Bagcraft: Restoring a ball hook swivel

[rdshackleford]

I'm getting sort of tired of doing all this heavy lifting on the forum. I had a great pictorial instruction post planned, but I just can't find the strength to do it. So here goes.



Comments/questions welcome.

-Rusty

[jaja6009]

Is that an Everlast or Boxing gear swivel? And I'd love to hear the full story like where you sourced the balls, and other hardware. I've been buying up used Everlast swivels from Craigslst in my area. Ebayers want too much money, but Craigslist people are selling them dirt cheap sometimes.

[rdshackleford]

Thank you for the tips. I understand the eye bolt size problem. I would have preferred a smaller diameter eye bolt, and shorter S-hook for that matter. But I don't have the equipment to do much fabrication. The ball and eye hook were from eBay. Jaja, I've lost track of where I got this particular swivel base, probably a vintage Everlast.

The ball is 25mm tapped with M6 metric threads. I went with 25mm as a direct replacement for the original ball in that particular swivel. The original ball was corroded and no amount of my polishing made it smooth enough. The new ball is polished stainless steel and sold as a machinery handle. But pretty much a tapped ball bearing. The ball was about $13 shipped from the UK.

I only found the eye bolt you see that had M6 threads, and even that one I had to cut to proper length so the very base of the bolt is the only thing that touches the swivel base. If the eye can contact, that will cause non-uniform rebounds. It is a marine grade stainless eye bolt, around $5 shipped.

I don't yet know about the durability of this ball, time will tell. But right now, its very low noise as it still slides smooth as glass in the swivel base. If I let the bag fall from its max height position, the ball will continue to sway back and fourth for 30 to 40 seconds depending on the bag. It totally blows away the swing of any other swivel in my collection. And that is completely dry, no lubrication.

-Rusty