How To Tighten A Loose Zippo Hinge
Takeshi Krueger
nothing fancy needed for the basics..
1) needle nose pliers
2) small flathead screw driver in case somebody overtightened flint spring cap
3) brass bristle brush
for the two more complicated repairs..
to fix a wobbly hinge, you'll need a vise and two large blade flat head screwdrivers. if you need to remove a stuck flint, you'll need a drill bit set and a drill.
the 2 most common zippos are the traditional and the slim. both are essentially the same in operation and construction, just a different size. both are serviced the same ways.
flip your lighter's lid open and grab a hold of the chimney. obviously only do this on a cold lighter! one hand on the body of the lighter, one hand on the chimney, pull! the insert should come out with a little resistance. the insert contains the striking mechanism, the cam that keeps the lid shut, the wick, and the cotton that retains the fuel.
zippos use lighter fluid. lighter fluid may smell offensive to some folks, it may irritate skin, and it may damage plastics and paints. it is obviously highly flammable. be careful when you pull out the insert on a recently filled lighter, the fluid may drip out.
what needs to be serviced?
1) your wick may be worn or used up
2) the strike wheel may be loaded up with flint debris and dirt
3) the hinge may be broken or sloppy. a broken hinge must go back to zippo for welding of a new hinge.
4) the cotton that holds the fuel may be contaminated
5) the flip cam may be worn or have a weak spring. this is beyond the scope of this instructable. if sent to zippo they send you a new insert instead of repairing your old one. there's apparently no simple fix for this.
what if i cant get my insert out?
problem! pull the wick out entirely, this should leave a hole where the wick goes. take a can of wd40 with the straw on it and shoot the lighter full of wd40 via that hole. you want to fill the lighter full of it. let it soak for a few hours and try tugging on it again. if it still wont budge, you may need to accept the fact that you may have to use needle nose pliers to grip the chimney. this will surely mark up the chimney on your lighter so its a last resort. pliers with protective covers on the tips might be a good idea if you care about your lighters appearance. the wd40 soaked cotton and wick will have to be replaced.
the last common zippo ailment we'll touch on is a floppy hinge. note, we are not talking about a busted hinge, that must go back to zippo where they will install a new hinge for you. it has to be welded in.
a floppy hinge is the result of years of use and abuse. those cool tricks you see on the zippotricks videos? they are a sure way to wreck your hinge. here is a method i devised to bring some help to floppy zippo hinges. this is an option to tighten them up a little instead of risking loss in the mail by sending your lighter in.
another reason for doing this is i have not figured out how zippo decides when they will fix your hinge or when they will replace it. sometimes on really old lighters they will try to fix it by inserting a tiny roll pin. this is by far the best method. other times they weld a new hinge in. you get your lighter back with a new hinge but its collector value just went pffft! before risking my lighter to hinge lotto, i try this method.
take a large blade flat head screwdriver and mount it blade up in a vise. rest the hinge of the lighter on the edge of the blade. take another large blade flat head screwdriver and line it up so the hinge and the two screwdrivers are perfectly centered. give the top screwdriver a few light taps with a SMALL hammer.
the idea is to center everything and pinch the hinge shut a bit. it takes some practice to line everything up right but be patient and don't whack on it. you want light taps and everything must be lined up right. the end result will be a much less floppy hinge. don't expect the hinge to be perfectly tight. it never is even on new lighters. the insert and the flip cam are what keeps things snug on a complete lighter.
new flint, clean striker, new wick, tight hinge, and all good to go. slide your insert back into your zippo, fuel your american classic and enjoy it. what fuel to use? ronson lighter fluid in the plastic yellow bottle is available at most drug stores. if you find the smell of conventional lighter fluid a bit too strong, zippo makes a low odor version that can be found at most smoke shops. use only lighter fluid and nothing else in your lighter.
Thanks for the heads up on how to snug the hinge up. My pin kept falling out because it was getting so loose. Fortunately I managed to find it each time. Did a search this AM and found your advice. Was digging around in my desk and discovered that a binder clip works great for acting as the lower anvil for the hinge tightening. Had one in my drawer and it fit just right on the back of the lighter and butted up nice to the hinge. It was just a tiny bit shorter than the lower half of the lighter case so I propped the corner edges of the binder clip up with some junk had laying around. Then tapped the top of the hinge segments to roll the hinge wraps snug. Looks like I might get another 27 years out of it...!!
A Zippo lighter has 17 parts that can break, come unhinged, work loose, or otherwise render the lighter inoperable. You can repair some problems with simple tools; others, however, mean that you must send the lighter to the Zippo Repair Center in Pennsylvania, where the lighter will be completely repaired and reconditioned at no charge. In sharp contrast to many other warranties, Zippo will fully recondition your lighter, even if you have repaired some parts of the lighter yourself.
Use it for a couple of days (or a week, depending on mileage) and then give the screws a tighten. You don't want to tighten it so hard that you strip them, or break any washers, but just make sure they're set. After this is done you'll only need to do so occasionally, and only if you notice them becoming loose. Oh, and again, make sure you use that precision screwdriver, as most anything else will strip the screws.
Very occasionally we have customers send their lighter in for repair with a flame that's too large or too small, no matter how much the flame adjustment screw is tightened or loosened. Essentially the problem is that the brass screw underneath the adjustment screw is too high or low. Take out the adjusting screw, and if the flame is too large, turn the brass screw within a half turn clockwise. If too small, turn it a half turn counter-clockwise. Again, use a precision screwdriver.
Hi, I own 2 Kiribi lighters and love them. The longer one, don't recall the model name, is a chrome job. The top of the lighter case (if you consider the base where the flame adjustment and fill are as the bottom of the case, the body as the middle part of the case, and the top piece where the flame is and flint is as the top of the case) is loose and jiggles away from the middle part of the case. Does not impede performance of the pipe, but I worry about leaking or it eventually coming apart. I've had it several years, and sent it to the retailer where I bought it once over a year ago, and they kindly tightened it all up. It's now loose again and I am just looking for some instructions on how to do this myself. There are no screws on top that I can see and I removed the bottom plate hoping to find something there, but there is nothing (other the fill valve and flame adjust). Any guidance you could offer would be appreciated. Thanks, Perry
@Perry I'm sorry to hear your Kiribi is loose! It sounds like it may need to be serviced again. Kiribi lighters have a two year service warranty, but we can service them beyond that as well even if the lighter was purchased from another retailer. If the lighter has passed it's warranty period, we can service the lighter here in house for a $40 fee and get everything tightened up again for you.
You can send the lighter in to us at this address:
Smokingpipes.com
Attention: Kiribi Repair
550 Hwy 9 E
Longs, SC 29568
If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] and we'd be happy to help!
Hi, I bought a Kiribi lighter a few months ago and have been super happy with it, except until today. The screw that hold the flit down no longer tightens and as a result the entire assembly is loose. Is there any warranty that covers this issue? Thanks.
Hi, I got a Kiribi Kabuto Mizo Silver 4 months ago. The screws loosened and I lost the bottom part. I managed to tighten the central screw on the top, but now it has a leak. I can hear the gas going out when I close it.I am very far from the US and fear that sending and returning the lighter will be more expensive than the lighter itself. Maybe I could buy spare parts or something. Thanks.
in this age of disposable everything, it's nice to see an american company like zippo still making a quality product and standing behind the ones they made over 70 years ago. with the info presented here, you can do much of the maintenance yourself.
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