Campag4life

Question to those that own the Joe Blow Pro or similar.
My trusty Joe Blow bike pump is getting 'hard' to pump my tires on my road bike.
It isn't the nozzle as I took that off from the hose end and the pump is still hard to stroke all the way down to full stroke.

Any suggestions? Should I take it apart and grease the O-ring as a beginning measure? Purchase a Joe Blow rebuild kit before I take it apart? The Joe Blow rebuild kit includes a fresh O-ring.

Curious if any on the 41 have gone thru the same thing and what you did to resolve it?

Many thanks

ridenow

I have the Joe Blow Pro and got the rebuild kit. The new O-ring fixed the rough pump stroke. I also replaced the rubber washer in the head at the same time.

rpenmanparker 

C4l, I don't have a Joe Blow, but you may want to spray the pump rod with WD40. I found that made pumping much easier with my several year old pump. Of course a rebuild wouldn't be wrong. There may be some benefit to be had from the rod lubrication however.

Campag4life

Thanks guys,
Robert, Not sure its the rod but rather the O-ring feels like its binding to the inner wall of the tube. Not sure the O-ring is worn or if the wax based grease is worn off.

If anybody knows a lot about pumps, would love to hear from you.

What I find digging around the web:
I have the Joe Blow pump. There is no seal kit available when the seal on the twinhead begins to go. The poster indicated he had solved the problem by moving an O-ring from the base of the pump to the head. I decided to try this; the O-ring I found (by unscrewing the cap at the base) had a spring behind it, took flight and I never saw it again.

O-rings being standard items, I decided to visit my local Home Depot. I found that a #7 O-ring, near the faucet section, seems to work as a replacement for the O-ring in the twinhead. 1/2" OD x 3/8" ID x 1/16". A 10-pack is $2.27. To access, remove the screw on the twinhead, pull out the lever assembly, remove and replace the O-ring. Reassemble, making sure the O-ring slides into the twin head and doesn't become caught on or cut by the piece it is sliding into.

I replaced the lost O-ring from the base with a #78, 7/16" OD x 1/4"ID x 3/32". The pump is now working fine. I can repair it nine more times unless something else breaks first.

Campag4life

After fiddle farting with this abomination of a pump that used to work well and looks nice etc, its going in the trash sadly. This is so unlike me. I fix everything. But I found this pump unfixable. Shame on Topeak for putting their pumps out there without any service information...no pdfs...no videos how to repair them etc. A cheesy repair kit that isn't even applicable in my case. There is an internal air blockage in my pump through the pressure gauge. This has been reported on the web by more than a few. What do people do? Throw this $60 pump in the trash. Best I can tell, the blockage is inside the pressure guage which is integral to the top of the pump and the allen bolt torque was so high, I stripped the bolts trying to get it apart.

So set out of find a suitable replacement and decided on the wooden handle Lezyne with outstanding threaded Presta/Schrader chuck:
Lezyne - Engineered Design - Products - Floor Pumps - High Power - Sport Floor Drive

My bad for buying the Joe Blow Pro. Should have done more homework. I didn't consider a catastrophic failure. Thought a new O-ring and good to go. No dice. Live and learn and word up to others. Some mousetraps are better than others is the lesson of the day.

Vicegrip

Condemn the pump to be an an abomination and maker to shameful after a bolt head cams out and you can't fix the consumer grade and priced pump? My Joe blow pro was $40 and has worked well for many tire fills.

Campag4life

Can you be more clear? Your comment is somewhat unintelligible. Are you saying a consumer grade priced pump shouldn't be repairable? Many are. If you aren't saying this, tell me how to fix it. When the handle won't displace within the barrel with the rubber hose detached (or attached) from the pump and the pump binds, and I have had the check valve out, cleaned confirming no blockage...including the center rod and piston and O ring is fine. There is blockage within the pressure gage at the top of the pump.
Advise me on how to fix it.

Vicegrip

was not advising repair method just that you went straight to hate. I don't think the cap screws were intended to cam out. It is not that the pump is not serviceable it is that you got stuck while servicing it

Me, first I would go past the check valve and blow compressed air backwards to see if the clog could be dislodged If not I would drill the offending screws out find the clog or not and move on. The 10 min spent fixing the pump in the shop is less bother than getting a new one. On the other hand $40 is about one tire so no big deal other than the bother of working with failing tools.

