Stripping a Thompson

1. remove the screw on the bottom of the 'wooden' pistol grip and slide off
2. remove the two grubscrew holding the fire selector and safety levers and remove the levers
3. remove the two x head screws you can see after removing the above levers
4. pull the battery connector through the hole into the body of the receiver.
5. disconnect the two wires going to the motor.
6. remove the two screws holding the motor in place and remove motor
7.slide the gearbox out of the receiver

Something like that - I've only done it once on a TM M1a1

Hope it helps? Just remember to note where everything came from.

I'm sure Webby or some other Tommy owner can help

Del

the fire selector and safety have a small allen screw in. remove them and the screws underneath and the gearbox will come out. will try and find the you tube video I used when i did mine

edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPKCKrJ8fSo

there you go. its not brilliant camera work but theres several parts including the gearbox breakdown all from the same guy

Yeah its quite simple, watch the small parts as they are very easy to loose, you will need a very small Allen key to remove the 2 fire selector levers, under them are 2 plastic posts, each one is secured with a small screw, these will have to be removed too, then remove the grip screw & grip, I think you may have to remove the motor as well at this point, just remove the 2 wires & 2 securing screws, not sure if it pulls up through the receiver like the AK one does with the motor attatched, seperate the mechbox from the reciever slowly & feed the battery lead plug through the hole in the lower receiver, also watch for the nut which sits in the lower receiver that the stock screw fits into, this normally falls out, when you have separated the mechbox from the lower receiver remove the plastic fire selector piece & the 2 plastic cam pieces, note where they go, they are different shapes, before you split the box remove the trigger switch unit, here's a pic of the inside of the gearbox where all the bits go, have fun,

Thanks all.

B&A - did my information make sense? i need to do similar to my M1A1 lol - just been a while since done the takedown.

It does make sense, in fact it's obvious you have to disconnect the selectors etc, I just never thought of those or saw the grub screws.

I'm going to have a go at the weekend when I can take my time and take a picture at each step so I'll let you know how it goes.

If I start on Saturday I should have it well and truly broken beyond repair by Sunday and I'll be trawling the for sale forum for a replacement by Monday.

to be honest the thompsons one of the easier guns i've disassembled it just takes a bit longer because of how much you need to remove to get the gearbox out

I've decided to take SteveD's advice and I'm intending to chop a coil off the spring in my chinese Thompson to lower the fps a bit.

I think I'll join you!

As a quite important note to those about to strip:
After stripping mine down today, I have noticed that there are two plastic plungers and springs that sit on the inside of each selector switch body, which engage into the receiver to provide the clicky in-position feel to the levers. As soon as the levers are removed they will almost certainly fall out (mine did! But just the plungers, the springs stayed inside). Keep them somewhere safe. I was wondering why quite a few other Thompsons I had handled didn't have positively locking selector and safety, and now I know why they probably didn't - lost plungers! Some people may actually want to remove these to provide a more easy rotation of both controls.

Ah, interesting. I've had my Thompson to bits many times and the selectors don't have any detent (auto/semi selector is a bit sloppy, tend to move when you aren't looking!) so I guess that is what has happened to me along the way. Funny thing is I don't ever recall them actually clicking into place so I thought is was just wear!

Ah, interesting. I've had my Thompson to bits many times and the selectors don't have any detent,.. ...so I guess that is what has happened to me along the way.

"Detent"! Thats the word I was looking for! Thanks Chommers. They're tiny little nipples of plastic, which could probably be replaced with the rounded-off ends of plastic cocktail sticks. The springs are probably still inside the levers, if you did want to add that functionality back into them.

Now I wondered what all thoes little springs where on the floor

there is a guy in the states who for some reason breaks new TM thompsons & sell all the bits, quite usefull,

http://cgi.ebay.com/Metal-Body-TH-7-Mar ... .m20.l1116

Steve.D

Just done mine and now given it a few test fires to make sure everything is happy. I took two full turns off of the spring and re-flatted the end by heating it up on the gas hob until glowing a mild red and then clamping/holding the bottom coil flat together with the next coil above it while it cooled with a pair of needle nose pliers. Worked a treat! Just need to get it chrono'd and see if it's made any reasonable difference to the FPS.

I now love the Ver6 gearbox. It's had so much goodness designed into it that makes it such an ease and a treat to work on. Simplicity that works great! No awkward/precise refitting of tappet plate, trigger mech', etc... to have to deal with.

Help!

I've got inside the gearbox but must have opened it the wrong way up or something because all the gears and springs went everywhere lol.

I think I've pieced it back together correctly but just can't figure out how the anti-reversal latch spring goes in.

If someone could describe where it goes I'd be very grateful.

Pictures below illustrate where I'm at.

Picture 2.

It goes on the anti reverse latch, kinda like this pic, the spring pushes the lever against the bevel gear so it only turns one way, the yellow markings on the pic are the spring,

Thanks Steve.

Have now done it, put it back together and it actually works!

I took about 1.5 coils off and it's now chrono'ing between 348 and 352 every shot, so pretty much bang on (more by luck than judgement).

Hope you got all the shims in the right way

Steve.D