T25 snap ring help

[Matej]

For the past two days I've been wrestling with the compressor housing snap rings on two T25's, so far with no luck. I've tried all kinds of pliers to take them out, I've tried prying them out with screwdrivers, but nothing is working. I'm almost at the point of drilling holes through them and breaking them out, but I can't because my rebuild kits didn't come with a replacement one so I'll have to reuse them.
My question for those of you who have rebuilt a T25 or any turbo with the snap ring, what did you use to take it out? I know snap ring pliers and bent nose pliers are recommended, but which ones did you use specifically, because the ones I bought either broke or are bent and useless now.
Thanks for any tips.

[bo2o]

can you try needle nose that has a 90 degree bend?

other then that get a better set of snap ring pliers.

[Matej]

can you try needle nose that has a 90 degree bend?
That's what I'd prefer, but I can't find a place that sells them.
I guess I'll go buy more snap ring pliers, but I've already wasted almost 100$ on pliers alone. :(

[slider2828]

Try harbor freight. They sell them for sure... Otherwise try an electric store like radioshack, grainger, or graybar.... I think they might have 90's

[UNISA JECS]

I doubt snap ring pliers will work (i've taken apart a few T25/T28) what you need are the biggest needle noses you can find, I like to modify the tips so that grab and try to bring the snap ring up, to hard to explain with words but yea your gonna need big needle nose pliers and some possibly PB blaster.

[sr20boostn20]

ive taken a pair of needle noses heated up the tip and bent the pliers inward so they clamped at a diffeerent angle,

worked like a champ

[Matej]

...but yea your gonna need big needle nose pliers and some possibly PB blaster.
Already bought PB Blaster. :bigok:


ive taken a pair of needle noses heated up the tip and bent the pliers inward so they clamped at a diffeerent angle
What'd you use to bend the tips, hmm thanks, I'm going to try that.

[lostmenoggin]

Your regular parts-store snap ring pliers wont cut it in this situation. I've been through the same situation. What you need is a heavy duty set of ratcheting snap ring pliers like these...

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-PC-10H-D-RATCHETING-TYPE-CIRCLIP-PLIERS-SNAP-RING_W0QQitemZ260216097642QQihZ016QQcategoryZ82252 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


or these..

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-PC-16H-D-RATCHETING-TYPE-CIRCLIP-PLIERS-SNAP-RING_W0QQitemZ230227899271QQihZ013QQcategoryZ82252 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I bought 6 different sets of snap-ring pliers that never worked because they werent big enough. I brought the turbo to the local CarQuest machine shop and they loaned me a set like the ones above. 5 mins later my turbo was clocked where I needed it.

[iwishiwas-all*]

when i quasi-rebuilt mine, i used bent nose pliers because i broke 3 sets of snap ring pliers in abotu an hour.
that worked but not great.

[Matej]

Well I just bought some huge bent nose pliers at Sears, hopefully they won't turn out to be just more wasted money.

[burnsauto]

ok...now the biggest thing working against you is not the snap ring. its time. that snap ring has been sitting in there for over a decade...and doesnt like to move.

best way to tackle it:
now that you've gotten the bent pliers, take a small flathead screwdriver, and put one corner in one of the snap rings holes at the end. give it a good firm whack with a hammer. nothing too too hard, but enough to give it a jolt. this will help break free the seal its created from sitting there so long. after you do this to both sides, it will help you a LITTLE bit more than before. good luck.

[Matej]

Your regular parts-store snap ring pliers wont cut it in this situation. I've been through the same situation. What you need is a heavy duty set of ratcheting snap ring pliers like these...

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-PC-10H-D-RATCHETING-TYPE-CIRCLIP-PLIERS-SNAP-RING_W0QQitemZ260216097642QQihZ016QQcategoryZ82252 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


or these..

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-PC-16H-D-RATCHETING-TYPE-CIRCLIP-PLIERS-SNAP-RING_W0QQitemZ230227899271QQihZ013QQcategoryZ82252 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I bought 6 different sets of snap-ring pliers that never worked because they werent big enough. I brought the turbo to the local CarQuest machine shop and they loaned me a set like the ones above. 5 mins later my turbo was clocked where I needed it.
Well I guess I will need to order those after all, because my new pliers don't work either. Should I get the bigger ones, I'm guessing the bigger the better?


ok...now the biggest thing working against you is not the snap ring. its time. that snap ring has been sitting in there for over a decade...and doesnt like to move.

best way to tackle it:
now that you've gotten the bent pliers, take a small flathead screwdriver, and put one corner in one of the snap rings holes at the end. give it a good firm whack with a hammer. nothing too too hard, but enough to give it a jolt. this will help break free the seal its created from sitting there so long. after you do this to both sides, it will help you a LITTLE bit more than before. good luck.
I'm also letting it soak in PB Blaster overnight, hoping it will help a little.

[s14unimog]

I got a set of my snap ring pliers and welded on two 8" pieces of 1" X 1/8" SS flat bar and then wrapped them with heat shrink for comfort. I was able to get that large snap ring out without a problem. Leverage is KEY.

I'll try to remember to take a picture of them for you.

[RAR]

I bought a set of needle nose pliers w/ a 90 degree bend from my local autozone when I rebuilt mine, took it right out...

I tried snap ring pliers and had no luck.

Andrew

[lostmenoggin]

Do yourself a favor and get the heavy duty ratcheting type. You should be ok with the 10", but if you want to get the 16" go right ahead. Make sure you get a set with interchangeable tips. There is also a lot of tension in the snap ring when you take it out. The ratcheting snap ring pliers will lock which makes pulling it out much easier because you wont have to struggle to keep the pliers closed and it is also much safer. Plus, if you get a set, all your friends will want to use them because of how awesome they are to use!!

[superJoy]

I had to clock my turbo and went through the same thing. The big ratcheting ones like lostmenoggin linked to are what I ended up using, but it was still a pain in the ass. Definitely order a pair of them... the bigger the better, as long as the tips still fit in the snap ring's holes.

[Matej]

Today I found those same ratcheting pliers at Cummins Tools for half the Ebay price which is pretty awesome, the 16" looked pretty huge in real life, the 10" look like they should be enough, and I also picked up a pair of 90-degree pliers at Harbor Freight, I'm ready to become the lord of the snap rings.

[SHIFT_*grind*]

I just had this same problem a couple months ago, trying to get the snap ring off the back of a T28. I bought and returned 3 different sets of pliers before I gave up.

Honestly dude, I just took it to a local machine shop. It doesn't take a machine shop to do the job, I'd just gone there before for stuff and they're a really cool bunch of guys. They had the old plate off and the new one on in 10 minutes, and didn't charge me anything, just said "Merry Christmas." :)

They used some pair of heavy duty snap ring pliers, and a flathead. It took 2 of them to get the snap ring out; it would be a MONUMENTAL pain in the ass unless you've got more than one set of hands in there.

[Matej]

A couple of days ago I got the ring out using the 10" ratcheting pliers and a screwdriver, and today I filed the ring down slightly and managed to put it back in. Thanks to all who posted, +rep for everyone!