What is wrong with my Lee Classic Turret

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From an Email that Lee sent me this morning...

Turret Press Index Problem

Four Hole

Four hole Turret presses that have index problems are handled
differently. Determine if the turret hole is not coming far enough
around to snap into position or if it going too far after fitting
into position.

If the turret is not coming far enough around, remove the turret and
secure the 1/4" action rod with a 1/4" wrench. With a pair of
pliers, turn the nut on the top of the action rod very slightly
counter-clockwise. Put the turret back and try it. Repeat this step
until the turret snaps into position correctly. If your turret is
going too far around, follow the same steps except that the nut on
the top of the action rod would be moved very slightly
clockwise. Further adjustments will not be necessary and the rod can
be repeatedly removed and placed back into the clamp with no ill effect.

With both style presses, lubricate the outside diameter of the
Turret with 30 wt. motor oil, or something similar.
 
Uncle Don: I took mine apart to make sure. The ratchet spins freely unless there is a force acting against gravity, such as the friction caused by the twist in the indexing rod. At the bottom of the ram's stroke, the ratchet is free to move as the 'catches' for the ratchet are at the top of the carrier.

I sent lee an email yesterday, they responded this morning and said they would send me a few ratchets, along with instructions on how to use my turret.

When I'm depriming, I like to manually index my turret with the ram down...there's a decapping pin that won't let it spin if the cartridge is fairly high in mine... not as much clearance on the cheapo model I've got. I'm going to send Lee customer service an email on this.
 
My Turret Press got where it didn't stop at the right place under the Dies and I could tell the Guide Rod was slightly bent. The follow is the E-mail I sent to Lee and the Reply.

We will mail a new index rod and clamp to the address you have provided below.


At 02:39 PM 7/31/2007, you wrote:

I have the Lee Turret 4 hole press and the guide rod that turns the press is bent and out of time where it doesn't work right. I need a new rod and guide so it will turn correctly. My mailing address is ****************************** Thanks
 
There is some confusion in this thread about what turret presses are being discussed. Lee makes three of them and they all are different

1. The old-style 3 hole press. Cast aluminum base and a different indexing ratchet style.

2. The old-style 4 hole press. Cast aluminum base and an indexing ratchet the same as the next press.

3. The Classic Cast Turret Press, which has a cast iron base and is a totally different design; however, it uses the same indexing ratchet gear as #2.

There are similarities and differences. Please be careful to clearly say which press you have. Advice on setting the indexing on a 3 hole press or changing the ratchet gear won't do anything for those with the other two presses.

Finally, the priming system is totally different for the Classic Cast Turret Press. It uses the new Lee Safety Prime System, a big advance in reliability over the previous Auto Prime system on the two older presses.
 
Uncle Don: I took mine apart to make sure. The ratchet spins freely unless there is a force acting against gravity, such as the friction caused by the twist in the indexing rod. At the bottom of the ram's stroke, the ratchet is free to move as the 'catches' for the ratchet are at the top of the carrier.
Click to expand...

No disrespect, but I think you may misunderstand how it's operating. As you can imagine, the tension of the ratchet is always "on" on the upstroke and the down. Therefore, there is only one way that this tension can cause the index rod to turn on the downstroke, but not the upstroke. I took some pictures (with the help of my daughter and her crazy nail polish holding the part). Hopefully, I'm a good enough photographer to illustrate what I mean. The photos were taken showing the bottom side of the clamp for clarity.

The first picture shows the inside of the clamp area with the "shelf" and no ratchet on it. As you can see, when this shelf is clamped with the other side, it formes a square that forms a recess that is the same size as the ratchet. Here it is:

IMGP0472.gif

The second picture shows the ratchet fitted on this shelf to the point that I could not spin it. Therefore, when closed, the clamp would not allow the ratchet to spin when it's in the recess which is during the downstroke. Since it can't spin, something has to give which is the index rod. On the upstroke, the ratchet comes out of the recess and can spin freely in the rest of the area. Here it ius and I hope this helps.

IMGP0473.gif
 
uncle don: you have a solid point. What I'm trying to say is that once you get that ratchet out of it's "shelf" it is free to rotate. The only force that will return the ratchet to the "shelf" is the downstroke's friction on the twisted part of the guiderod.

speaking of solid points. I'm making the argument that manually indexing in the ram down position isn't going to hurt your press....but I did that to deprime a bunch of casings and my ratchet stopped ratcheting without the aid of heavy bearing grease. So, I would take my own argument in stride if I could just see how I broke my ratchet.

benedict: good point about the difference between the cast and the aluminum 4 hole turret is the 1) construction material and 2)the depriming tube that puts all your spent primers away nicely. I run a safety prime on my press, and the kit that lee sells comes with the Lee safety primer, if I recall correctly. I didn't buy the kit, because I wanted the fancier powder measure. I should also point out that my cheapo 4 hole turret feels kinda rickety and not as solid as the classic press I tried out at the store. Not too mention, sweeping up old primers is starting to get annoying.

