Victory Model: Yoke retaining screw affecting cylinder timing

[Dutchboyy]

One of the chambers on this Victory doesn't carry up properly. So I wanted to peen over the appropriate extractor tooth to fix that problem.

I've disassembled the cylinder each time I made an adjustment, and I used a vice to support the back of the extractor while I peened it. I've knocked on that tooth four times, now, and I don't think that I've made much of a change. (Timid with the hammer, I guess.)

In the process of assembling and reassembling the cylinder I noticed that the tightness of the yoke retaining screw affects the timing. If the screw is appropriately tight, that one chamber will not carry up properly. If I back off the yoke screw 3/4 of a turn, that chamber carries up just fine. (and all the other ones do too. The timing becomes fine.)

I can tell that with the yoke screw fully tightened, the rotation of the yoke is hampered a little bit. If I back off the yoke screw, the yoke is very free to rotate.

My assumption is that the yoke retaining screw is bottoming out on the yoke itself, and this is a bad thing. I think my best course of action is to file the tip of the yoke retaining screw to make it a little shorter and to eliminate that interference with the yoke shaft. The yoke will move freely. the timing will be fixed, and I'll be done.

Am I on the right track? What does the forum think? Before I took out the files, I wanted to ask. Thank you.

 

[torizus]

Sounds like the wrong screw is in there. At some some point during a prior disassembly, someone may have interchanged the yoke screw with the other side plate screws. The yoke screw generally has a different tip configuration and in some cases length also. In either case it should be an easy fix if you compare that screw to the other side plate screws.
You may also want to inspect that yoke and crane assembly to make sure nothing is bent or twisted. Scratch or wear marks on the yoke can reveal exactly where that screw is engaging, should be within a recess point.

 

[Muss Muggins]

The correct way to fit the ratchet to the hand for that particular operation is taking the proper file lightly to the appropriate ratchet surface, not a hammer. It is possible that over the years, someone has replaced the yoke screw with the wrong screw.

 

[Dutchboyy]

I filed and polished the tip of the yoke screw just a tiny, tiny bit, and now the yoke just barely drags a slight amount when I swing it open with the yolk screw tight. Then I gave the reluctant extractor tooth a more courageous whack to peen a little metal over to where it needed to be. Now the slow chamber carries up like it should, and all is well with the timing.