Endura 4 Question

M

MidnightCowboy

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Apr 27, 2010
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Hey guys, today I was taking apart my Endura 4 today for the first time to clean it after some good use, and to familiarize myself with the knife. When I was disassembling the knife, a small silver colored shim fell out, and I don't know where it goes. The shim is smaller than the two shims that go on either side of the blade. I have the Lone Wolf Distributers limited edition Endura with the built-in Glock armorers tool, but I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not. The knife functions fine without the shim as far as I can tell, but I'd like to get it back where it belongs.

Can anyone help me out?

BTW, the Endura is a sweet knife, I really really like it so far (got it yesterday).
 
Post up a photo of what you have. I was working on a video of Endura reassembly yesterday. Guess I ought to post it up.

I was hesitant because I am not sure the world needs encouragement to dissassemble this knife. For cleaning, and general maint there is little need to take it appart and moderate possibility for something to go wrong. There are NO exteraneous parts on a typical Endura so I fear the knife may not function as well as you hope (and it could be a painful realization when it fails to perform). I am concerned and I hope you are too. Not trying to be dickish, I am genuinly concerned for a fellow knife lover (who has good taste BTW).

Please post images of what you did not get back in the knife with a coin for scale and I will try to help.
 
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Never took a Lone Wolf Endura apart, but some models have a small sliver colored washer under the pivot screw.

Paul
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My Personal Website ---- Beginners Guide to Spyderco Collecting ---- Kiwimania ---- Spydiewiki
Dead horses beaten, sacred cows tipped, chimeras hunted when time permits.
WTC # 1458 - 1504 - 1508 - Never Forget, Never Forgive!
It's easy to grin when your ship comes in and good fortune and fame are your lot, but the man worthwhile is the man who can smile with his shorts twisted up in a knot. - Morey Amsterdam
 
unit, once I had the knife apart I realized that all the cleaning I needed to do could have been done without disassembling it. Needless to say, I don't think I will take the knife apart again. Here is a picture of the shim next to a penny for reference (sorry for the blurriness, took the picture with my iPhone):
stockh.jpg
 
I do not have that Endura, but it appears to be the pivot washer. I took apart a delica a while back, needless to say it took me about 3 hours of sweat and swearing like a sailor to put it back together. I can field strip handguns and rifles, but this was just a little different.
 
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Haha, happened to me too. I was thinking if I can do guns this is going to be simple. I didn't see that shim thing on mine though.
 
MidnightCowboy said:
unit, once I had the knife apart I realized that all the cleaning I needed to do could have been done without disassembling it. Needless to say, I don't think I will take the knife apart again. Here is a picture of the shim next to a penny for reference (sorry for the blurriness, took the picture with my iPhone):
stockh.jpg
Click to expand...

OK is that washer flat or does it appear to be warped slightly? If you were to loosen your pivot screw and take it out completely is there a wavy washer on it (do not remove the pivot/blade...just the torx screw). The only thing on any of my Enduras that resembles your photo is the preload washer on the pivot screw.

The phosphor-bronze washers in the pivot are brass-colored, but roughly the same size as your item in the image.

If you have failed to re-assemble the knife with this pre-load washer, fixing the problem will be quite easy. Further if my conjecture is correct, the knife will seem to perform flawlessly without it in place...except that the pivot may self loosen without it....unless you used thread locker which I do NOT recommend for most users.

Hope this helps...let me know.
 
I pulled this very short clip from a video I was thinking of posting. It demonstrates well how easily that little washer can fall out during dis-assembly, and where your knife should have one. Perhaps this is where your mystery part came from?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPCgsJb-Yy8
 
The washer that fell out of my knife is the same one showed in your video. It was the first thing to come out of the knife (I took the pivot screw out first). It is slightly warped, not perfectly flat. Where does it go?
 
Ok, I took out the pivot screw, slid the washer over the threads and re-installed the pivot screw. Am I good to go? What is the purpose of that washer?
 
MidnightCowboy said:
Ok, I took out the pivot screw, slid the washer over the threads and re-installed the pivot screw. Am I good to go? What is the purpose of that washer?
Click to expand...

It works like a spring and loads the threads on the pivot to reduce loosening without using thread locker. Some would call it a lock washer because it "locks" the screw in place. Though "lock" perhaps overstates it's function.
 
MidnightCowboy said:
Ok, cool. Is it normal to have a little bit of up and down play in the blade?
Click to expand...

How much is a little? If it is slightly loose, then I would say yes. Most lockbacks have a little tiny bit of play. If it feels loose then it just might be in need of reassembly.:eek:
 
It is not incredibly loose, but it does have a few millimeters of play. Nothing big really, it's just a minor quirk.
 
MidnightCowboy said:
It is not incredibly loose, but it does have a few millimeters of play. Nothing big really, it's just a minor quirk.
Click to expand...

I am not going to lie to you, every Endura I own (six) has a slight side-to-side play but it is not measurable (you can feel it if you are specifically gripping the handle and forcing the tip of the blade side to side intentionally trying to feel play). None have any up-and-down play. If you are able to measure a few mm of throw (presumably at the blade tip) there is something going on that I would recommend having a pro look into.

I will be the first to tell you that I am not the most knowledgeable guy on these forums, and my Endura experience is limited to the 6 that I have spent time with. Perhaps others will say that this amount of movement is normal. I agree that perceivable but not (or barely) measurable play is not as huge of a concern as some make it out to be, but a few mm vertical would have me constantly second guessing the lock.

Do what you like. I will recommend you send it to Spyderco to have a look over and hopefully they will give it their blessing. Understand that this service may cost you a few bucks since it is outside of their stated warranty at this point. It would be worth the cost of repair (to me) to have the peace of mind...If they look at it and say everything is fine, it will give the same peace and only cost you shipping. Your fingers, your call.
 
MidnightCowboy said:
It is not incredibly loose, but it does have a few millimeters of play. Nothing big really, it's just a minor quirk.
Click to expand...
Many midlocks have perhaps a thousandth of an inch or so of vertical play, just enough that you can feel it, but not really see it. Some will also have a slight amount of horizontal play, sometimes even enough to be barely perceptible. But if it's really a few millimeters in either plane, then it's excessive and may be a sign that you damaged something.

Paul
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My Personal Website ---- Beginners Guide to Spyderco Collecting ---- Kiwimania ---- Spydiewiki
Dead horses beaten, sacred cows tipped, chimeras hunted when time permits.
WTC # 1458 - 1504 - 1508 - Never Forget, Never Forgive!
It's easy to grin when your ship comes in and good fortune and fame are your lot, but the man worthwhile is the man who can smile with his shorts twisted up in a knot. - Morey Amsterdam
 
Midnight,
Make sure that you snug the screws on the handle of the knife, but do not over do it. Finger tight should be good. Start from the screw next to the pivot and work your way down. This will help with the blade centering and should reduce some of the play.
 
I tightened all of the screws (excluding the pivot screw, obviously) as tight as they would go without over tightening them, and there is still a substantial amount of up and down play, and more side to side play than I would like. For some reason, this seems like it should be normal - but I don't like it. I don't really want to have to send it in to Spyderco just to have them say "everything is ok."
 
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