The three hole presses have a different ratchet mechanism that seems more solid to me. The ratchets were much more stout and they rested on a 6-sides pole...so more friction points and less wear. Not too mention that they make the 3hole's with an aluminum housing for the ratchet. Mine's plastic. doh. However, my press paid for itself many times over just in the short time I've had it. We've loaded thousands of 45acp rounds alone for $7 per 100.... versus the WWB stuff for $28 per 100. Since all my hardware cost me about $120, it paid for itself after 570 rounds....and now we're easily over 2000. Granted, I shoot a lot more now.
 
Ok, I think we are saying the same thing. My point is that you can't turn the ratchet with the ram in the down position because it was placed in the shelf during the downstroke and by the bottom of the stroke, has not yet come out of it, therfore, rotating the turret turns the nylon ratchet against a bearing in which it wasn't meant to spin. It won't come out until you start the upstroke which causes it to leave the shelf and spin freely as you spoke of. It's a learning process for all of us!
 
"'m just curious - when the call was made, was the request for 10 items under the warranty? If so, I can kind of understand thier point, but if you simply asked for a replacement for your broken one, you should have gotten it with no cost and no shipping.

In any event, when the new ones come, make sure you put it on the same way it came off (flange down) and that after it's installed, you raise the ram a couple of inches to rotate the turret so the index rod doesn't bind against the ratchet. Lastly, make sure that the lever prime is coming down between the two bumps on the casting because this ensures that you are aligning the clamp correctly too. I think Benedicts writeup coveres this pretty well."


All
I spoke with John Lee for a long time the other day. I did only ask for one replacement. When I was told what the price and shipping was and about the whole warranty thing, I just said forget it ok how many would 10 be so that I have extra. But as I stated I spoke with John Lee and he basically covered what was in benedicts write up.

Anyway with new ratchet in place I also found the little ball inside the turret and after rubbing my fingers across it I noticed it was stuck. It would not role you could not push it in or anything. So I soaked it with Kroil which got it loose and then I put hoppes gun oil on my 45 acp turret and I do notice it indexes a lot easier now and does not seem to need as much pressure. I am hoping this was the issue causing the ratchet to get bent out of shape. I reloaded 500 rounds so far on the new ratchet before running out of bullets :uhoh: But after the fact I took the clamp off to inspect the ratchet and it still looks new. I will check back in after I order more and get up to 2000 rounds on it which is where it seemed to just wear out.
 
I'll pass the fingernail comment to my daughter. What did Mr. Lee say when you told him you were advised that the part was not under waranty? Lastly, if you have everything set, there is no need to check the ratchet from this point forward. I'm guessing it will be good unless something causes it to crack.

I had a four hole standard turret press before this one and loaded several thousand on it without ever changing a ratchet. On this new one, I know (because I keep track) I'm at near 10,000 on it and I'm still on the one that came with it.
 
"What did Mr. Lee say when you told him you were advised that the part was not under waranty?"

He was getting ready right the to send me one. I told him I had ordered 10 already and not to worry about it he just laughed and said wow 10. But he did indicate that it was under warranty and should have been sent to me no questions asked.
 
The secret's out about Uncle Don!

"I'll pass the fingernail comment to my daughter."

Ha! I'll bet you wear black lipstick, too.:neener:

Jim H.
 
Lee Class action lawsuit

It's been started. Look for details. Any mod refusing to post this will be included in the law suit. There will be an intensive investigation on this defect. This will be posted on all gun forums. We tried to get this major defect addressed. See you in court.
 
What defect is that? The fact is that there are far more owners that have no issue and havn't worn out a ratchet after several thousand rounds. Will we be deposed too?
 
I got 4 ratchets in the mail yesterday from Lee after just sending that email. They also replied to my email about "should I lube the ratchet" with a "no lube is necessary, but use 30 wt oil or equivalent on your turret" makes sense.

I've never heard of a class action lawsuit against a product that's warranteed. You can sue for punitive damages if you want (just like suing for spilling coffee in your lap) because your press doesn't work and it put you in such mental distress that you couldn't sleep for weeks and it affected your family or something. There's no compensatory damages as they send you as many ratchets as you need without even shipping charges. I paid $65 for my press, and Lee has paid $3.90 in shipping so far just to give me parts.

I'd start making replacements out of aluminum or something, but I'm no engineer.
 
