Tightening a Majestic Gear Head

[Frank Petronio]

My Majestic geared head has about 1/8th inch of play along the fore/aft tilt (the cranked) axis. Does anyone know how to tighten this up? It isn't really a problem in practice, but I'd like to fix it anyway. Before I go exploring, I thought it might be worth asking. Thanks.

[Henry Posner]

It's a real pain. You have to disassemble almost the entire head. The gear is accessible frrom the underside once you've got the head off and all you have to do is tighten the single bolt holding it in place. It's a messy 20-minute job for a simple 2-second fix.

I presume your head is similar to <http://www.bencher.com/images/tripodhd.gif>.

[Frank Petronio]

Yep, and it looks like a mess...

[Steve Hamley]

Frank,

Give this a try first: Loosen the set screw that holds the handle to the shaft, then tighten the small screw in the center of the shaft until the play is gone or the screw bottoms. Then re-tighten the set screw. Maybe it will help and maybe not, but it helped an old one I had a bit.

I wrote down step-by-step instructions, so let me know if you need them. I think the most important thing is to remember that although they look massive and indestructible, they're actually made of rather soft aluminum. The "arms" that connect the platform to the large shaft should be removed with a gear puller like a battery terminal puller. If you try to pry them off, you'll mess up the smooth aluminum the arms ride on.

Steve