Diana Please help, not sure which direction and how best to replace Diana 6/Beeman 6 seals

[student]

Rebuilding/resealing a Diana 6/Beeman 6 break-barrel air pistol. I received 2 new seals. I don't have old seals to reference as they were basically dust. The new seals are tapered not completely flat.
Not sure if the larger circumference aspect should be facing outward from the tube (which would make it harder to insert into the tube)....or should the larger circumference aspect face the pistol head?
Or should the rear seal be oriented one way and the front seal be oriented the other way?

Also, any magic tricks to inserting the seal onto the piston?

I know these questions must be terribly basic/fundamental but the seals were expensive, it took a long time to take the pistol apart and clean everything... and i don't want to bugger it up.

thank you

 

[marflow 777]

my friend you are in trouble and i hate to say that
the blue in my picture will be the red in your hand and you can see it has lips the rear seal does not
i am not type of person that will tell anyone to stop because they are in over their head but i am tempted here
i will tell you i will give you 110% of my knowledge if you message me and i will walk you through it
knowing which seal could be an oversight but hell you have to get them installed and that my friend has stop many dead in their tracks
so here is my picture lips front plain back

 

[Feinwerk]

@student , check out this thread for help with these tricky pistols:

Educating myself where on line info does not exist DIANA 6 Giss Pistols

Lets go back to the early 70's when Diana started manufacturing 6 series pistols ( Winchester 363's ) etc ... the ERA of the GISS 2 piston recoiless spring piston air pistols. For years there was much info ( Diana Collective ) where one could glean technical info from the old timers of the era...

www.airgunnation.com

GL,
Feinwerk

 

[student]

thank you both so very much.....iIam reviewing the photos and reading the attachment to try and absorb as much as I can...then I will message you back for help as i wish to be respectful of your time. I believe i've completely taken apart the air pistol and thankfully didn't bugger it up (at least so far...and with everyone's help it will remain so).

 

[Feinwerk]

@marflow 777 ,
Thank you for showing the photos of your tapered wedge jig and using a deep well socket to push the seals over the dovetail. You are right, this is the trickiest part. Looks like you made yours maybe out of the tapered top of a super glue bottle?

Another helpful trick I have read is to soak The seals in very hot water to soften them up a bit before driving onto the piston dovetail.

Feinwerk

 

[marflow 777]

well i made one out of a Delrin rod and at the time of the picture it decided to hide
i would take the Delrin and use 3 glue dots to hole it in place and then try to get the seal on
would it work every time that would be a big hell no
the little tube to tie everything together i believe is the biggest help
oh it can be very frustrating and i have read many posts over the years of how the hell do i get these seals on
i will heat with a hair dryer but they are just plain hard seals good for a long life

let mention clamps for a second i use 2 different styles
on is a hand clamp that you squeeze and the only is a clamp that has a screw on it
now most will say who cares but there is a reason
when installing the springs the rod in the springs and the rear piston you have your hand full and then add the clamp
i normally use a flat surface
now the clamp that has the squeeze the advance style has square pads good for overall hold but they will not go in the tube
so just add a socket or puck of some sort, you could but you are busy with everything else
so i use the squeeze clamp to install the guts slide in the gears and install the caps loosely take off the clamp
with the gears and caps installed the guts will stay put
now take the other clamp and the screw end will go into the tube and tighten just a little and now take off the caps and grease the gears reinstall the caps and line up the cap screws and gut are in and you are now on to the rear
REMEMBER WITH THE GEARS AND CAPS IN PLACE THE REAR CAP IS NOT NEEDED
NOW THIS CAN BE DONE OTHER WAYS BUT I AM LAZY AND IF I CAN FIND A TOOL TO HELP I WILL BUY IT

again, these are ideas but at the same time proven to work and the Tekton clamp in a shorter version would be used for the seals to piston install

 

[student]

that information helps a lot. I'll see if i can borrow some clamps.

 

[student]

thank you both so much. i was able to install to install both seal with minimal effort employing your technique.
I'm worn now. I can only work a few hours at most a day.
fingers crossed i can put this big bag of parts back together....a bit frightening but looking forward to it in the coming days.