Para 2 Sticky Lock Culprit & FIX!

D

Decimator22

Joined
Sep 9, 2010
Messages
173
Okay, let me star off by saying that I love my Paramilitary 2. It's an awesome knife(like I need to tell you guys that.). But I have had it for about 6 months now and its sticky lock was really starting to bug me. I tried numerous times to rotate my stop pin, I played with frame and pivot screw tension. Nothing worked. So I decided to take it apart and check out the internals to see if I could address the problem. It seems to be kind of hit or miss when it comes to this issue, which I though strange considering the cause SHOULD be universal. But anyways, let's get to this issue.

So in my opinion and in examining this lock design very carefully, I found that the issue lies with the stop pin. If you look closely at it, it has machining marks on it that run perpendicular to the way the lock interfaces. This causes the lockbar to get caught in these tiny little "valleys" that resulted from the manufacture of the stop pin. So what we need to do is smooth those little buggers out.

The way I accomplished this was with some 1500 grit sandpaper. I don't suggest using anything courser than that because you could take off too much metal, causing the lockbar to move WAY over. And therefore prematurely wear out your lockup. 1500 grit OR higher. Light, even strokes, grabbing the pin at both ends and moving it perpendicular to the machine lines. I did this around the whole pin, but if you want to try it in one spot, and align it perfectly at reassembly, I suppose that would work too.

So after my reassembly, I flicked my Para 2 open and closed a few times, and BOOM! No sticky lock!:D

If you decide to try this, please report back and tell us all if it did, or did not work for you.

DISCLAIMER:
I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOU, YOUR KNIFE, YOUR TOOLS, OR WHATEVER SURFACE YOU CHOOSE TO DO THIS MOD ON. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON'T KNOW ALREADY, TAKING APART YOUR SPYDERCO KNIFE, WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY. CONTINUE WITH THIS MOD AT YOUR OWN RISK.
 
I suggest only the most knowledgable people try this, if any. Lock tolerances are insanely tight, and removing too muh material is a risk at any grit. If you do remove too much, then you're SOL because you've just voided your warranty.

I'm a tinkerer myself, but I think the general public should probably just stick to sending the knife in to Spyderco.
 
I own a couple of dozen Paras of different flavors and have handled lots more - and I've never had one with a sticky lock. IMHO, this does not appear to be a very common issue with this model. When it does happen, I would imagine it would be frustrating, but easily remedied by SFO...

TedP
 
My lock has a very very minute amount of sticking but Im ok with it. Id rather have a little stick that have rock lock after sanding. If anything sandpaper would be a no go, and maybe a dremel with a polishing wheel would work better. At least then material would be removed much much slower and the chances of messing up are much less.

All in all CTS said it best.
 
Never, ever, ever remove metal unless (1) you don't care about a complete loss on the piece or (2) you're smarter than the guys who designed and manufactured the knife.

IMHO/YMMV/whatever...
 
JNewell said:
Never, ever, ever remove metal unless (1) you don't care about a complete loss on the piece or (2) you're smarter than the guys who designed and manufactured the knife.

IMHO/YMMV/whatever...
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by "loss". As in resale, or as in life of the tool. If you mean resale, I don't sell any of my knives. I buy, use, collect. If you mean usage life, the lockbar is engaged in the same place it was when I bought it, so I don't see an issue there.
And I am hardly removing metal, just reorienting and polishing grind lines. Hence the 1500 grit or higher. I don't pretend to be smarter than Mr. Glesser and his team. I just don't want to send my knife in for some as trivial(at least it seems that way too me) as this.

I'm not asking anyone to do this on their knife, I just thought it would be of some help for those apparent few having the issue.
 
CrimsonTideShooter said:
I suggest only the most knowledgable people try this, if any. Lock tolerances are insanely tight, and removing too muh material is a risk at any grit. If you do remove too much, then you're SOL because you've just voided your warranty.

I'm a tinkerer myself, but I think the general public should probably just stick to sending the knife in to Spyderco.
Click to expand...

