Vintage Eleiko set refurb project (Pics).

[ProtienandIron]

This Eleiko set was advertised on ebay last night. I put in an offer for a 'buy it now', and the buyer accepted and ended the auction early. The price I offered was £220. I couldn't see the plates clearly, but the seller described the faults. Eleiko bars often sell for £250 in the UK, so I knew I was going to at least break even if I ever go on to sell it on. My plan is to refurb it all as best as I can without spending too much. Theres a lot of history in these plates. Its all going to be a lot of work, but I think it will be worth it in the end.

1x Bar. The bar is probably 20 years old but still as straight as the day it was made. Only problem is that one side is not spinning (jammed).
2x Elieko collars
2x 25kg (the one with bolts has probably had its day sadly, but I'll do what I can)
2x 20kg (good cond.)
2x 15kg (good cond.)
2x 10kg (Reinforcing plates fitted, but will need sorting out)
2x 5kg Eleiko plates
2x 2.5 Eleiko plates
2x Toast rack plate stands. British made and heavy duty. (Needs de rusting and painting)

When I got there, the seller chucked in;

4x 10kg plates. (These were origionally cut out of solid bright billet steel) Very happy with these as a bonus.
2x Homemade wooden training plates. (Probably going to throw away)







This thread is going to document my refurb from start to finish. I'm not going to ever make these look new again, but I will be giving them a new lease of life.

Jobs to do;
------------
1) Clean up the bar. Already given it a wire wool and wd40 wi****wn, but I need to have another go to really clean up those sleeves.
2) De rust, de grease, and strip down the collars. May need new springs.
3) De rust the inserts of the plates
4) Re Paint the lettering in (gold as original).
5) De rust and re paint the 5 and 2.5kg plates (yellow as original, and black lettering)
6) Strip down the reenforced plates and see what I'm dealing with.
7) Try and fix the bad 25kg. I think this will be unsavlagable but its worth a shot.
8) Clean up and paint plate racks
9) Polish the 4 10kg plates
10) MOST IMPORTANT JOB OF ALL; Try and sort out the sleeve that isnt spinning.

[ajsat23]

congrats on the buy, cant wait to see how it all turns out.

[OSUDimond]

Looks like a fun project. Can't wait to see the results. Keep us updated.

[AttyGuy]

Sweet!

[swimmer32]

Can't wait to see updated pics. I love seeing referb equipment.

[Vermonter]

That is beast, I can't wait to see what you do with the collection!

[ProtienandIron]

Thanks very much guys, I'll get started in a few days and post pics as I go.

Can anyone ID which bar it is? And does anyone know how/if I can take it apart? I'm trying to find the thread that shows how to service all the bars but not having any luck.

[ajsat23]

This Thread?
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...pic+bar+thread

[PassinThrough]

jelly brah

[yabbadabbadoher]

any preview of what method you'll be using? I was planning a similar refurb, but had no idea of what to do, so didnt even pick them up. good luck

[trnk1001]

I haven't taken an Eleiko apart, but that end cap on your Eleiko bar looks a lot like the Ivanko (OBX-20kg) end cap in the Barbell thread. If it is anything like the Ivanko bar, then that end cap was just hammered into place, so you can pull it off easily (it just covers the snap rings, nothing special). Once you get that cap off, you'll probably need some snap-ring pliers. I have not taken the snap rings out of my bar yet, so I can't offer any advice on that part. Here are a couple photos of my old Ivanko bar. You can see the hole on the end cap in the third photo. The rest of the photos are taken before Ivanko sent me an end cap (for the other sleeve).

[ProtienandIron]

Thanks everyone, I hope I can do this. My biggest worry is the bar as I have never serviced a high end bar before.

any preview of what method you'll be using? I was planning a similar refurb, but had no idea of what to do, so didnt even pick them up. good luck

Check the bottom of the first post just under the pics. Thats my plan of action. Only thing i can think of adding to that list is a trial of car products such as back to black, armourall etc. to see which one brings the luster of the plates back a little. I'll be trying them on the crappy 25kg plate to see which one comes out best.

@trnk1001- Thanks for the advice and the pics. Repped. That is very similar looking to my bar. Do you have any idea if the end cap will go back ok when I take it off? When that snap ring is removed, does the sleeve slide right off? I have no idea what type of bearings or bushing it has, so its all going to be a surprise. I'm going to have to stop off at the hardware store to see if I can find some snap ring pliers.

