Tripod leg pivot

[QT Luong]

I am having problems with a recent Gitzo tripod (GT2531 if that matters). The bolts that hold the leg pivots (where the leg hinges with the main spider) become loose, to the point where the legs wobble freely when I pick up the tripod. After I tighten them, they become loose within a few times of swinging them to open/close the tripod. This is my sixth Gitzo tripod. While some of the others developed problems with leg joints, I never had issues with leg pivots.
Here is the parts diagram of the tripod. The bolts I am referring to are D1297.FJ
http://mediacdn.shopatron.com/media/...pdf?1271723989

I noticed that when I swing the legs, the bolts do *not* move with the legs. I looked at all the functional tripods that I own, and in each and every of them, when you swing the leg, the bolt rotates together with the leg. Check it with yours to see what I mean.

My questions: How can the bolt rotate together with the legs ? I don't understand how this works, since they are screwed into the spider but not linked to the leg by any other means than friction. Understanding that, how do I fix my bolts ?

Tuan.

[Tin Can]

My only thought is corrosion of bolt and/or spider. Perhaps disassemble and lube.

I don't have that tripod, so I am generalizing, but the schematic looked straight forward.

Good luck!

[Louis Pacilla]

Hey QT

You may want to try removing the bolts and adding a a bit of blue Locktite to the threads & then reinsert the bolts/nut washers & spacers & see if that keeps the bolts from working free. but will allow you to break the bond w/ enough force. Just in case you would need to remove the leg for repairs. Just make sure you don't use the red Locktite as I believe it's a bit more permanent once it dries.

[Jac@stafford.net]

What Louis said. Be certain all the washers are there and do not over-tighten! A fastener over-torqued is already half broken.
Best of luck.
.

[AtlantaTerry]

One of the bolts my Gitzo tripod does the same thing. But not the other two bolts. I carry a small wrench in my car to tighten it. I have made it a habit to check to see if it needs tightening when I remove the tripod from the car.

[Jerry Bodine]

QT: I also do not have this specific tripod, but I'm pretty certain I understand how it's supposed to work. The D1297.FJ spacer (tube) passes thru D0801.06. You should ensure there is no corrosion binding the two together (may require cleanup/lube so the tube turns freely in D0801.06). Said binding would cause loosening of the bolts during leg swings. Blue Loctite on the bolt threads cannot hurt and may help. The way it works is that the tightening of the bolts creates friction that binds the tube to the clevis fitting (the two lugs on the common base) as well as to the washers and bolts. Then they all rotate together. But if the tube is held to D0801.06 by corrosion, it cannot rotate freely and something has to give.

Apparently, the pair of D06.13 Allen wrenches are the tools used simultaneously to tighten the joint. Is the tightening torque specified in the pdf somewhere. The tube's length and washer thicknesses adjacent to the tube ends are no doubt precisely set to prevent excessive bending in the "lugs" of the clevis (spider) from the bolt tightening.

[Jerry Bodine]

QT: I've had some further thoughts on this situation, regarding the use of the blue Loctite. It would be easy enough to ASSEMBLE the joint using the Loctite, but if DISASSEMBLY is ever needed there'd be some problems. Here's why:
In order to disassemble it's necessary to remove both screws from the "tube." Using the two Allen wrenches simultaneously, only one of the two screws is likely to loosen first and is easily removed, but then there'd be no way to prevent the tube from rotating when trying to loosen the other bolt and further disassembly would not be easy. The only technique I can think of to resolve such a dilemma would be to re-install the removed bolt, then swing the leg out (with the swing stop engaged) and apply just enough "swing force" on the leg to create the friction needed to hold the tube from rotating in D0801.06 while trying to unscrew the second bolt from the tube. So my earlier suggestion of lubrication after cleaning the corrosion would NOT be a good idea, as the lube would be an impediment to creating this needed friction. Also, it's worth mentioning that I'm not sure if it'd be necessary to remove the old Loctite from the bolt/tube threads for reassembly, or how best to do that.

[QT Luong]

Thanks for the ideas. Randy & Jerry nailed it. Turns out the tube was totally stuck with the spider whereas it was supposed to rotate (which makes the bolts rotate). We needed to use a arbor press to unstuck it. After cleaning out all parts and reassembly, two legs work just fine. The third leg is still loose. After cranking the bolts to the max, there is still not enough pressure, probably because in the process of removing crud, we removed some paint. The solution will be to add a small spacer.

[Jerry Bodine]

Thanks for the ideas. Randy & Jerry nailed it. Turns out the tube was totally stuck with the spider whereas it was supposed to rotate (which makes the bolts rotate). We needed to use a arbor press to unstuck it. After cleaning out all parts and reassembly, two legs work just fine. The third leg is still loose. After cranking the bolts to the max, there is still not enough pressure, probably because in the process of removing crud, we removed some paint. The solution will be to add a small spacer.

Good news! Keep us all updated with your final success. There are a lot of Gitzos out there that apparently may have similar issues. I assume that the additional small spacer you mention is nothing more than a very thin washer installed at the end of the "tube" to take the place of the amount of paint that was removed. The total length of the tube + any washers at the end of the tube should fit quite snugly between the lugs on the leg, in order to minimize bending of the lugs when torquing the bolts. Such lug-type fittings are often made of cast alloys that tend to be brittle and intolerant of such bending.

[QT Luong]

There are a lot of Gitzos out there that apparently may have similar issues.

When I tried to look up online with respect to this problem, I didn't see as many complaints about Gitzo as about RRS. In fact RRS even posted http://blog.reallyrightstuff.com/fix...y-tripod-legs/ but then subsequently deleted it, maybe because it brought attention to the problem and folks started making fun of a $1000 tripod requiring Loctite. However, that post is available on the Internet Archive, and that's basically what I did (minus using the arbor press) to fix my tripod.