Slippery Tripod Cams

[JCJackson]

I have an older Bogen Manfrotto 3021 tripod, and in many respects it is a great piece of equipment to use. BUT, the cams that lock the legs in extended position have a nasty way of slowly unlocking on their own, allowing the legs to slowly shorten, unevenly, threatening to dump the camera. I've tried cleaning the plastic cams with alcohol and adjusting the tension on them, but nothing so far has resulted in a reliable fix. Does anybody else have experience with this problem? Any suggestions for a fix?

Thanks!

 

[John Koehrer]

Adjust & put Loctite on the screws?

 

[Buje]

Had the same problem - very frustrating. Finally got new locks and the problem solved itself.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

You should have this white plastic wrench that came with your tripod. It's shaped like a "C" with a hexagonal indentation on it that clips on the tripod legs. It's like a socket wrench. Unlock the loose leg and insert the wrench back of the offending leg lock and turn it counter clock wise to tighten it. This should tighten the leg lock. It's that simple!

 

[JCJackson]

Tightening the nut on the back end of the cam actually seems to make the problem worse. The plastic part is both a little soft and inherently slippery. But thanks for the suggestion!

 

[lxdude]

Sounds like new locks are in order. How much weight is it holding?

 

[JCJackson]

Haven't measured weight, but I can say for sure that it works better with a compact 35mm SLR than with a medium format camera. But since I need to use it for medium format, I guess I'll look into new locks.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

Here's a link for the parts. You can also go to Bogen directly. The cool thing about Bogen/Manfrotto tripods is that most parts are available.

http://www.bogentripodparts.com/

 

[ChuckP]

Do you have the black plastic part installed on the lock lever nuts? Seems like I had the problem a long time ago when I lost one of these. Getting a new one fixed it.