P89 Disassembly

[Dave 66]

I can't field strip my P89 9mm. I'm following the manual instructions exactly, but when I try to move slide assembly forward, it stops (like something is in the way) and won't move. Sometimes, it won't move back so I can reinsert the slide stop to try again.

Once in a while, it works just as advertised, but that's pretty rare.

Any ideas/suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[Flash]

Are you pressing the ejector out of the way? Deep enough into the magazine well?

 

[dwd]

Well, I will state the obvious. Are you sure the mag is removed and the ejector is pushed all the way down and forward? It is easy to forget.

 

[Dave 66]

Oh yeah, the mag is out (I was born at night, but not last night - lol), and the ejector is pushed all the way in.

The slide moves slightly past it's normal position and feels like it's hitting something very solid. There's no "give".

 

[Dave 66]

Update -

The instructions say to "push the ejector downward and forward until it locks in its lower posotion." Mine doesn't lock. It goes down (but not forward) and actually springs back slightly. It looks to be below any of the moving parts of the slide, but it isn't "locked".

 

[hittman]

If (and I say IF because I don't know) the P89 is like my P90, the slide stop pin is pulled out but NOT removed.

With my P90, I've had occasion that I did not pull the pin out as far as needed to move the slide forward past it and off the frame.

On my P95 the pin comes all the way out.

 

[wixedmords]

I wouldn't worry about the ejector locking. It actually bounces a bit when you push it forward on both of mine.

The slot lineup on the slide and frame may need to go just a smidge forward or backward of the second slot (back slot) on the slide stop to be pushed out.

Out goes the mag. Lock the slide stop in the front slot of the slide. Down goes the ejector. Unlock the slide stop while holding the slide and line up the slot in the frame with the back slot on the slide, you may need to be a little forward or back of that slot. You can feel the slide lock break free as you push it in from the back side while slightly moving the slide around that back slot. Once it moves, push it all the way through until is stops.

The slide stop doesn't come all the way out on the P89. It is retained by the frame. This can be a tough point when pulling it on a new-to-you semi as you need to know to stop pulling.

When assembling, try to get the lock knob on the slide stop exactly over the slot it is going to go back into or you could get yourself a nice little scratch on the frame. Not like anyone has ever done that before.

Good luck.

 

[Dave 66]

I'm beginning to think that the slide stop is the problem. I know that it isn't supposed to pull completely out, and I'm pulling it out as far as it will go - ~1".

When the slide stop is out as far as it will go, the slide moves forward until it's ~1/8" past the point where the stop pin inserts, but won't go any further.

 

[wixedmords]

Dave, can the slide be worked back and forth with ease? Does it seem like the slide is impeded?

I would put a little oil on the shaft of the slide stop and work it in. The measurement of the frame to the outside of the slide stop on one of my P89's, when the stop is pulled out, is about 29/32's. If your slide doesn't move fairly freely on the rails, kinda seems like it is hung up, that is a different problem.

 

[Dave 66]

The slide moves easily until it gets to a spot ~1/8" past the place where the slide stop can be inserted. Then it seems to hit something solid that won't let it slide off of the frame.

When it's fully retracted, the slide stop is right at 29/32".

I tried oiling the slide stop and rails but it didn't help.

I guess I'm going to have to find a gunsmith who can either fix this or show me what I'm doing wrong (or both - lol).

 

[wixedmords]

Sometimes the mainspring and rod get out of center.

You can try tapping the firearm on something that won't mar the finish, or tapping it with a rubber mallet. Tap either side to center the spring and rod. You can try to get inside and move things around through the slide, but that may be something best left up to a gunsmith.

 

[Dave 66]

Well, that didn't work, either. When the slide is fully retracted, the rod has a small amount of wiggle, but nothing I tried would let it slide past that place where it always stops.

I studied an exploded drawing of a P89 and can't figure out what might be getting in the way.

Anybody know a good gunsmith near San Jose, CA? It's time for some professional help. - lol

 

[CampWI]

I can't tell you what is wrong but I've owned my P89 for 17+ years and every once in a while the slide gets hung up when I field strip it for cleaning. Try putting it back together , rack the slide a couple of times and then try it again. I just had mine apart this weekend to install a P95 trigger. There isn't a lot that gets in the way of the slide.

 

[Dave 66]

CampWI -
Good idea, but not successful. Tried it several times.

Mag out, safety in fire, hold trigger down and rack slide several times. Works smooth as glass.

Safety to safe, lock slide open, depress ejector, and pull slide stop fully out. Slide moves forward and stops dead about 1/8" past point where slide stop inserts.

I've contacted Ruger and will send it in for a fix.

 

[CampWI]

Dave 66, hope you get the gun back operational. I love my P89. Mine is as reliable as the day I bought it and it shoots better than I do.

 

[Dave 66]

So do I. I bought it about 10 yrs ago (my first semi-auto pistol) and loved it. Didn't do much shooting for a few years, and had this same problem about three years ago. Ruger fixed it and it was fine until a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Dave 66]

Well, I sent my pistol to Ruger and got a response today. Apparently, I had reassembled it with the recoil spring backwards which caused the slide to hang up when I tried to remove it.

Quite frankly, I'm a little pissed about this. The reassembly instructions do say to install the spring with the small diameter end against the collar, but it's in parentheses and there's no caution about disassembly problems if it's done incorrectly. Sure would have been nice if the instructions gave a hint about this sort of thing.

 

[hittman]

Well ... lesson learned. We've all been there and done that. Good reference info for the future.

 

[CampWI]

Dave 66, glad to hear it was a minor problem and the pistol is working again. Shoot it and enjoy it. Thanks for sharing so we can all learn the finer points of these guns.

 

[Dave 66]

Got it back today and stripped it to see what that recoil spring thing was all about. I had never noticed it before, but the spring coils are larger on one end than the other. The SMALL end goes over the rod (it's a fairly close fit) and against the rod collar.

I guess that I've just been lucky in the past and must have flipped the spring the last time I stripped the pistol.

Hope this helps someone else down the line. I think that I'll contact Ruger about noting this in their manual. I'm probably not the only dummy out here. - lol

 

[Al James]

Quite frankly, I'm a little pissed about this. The reassembly instructions do say to install the spring with the small diameter end against the collar, but it's in parentheses and there's no caution about disassembly problems if it's done incorrectly. Sure would have been nice if the instructions gave a hint about this sort of thing.

:lol: Hint: Follow the instructions.

 

[roylt]

I have bought several P-guns and about 35% of them have the spring on backwards. Not real sure how this could cause the slide to stick? It will scratch the heck out of the guide rod but a little polishing fixes that.

Glad it worked out.

 

[Dave 66]

Well, I'll definitely pay more attention when I'm reassembling it in the futire, but after realy looking at how it all works, I'm not sure why the spring needs to have one end smaller that the other.

As I said earlier, a cautionary note in the instructions would have been helpful.