#1  
Old 03-03-2023, 01:06 PM
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Default How do I fix a leaky front cocktail shaker?

I have all four of my cocktail shakers out of my 68 bird convert and beadblasted them. These aren't rusty or pitted at all. One of the front shakers appears to be slightly leaking at each of the spot welded mounting brackets / feet (all of them). It's just enough that you can see wet stains around the feet. I sprayed the shaker clean with carb cleaner, but the wet stains came back after sitting for a while.

I noticed that the spot welds are much deeper than on the other shakers, so perhaps that is causing the issue. I'm open for ideas as to how to fix this. I really don't want to drill out all of the spot welds and pull the legs off with re-welding them unless I absolutely have to. I'm thinking that I could perhaps drain them, flush them out with carb cleaner and then seal them with something, but I'm not sure what to use. There are suspended weights inside supposedly and I don't want the weights to get stuck in place. I'm thinking that the weights are probably heavy enough that I could just use something like ordinary rustoleum and it wouldn't impinge on the movement of the weights, but it would also need to be unaffected by the oil inside. If it's hydraulic fluid in there, it would be a problem. I have no idea what kind of oil is inside. I'm open for ideas.

Old Joe

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  #2  
Old 03-03-2023, 01:58 PM
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Post Repair

While I don’t have a repair suggestion, perhaps this exploded view helps you out.
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  #3  
Old 03-03-2023, 02:15 PM
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Originally Posted by rdl View Post
While I don’t have a repair suggestion, perhaps this exploded view helps you out.
Thanks. I was wondering what exactly was in there. Any idea if it was just regular motor oil that was in there?

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  #4  
Old 03-03-2023, 04:33 PM
many birds many birds is offline
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Originally Posted by gtobird View Post
Thanks. I was wondering what exactly was in there. Any idea if it was just regular motor oil that was in there?
According to a discussion on the camaros.net site, they are filled with ATF.

  #5  
Old 03-03-2023, 05:20 PM
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According to a discussion on the camaros.net site, they are filled with ATF.
Thanks for digging that out. I was afraid it would be something like that. I'll drain the one that's leaking to confirm it. I'm guessing I could probably refill it with some other kind of oil that won't eat the sealer I will put inside of it. I'll have to find something with a similar viscosity.

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Old 03-03-2023, 07:05 PM
694.1 694.1 is offline
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Sealer would be a real hit or miss deal. I think brazing over the old welds would be the way to go. Of course, you would need to mitigate the fire hazard before hand!
Well, just saying...

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  #7  
Old 03-03-2023, 08:52 PM
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Originally Posted by 694.1 View Post
Sealer would be a real hit or miss deal. I think brazing over the old welds would be the way to go. Of course, you would need to mitigate the fire hazard before hand!
Well, just saying...
Thanks for the suggestion. I hear you, but if I was going to do that, I might as well just drill out the spot welds and weld it up.

I have another thought. It's hard for me to understand how all of the legs / brackets have stuff weeping out of them. These things have been laying on their sides in a crate for 20 years or so. I'm going to empty out the fluid inside, put an air hose fitting on top, spray them with soapy water on the outside and see if they really all leak. I'm thinking maybe it's only one or two spot welds that are bad and the fluid just seeped into the seams of the brackets / legs everywhere over time. One or two spots I can drill and redo. I just don't want to do them all.

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Old 03-05-2023, 06:17 PM
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I drained both front cocktail shakers, pressurized them with 40 lbs of air and then applied soapy water to the outside. I couldn't see a single leak in either of them. Interestingly enough, only about an ounce of oil drained out of each one. At this point, my belief is that the stains were probably left over engine oil / grease that was sandwiched between the welded on brackets and the cylindrical container and when I sprayed it down with carb cleaner, it dissolved the leftover oil and left the stains. It could also be that since these things are 55 years old, the oil simply leaked out in time through the plug on top (they were laying on their side), or the effects of osmosis. Either way, I'm just going to paint them, put some oil in and use them. The little bit of oil that came out looked very thin and it was brown. Might have been aged ATF, but looked and smelled more like 10W or 20W oil. Anyone know how much oil goes in these? I would imagine some room is left inside for air.

Old Joe

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