0561 extremely gritty opening

seelow123

seelow123

Joined
Oct 4, 2008
Messages
4,647
Well I got a 0561 a couple of days ago and love it but it just recently started getting crazy gritty/stiff. It sounds like the bearings are grinding on something. I've taken it apart and cleaned/greased it three times today and it makes it really smooth for about 10 openings/closings and then it gets rough again. There's no dirt or debris in there when I clean it either. It's quite frustrating. Any advice you guys could give would be extremely appreciated.
 
I dont normally suggest sending knives back to kershaw but in this case you might want to consider it. you took it apart and cleaned it and its still doing it something is wrong and you dont want to damage it further
 
When my 560 was new, it sounded gritty but was still super smooth. I tried everything to get it to quiet down, super lube, 3in1, CLP. Seems all they did was attract more grit. So I just clean off all the dirt, flush the bearing with some oil, then dry them off real good. And re assemble no lube. I used the knife like that for a couple months and its now quiet as can be and smoother. The thing that helped me the most was switching to tip down, keep the pivot out of the bottom of you pocket!
 
Did you try lubing the track the detent ball follows? That seems to influence mine the most.
 
Thank you guys very much for your input. It sound kind of rough from the factory as well but it was crazy smooth and didn't feel gritty at all. It just randomly started doing it yesterday. I tried lubing the detent track, Adding grease to the milled out portions of the blade and handle only, Adding grease to both sides, Leaving it without any lube, Washing it with soap and water and and oiling the bearings with CLP and the same thing happens, It's really nice and smooth (Especially with the CLP) for the first 10 or less opening and closings, Then it gets rough again. I'm not even putting it in my pocket after I clean it. Right after I put it back together I open and close it a bunch and sure enough, It's back to how it was.

I think the oil helped the most because it's not nearly as rough as when i used grease or left it un-lubed but it's still a problem. I think it's the bearings. It looks like some of them have tiny flat areas that get caught on the blade. I could be wrong but that would explain it being smooth for awhile then getting rough again. When I take it apart, the balls get moved around so when I put it back together, I normal part of the bearing is contacting the blade making it normal and smooth. After a few openings and closings, the flat/imperfect part of the bearing finds its way back to the blade, making it rough again. Do you guys think Kershaw/ZT would send me new washers? I know it's doubtful but I'm almost certain it would solve the problem.
 
seelow123 said:
Thank you guys very much for your input. It sound kind of rough from the factory as well but it was crazy smooth and didn't feel gritty at all. It just randomly started doing it yesterday. I tried lubing the detent track, Adding grease to the milled out portions of the blade and handle only, Adding grease to both sides, Leaving it without any lube, Washing it with soap and water and and oiling the bearings with CLP and the same thing happens, It's really nice and smooth (Especially with the CLP) for the first 10 or less opening and closings, Then it gets rough again. I'm not even putting it in my pocket after I clean it. Right after I put it back together I open and close it a bunch and sure enough, It's back to how it was.

I think the oil helped the most because it's not nearly as rough as when i used grease or left it un-lubed but it's still a problem. I think it's the bearings. It looks like some of them have tiny flat areas that get caught on the blade. I could be wrong but that would explain it being smooth for awhile then getting rough again. When I take it apart, the balls get moved around so when I put it back together, I normal part of the bearing is contacting the blade making it normal and smooth. After a few openings and closings, the flat/imperfect part of the bearing finds its way back to the blade, making it rough again. Do you guys think Kershaw/ZT would send me new washers? I know it's doubtful but I'm almost certain it would solve the problem.
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http://zt.kaiusaltd.com/contact

Ask em, they respond pretty quickly and are always more then helpful.
 