Oh! John! Whats up brother. I'm subbed to your YT Channel, love your vids man. In fact, your sharpening vid of the ZT 0301 convinced me to buy an EdgePro. That Re-Curve is a real SOB to sharpen by hand. Any who, Like I said in response to JNewell, "I'm not asking anyone to do this on their knife, I just thought it would be of some help for those apparent few having the issue.".
Plus I threw a giant red disclaimer in there for all those giddy impulsive people.

As much as I appreciate your logic, I personally feel fine doing it. But I DID throw a disclaimer in there, simply because I AM one of those impulsive people at times.
And you know either way after all is said and done, I walk away with a fixed Para 2, or a good lesson learned. Both are fine by me.

JNewell said:
IMHO/YMMV/whatever...
Click to expand...
 
I KNEW your name sounded familiar! It was bugging me this whole time!

I don't have a problem with what you did at all, I'd have done it myself. Unfortunately, MOST people are adept enough to do with without messing something up. Not a dig at other people, just the truth. I don't mean that in a rude way at all, seriously. It's just that if you aren't a tinkerer like we are, you probably should leave it to someone else. Not talking to you Decimator, other people. :D
 
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I just gave this a try on my S90V. I had some very fine wet/dry auto sandpaper, wrapped the stop pin in it and spun it with a screw attached, maybe a couple dozen times.

Then I went over the lockbar side that interfaces the stop pin, with small, light circles, and on the edges to remove any burrs. Then I cleaned, reassembled and oiled the knife.

The sticky-ness was greatly reduced, but still there, however slight.

When I compare it to my brown PM 2 though, it seems that the lock bar is just a lot stiffer, which is causing the sticking on the S90v model. The brown PM 2 is very light when unlocking while the S90v is noticeably stiffer. I, however, am not brave enough to try to adjust that. It's still a great knife, just has a minor annoyance.

Edit: been flipping it some more, and it seems to have gotten much better! Only time will tell if it stays like that. Have to add that it still has an early lock up.
 
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ctk123 said:
I just gave this a try on my S90V. I had some very fine wet/dry auto sandpaper, wrapped the stop pin in it and spun it with a screw attached, maybe a couple dozen times.

Then I went over the lockbar side that interfaces the stop pin, with small, light circles, and on the edges to remove any burrs. Then I cleaned, reassembled and oiled the knife.

The sticky-ness was greatly reduced, but still there, however slight.

When I compare it to my brown PM 2 though, it seems that the lock bar is just a lot stiffer, which is causing the sticking on the S90v model. The brown PM 2 is very light when unlocking while the S90v is noticeably stiffer. I, however, am not brave enough to try to adjust that. It's still a great knife, just has a minor annoyance.

Edit: been flipping it some more, and it seems to have gotten much better! Only time will tell if it stays like that. Have to add that it still has an early lock up.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear that this helped. But You Should have sanded perpendicular to the machine lines. I think that would have done better. However, I'm glad it worked for you! :D
 
Just an update, been carrying and using my para 2 I've tried this on. It's been about 4 days and the sticky-ness is gone. I can't re-create it if I tried, whereas before it would always stick if opened a certain way.

Lock-up is still unaffected. Good fix!
 
ctk123 said:
Just an update, been carrying and using my para 2 I've tried this on. It's been about 4 days and the sticky-ness is gone. I can't re-create it if I tried, whereas before it would always stick if opened a certain way.

Lock-up is still unaffected. Good fix!
Click to expand...

Yay!:D
 
I tried this with my S30V P2 and it didn't work. Not a big deal though, I've had a sticky lock since I bought it over a year ago.
 
Worked like a charm for me. Thanks Decimator! My para was crazy sticky, been that way for over a year. It took some time with the 1500 grit sandpaper, but now the stickiness is gone, and the knife locks up just the same as before.
 
Mine was sticky when I first got it but after time, it wore in (boy that sounds weird). If I use a dry q-tip to clean the locking area of the blade, the stickyness comes back again. Put a drop of oil on the same q-tip and swab the locking area and it goes away. I would probably try this mod if it was really bad.
 
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