Campag4life

Straight to hate because the failure of the pump isn't serviceable. A frustration is really what I am voicing is all. Lezyne by contrast has a video how to change out the pressure gauge which of course has to be installed with utmost sealing to prevent leakage. Pressure gauges with thousands of replications can fail.
Pumps aren't rocket science...I know because I went to school to study rocket science.

So you are speculating because you have never performed the repair I attempted.
All said, the Topeak pump is somewhat sacrificial. An O-ring can be replaced within the pump...but if blockage occurs in the top of the pump as in my case, it has to go in the trash.

PS: you are even wrong about not only a method of fixing the pump but also what is least bother. Drilling out the screws and attempting to fix the pump with unknown outcome isn't less bother than buying a new pump. That's ridiculous. Most won't attempt this repair other than replacing the barrel O-ring. Even, if you fix it, you have to find suitable screw replacement in terms of dia and pitch, and a big if, if the blockage can be cleared or resolved and isn't corrosion related. You shouldn't be speculating about pump repair pal because you don't know what you are talking about. My Joe Blow worked for thousands of fills while it worked. But...if what happened to my pump which has been reported on the web by others happens, its time to replace it and you have produced no proof to the contrary.
Btw, many attempt to repair the Smart head that Topeak sells as well on many of their pumps. Smart heads aren't repairable either FWIW...not design intent to service. As with their pumps, they want you to spend money and purchase a replacement.

Vicegrip

Nice edit to a classic campy4life post. Stuck waiting for someone to get ready to go out so I will spend a min or two.

You are making a lot of assumptions on the skills, experience and abilities of someone you don't know including if he does on does not have joe blow pumps. I commute to and from every day and keep a cheaper version in the at work bike room as well as a better one in the home shop. Not garage, shop. I don't have the time or inclination to list the mech, welding, HVAC, fabrication and engineering certs, skills, past careers and devices fabricated but trust me a bike pump however seemingly complicated is low on the build list. Bikes are reall low on the same list too which is one reason I like them so much. I have found that some proudly educated folks have a hard time thinking outside the book. Drill the stripped heads, pry the thing open and fix or not. Close it up with some fastners that are sorta close or a slather of 5 min epoxy. You got nothing to loose spending a couple of min prying it open which is my point. You simply gave up and spent far more time posting the above (pre or post edit) post than opening the thing up would have taken.

A bourdon tube gauge that fails in MTBF of "thousands" range is below anything have dealt with. Can't say i have heard of something withstanding 1000s of "replications". Mechanical mitosis?

My original post was simply that found it a bit funny that you were stumped by a bike pump. Time to go

Campag4life

Why don't you troll someone else's thread with your rubbish? Assumptions about your skills? What skills? You haven't performed this repair. So, you have no idea what you are talking about. You haven't repaired a Joe Blow pump with the issue mine has and others like it unresolved on the web...which may not be repairable in spite of drilling screws out. More bluntly, you are talking out of your ###. So do the forum a favor for those that click on this thread and disappear because you are simply increasing the noise level of this thread. Thanks for nothing...actually worse than nothing...your acrimony.

chaadster

Given the bevy of replacement parts Topeak offer, it looks like @Vicegrip is onto something...

Topeak® Cycling Accessories ? Products - Pumps > Pump Replacement Kit

Campag4life

What a mistake this thread has been. A disappointment. You have nothing to offer either.
So glad you're here tho. Are are lonely chad? Is that the problem?
Either provide your experience with the fix that vicegrip was clueless about or you know.
Next time bring coffee or something.

chaadster

The same imprecision and lack of care you manifest in rendering my name exists in both your writing and repair "skills", so I just wanted to let anyone reading along understand that Topeak does offer replacement parts beyond what you deride as a "cheesy repair kit" (apparently because it covers a common wear condition rather than your failure or every failure) including for the "top of the pump" and the guage, and so the pump does not have to "go in the trash," as you say, for that type of failure.

So, you see, I'm bringing the clarity which you failed to provide. Lucky you!

