Exalt Regulator Removal Tool vs. Trailer Hitch

[nerdcore]

5/9/2025 10:30AM CST EDIT:


Another coworker noticed the tank on my desk, and I lamented the issue. He was hellbent on a resolution. Used a 2½ ft. hollow aluminum pipe & a cargo strap to make the most redneck strap wrench I have ever seen. BEHOLD:



So much red loctite. Whoever assembled these for First Strike should be ashamed of themselves.



So, uh, in conclusion, the Exalt reg removal tool worked?

~~~

Previously:
So, I half-expected this tool to work fine, despite being 3D-printed. But this is the result of trying to unscrew a reg from a bottle, placing the black adaptor part into my truck's trailer hitch, and turning the bottle by hand. The problem, probably, is both the white and black parts need to be recessed into the hitch receiver, not just the black part.

The reg did not come off.

[Jsc5150]

I can’t think of a worse accessory to 3D print, and I love 3D printing.

[Ramfaux]

Just use a dead blow or a 2x4 and hit the fill nipple till it turns

Edit: spelling

[nerdcore]

Dead blow?

[Ramfaux]

Dead blow hammer

[mueller]

works until it doesn't / I've done major reg damage this way and don't recommend it now

[BubbleHead87]

I use the HK reg tool. Works great.

[boomersruckus]

Place a towel over the reg and just put that into the trailer hitch.

[Trbo323]

I use the CP one. It's all aluminum and fits the majority of regs without having to take anything off. There's threaded holes on the bottom so you could mount it to an extension tube for your trailer hitch if you really wanted to run it that way. I just throw it in my vice

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[nerdcore]

Placed the Exalt tool in a vice between wood, still can't unscrew this reg, but at least it didn't crack the tool any further.

Also tried a dead blow hammer to the nipple (we have one at work, apparently). Didn't budge.

This is beyond my understanding, i may actually have to send this off. The bottle itself needs hydro but i don't plan on using it - i really just want to use the reg on a newer bottle (this bottle is a peanut tank for my kid, but she doesn't play anymore).

[Trbo323]

When all else fails, apply fire

What are you using to grab the tank? Hands or strap wrench or something else

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[nerdcore]

Both. I even asked a friend at work who is objectively stronger than me. Never in 20+ years has removing a tank reg from a bottle been a problem.

So, applying heat. Where and how? I would like both bottle and reg to survive.

[tyronejk]

Is the issue not enough grip on the bottle or not being able to apply enough torque? I've had one Draxxas tank/reg that i wasn't able to separate but I didn't have a dedicated reg tool and my setup slipped on the reg and I gave up. I had enough grip on the bottle but don't know if I would have been able to apply enough torque anyway. That thing was on tight.

[nerdcore]

Oh we got grip. It has an Exalt tank butt on it, gives it a lot of grip. Used a strap wrench directly on the bottle, above the Exalt butt. The reg sits nicely in the tool I showed above. So reg wasn't slipping. My grip wasn't slipping. My coworker's grip wasn't slipping. The strap wrench wasn't slipping. I can't imagine neither of us being strong enough to get it loose.

[mueller]

dont remember who made these or when but it's been great for me. I clamp it in a vise and use a large strap wrench on bottle in the hardest cases.
HK tool looks almost similar but it's trying to allow you to leave parts on and that's where I feel a lot of these devices fail / are incompatible.

I wanted to leave parts on too at first, but it's really just faster to pull everything off and get it over with most of the time

[nerdcore]

I ordered an UNDR Bear Claw, which has spots for different tools to gain leverage (hex neck for crescent wrenches, slots for shoving rod things like screwdrivers).

[nerdcore]

Well. Refer to first post for an update. Success.

[Trbo323]

dont remember who made these or when but it's been great for me. I clamp it in a vise and use a large strap wrench on bottle in the hardest cases.
HK tool looks almost similar but it's trying to allow you to leave parts on and that's where I feel a lot of these devices fail / are incompatible.

I wanted to leave parts on too at first, but it's really just faster to pull everything off and get it over with most of the time

I used one of those over the weekend at supergame. I'm not a fan of pulling off everything to get the reg off the tank but I do have to say that tool is well thought out at least

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[mueller]

yea on-the-field it's definitely more of a PITA to pull all hardware. I'm usually using this at-workbench and probably rebuilding the reg anyway, when I pull it.....

[tyronejk]

I'm impressed that that 3D printed part withstood the forces from that big cheater bar

[nerdcore]

There are spots where the burst disks & fill nipple dug into the white plastic portion, but instead of cracking, the plastic is just dented or smooshed. A vice is definitely the best use for this particular tool.

[BubbleHead87]

If I can't get a reg off and I'm torquing the shit out of it, I'll assumed it was locite. Lol I just dunk the reg in boiling boiling water for 30 seconds and try again. Typically I can get it off within 3 dunks in the water bath.

[Siress]

Torque alone never feels like the right answer, but the epoxy can breakdown under the heat required to breakdown the loctite... though in my years of removing regs, I and everyone else was using a blowtorch to heat them up if typical torque didn't work.

Just dug up a spec sheet stating that exposure to >73deg C destroys the tank. The loctite softens at 250deg C, so...