help: disassembled spyderco brad southard

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ken1111

Joined
Aug 23, 2011
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Soooo just got my spyderco brad southard yesterday and played with it for a couple hours and loved it. but being the curious george i am, i took it apart to check if the lock bar is carbidized. (its not) and when i put it back together I had found the the blade now rubs on the liner opposite of the lock side. =(

I noticed that the bearing system had angled washers and the bearings on one side was raised a little. After trying many combinations for many hours with not much success to returning the blade to normal centering i am posting here to see if any one was able to put it back together with the blade centered.

Thanks for your help!
 
The washers that the bearings ride on are dished like a bowl. The bearings sit on that washer similar to what it would look like if you were putting a plate into the bowl, bearings contact the blade directly. With my southard, I have noticed that even loosening the pivot screw on the non locking side a little allows the blade to move over and touch the ti. It is quite possible that your pivot is not fully engaging enough to actually tighten all the way. The best way that I have found to put mine back together is to fully assemble the locking side with the standoffs and everything, set the blade in the locked open position, get your non locking side bearings oriented in the ti liner and fit the liner over the pivot, blade and the standoffs. make sure that you have a little pivot poking out through the liner and that all standoffs are snugly fitting in their correct holes in the liner. also make sure that the pivot screw on the locking side is able to fully engage and sit flush. The pivot itself has a flat spot so it is possible for things to get hung up there and keep your pivot from fully tightening. Hope this helps.
 
B Legit said:
The washers that the bearings ride on are dished like a bowl. The bearings sit on that washer similar to what it would look like if you were putting a plate into the bowl, bearings contact the blade directly. With my southard, I have noticed that even loosening the pivot screw on the non locking side a little allows the blade to move over and touch the ti. It is quite possible that your pivot is not fully engaging enough to actually tighten all the way. PThe best way that I have found to put mine back together is to fully assemble the locking side with the standoffs and everything, set the blade in the locked open position, get your non locking side bearings oriented in the ti liner and fit the liner over the pivot, blade and the standoffs. make sure that you have a little pivot poking out through the liner and that all standoffs are snugly fitting in their correct holes in the liner. also make sure that the pivot screw on the locking side is able to fully engage and sit flush. The pivot itself has a flat spot so it is possible for things to get hung up there and keep your pivot from fully tightening. Hope this helps.
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This is good advice. I've taken mine down and put it back together several times and haven't had any problems. The blade is pretty sensitive to pivot tension with respect to centering though. Mine can go from almost touching the lock bar (too tight), to running the non-locking liner (too loose) with just a fraction of a turn of the pivot screw. What happens if you tighten the pivot all the way down? If it's still rubbing against the non-locking liner with the pivot fully tightened then you have something wonky going on with your assembly. In that case I recommend you take the whole thing apart again, thoroughly clean every part, take out the lanyard tube (just because it's ugly and unnecessary...), and very carefully reassemble the knife according to B Legit's instructions. Best of luck.
 
hey guys thanks so much for the help. your advice and a combination of tightening down the pivot when the blade is closed and figuring out the pivot was double sided fixed the problem..... mine was lock tighted so hard on one side i assumed it was just a single screw that went in and out instead of a double sided thing.


Thanks again =)
 
ken1111 said:
hey guys thanks so much for the help. your advice and a combination of tightening down the pivot when the blade is closed and figuring out the pivot was double sided fixed the problem..... mine was lock tighted so hard on one side i assumed it was just a single screw that went in and out instead of a double sided thing.


Thanks again =)
Click to expand...

Sorry for being a necromancer but did you ever get the screw loosened? Mine is tightened to the point of being solid. I'm afraid to sit it on a soldering iron for fear of damaging the metal of the pivot/screw and making it soft.
 
yeah that was my issue as well. it was so damn tight when i first disassembled it it moved a little and didnt notice... but it was enough to throw off everything. I had to force the screw out clean up the locktite and put it back in for adjustment. I basically put the pivot in a bench vise and unscrewed it on there. It was so damn tight i could not take it out when it was in the Ti frame because i felt the Ti bend. I think you should be fine with out a soldering iron if you use the right size torx bit and make sure the driver is perpendicular. I had no issue with stripping. But of course if you feel it start to strip stop and use heat.

Good luck
 
Awesome! Year old thread and you reply within 15 mins. Thanks!

I may also try some liquid wrench. Think I have some lying around.
 
Oh man the southard was weird to open.
Pieces didn't want to budge and I was afraid of bend something out of place.

People keep saying how this knife compares to a chris reeve. Really?

However still one of favorite knives, though I will only open few seldomly.
 
HwangJino said:
Oh man the southard was weird to open.
Pieces didn't want to budge and I was afraid of bend something out of place.

People keep saying how this knife compares to a chris reeve. Really?

However still one of favorite knives, though I will only open few seldomly.
Click to expand...

People often compare the Taichung Spydercos to mid-techs and customs. I, honestly, find that the quality is high but not THAT high. There's also noticeable variance in build quality - I've handled three different brand new Gayle Bradleys, and some of them had stiffer detents, smoother pivots, ealier lockup, etc. You don't see that as much in, say, Chris Reeve knives.

However, when people make those comparisons, I think they're talking about pivot smoothness (which, with bearings vs phosphor bronze, is kind of unfair), lockup, and functional blade shape. That's where I would say they are similar - very sturdy, smooth knives with extremely practical blades.
 
Learned this long ago:
Don't strip the torx.
Heat water to near boiling in a pan, take from heat.
Drop in knife, let sit 3to 5 min.
Fish out and place on towel.
Push straight down with tool and ease out screw.
You may have to return to the hot water, the glue hardens quickly.

There is nothing that can be harmed on your knife by the hot water.
 
I have found that whatever one of the solvents in Breakfree brand CLP may be, it is good (though slow) on weakening Loctite. Kinda makes you wonder about using it near parts you've used Loctite on, but that has been my experience with that product. The only advantage over warm water is that you won't get rust started anywhere. :) Not an issue if you're going to disassemble promptly, though.
 
I think I'll try the boiling water thing before I try a clamp or chemicals.

Aside from having it undone is there any massive benefit to having that side of the pivot unlocked?
 
nothing major.

it my just be me but i like to tweak both sides of the pivot when I adjust out blade play.

Thanks Morrow.
 
Comeuppance said:
People often compare the Taichung Spydercos to mid-techs and customs. I, honestly, find that the quality is high but not THAT high. There's also noticeable variance in build quality - I've handled three different brand new Gayle Bradleys, and some of them had stiffer detents, smoother pivots, ealier lockup, etc. You don't see that as much in, say, Chris Reeve knives.

However, when people make those comparisons, I think they're talking about pivot smoothness (which, with bearings vs phosphor bronze, is kind of unfair), lockup, and functional blade shape. That's where I would say they are similar - very sturdy, smooth knives with extremely practical blades.
Click to expand...

I completely agree, the insides are nowhere near the same quality but using the knife, sort of trumps any chris reeve knife (in my experiences).

I actually got a 2nd southard. :) there's something about it... My GF says the blade has a reptilian skull shape (which I kind of agree with). But the SOUND is beautiful, titanium and cts 204p making contact sounds better than titanium and s35vn...
 
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