Thanks for the support, advice and help guys.

[trnk1001]

@trnk1001- Thanks for the advice and the pics. Repped. That is very similar looking to my bar. Do you have any idea if the end cap will go back ok when I take it off? When that snap ring is removed, does the sleeve slide right off? I have no idea what type of bearings or bushing it has, so its all going to be a surprise. I'm going to have to stop off at the hardware store to see if I can find some snap ring pliers.

Thanks for the support, advice and help guys.

Thanx for the the rep. As for the end cap, unless it's bent out of shape when removed, you should have no problem putting it back on. If it's anything like the Ivanko, it'd just go straight in (no twist or turn). I have found only a couple photos of an Eleiko bar with snap rings removed (this is not my bar). The first one is a picture of the Ivanko Snap Ring Kit (not sure if it's still available) so you can see the end cap by itself.The second photo is the bar without end cap and snap ring. The third one is bar without end cap (similar to the Ivanko bar in my previous post). The last one is not an Eleiko. It just shows the layout of the 5 needle bearings in a Werksan bar (may help with disassembling/reassembling). Good luck with your project.

[ProtienandIron]

Thanks very much for that, you've been very helpful. I might have a play with it today.

[ironwill2008]

Repped for including your dog in the pic.

[BloodType3R]

Thanks everyone, I hope I can do this. My biggest worry is the bar as I have never serviced a high end bar before.



Check the bottom of the first post just under the pics. Thats my plan of action. Only thing i can think of adding to that list is a trial of car products such as back to black, armourall etc. to see which one brings the luster of the plates back a little. I'll be trying them on the crappy 25kg plate to see which one comes out best.

I'm not sure how easy it would be to get this in the UK but, silicone based firearm cleaning oils would probably work nicely to bring out the shine on the black plates. You should still be able to find a "gun and reel" cloth which will do the same thing.

[ProtienandIron]

Repped for including your dog in the pic.

Thanks very much Ironwill, I'm glad you like. My dog usually ends up in my pics, we go everywhere together and he is very inquisitive.

@Bloodtype- Thanks for the reccomendation, I think I may just have some somewhere. If I can find it I'll run a trial the same time as the others. it will probably work.



I spend today painting the 4 small plates. I started off by giving them a zap with the wire brush one of my small hand drills. The plate on the left of the pic shows the difference it makes.



They then got their base coat of yellow. I am going to apply black lettering tommorrow, but I may just try something a bit different.



In between coats I occupied my time by using the wire brush attachment on the centres of the rubber plates. As you can see from the pic, they looked in a bad way. But after a quick spin of the wheel they were back to bare steel again. All the rust was cleaned off with a bit of wire wool and 3 in one spray.





Putting things off with the bar, I spent some time taking off the steel reinforcing plates as they are all bent and rusted. It turns out that one of the plates has splits all over. It still sits on a bar so not all is lost. I'll get some pics up tommorrow.

Having put off the bar all day, I knew it was time to get to work. Took just about every tool I could to try and remove the end cap. No matter what I tryed I just couldnt get it off. This was going to cause problems, so I switched to plan B in the form of brute force and ignorance with a rubber mallet to the sleeve. I whacked it from every concievable angle and eventually I felt it move. Lots of oil, and it started spinning again. Not as smooth or quick as the other side, but comparible to a cheap bushing bar- at least it is now moving.

I gave it one final clean, and here it is.

[AttyGuy]

Awesome work. A fresh coat of paint can really make a difference.

[ProtienandIron]

Awesome work. A fresh coat of paint can really make a difference.

Absolutely, thanks. It was good to strip the lifetime of rust and dirt off them and then put the true colour back. It wouldn't be my choice, but its in keeping with the sport and the original colour. I'm looking forward to starting work on the collars. They are a mess, but I'm not going to recoat them or anything. I'm just going to strip them down and remove the rust and oil them back up. The condition of them should match the bar nicely.

[pumping4life]

I'm curious, have you contacted Eleiko to see if they offer any kind of a bar rehab service?

[ProtienandIron]

When I looked on the website I couldnt find anything about it. Even if they did, I could only imagine the price would end up pushing my bar up to the price of a new one. Its not really a problem now as I managed to get the sleeve moving. Its moving well, just not eleiko well if you know what I mean. If it jams up again, then I know there is something wrong and I'll have to look down that route, but for now- I'll just save the pennies.

