Hinderer Detent Ball Play/Slop Normal?

A

augustus88

Joined
Oct 13, 2006
Messages
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I've had my Hinderer XM-18 3.5" Gen 5 for several months now and the detent seems to be getting softer and looser with quite a bit of slop. The detent ball is flat and doesn't protrude very far past the lock bar. Blade retention isn't very good and the blade can be flicked out of the handle fairly easily without touching the flipper or blade stops/thumb studs. I could swear it wasn't like this when I first purchased it.

Is this normal? Thoughts?

Here's a video.

Photo of the detent ball.
QwRfh25.jpg
 
The pivot is not loose. I have it tight enough for the flipper to work and the blade is centered when closed. There's zero blade play when deployed.
 
That's not right. I have no experience with Hinderer but I doubt it's the norm.
I have a couple knives with a tiny bit of slop. Yours is much worse.
 
I'm not familiar with Hinderers and the pic is not very clear to me. Is the detent ball part of the lock bar insert, or is it fitted into the lock bar itself? If it's part of the insert, is the insert tight?

Edit: never mind, I just saw the detent ball hole in the lock bar in the video still. I guess that rules out the loose insert theory.
 
Someone else reported the detent ball on their Gen 5 falling out completely. Contact Hinderer.

Edit: I found where I saw that. It’s on the Hinderer fans Facebook group. He has good, detailed photos of it. Rick replied telling him to send it in.
 
The detent ball looks to be sinking into the Ti. Seems to be quite a few issues with Gen5 detent balls. A buddy of mine just sent one in for warranty because his fell out. Just one more reason to stick with my Gen4s. But no, it's not right and needs to be sent in.
 
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The detent on this knife just looks weird and unlike any detent ball I’ve ever seen. Can any Hinderer owners verify what the ball is supposed to look like?

Guess it’s going back to Hinderer on Monday. Kind of annoying that my only two warranty returns I’ve ever had with knives are the two most expensive. A Sebenza 21 and now a Hinderer!
 
First of all, you have 13 knives...this is bad mo-jo. Buy one more and all your problems will go away.
But on a serious note, send that knife to the ranch for warranty work. That detent ball should be of a rockwell way harder than your blade and should not be wearing flat like that.
You can also rotate your blade stop pin and see if its just worn out. The ball slop is right on, its the blade stop pin that "times" the detent hole and ball.
 
brandoak said:
First of all, you have 13 knives...this is bad mo-jo. Buy one more and all your problems will go away.
But on a serious note, send that knife to the ranch for warranty work. That detent ball should be of a rockwell way harder than your blade and should not be wearing flat like that.
You can also rotate your blade stop pin and see if its just worn out. The ball slop is right on, its the blade stop pin that "times" the detent hole and ball.
Click to expand...
Haha... only 13 detent ball knives in addition to the Hinderer, but I have several axis locks, slip joints and fixed blades.

The detent ball is definitely flat and wearing quickly!

I’ve rotated the stop pin and it’s definitely not worn. The blade stops perfectly against the pin. The play is away from the pin. The detent hole is way bigger than the flat protrusion that looks kind of like a detent ball.
 
Let us know how it all works out. It’s sad you have to deal with the problem, but I’m sure they will take care of you.
 
Hinderer had an issue with some of their detent balls being sized wrong. These got mixed in the pile and affected around 50 knives. We had several customers get one with the defective detent ball and had them send them back to Hinderer. All were fixed and returned with in 7 business days. I am so sorry this happened to you. If you bought it from us please let me know and we will take care of all of it for you. If not please get in touch with Hinderer and get it sent in. You can mail it to:

Hinderer Knives
5371 Columbus Rd
Shreve Ohio 44676

Include a note detailing the problem and of course your return address, phone number and email. I think you will be very impressed with the communication you receive and how fast it gets back to you. If you have any problems email me anytime at scott@usamadeblade.com and I will do whatever I can to get it corrected for you, does not matter if you bought it from us or not.
 
Thanks for the info about the undersize detent balls mixed in the pile at Hinderer. Also thanks for offering to help even if I didn't buy the knife from you. I've purchased knives from USA Made Blade before, unfortunately you were out of the color I was looking for when the new Gen 5 sheepsfoot XM-18 was released.

I just packed my defective knife up and returned it to Hinderer. I'll post an update when it gets back from being repaired.
 
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