Hinderer XM-24 tri way PB washers blade play

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SuzukiGS750EZ

Joined
Dec 30, 2008
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Hey guys. I took the PB washers and the spacers and put them in the knife. Disengage the lock and check for blade play until there is none but the knife is pretty tough to open. If I back off the tension there is a tiny bit of play and the blade opens a little better. Wondering if a new kit (not that they’re available) is the fix or if it’s a scale issue? Is this normal?
 
It does. I can get the bearings perfect. I mean, the play is only something I can feel just having adjusted a ton of knives, but it is there. I took them out and polished them out on a leather strop thinking there may be a burr. No burr. Cleaned everything down. No clue.
 
Hard to help remotely .... I've put together many XMs on PB washers with no amount of play. Usually I tune them so the blade drops but with a bit of remaining friction, so you can flick them easily. And once it's back together, it will break in the rest by itself (the washers polish themselves).
 
The washers and spacers are polished and flat. I cleaned the whole knife down with acetone and then applied a thin layer of high speed bearing oil with a Q tip to the blade (both sides) and both sides of the washers and spacers. Also on the liner and frame. I tuned the pivot so there is no play, backed it off literally a hair and there was some play so I went back forward a hair to no play. It’s right on the line. But definitely not drop free in the least. A good flick will get it to open but it’s not at all “smooth” and fast.
 
Sounds like you have plenty of experience, and something is just wrong with the knife (or more likely the steel washers). Time to contact the Ranch for support ?
 
Wondering if a new titanium handle scale and tri way kit would fix it up. Problem is neither of those options are readily available lol. I’d like a new titanium scale of some sort but can’t seem to find any new that aren’t outrageously priced.
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
Wondering if a new titanium handle scale and tri way kit would fix it up. Problem is neither of those options are readily available lol. I’d like a new titanium scale of some sort but can’t seem to find any new that aren’t outrageously priced.
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A set of fat washers from skiff might fix you up 😁
 
norcalAF said:
A set of fat washers from skiff might fix you up 😁
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AH! I forgot about those. Just ordered them up. Funny thing is earlier today I was thinking to myself “they should make a PB washer the thickness of the PB washer and spacer so it’s all one piece”. I guess we’ll see how they do. It’ll only be my 150th time taking it apart in the last two days. Should I polish them up on a high grit diamond paste or leave them be?
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
AH! I forgot about those. Just ordered them up. Funny thing is earlier today I was thinking to myself “they should make a PB washer the thickness of the PB washer and spacer so it’s all one piece”. I guess we’ll see how they do. It’ll only be my 150th time taking it apart in the last two days. Should I polish them up on a high grit diamond paste or leave them be?
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Personally as long as there is no surface contamination, I just clean the areas of the pivot thoroughly and use a liberal amount of tw25 on all contact surfaces. Then I reassemble using plumbers tape on the pivot screw so adjusting is easy. I wipe off any excess lube and rock and roll. After such treatment all of my SHFs/ZTs/Emersons thumb flick with authority with zero play. Personally I prefer the skiff bearings in my Hinderers so I use some KPL with those in both my PXs and my XM18. They all flip super smooth and fast with zero play.
 
I have some reel bearing oil which is about the thinnest oil I have. I’ve found in my experience oil on PB makes them stick. I’ll give it a shot though
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
I have some reel bearing oil which is about the thinnest oil I have. I’ve found in my experience oil on PB makes them stick. I’ll give it a shot though
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I use grease on washers and oil on bearings. I use the tw25 mostly because I have a huge tube on hand from me being a p series SIG fan as well 😁 it works great on full slide rails and washer knife pivots! 😂
 
So I just did some quick looking for a parts kit and it says it fits “all tri way pivot systems” so I guess I answered my own question.
When I put the skiff bearings in, oil, grease or dry? Which gets the best action? Since I’m going to sell my xm-24 with the taco bearings installed, I’ll keep the skiff washers I just bought for the xm-18
 
These are the bearings that fit the tri-way pivot system from skiff
www.skiffmadeblades.com

Cage Bearings - Pivot: 1/4" Ceramic Bearings: 1/16 in (13 ball)

The new bearing compatibility list is now live, check it out here! Cage bearings that allow more balls to be placed around the knife pivot than standard cage bearings. Which provides more support for the blade and decreasing stress on each ball. The ceramic balls are captured in the disc but are...
www.skiffmadeblades.com

And the washers that fit
www.skiffmadeblades.com

Thick Washer set - Pivot:1/4"Thickness:1/16"

Pivot washers CNC machined and hand finished from solid phosphor bronze. These are intended to replace cage bearings of the same same. Ordering details One set equals two washers Dimensions ID OD Thickness 0.252" 0.420" 0.0625" 6.4mm 10.668mm 1.587mm
www.skiffmadeblades.com

However, my taco bearings I have (which aren’t produced anymore) in my xm-24 have a thin washer that the bearings ride on so they aren’t making direct contact with the titanium lock side or liner. The skiff bearings as far as I know do not. Wondering if I can find a thin washer to pair with another one of their bearings to make up the .0625 thickness
 
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