates easily by hand. You can reinstall the valve using the same technique but turning the valve clockwise.
Hope this helps!
To easiest way to remove the valve is to sit the bottle on the ground. Put a deep well socket and extention (I use a 12 inch extention) over the outlet fitting. Hold the end of the extention in one hand and hit the deep well socket with a hammer (I use a plastic hammer so i do not mark my socket) so that the valve turns counter clockwise when looking down from the top of the valve. The inertia of the bottle will act against the rotation of the valve so there is no need to clamp the bottle. You'll probably need to hit the socket a few times until the valve rotates easily by hand. You can reinstall the valve using the same technique but turning the valve clockwise.
Hope this helps!
Thread Starter
10 Second Club
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 1,471
Likes: 3
From: Berkeley, California
S197, thanks for the tip. Unfortunately it doesn’t work on my bottle, even after I gave-up on on the plastic hammer and went to bronze. I have the bottle strapped down and I’ve smacked the socket as hard as I dare. I’ve also tried a strap wrench but it slips. I have searched the NX website and can’t find any mention of the pickup tube. NX appears to have adopted the convention of orienting their pickup tube so that the bottle label needs to be on the left side when the bottle is facing forward. That doesn’t make sense for my bottle because that leaves the gauge face down. I bought this bottle new and there were no instructions in the box. Damn, this is really frustrating.
