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SA 1911 9mm Range Officer Mainspring Housing Removal

pmmiller52

pmmiller52

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I’m a brand new SA 1911 9mm Range Officer owner. I’m working through initial total disassembly for cleaning and tuning. in attempting to remove the mainspring housing I’m finding the step of inserting the take down pin into the take down pin hole to be very difficult. I don’t want to damage anything by forcing the pin into the hole. Can anyone tell me how much force should be needed to insert the pin? Could it be that on the first removal it is more difficult or is there some trick to it? Help please?
 
The alignment on the slide has to be perfect and getting the pin to seat will require more force than you would think. Be careful not to scratch the gun during the final seating of the pin.
 
I would put a piece of painters tape on your slide just in case you slip when trying to insert the pin. It does require quite a bit of pressure. You can try sliding a piece of thing plastic or even a guitar pick between the takedown lever and the plunger to help. The plunger is the real issue here.
 
Make sure the slide is lined up with the small divot so the slide stop portion of the release pad interfaces with it. PLus the slide stop lunger is spring loaded so you have to fiddle with that.

Sometimes with a tight one I use a small allen wrench to push the spring plunger in while pushing the slide stop in through the divot in the slide.

My .02
 
I think some people here are confusing the slide stop/takedown with the pin that holds the mainspring housing (MSH) to the grip—and that's what the OP said he was having difficulty with.

OP: get a punch. While you’re supposed to be able to use the takedown pin to disassemble your MSH, that’s only if both are at the original GI specs.
 
HansGruber said:
I think some people here are confusing the slide stop/takedown with the pin that holds the mainspring housing (MSH) to the grip—and that's what the OP said he was having difficulty with.

OP: get a punch. While you’re supposed to be able to use the takedown pin to disassemble your MSH, that’s only if both are at the original GI specs.
Click to expand...

As per HGs post the MSH pin just needs a wack with a right-sized punch to dislodge the MSG pin. Here's a vid


It's easy.

I very rarely take mine out since it really doesn't get dirty in there much. Cleaning will focus on the slide/frame interface where things get dirty.
 
Yes, I am speaking of the main spring housing removal and not the slide stop pin. I’ve already solved a problem with the slide stop pin. The problem I’m having is with removal of the Main spring housing that is mounted on the back of the grip where your palm rests when holding the gun. The instructions away you should place rhe hammer in the Cocked position and then insert the take down pin into the take down hole and then release the hammer to the lowered position to relieve spring pressure from the main spring. Then you can remove the main spring housing. (The take down pin came in a small zip lock bag included With. The new gun.). The problem I’m having is I cannot get the pin inserted into the take down hole.
 

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I think your gun has the regular mainspring housing and not the one showing the ILS system, Springfield doesn’t have the ILS anymore, plus you really don’t need to take that apart, just regular cleaning, you don’t have to do a detailed cleaning for many years.
 
Cocking the pistol puts the hammer strut into full compression-not the correct way to remove.
It would be a good move to go to You Tube and find videos on the full disassembly of the 1911-this would be the easiest way to learn how it's done.
There are several tricks to assembly and disassembly that are easier to view on a video compared to someone telling a person how on a forum.
I know how to completely do it but to write it down is not some of our strong suits.
 
Thank you all for your responses. I was able to contact Springfield directly and learned the following...

The mainspring housing design on my brand new 1911 Range Officer has indeed been changed. A pin is placed in the take down hole at manufacture so there is no need to insert the takedown pin into that hole for disassembly. The housing can be removed without concern for that.

That being the case why don’t they update the instructions in the manual that are included with the newly redesigned model and stop including the now useless take down pin tool that comes with the gun? That would save a new owner a ton of time and frustration! It would also have saved multiple calls to the Springfield support center to speak with multiple support people, most of whom read and referred me to those same outdated instructions in the manual and one of whom told me that I had surely damaged the main spring housing and would have to send the gun to them for repair at a cost of $70 shipping both ways!. It wasn’t until I insisted that they transfer me directly to their gunsmith expert that I finally learned the truth of the whole matter. This whole issue is so very strange.

Thanks again to you all for your help and for listening to my rant!
 
Now if I could trouble you all for another piece of advice...

With the mainspring housing successfully removed I’ve moved on to the next steps to the full frame disassembly and I’m now stuck at the thumb and grip safety removal. Removal of the thumb safety pin should be simple, right? Mine will not pop out as it should. I’ve tried a number of ways to get it to come out but it will not! I hesitate to resort to a large hammer and punch to try to force it out until I get some advice from you all. Have any of you experience a thumb safety pin that is stubborn to remove? o_O
 
pmmiller52 said:
Hey, I figure out how to remove the thumb safety lever! It is keyed and has to be aligned properly before it will slide out.
Click to expand...
So in response to your previous thread I would definitely avoid any large hammer scenarios with a 1911 or any other handgun. Everything’s you have queried is readily available in videos on the internet. If something is not moving the way you think it should be, there’s probably a reason (like the mag release) and 99 out of 100 times the large hammer is not going to improve things. If you don’t have one yet get a gunsmith’s hammer with a set of punches and an armorers block.
 
Thanks for the advice. Just kidding about the large hammer. :) I’ve enjoyed the whole experience of total disassembly, cleaning and tuning my new 1911 Range Officer. including the learning experiences along the way. Some of the fun was in acquiring new toys/tools needed to do it right including gun smithing hammer, punches, files, screw drivers, cleaning tools, etc. Now I’m going to assemble all the pieces back together into what I hope will be a clean, tuned and fully operational 1911 and then head for the range.
 
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