Stiff Majestic gear head - how to fix it?

[Tony Karnezis]

I have a couple nice Majestic gear heads that require a bit too much effort to turn the crank for the tilt. Does anyone have experience on how to open and grease them properly so that they operate smoothly again?

[Leigh]

The Majestic head is one of the simplest possible mechanisms; just a worm gear and worm.

There is a tension/backlash adjustment. It's a screw below the end plate on the end opposite the handle.

Most likely the grease has dried up. I just had to re-grease one of mine.

Loosen the backlash adjusting screw that I mentioned, then remove the end plate at that end.
This will give you sufficient access to remove the dried grease and replace it.

Or go in through the opening at the bottom, where the head attaches to the tripod proper.

Any decent gear or bearing grease works fine here.

- Leigh

[Tony Karnezis]

Thanks Leigh, I'll give it a shot. Neither of the heads has much grease on the worm gear, but neither is dry.

What concerns me is that even the friction tilt is very stiff on the one head, even with the tension adjustment screw (under the crank) fully released. I should probably disassemble the head, clean it and then re-pack it.

[Leigh]

Hi Tony,

Neither of mine has much grease either. They really don't need much.

I wonder if the stiff head has been damaged. There shouldn't be any drag with the tension screw backed off.

You might remove the end plate to fully disengage the worm, then try moving the platform by hand.
It should move freely, with no resistance. Any other result should be investigated.

- Leigh

[Tony Karnezis]

Fortunately the less stiff head ends up moving just fine with the 8x10 on it, as there is enough weight to keep the setup from moving while using the crank. However, you're undoubtedly correct about a problem with the stiffer head.

[Vaughn]

The crank was bent on the one I picked up at a yard sale -- I removed the crank and then a bit of hammer work was required to straighten it up. I need to take another look at it as it has developed a little bit of wobble. I really do not use the pod much as I have a Ries.