Those platform gitzo heads with 2 tripod screws, what size front?

[ericantonio]

Hi guys,
What size screw is that front of the gitzo platform head. These have dual ones. I know the back sliding one is 1/4-20 but what size is the front? There is a screw there, but it doesn't go up, it stops where the tread stops. So I don't think it was the original.

I can just find something at the big home box stores right? Guessing it's some type of metric pitch? M-something?

[esearing]

Take the head with you and go to the aisle that has screws. There is usually a set of gray drawers that have the non standard sizes , Metric, and furniture parts. Generally they are 1/4 or 3/8 on current production models, but some heads had a small pin that protruded rather than a screw. And what size hole are you screwing it into or is it merely used as a pressure point? if the hole on the head is 3/8 and the hole on the camera is 1/4 there is such a thing as a 1/4>3/8 adapter.

[Tin Can]

I highly suggest getting the OE part

Gitzo Wing Nut with 3/8"-16 Mounting Screw (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=gitzo%20wing%20nut%20with%203%2F8%22-16%20mounting%20screw&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ps)

I have

[John Layton]

Huge head-slap here...designed two tripod holes into the base of my L-45A (to offer best balance for selected lenses/focus distances), but - with no consideration for the "double screw" design of my Gitzo head - just does not quite work for this...so I'm left with having to make sure I've got the one screw really tight - where two would be perfect - if they'd only fit! (time to talk to that machinist!)

[Tin Can]

I use Gitzo or Majestic heads with 2 bolts into my QR

and use a long Arca type with 2 bolts into my cameras

[ericantonio]

I highly suggest getting the OE part

Gitzo Wing Nut with 3/8"-16 Mounting Screw (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=gitzo%20wing%20nut%20with%203%2F8%22-16%20mounting%20screw&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ps)

I have


Ohhhh, didn't know you can still buy these.

Now that I see the photo, I THINK I have the correct part without the the knob thing. Problem is, it stops screwing past the base. I think I just have to get a pair of pliers and force it through. What you think? This is the real part? I wonder if I can get something to be able to turn it tighter (not a vice grip, come on, I'm not ghetto....but sometimes I am)

https://i.imgur.com/pNMlPXg.jpg

[Tin Can]

BTW

I lived and worked in Chicago ghettos most of my adult life

Know what an SRO is...

Don't force anything, the method would be called cleaning up a thread, be gentle

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Gitzo%20tripod%20screws&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma

[ericantonio]

BTW

I lived and worked in Chicago ghettos most of my adult life

Know what an SRO is...

Don't force anything, the method would be called cleaning up a thread, be gentle

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Gitzo%20tripod%20screws&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma

I grew up in Brooklyn. I once drove to Chicago on way to New Mexico. My buddies and I thought we were pretty tough. Until we went through a Chicago Ghetto. We stayed in Hyde Park, at a time when (1986?), mansions on one side of the street were being fixed, and literally X the street the mansions (these are those old mansions that were falling apart neighborhood), were boarded up. We got lost looking for a new tire for the car a few miles away, and we got to an area, and we all just looked at each other and said "yah, let's turn around now"

Thanks for the Link!! I keep forgetting B&H has all that stuff these days. I remember assisting in NYC and going to the old 17th street store and you can run into a lot of photoj's there. Or other assistants like me all stressed out cause we have to pick up stuff for a shoot. Not like we had cars, we had to lug that stuff back on subway and hopefully, not get mugged.

[Drew Wiley]

Our local camera store still has those Gitzo adapters. But one can simply improvise if needed. I keep my own little stash or relevant 1/4-20 and 3/8-16 items, mostly stainless steel.

[ericantonio]

Our local camera store still has those Gitzo adapters. But one can simply improvise if needed. I keep my own little stash or relevant 1/4-20 and 3/8-16 items, mostly stainless steel.

So I thought that wasn't the piece but it is. I was able to eat some spinach and turn the screw through the base. It was difficult, maybe it just needed a little umph. But yah, the secondary screws on bottom, the ones that screw onto the base, that was harder than I thought. I really had to turn it hard without the large "wingnut".

Yah, a correctly pitched 3/8-16 would work from the big box store and maybe a wracheting wrench. Another thing to carry! And lose, or dopped into the ocean.

[Drew Wiley]

You double nut the thing below, a standard nut plus wing nut. Gitzo had a nice wide thin nylon knob (brass inner thread) in lieu of a wingnut. If the official Gitzo thingy was hard to screw through, maybe some corrosion is present. Try cleaning the thread with a 3/8-16 tap first. If you need a big wrench, something is not right - perhaps even a flaw the bolt thread itself.

[ericantonio]

You double nut the thing below, a standard nut plus wing nut. Gitzo had a nice wide thin nylon knob (brass inner thread) in lieu of a wingnut. If the official Gitzo thingy was hard to screw through, maybe some corrosion is present. Try cleaning the thread with a 3/8-16 tap first. If you need a big wrench, something is not right - perhaps even a flaw the bolt thread itself.

I didn't need a big wrench. I just held it down with a red garage work towel to get a good grip and used the enormous power of my right thumb and pointy finger. And I yelled at it to will it to my doing. Yah, probably just corrosion. I've taken that tripod in a lot of weird places but never used the 3/8 until now. I now have something to attach it to! I'll remove it again, and run a good steel brush on it and dab the lower threaded part with some oil. Not the top part that will screw into a camera base.