New Pivot Screws For The Military?

Razor · Jan 30, 2018

I bought a new M4 Millie a couple months ago off of ebay. I have been using it and did not try adjusting the pivots any. It didn't seem to open as smooth as my green handle one so I decided to maybe adjust the pivot. The pivot heads are mess up like someone used the wrong size tork wrench on them. Would spyderco send me two new ones? I finally got a allen wrench to fit it, and it seems when I tried to tighten it both sides would turn. Is this normal? The knife works fine as it is. Should I just leave it along?

Rusty_shackelford · Jan 30, 2018

Im pretty sure they would send you new ones. Maybe for free, maybe for a small charge.
I have a jade/m4 pm2 that had red loctite on it. Not sure if this was used on the millies too, but it could help explain the stripped/damaged pivot.
I may be wrong here, but if the pivot is stepped it shouldn't turn both sides when you try to tighten it. If it isnt stepped it may turn the whole pivot.

alinla · Jan 30, 2018

On my Domino and a few others I have to have wrenches on both sides in order to properly adjust/tighten them. That's fairly normal.
I don't think Spyderco would send you new pivot screws since that wouldn't be covered under warranty, nor do they ship individual parts that I'm aware of. However you could send it to them and they might replace it in Golden (a small fee might be involved).

91bravo · Jan 30, 2018

The pivot should not turn on the jade M4 Millie. It has the D-notch cut out on the presentation side so the pivot should stay put. Since you say the knife operates fine, I guess I'd leave it at that, but something is amiss if the other side of the pivot is turning too.

Rusty_shackelford · Jan 30, 2018

alinla said:
On my Domino and a few others I have to have wrenches on both sides in order to properly adjust/tighten them. That's fairly normal.
I don't think Spyderco would send you new pivot screws since that wouldn't be covered under warranty, nor do they ship individual parts that I'm aware of. However you could send it to them and they might replace it in Golden (a small fee might be involved).

I'm speaking from experience. They've shipped me scales screws, pivots, and pocket clips, on different occasions. Most time free of charge for common current production model. I've been charged for pocket clips for older discontinued models. I've heard they won't send washers, but I have no first hand experience. You are right tho, disassembling it will void the warranty. So if that's really important to you OP, sent it in.
A quick call to customer service would settle it in a minute.

Rusty_shackelford · Jan 30, 2018

91bravo said:
The pivot should not turn on the jade M4 Millie. It has the D-notch cut out on the presentation side so the pivot should stay put. Since you say the knife operates fine, I guess I'd leave it at that, but something is amiss if the other side of the pivot is turning too.

I'd bet red loctite. My brand spanking new jade/m4 pm2's pivot was loaded with it.

91bravo · Jan 30, 2018

Rusty_shackelford said:
I'd bet red loctite. My brand spanking new jade/m4 pm2's pivot was loaded with it.

Even with red lok-tite, the pivot still should not be turning. That D-notch cut out side of the pivot fits into the presentation-side liner and should be physically impossible for it to turn.

Rusty_shackelford · Jan 30, 2018

91bravo said:
Even with red lok-tite, the pivot still should not be turning. That D-notch cut out side of the pivot fits into the presentation-side liner and should be physically impossible for it to turn.

In theory, you're right. If you really crank it, it'll spin. In hind sight I shouldn't have ever went that caveman on it, but it'll turn.
Maybe I rounded out the D notch, or maybe I grooved the pivot a bit, not sure. It spun tho. Unless I'm talking out my a$$ and the pm2 isn't stepped.

91bravo · Jan 30, 2018

Rusty_shackelford said:
In theory, you're right. If you really crank it, it'll spin. In hind sight I shouldn't have ever went that caveman on it, but it'll turn.
Maybe I rounded out the D notch, or maybe I grooved the pivot a bit, not sure. It spun tho. Unless I'm talking out my a$$ and the pm2 isn't stepped.

Both the Millie and the PM2 have the stepped pivot with the D-notch cut out on one side. The notch side is on the presentation side on the Millie and on the clip side of the PM2. Well, if it's spinning both sides, then something is going on with your pivot. You may have rounded out that d-notch, but I just don't see how that is happening. I'd imagine you would strip the screw before that happens. Very odd.