Xherion

That Lezyne pump is awesome. I have been using one for several years with no problems, now I can't go back to non-threaded chucks. I've even had a buddy call it the "Rolls Royce" of bike pumps.

chaadster

Yeah, Lezyne make good pumps. I don't own that floor model, but I I am exclusively Lezyne mini pumps on 4 bikes, and I did use the floor pump once. The threaded head is secure, which is good, but tedious; I prefer lever-locking for most uses.

I recently put a very easy and fast to use Taggio Pro head on my 12 or 15 year old Nashbar Ultimate floor pump, which is going strong. I've had some blow off problems with the Taggio on certain stem types, but in general, it's a pretty nice to use head.

Regarding your buddy's Rolls Royce comment, I wonder which car he'd liken the Silca Super Pista Ultimate to?!

SILCA SuperPista Ultimate Floor Pump The Finest Bicycle Floor Pump The world has ever seen

Campag4life

Thank you brother. Should have gone Lezyne off the bat. Live and learn. Steel barrel and piston is perhaps its biggest strength... and of course its heralded thread on presta valve versus many valves prone to slip that use a levered interference to hold the pump head. I found the Topeak Smarthead to be an abomination and it failed very early in the life the Joe Blow and because of its premature demise and lack of repairability, bought the Topeak separate Presta/Schrader Twin head which works ok...

Since this thread didn't manifest any repair strategy as hoped for the Joe Blow Pro...a testament perhaps that this failure mode isn't readily repairable or owners are confounded by it, I will post a review of the Lezyne...or at least early impressions after given a whirl. I bought it because of its reviews and long term approval. which echo your comments.
Thanks Xherion.

cydewaze

I like how that Lezyne attaches to the valve. I've had some friction-fit heads get old and slip off before reaching full pressure, and with the lever ones, my wife has gotten her finger under it when releasing the lever, which is painful and apparently my fault.

I really like that twist-on and easy release. Plus it's really not a bad price at all for what you get.

chaadster

Sounds like user error to me. You stripped out the bolts.

Topeak offer the Gauge Set Replacement Kit, Topeak item # TRK-G07, to fix the gauge blockage problem you describe, so it's not the case the pump isn't serviceable.

You might say...er, no, because despite all your ranting, you did not say, so one might say the bolts spec'd were too soft or inadequate to the job, but it could have just as easily been that you were hasty, used low grade tools, the wrong tools, or simply ham-fisted it.

I'm not Topeak fan-- I haven't found any of their stuff compelling enough to buy-- but I don't buy your fulsome condemnation of the brand, of the pump, because had you not munged up whichever bolt or bolts you did, there is no reason to presume the parts could not have been replaced using the kit above and the pump returned to normal operation.

Vicegrip

No acrimony. That is far too energetic. How do you know what could or could not be done to the pump? You got stuck removing 2 screws and then spent 6X the tear down time blogging about it. A bike pump is only but so complex and many of us mechanical types would not give 2 seconds thought to anything other than tear down/ repair and reassembly.

Keep in mind we are discussing a device that in your words worked well for many use cycles. A pump that cost about as much as one of the bike tires I use that lasts for a few months at the most. My "noise" is don't give up on fixing something. Somethingthat is in essence intended for the standard casual user. The worst that can happen with trying is someone will do what you did. Junk it.

99.9% of the people that buy one of these pumps will not come close to wearing it out. Consider it a badge of honor that you were able to. I think you should get a full color Joe Blow tatoo with an X under it.

Vicegrip

Better said than I, Sir.

anotherbrian

My Lezyne CNC floor pump blew out the gauge (literally) after a couple months of use. Plastic cover on the gauge popped off and made it over my stooped over self. Lezyne was pretty good about sending me a free replacement gauge (invoice shows the service guy sent it right away, but it didn't show up for several weeks).

The Silca "Hiro" chuck threads on to the stock "ABS" valve's Schrader side and is mo better than threading. The newer Lezyne's (since F'15?) should come with the ABS2 chuck that doesn't thread either ... I'd love to get one but the chucks don't show any availability anywhere until February.

Homebrew01

I'll take the hose & pump head before you throw it away.

chaadster

Oh, they're not going to get thrown away; remember, he's a rocket scientist. They're going to get blasted to the moon!

FLvector

Why all the hate? Don't sweat the small stuff. It's all small stuff.

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