[soymateofeo]

i took 3 ball lock corny kegs apart and tossed all of the parts into a bucket.  i am trying to match poppets to posts. no matter which way I try, the poppets will not "stick" in the posts. Is this a normal thing?i can check to see if they are sealing but is the fact that they are not stuck in the post a sign that the seal is bad or will eventually fail? thanks!

[IPAnic]

Without seeing what's going on... Make certain you're inserting the "poppets" from the inside of the post and make certain your "poppets" have the tiny o-rings on them. Also check to see if your putting them in upside down. There's really nothing more to it unless you have 6 different types of ball locks with 6 different types of poppets. Then it becomes a statistics problem.

[soymateofeo]

Without seeing what's going on... Make certain you're inserting the Also check to see if your putting them in upside down. There's really nothing more to it unless you have 6 different types of ball locks with 6 different types of poppets. Then it becomes a statistics problem.

THANKS!
they are not upside down or put in wrong but i do in fact own 2 keg types.  2 are corenelius and 1 is a challenger VI.  i got it sorted but that damn challenger through me for a loop.  it has different thread sizes.  i have, for the past 15 years cleaned one keg type at a time and never crossed posts and poppets. i just got a crash course in keg types and their parts. i usually toss the parts in a hop bag and throw them in the soaking keg. gotta keep that habit.  i did not know what I was avoiding.

[scrap iron]

I had problems with some old poppets sticking inside the posts. Had to pull them out with needle nose plyers because the tail part was bent out. I bought some universal poppets with just spring on the bottom no feet and they have worked fine. I don't think the poppets are supposed to stick inside the posts.

[Slowbrew]

I have 14 kegs.  Very few of the poppets actually stick in the posts.  If I try to push them up inside they just pop right back out.  For the most part they just kind of float inside while I tighten the posts.  It's never been a problem for me (yet).

Paul

[Joe Sr.]

There are slight visual differences between the poppets. If you've already matched the posts to the kegs you ought to be able to figure out the poppets.

I made the same mistake when I first started kegging. What a pain.

Universal poppets are a nice solution.

[brewsumore]

Probably too late to help, but - you might want to compare your poppets to these via photos, to match the correct post and keg:

https://www.homebrewing.org/search.html?k=poppets

And this might help you identify which post belongs to which keg:

https://www.homebrewing.org/search.html?k=keg+posts

When I wash multiple kegs I put a piece of tape with a number on it on the keg, and the same number on a large cottage cheese tub, and put the keg posts, poppits, gas stem into a tub that matches the keg.  When all is clean, rinsed and sanitized I know which hardware belongs to which keg.

[soymateofeo]

never too late to help.  I am going to save this link for sure.  Here is the update. I got the kegs all sorted out. It took a while to realize that my kegs had the wrong posts on them. That was the way they came. it wouldn't have been a huge deal if I hadn't mixed them up. 
anyway, I ended up with some universals on the last keg that wouldn't hold pressure only to find that there was a pinhole leak in my post under the gasket. I don't know how that would happen but it did.  My LHBS had 2 universals and matched them up for me because, apparently, they vary in spring length.

[soymateofeo]

AND, I ended up buying a pressure gauge that I fitted onto a connector to stick on my kegs.  That way I can tell if my keg was losing pressure slowly.  and it was.  less than 3 psi a day.  more than acceptable but hard to detect. for me anyway.