Dillon 550 VERY sluggish

[safenate]

I've got about 10K handloads on my 550 in 7 yrs, mostly pistol. Recently it started getting slow & additional tention on up/down strokes. So, I threw some gunlube on it and finished that lot of ammo. Today I went to set up for 9x19 and it kept getting slower and tighter. So I wiped it down and put some grease on it. This made it worse. What have i done and how do i fix it? Got two new 9's coming this week and it is time to tweak out some Minor loads. Thanks in advance.

[R/T Performance]

I have had a simlar issue with mine clean the shaft real well and the pivots.( brake clean works good)

Then lube it all with Wd-40 or some kinda fairly dry lubricant.

Work it up and down spraying the shaft in both postion wipe and reapt till it frees up

[Tom S.]

Look here: http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=31434

[safenate]

Thanks. Some dry lube on the main shaft and some drops in the 6 holes = Good to Go!

[Rob Boudrie]

When my 550 was getting sluggish, the problem turned out to be the two linkage arms - the ones about 4-5" long with a 1/2" hole in each end that link the handle to the shaft. These are held in place by two large pins - one that has a hold so you can use a large punch to reach the other one to push it out (press fit in the the Aluminum press body). When I removed these, they pivot point was dry and the interior of the shaft was heavily scored. Dillon send me two new linkage arms for free (the usual great service), and I lubed and re-installed these and the press (with all the other recommended cleaning/lube) was suddenly like new.