AK47 Disassembly
and Upgrade Guide
Well as a
stock rifle, the AK is fairly boring. It’s only fair to fit a Systema Power
FTK (Full Tune-up Kit UK Level 1), so it was decided
to buy and fit one. Again, as with much of our equipment, it was bought from
WolfArmouries .
The Systems FTK includes:
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IMPORTANT:
Please note, this article is correct to the best of my knowledge. Taking
a gearbox to pieces, and upgrading it, is the most complex thing that
you can do to an airsoft weapon. If you are not confident that you know what
you are doing, I’d recommend that you consult someone who is, and get them
to either aid you, or watch over you as you do it for the first time. This
website, and it’s members will not be held responsible or liable for damage
to anyone or anything resulting from information or advice contained herein.
Please
note that this is only the first draft of this guide, as such,
it will be upgraded and updated regularly when I have the chance. The information
has yet to be verified and proof-read, so they may be errors in the following
text.
Part 1 – Stripping
the rifle
The top half of the Please note at this The piece of steel |
In order to extract This can be done at The handle is held |
The next thing to To separate the 2 It’s important to |
To take the 2 halves Two of them are recessed |
When all 4 screws You can put the barrel |
Now, to remove the When these screws |
Part 2- Disassembling
the Gearbox
This is possibly
one of the more difficult tasks to do, on the disassembly side of things. One
of the problems of taking a gearbox to bits is that there is a highly compressed
spring running across the top inside the chassis. With an AK gearbox, this spring
is held in place at one end by the cylinder (the brass tube), and at the other
by a rectangular piece of metal, that is secured into two holes on either side
of the gearbox chassis. This spring will fly out, given half a chance.
As a precautionary measure, make sure that there is nothing breakable behind
the motor end of the gearbox (the end that doesn’t fire) like your eye or your
friends head – this is the end that the spring will fly out of if you are not
careful.
Before To detach The motor |
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Now you must take off the ‘fire-select’ assembly. This is made of 4 pieces of metal. There are 2 parts on one side, an ‘L’ shaped piece of metal, and an ‘A’ shaped piece it connects to and sits on. The ‘L’ shaped piece can be removed by undoing the screw that you can find in the centre of it. The ‘A’ shaped piece is merely held in place by a pivot, so it should come off very easily. Don’t worry too much |
Of the rest of the Please |
To gain entry
to the gearbox, you’ll need to separate the two halves of the chassis. First
you should remove the large piece of steel clipped over the top of the gearbox.
You simply slide it towards the valve end of the gearbox, using a flat blade
screwdriver. Don’t worry too much if you bend it as there is a reinforced replacement
part in the Systema kit – obviously it’s better to keep it in good nick though.
After you have
safely removed the top cover, carefully remove all the screws on the outer edge
of the gearbox. You should find that some screws are torx heads, and some are
philips head. When you remove the last screw, the 2 sides of the gearbox should
stay together, as they are a very tight fit, they may not so, so be careful
that you keep the gearbox on a level flat surface, so that nothing can roll
out. To ensure that the gearbox doesn’t ‘explode’, keep a firm and constant
pressure on the brass cylinder, it’s normally easier to get a friend to do this
for you while you undo the screws.
When Now for If all |
Part
3- Fitting the Systema Parts
The first thing to There will be plenty The brass cylinder |
You can now remove On the underside of The next thing to |
Now is a good time You’ll need a bit It’s a real bummer |
Make sure you screw Good luck.. it took When that is done, |
Now the next
bit is fairly complex so I’m going to rely on a few pictures, much more than
normal, to show you what I mean.
There are 3
gears to put in and a small non-return lever with a spring on it.
Assemble the
cylinder set, this is made from the ribbed cylinder, and the solid brass end.
The brass end needs coating in silicon grease where it will touch the cylinder,
and around the rubber grommet. Then place the brass end inside the end of the
cylinder that does not have a flared end.
Now for an
important bit of information: In the Systema FTK there would have been a bag
with 2 teenie tiny washers in it. Carefully open this bag, the two washers are
of different sizes, one is larger (and thicker) than the other.
(The following
directions are in relation to the gearbox images shown below) The small washer
goes on the top of the main drive gear (this is the one that drives the piston)
. The large washer goes on the UNDERSIDE of the main drive gear between the
gear, and the new metal bushing you recently put in. This washer needs to go
under a small lever you’ll find there, simply slacken the black screw that holds
the lever down, slide the washer under that lever, then tighten the screw back
up; but make sure that the lever can still pivot easily, so don’t over tighten
it.
Before the next set The bushings need Coat the inside of |
The first The last When |
Now you have all the The black nozzle arm, You should find that |
With the cylinder Now comes the difficult It takes a bit of It’s normally easier |
When the spring
is in the right place, you can attempt to place the other side of the gearbox
on, while holding the spring down. It’ll take a bit of tweaking, as the gear
axles need to be located in the correct holes, as does the cylinder etc., so
you may need to poke a sharp thin screwdriver in to poke things into the correct
place.
When the 2
sides are together, fit the screws, and secure the 2 sides together, then attach
the replacement top cover for the gearbox, and slide it on, from the cylinder
end first. I found I had to tap mine (LIGHTLY) with a small tac-hammer
to get it to slide on. You may wish to grease it a bit to ease it on.
Part
4- Rebuilding the Rifle
Now you simply
need to follow parts 1 and 2 in reverse to put the gearbox back in. There
are some points to note though, throughout assembly.
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When you put the gearbox You’ll find that if |
When everything is I’d recommend putting |
When you go to fire the
rifle for the first time, I’d recommend firing a few shots, to ensure everything
is ok, rather than blasting away on full auto. If you have (for some reason)
got a problem in the motor/gearbox, the fuse in the stock will blow –
this is an indication of something being jammed that causes the motor to either
be put under excessive strain, or to not turn at all. If this happens, strip
the rifle back down to the gearbox, crack it open, and have a look, as you’ve
got something fundamental wrong inside, like a gear out of place.
This page
last updated
Monday, May 28, 2001 2:34 AM
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and content are copyright 2001 ArniesAirsoft