It's been started. Look for details. Any mod refusing to post this will be included in the law suit.
Click to expand...
OOOOOhhh, I'm sure the Mod's are shaking in their boots.:D I'm with UD, mine has been flawless. I haven't seen any defects.
Rusty
 
Lee Class action lawsuit
It's been started. Look for details. Any mod refusing to post this will be included in the law suit. There will be an intensive investigation on this defect. This will be posted on all gun forums. We tried to get this major defect addressed. See you in court.
Click to expand...

Sure will be hard to prove this one in court. It will be a Class of about 20 out of thousands of happy users.

I for one will surely testify for the defendant. I can't imagine a better, more reliable, sturdy press than the Lee Classic Turret. I knocked out 100 rounds of .45 ACP today just to make sure the gremlins hadn't come to my reloading shed. Worked perfectly.
 
kellyj00 From an Email that Lee sent me this morning...

Turret Press Index Problem

Four Hole

Four hole Turret presses that have index problems are handled
differently. Determine if the turret hole is not coming far enough
around to snap into position or if it going too far after fitting
into position.

If the turret is not coming far enough around, remove the turret and
secure the 1/4" action rod with a 1/4" wrench. With a pair of
pliers, turn the nut on the top of the action rod very slightly
counter-clockwise. Put the turret back and try it. Repeat this step
until the turret snaps into position correctly. If your turret is
going too far around, follow the same steps except that the nut on
the top of the action rod would be moved very slightly
clockwise. Further adjustments will not be necessary and the rod can
be repeatedly removed and placed back into the clamp with no ill effect.

With both style presses, lubricate the outside diameter of the
Turret with 30 wt. motor oil, or something similar
Click to expand...


Assuming that your press now autoindexes and advances, the tip above really worked for me. I had no idea one was supposed to adjust that nut at the top of the rod. Not a clue! But common sense would tell one to try it!

Well, I followed the instruction, and it seems to have worked. I turned that screw nut ever so slightly counter-clockiwise.

No longer at the beginning of a round will I have to move my hand up to position the sizing die just a hair to the right in order to have proper alignment. I was doing this with every new round, at the risk of the mouth of the case colliding with the edge of the die and not going up and through the die. However, the other stations seemed to index okay. But not the sizing die.

This has now been remedied (I hope). :uhoh:

I hope that your problems will clear up. In time, they do with Lee equipment (I'm referrring to the Lee Classic Turret Press and the single-stage presses; 'no comment' about Pro 1000 or LoadMaster as I do not have experience with them).
 
re the lawsuit... mine broke and I have no quarms with Lee. So there's one right off your list right there.

I don't believe in class action suits against companies who are willing to stand by their product, like Lee does. If you want, you can go ahead and sign up with this ambulance chaser and get a settlement of a few bucks from Lee, at least then you'll know what your worth as a customer. I don't do business with anyone who would sell me out for a few bucks when they're in a pinch, as I would never do that to them either.
 
Good luck with your lawsuit. Be sure to post the details, so all the satisfied customers can send in their testimony. I dont want the cost of frivolous lawsuits being transferred to the customer.


-Another happy Lee customer with a couple thousand rounds produced.
 
funny thing, sometimes these type of lawsuits against smaller businesses end in a counter-suit for the legal expenses that the ambulance chaser you signed with made Lee pay for lawyers.

So, you had better hope for a settlement...because if it goes to a jury, Lee will get 8 out of 12 (that's the requirement for civil trials) to vote in their favor...probably because not only are they right, but they've got a better lawyer than you do.

After you lose the lawsuit, Lee will countersue for the costs of their lawyer. You, the 'class action' signee will be required to pay the expense, not the ambulance chasing lawyer...they have immunity as they are just legal counsel and are simply representing the plaintiff...that's you in this case.

So, what it boils down to is simple. Your ambulance chaser won't make a dime unless you win. He has nothing to stake in this but his time (which ain't worth much anyhow.)

hold on, I just googled it...no results. So, it was obviously a troll who posted that. I challenge for a link to something that says that there is actually a current lawsuit....or I may just call up Lee Precision and tell them I'll go halves on lawyer expenses to sue for slander. ;-)
 
kelly--I'll go in with you and Lee; now it's thirds. I'll bet by the end of the day we can get it down to hundredths as legions of happy Classic Turret press owners sign up.

It's also probably a good idea to get a moderator to squelch this thread. It has taken a bizarre, fictional turn!!!! ;-)
 
Lee Class action lawsuit

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's been started. Look for details. Any mod refusing to post this will be included in the law suit. There will be an intensive investigation on this defect. This will be posted on all gun forums. We tried to get this major defect addressed. See you in court.
Click to expand...
You can't be serious. The ratchet assembly on my Classic Turret hasn't been perfect (probably my fault) and Lee's customer service can be poor depending on who you talk to but surely you post this as a joke.
 
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