Ball lock liquid out and gas in fittings won't attach

Brewing Processes
1

I bought a used 5 Gallon Low Profile Keg from homebrewing.org and wanted to change the poppets that came with the keg.They had three prongs and were lodged in the fittings. I had to get a phillips screwdriver and hammer to get them out. I went to the LHBS with the fittings and bought 2 new ‘generic’ poppets, they are approx. 3/4" in length. I also replaced the original o-rings with the ones that homebrewing.org sent. Now I can’t get the fittings to screw onto the keg. After removing the o-rings, the fittings will go on the keg but there is a gap (where the poppet should be flush with the top of the fitting). I’m at wits end, what can be wrong?

2

Do you have the posts on the right sides? You may need to shorten the poppets by a half ring or so. I’ve never needed to do this, but I have heard of others finding those helpful.

I have no idea what you mean in your last sentence. There must be a miss in the nomenclature here.

3

Yep, posts are on the correct sides. When I interchange the fittings/o-rings from another keg, all is well. I just can’t figure out why this is happening. I brought the fittings to the LHBS, so that I can purchase the proper poppet valves and they do seem to be the correct ones. I’m feeling that it may be the o-rings… is that even possible?

4

Possibly… pin and ball lock rings do vary slightly. I have heard some say they can use them interchangeably, I’ve also heard of issues with leaking.

5

Are these the style universal poppets you purchased?

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I had problems with these poppets on the 2 kegs I put them on. I got the posts to screw onto the keg but then I had a hell of a time getting the disconnects to seat on the posts. I had leaks, I had no flow out of the beer out. I had to trim the spring of the new poppets to get things to fit and work properly.

Is this a possibility?

6

Those poppets look very similar to what I purchased. I did get another set that fit better and I had to change the o-rings on the beer out dip tube and the gas in tube. That little difference in size of the o-ring was the majority of the problem (and the poppets weren’t quite the correct size either)

Thanks everyone for all of the help!