BP_ · Jan 30, 2018

Spyderco actually changed the wording in their warranty recently. A knife that has been disassembled and/or reassembled “correctly” (meaning the proper “factory” function of the knife is maintained and in tact) then the warranty is still good to go. :thumbsup:

https://www.spyderco.com/service-support/warranty-repair/

Rusty_shackelford · Jan 30, 2018

91bravo said:
Both the Millie and the PM2 have the stepped pivot with the D-notch cut out on one side. The notch side is on the presentation side on the Millie and on the clip side of the PM2. Well, if it's spinning both sides, then something is going on with your pivot. You may have rounded out that d-notch, but I just don't see how that is happening. I'd imagine you would strip the screw before that happens. Very odd.

It doesn't make much sense, I know. Neither does the ops spinning either. It took a whole lot of brute force and a complete lack of common sense on my part.
I've stripped plenty of screws in my day and I agree, youd think the pivot would strip first. And to be honest it may have. At that point I was probably frothing at the mouth. There may have been easy outs or other shanigans involved. I can't remember exactly, but I do remember driving to the hardware store to get another torx driver as a backup because the whole pivot was spinning.
I'll pull the pm2 apart when I get a chance and let you know what I see.

91bravo · Jan 30, 2018

I have a pic of my jade M4 dis-assembled somewhere. It was when I dyed mine from natural to royal blue. I'll see if I can't dig it up and see what I see.

91bravo · Jan 30, 2018

Not my jade, but my s110v blurple one. Same thing, different color/steel. As you can see the left most liner (presentation side) has that d-shaped hole. Once the d-shaped side of the pivot fits into the liner, then it should not physically be able to spin, no matter what side screw you are turning.

Rusty_shackelford · Jan 30, 2018

91bravo said:
Not my jade, but my s110v blurple one. Same thing, different color/steel. As you can see the left most liner (presentation side) has that d-shaped hole. Once the d-shaped side of the pivot fits into the liner, then it should not physically be able to spin, no matter what side screw you are turning.

I agree.
Unless you turn that "D" into an "O".
I understand why it shouldn't. Trying to figure out why it is.

Rusty_shackelford · Jan 30, 2018

Well bravo and OP, dismiss everything I said. My mistake.
I pulled apart my pm2 and there's no grove in the pivot and the notched liner is still in a D shape.
I must be getting it mixed up with something else. There was a pile of red loctite but as Bravo said, it should matter as far as the entire pivot spinning. Maybe it was a spacer I was getting mixed up with, cause there's lots of red loctite on there too. My apologies.

Danke42 · Jan 30, 2018

91bravo said:
Not my jade, but my s110v blurple one. Same thing, different color/steel. As you can see the left most liner (presentation side) has that d-shaped hole. Once the d-shaped side of the pivot fits into the liner, then it should not physically be able to spin, no matter what side screw you are turning.

Here's my theory. if someone removes the lock side fully first the pin wont spin. If someone removes the opposite side first the pin will spin. Then if they don't notice the D-cutout and try to put the knife back together without the pin keyed to the cutout things will go badly.

91bravo · Jan 30, 2018

Danke42 said:
Here's my theory. if someone removes the lock side fully first the pin wont spin. If someone removes the opposite side first the pin will spin. Then if they don't notice the D-cutout and try to put the knife back together without the pin keyed to the cutout things will go badly.

This is what I was thinking as well, but on the other hand there's only one way that pivot will fit. No way the round side of the pivot can fit into the D-hole of the liner. So I'm still scratching my head on this one and how OP's pivot is turning on both sides?

91bravo · Jan 30, 2018

Razor said:
I bought a new M4 Millie a couple months ago off of ebay. I have been using it and did not try adjusting the pivots any. It didn't seem to open as smooth as my green handle one so I decided to maybe adjust the pivot. The pivot heads are mess up like someone used the wrong size tork wrench on them. Would spyderco send me two new ones? I finally got a allen wrench to fit it, and it seems when I tried to tighten it both sides would turn. Is this normal? The knife works fine as it is. Should I just leave it along?

Got pics?

Danke42 · Jan 30, 2018

91bravo said:
This is what I was thinking as well, but on the other hand there's only one way that pivot will fit. No way the round side of the pivot can fit into the D-hole of the liner. So I'm still scratching my head on this one and how OP's pivot is turning on both sides?

Well you know what they say, if you can't fix it with a hammer you got an electrical problem there.

91bravo · Jan 30, 2018

Maybe it's not authentic...