Originally Posted by
rdeloe
If your Toyo D45M back is stiff and doesn't rotate easily, or at all, it's not a difficult repair.
1. Take the back off
2. On the inside, look in the corners. You'll see each corner has a small cover. Everything you need is under there.
3. Using a razor knife, gently pry up each cover. It's glued in a few places so you have to carefully work the blade under and as far back as you can get
4. The detents are operated by the small metal parts screwed down on two corners. Undo one screw, loosen the other screw, and lift the small metal part off
5. The two parts of the back are held together by the small tabs that are screwed down. Unscrew them.
6. You can now separate the two parts so you can clean and lubricate them. I cleaned with paint thinner and a toothbrush to get the old grease off, and then lubricated with a good quality synthetic grease.
7. Re-assemble in reverse order. The four small parts you removed to separate the two main parts have adjustment screws you can adjust to get the tension right.
8. If the ground glass and/or fresnel lens are dirty, now's a good time to clean them. Just be very careful (they're only held together by the frame). Take lots of pictures so you can re-install the ground glass/fresnel in exactly the way it was installed before.
9. I put the covers back on only after I was sure I was sure everything was in order. To glue them down, I used a tiny amount of silicone (which holds them down well but allows for future removal). I also put a tiny drop of Loktite on the adjustment screws.
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