SomeNewGuy said:
http://zt.kaiusaltd.com/contact

Ask em, they respond pretty quickly and are always more then helpful.
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Thanks for the link man:thumbup:

I actually just realized that it isn't the bearings, it's the detent ball. If I hold the lockbar so there isn't any pressure from the detent ball on the blade and its super smooth so I'm going to fiddle with it a little (nothing drastic) to see if I can find the problem. Any more advice its greatly appreciated.
 
seelow123 said:
Thanks for the link man:thumbup:

I actually just realized that it isn't the bearings, it's the detent ball. If I hold the lockbar so there isn't any pressure from the detent ball on the blade and its super smooth so I'm going to fiddle with it a little (nothing drastic) to see if I can find the problem. Any more advice its greatly appreciated.
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No problem, I dont have any experience with the knife but my advice would be dont mess with it too much that way you dont hurt your warranty.
 
seelow123 said:
Well I got a 0561 a couple of days ago and love it but it just recently started getting crazy gritty/stiff. It sounds like the bearings are grinding on something. I've taken it apart and cleaned/greased it three times today and it makes it really smooth for about 10 openings/closings and then it gets rough again. There's no dirt or debris in there when I clean it either. It's quite frustrating. Any advice you guys could give would be extremely appreciated.
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Try it without lubing/greasing. I learned to just keep it clean and not lube it at all. In my experience, the 056X is smoother without any lube than with it (I use Rem Oil).

When I did lube it, then lockbar started "singing". I'm wondering if that's what you're experiencing. The "singing" came from the detent ball rubbing against the track on the tang with lube in it. It no longer sings when I lube it, but I still prefer to keep it dry.
 
TEFL0N_D0N_81 said:
Try it without lubing/greasing. I learned to just keep it clean and not lube it at all. In my experience, the 056X is smoother without any lube than with it (I use Rem Oil).

When I did lube it, then lockbar started "singing". I'm wondering if that's what you're experiencing. The "singing" came from the detent ball rubbing against the track on the tang with lube in it. It no longer sings when I lube it, but I still prefer to keep it dry.
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Yeah! like a rough squeaking/grinding sound right? I'll have to take it apart and dry everything off/inspect the detent area and see how it works. thanks buddy!
 
Is it a new knife? If it is I just leave it and see if it breaks in.
 
SomeNewGuy said:
No problem, I dont have any experience with the knife but my advice would be dont mess with it too much that way you dont hurt your warranty.
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Yeah I'm trying to not "mod" anything. Just taking it apart and inspecting it.
 
rycen said:
Is it a new knife? If it is I just leave it and see if it breaks in.
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Yeah it's brand new. I got it about 5 or 6 days ago. I really appreciate everyone chiming in and helping me out. I'd really hate to have to send it in so everyone's advice will definitely be put to use.
 
seelow123 said:
Yeah I'm trying to not "mod" anything. Just taking it apart and inspecting it.
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Good to know it's the same experience. Honestly, the bearing system doesn't require any lubing. The bearings, detent ball and track will each wear a bit to work harmoniously on their own. I believe lube (especially grease) actually gets in the way.
 
seelow123 said:
Yeah it's brand new. I got it about 5 or 6 days ago. I really appreciate everyone chiming in and helping me out. I'd really hate to have to send it in so everyone's advice will definitely be put to use.
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I searched a little bit for ya, have you tried just like flushing out the moving parts with a cleanser or thin oil and drying it and then just opening and closing it 20-30 times to see if it clears out the problem?
 
Is it just gritty, or are you getting the high pitch squeal just by itself [or both i suppose?].

If it is a high pitch noise, do you get it when opening and closing? Can you feel a vibration on the lock bar when it occurs? If so I may have an answer, if its just plain gritty, then ill need to think a bit more
 
Oops, I forgot about this thread:o I ended up just flipping the 0561 a whole bunch and it eventually smoothed out over time. It still "sings" sometimes but it's smooth and that's all that matters. I want to thank everyone for the advice. It really helped me out:thumbup:
 
Haha, I was about to tell you about the break in time as well. When I got mine it sounded very similar to how you were describing yours. I got mine at Blade this year and headed back the wife drove so that I could play with it :D. Story short, when we started the trip (about 4 hours total) I flipped it as much as I could all the way home. After all that it had pretty much went away. It does it very light now on occasion but it flies open just as smooth now as it did then. Glad to hear you got it worked out!!

OH, and congrats on the fantastic knife bro!
 
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