Dissapointed in leatherman surge

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daemonza

Joined
May 18, 2009
Messages
11
Walked into my local outdoor shop this morning with the intention of buying the surge. I go on lots of 4x4 overland trips from south africa and intent to keep the surge in the centre console of my 4x4 so weight is no issue at all. Picking it up I immediantly notice how loose the tool is, the handles seperate from each other maybe half a inch or so, opening the outside blades, I can wiggle the blade around a little!! None of my folders from my spydercos to SAKs have that issue. Asked the sales guy if all of them are like this and reckons so. Is that really true for the surge? My skeletool seems tight, and the blade locks solid. Any other full size leathermans to try out perhaps?
 
I have an old style Wave and it is all tight on the blades. In the closed position the handle do flex. This is not a "loose" problem but just the sheet metal flexing. I have torqued a flat head screw pretty tight with the screwdriver and although the handle flexes it retains its integrity.

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My surge is tight. No wiggle or looseness. I'd go for it. If it's loose, go home and tighten it. I disassemble, clean and loctite all my knives/tools anyways when i get them. My surge has saved my butt so many times, it's worth the size. I'd pick up the bit kit too.
 
I have never had a problem with any of my leathermans. Surge, wave, kick, etc. They have all held up to real world use and my abuse. When i manage to loose one I always replace it with a leatherman because I know it will last and and can be used as a tool and it's not just a novelty. I haven't bought a leatherman i'n a few year but all of mine have tight blades. I know some other companies have come out with some really good tools too but I don't have experience with those so I can't give
Recomendations.
 
My Surge is very tight. When it's closed, I can barely wiggle the handles a millimeter each way.
 
If it's as loose as you say it is, somethings wrong with it. Ether tighten it, or return it for a new one.
 
As many have said. It sounds like something either needs to be tighted or call LM and get them to fix it.
 
Is the one you handled a display model that get's handed to everyone who comes in looking for a Surge gets handed to handle and play with? That might be the issue.......
 
I have a Suurge and when closed the two halves are loose. The blades, however, are tight.
 
If you use the pliers a lot they wear in. My first Wave when they first came out with them used to clack in the sheath. My current user is third generation of warranty. They always replace them with a new one.No disappointments.
 
I have an "ancient" PST and there's not a bit of play - same with the Fuse that replaced it last year.... I'm also guessing a display model that's had lots of playing with!
Peace
Revvie
 
Probably an in-store demonstrator, although you'd think even one of those would hold up to basically no use other than being opened and handled. Mine came tight (in a good way) and stayed tight through a moderate amount of use. In the end, other issues caused me prefer a Super Tool 300 instead, but I can't fault the Surge build quality, which I found top notch.
 
I've got a couple Surges and I guess neither were loose from the factory. What they were though is backward! Yes, backward. Using the pocket clip like on a wave, you grabbed it out of your right front pocket and the SERRATED blade is the one under your thumb! How goofy, I checked the net and currently I don't believe they are made this way, but some were as I found some picture displaying this same weird tool order. I simply swapped the blades around and problem solved. Also, on both tools the little safety locks that retain the blades when using the pliers were not working. The thumb cutouts were just a few thousands off so that the little safety nubbins were not entering them properly, but just hanging up on the blade. It was this way both before and after I corrected the blade position problem, so it wasn't something I caused. A few seconds with a very small Dremel stone in the thumb holes fixed this problem, but both my tools had it, so check your Surges to see if they blades indeed lock closed when pliers are deployed. Other than this I love my Surges, big beefy tools with man sized blades on them. Love the awl too, THAT should be in the Wave somewhere as well, the Wave's biggest weak point is no awl.
 
Last edited:
znapschatz said:
Probably an in-store demonstrator, although you'd think even one of those would hold up to basically no use other than being opened and handled. Mine came tight (in a good way) and stayed tight through a moderate amount of use. In the end, other issues caused me prefer a Super Tool 300 instead, but I can't fault the Surge build quality, which I found top notch.
Click to expand...

Been thinking the same, it really should hold up to being handled alot.
 
I've packed the same LM charge every day for 5 years and it's remained as tight as when I got it. I can't see how a display could get that loose. it's not like every customer who asks to see it goes out side and uses it to change their motor oil. I think some thing else must be wrong with it. At least leatherman has a great warranty program.
 
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