Make your own guide rod nut for the recoil spring assembly

[wyntrout]

Make your own nut for the guide rod.

During my last trip to the range with my PM45 the end nut on the end of the guide rod of the recoil spring assembly departed.

I emailed Kahr and they mailed me a replacement recoil spring assembly... the whole thing with both springs.

I hate wasting stuff and don't want to be waiting for parts if that happens again. I got to looking around and found some #6 hex nuts... #6-32 in stainless steel that works. use a 5/16" wrench for this nut. I have a lot of stainless stuff from my boating days.

I used one of my 3/8" cordless drills and opened the chuck all the way. I put the nail-head end of the guide rod in the chuck and tightened it. I put one of the nuts on the guide rod and used a file to turn the diameter down. I checked a few times and sanded until I had a good fit... no binding in the outer recoil spring or the hole in the front of the slide. This looks okay from the front of the gun.

I tried to make a little taper on the nut, and I think that I need to further reduce the diameter of the nut so as to absolutely prevent any binding with the spring or its hole in the front of the slide.

I would advise using Red Loctite or Red Permatex Threadlocker to hold that nut on. After proper cleaning and application, the bond is considered permanent after curing. The instructions say to heat the union to 500°F or better and then use hand tools to disassemble before the parts cool. This procedure is easier on the parts than just overpowering them with excessive torque.

There's not much in the way of threads on the front of the guide rod.

The new recoil spring has 1 1/2 more coils than the old one. I'm going to use the new one and save the old one for a spare.

I'll post some larger pictures shortly:











Wynn