Does USDivers still service mid-eighties J valves?

[Rred]

I tried calling them to find out today, but apparently either they're all being held hostage, or they've all taken the day off, and either way they forgot to change the phone message. There's no one home there. (Yeah, I'm oneathem damn New Yorkers who thinks a business should be able to answer the phone during business hours.)

But someone offered a 1980's USD J-valve to me, knowing that I prefer J's. Standard chromed body, black knob and J-pull, mid-eighties style, not the old old ones. I'm just trying to find out if that can still be overhauled, because I'd need to clean it out and make sure any springs, the J "block", etc. are all in good condition before I did anything with it.

Seeing how well shops often fiddle inside things...I'd want to know USD still had the *right* parts available.

Well, assuming they survive the hostage situation, or come back from the party, or whatever is happening out there today.

 

[runsongas]

trident has parts. us divers only sells snorkel gear nowadays and i am pretty sure aqualung discontinued parts and support for j valves.

 

[Rred]

Who is Trident?
I know USD was still making/supplying the J's for government contract, and that they were going to bail out of that and turn the business over to XS Scuba, maybe two years ago. (Hmmm...maybe XS also is doing repairs on those now.)

 

[JamesBon92007]

I tried calling them to find out today, but apparently either they're all being held hostage, or they've all taken the day off, and either way they forgot to change the phone message. There's no one home there. (Yeah, I'm oneathem damn New Yorkers who thinks a business should be able to answer the phone during business hours.)

But someone offered a 1980's USD J-valve to me, knowing that I prefer J's. Standard chromed body, black knob and J-pull, mid-eighties style, not the old old ones. I'm just trying to find out if that can still be overhauled, because I'd need to clean it out and make sure any springs, the J "block", etc. are all in good condition before I did anything with it.

Seeing how well shops often fiddle inside things...I'd want to know USD still had the *right* parts available.

Well, assuming they survive the hostage situation, or come back from the party, or whatever is happening out there today.

Are you saying you won't trust it to your LDS? I'm not familiar with your particular valve but mine usually just need a cleaning and an O-ring or two. Even my ScubaPro Adjustable J-Valve is not all that complicated. I'm not seeing any valve-specific manuals but perhaps the parts catalogs will tell you if what you need is available:

http://www.frogkick.dk/manuals/aqualung/

Here's some part numbers for their valves, maybe one of them is yours:

http://www.aqualung.com/militaryandprofessional/product_information/Cylinder_Valves_02_r1_10.pdf

Other sites have other manuals too and if I come across a valve manual I'll be back.

 

[Rred]

I trust my local LDS to make a ham sandwich. Maybe.

I'm sure there are really great ones, guys who are busting their chops and aiming for professionalism in every way. And yet, back I had my regulator serviced by a shop (once) with a great reputation I still had to readjust it afterwards to stop freeflowing. And a second one, because it wasn't as easy to breath as it had been. Twice, off the mark.

Then there's the five star shop that overhauled my J's last time. The pressure gauge fluttered with every breath after that, something it never had done before. Ah, turned out they had used parts that weren't quite right, causing a restriction, causing the flutter.

Oh, and the guys also replaced my burst discs, which very intentionally were the old fashioned copper plate kind, with the new integral kind. So now I'm stuck with the new kind, because they threw out my old parts. This bothers me because I used to apply FDA and oxygen safe grease to both sides of the burst disc, which ensured it could not corrode. The new discs are inaccessible from the outside, so I can't protect them.

Yeah, I trust shops to make a ham sandwich. I know, most of them do a good job most of the time. I just want to aim a little higher than that, whenever I can. I'd prefer to *know* what's going on with my gear. I just don't know the local shops (plural) well enough to be sure.

 

[JamesBon92007]

Well, actually, the only time I ever go into a dive shop is to rent tanks or to book a boat dive. So far I've managed to find detailed instructions on how to service almost all my gear.

 

[diversteve]

TRIDENT-DIVING-ACCESSORIES

Only ordered through your local shop but you can view their entire catalog on their website. .

I doubt US Divers does any scuba repairs now - Snorkeling Gear for Adventurers - U.S. Divers

 

[AZTinman]

For what it's worth, I still dive and maintain a couple of rigs that use Conshelf XIV first and second stages. Mine are late-80's manufacture. Rebuild kits are still available. Rebuild kits come marked as Aqualung... not sure what's available for J-valves.

A local dive shop tech services the regs and I've never had any issues with service work. The shop has threatened to put my Conshelf's on display with their historic diving gear a few times (LOL).

-AZTinman

 

[JamesBon92007]

Some Trident items are available on eBay and so are some valve service kits but I didn't see any for US Divers but if you check from time to time you might find one. Hopefully it will include instructions.

 

[JamesBon92007]

The shop has threatened to put my Conshelf's on display with their historic diving gear a few times (LOL).
-AZTinman

The last time I walked into a LDS I thought he wanted to put me on display in his dive museum.