How can I loosen a threaded coupling on a Regulator?

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Sounds obvious....except the valve is so bloody tight we cant loosen it.Its a stem/coupling that threads directly into the regulator (and leads out to the machine/gun)Im thinking its a 'factory tight' situation....I can see traces of a red compound or tape.Are there any solutions to loosen up this thing?We tried all manner of wrenches ....even putting the piece in the vice, turning as hard as possible...nothing.  Wont budge.---------I believe the attachment photo worked.   The piece circled in red is the part we are having trouble removing.   ThanksDrew Attached ImagesLast edited by Andrew Young; 05-20-2010 at 12:29 AM.
Reply:I would first call Clarke and ask or complain. I would guess that the red material you are seeing is Loctite which can be softened by heat, but of course, care is required when working on something like a regulator. The trick would be to warm just the fitting, not the main body. I don't know the needed temperature, but guess somewhere between 200 and 300*F is required, maybe less.
Reply:i was concerned in yer other thread..this stuff shouildnt need all the wrench in the world...
Reply:For starters, you'll need to either remove the outer fitting and use a six-point socket on it, or just use a flare-nut wrench.  An ordinary wrench is likely to round off the nut.
Reply:Originally Posted by Andrew YoungSounds obvious....except the valve is so bloody tight we cant loosen it. . . .. . .We tried all manner of wrenches ....even putting the piece in the vice, turning as hard as possible...nothing.  Wont budge.
Reply:Ahhh....leftie loosie, rightie tightie?  Is it possible the threads are "reversed".  I can't think of the correct term right now but instead of leftie loosie it's rightie loosie.  Hope that makes sense.
Reply:Is it possible the threads are "reversed". I can't think of the correct term right now but instead of leftie loosie it's rightie loosie. Hope that makes sense.
Reply:It may be more than just the loctite, its possible that when it was put on there was some shavings in the threads or it was cross threaded on and adding in the loctite may have basically fused it together.
Reply:More than likely it is red loctite.  This looks like a Gentech 195 flowgauge made in China and private labeled for Clark.  If it is, the loctite they use is very difficult to break loose.  We always use heat to remove fittings.  You can try a six point socket, but by careful.  It is very easy to snap the fitting off, then you have a real mess.  A little heat is what it will take to get it out easily.  But you will have to disassemble the regulator removing the gauges, diaphragm and other internals before you heat it up.  Otherwise you run the risk of damaging those parts.  Hope that helps,JimOAdoctorwww.regulatortorchrepair.com
Reply:Thanks fellas.To be honest I am a 6'7 body builder with some records under my belt.....trust me when I say it didnt move under even my own strength....but its also because I felt a torquing action occurring and rather freaked out--eek.   I feared twisting the entire unit out of shape.I like the socket wrench idea.   None of the locking wrenches, plumbers wrenches etc worked thus far.....So heat it shall be.    Ill go easy and update.
Reply:btw, if they used locktite......why would anyone suppose its still leaking?
Reply:i cant see the pic that good but the gasfitting are reverse thread are you sure your not tightening it
Reply:fuel  thread is left hand, identified by a groove cut across the flats.. i dnt see one in that foto so it is right hand thread....
Reply:Good news.I put the regulator in a vice....lightly tightened it....and this allowed me to genuinely grip the body of the regulator rather than grasping all of it at once, and thus risking damage to the meters proper.  I brazed it quickly with some mapp gas ...maybe 2-3 seconds.....then was able to loosen it.   And yet I still had to use a lot of strength.   Whew.  No obvious damage to the threads on either the coupling or regulator.   Only thing I can fathom is that there must be a compound oddity in the threading that the red locktite stuff did not seal up completely.   Otherwise Im a'head scratching. If Im understanding correctly I can use Teflon tape to re-seal this thing???Or, should I use the red locktite stuff?
Reply:I brazed it quickly with some mapp gas
Reply:lol...I meant to write that I grazed it with some heat...not brazed (good eye)Good point about the cracks.   Sigh...something else that might slow up progress!Ill be picking up some teflon tape today....see what happens.
Reply:"Loctite" makes MANY different products.The thread-locking compounds are made to do just that, lock threads in place against loosening.  Those compounds may or may not 'seal' the threads either liquid tight or gas tight.ex:  Loctite 262 red high-strength thread locker is made to lock threads up to 3/4 inch.Loctite 263 red high-strength thread locker is made to lock and seal threaded fasteners.Then there's 272 and 277 and so on, all various "red" compounds with various different properties and applications and uses.etc, etc, etc.As to why the fitting was leaking, it was because something wasn't sealed all the way.    It could have been that the fitting wasn't tightened properly and thus it leaked (the thread locking compund may not have been designed to "seal" and just "locked" the threads), or the threads on either the male or female side are damaged (in which case a sealing compound may or may not work to seal things up), or the brass fitting was defective in some other way (cracked or porosity in the brass, or bad threads that cut through the ID and thus leak, etc, etc, most of which I have seen or experienced at some time or another), etc, etc, etc.The fix is to find out WHY the leak was occurring and address that, and not just necessarily throw some wonder-glop onto things.  Sometimes the fix -is- some wonder-glop, sometimes you have to get new parts AND put wonder-glop on there too.YMMV.  The best laid schemes ... Gang oft agley ...