[ajsat23]

Great Job, cant wait to see how it looks with the lettering complete. Now if only I can find a great set of weights worthy of restoring at a good price!

[trnk1001]

Great job painting the metal plates and getting the sleeve spinning again. I didn't know it would be that hard to remove the end cap on the Eleiko. Wish we could get Vinko from Ivanko Barbell to chime in and tell us how to remove one.

Not sure about Eleiko, but Ivanko did offer bar rehab service for their high end bars (according to one of Vinko's posts in 2008). I have similar issue with my Ivanko bar, both sleeves spin well, but the one with the end cap intact does spin much better than the other. Since I bought my bar used, it's just not worth it to have it fixed. I wouldn't mess with it unless the sleeves stop spinning altogether.

Don't know if it's just my bar, but the sleeve on the bearing bar doesn't spin all that much when there's no plate on it (compared to a bolted or bushing bar). It would spin a lot longer than other bars with a 10kg plate on though. In fact, I was able to squat a few times with the sleeves still spinning (just to see how long it'd last).

[Skidmarx]

I bet that end cap would come off it you heat it up with a torch first. Is that a needle bearing bar? Maybe the bearing are loose inside and jamming up.

[ProtienandIron]

I should have asked a bit more info about the bar when I bought it. The old guy I bought it from used to be an accomplished weightlifter in his day (140kg snatch). We got talking about training and the iron game. One of those guys you meet and instantly like. His name is David Abblett, heres some of his records, check out the age in the second link:
http://www.britishweightlifting.org/...en/men-masters
http://www.iawa.org.uk/files/Downloa...s_Olympics.pdf

Like I said, there is a lot of history in these weights, so I have to do my best to look after them.

You could be onto something with the heat gun Skid, I hadn't thought of that. I take it you mean heat the sleeve up to make it expand?

Looking at the bar yesterday it almost looks like the metal of the sleeves has overlapped the cap. Its almost like the bar has been hammered/dropped on its end, or maybe just from being stored inverted. Its very minimal so its hard to tell, but it may just explain why its not coming out easily.

[ProtienandIron]

Todays job has been to take apart the vintage Eleiko star collars and get them working again. One was completly locked from years sitting idle and rusty. My old friend the rubber mallet helped me out again. A few good hard whacks and it budged. Photos rarely do stuff like this justice, but the pics below hopefully show how rough they looked.





The collars were striped down and I used the wire brush on the drill to take the worse of the rust and flaky chrome off. I then wd40'ed all the pieces big and small, and scrubed with wire wool and a wire brush. With a sponge and brillo pad and a tub of water and washing up liquid I washed it all off. After they were dryed I lightly oiled the threads, springs, and moving parts with 3in1 oil. Here is the finished result;





When fitted to the bar the collars match perfectly due to the equal amount of wear and tear they have had over the years. They can now grow old gracefully.

[TheDude8734]

Some amazing work you have done already!
What makes it even cooler than just being the high end set it is,
is that you have some history behind them with an accomplished power lifter.
Can't wait to see the final results after all the work you're putting into them!

_EDIT: I'd rep, but I have to spread reps around first.

[AttyGuy]

The collars look great. Why not repaint them?

[ProtienandIron]

@ TheDude- cheers mate, the history makes these worthwhile saving.

The collars look great. Why not repaint them?

I thought about painting them but due to the about of moving parts, threads etc. I reckon they would look rough again pretty quick as they are a high use item. If I was going to refinish them then I would probably go with re chroming or power coating. Another option I am thinking of is to just have them totally de chromed and then go for a patina look- this would be my preference and it would work out cheaper. As they stand, they match the bar beautifully (in a rustic way) ,as I think the chrome plating is the same as that used on parts of the bar. The bar has been used hard for many years alongside the collars, so the wear and tear looks equal too. I edited the post above to add a few more pics showing them on the bar, the lights not good, but hopefully you can see what I mean.

[Vermonter]

Yep, they look awesome, I wouldn't touch them any more than you did.
I repainted a pair I had, and you are right, it isn't as nice as a simple "old school" look. I ended up selling them and now use some other ancient ones I picked up recently

They do really look great on that bar. They are inseparable now, imo.