Spyderco Advocate bearing Race A total Failure..

Yeah there's been a couple of threads about this. Sal said they're working on it.

 

Here is what I would do. Re assemble the knife and send it back to Spyderco. Doubt they keep record of who called about a knife they took apart.

 

I would hope that Spyderco would not charge you for disassembly. They put out a faulty design. And we've heard that they're working on a solution.
Curious, how many openings would you say it took before this failure?

 

Your ball for the detent looks like it developed a flat spot. Did the detent get weaker over time?

 

As for parts. They always have done that.

You took it apart... That's on you.

 

I am starting to think that bearings are something to avoid in future knife purchases for me. I have a couple of knives with bearings and my experience is that they are not smoother than my knives with washers.

I hope you are able to get your knife repaired without being charged for it.

 

Best photos of this problem that have seen! Good job!

Mine is still at Spyderco!

 

OP.

I wish you luck...

Hopefully Sal will chime in and get right.

No reason to believe You will be SOL
on the disassembly.

 

I thought these bearings and washers were very much like the Southard/Domino/Mantra?

I had to send both my Southard and Domino in for repairs for pretty much the exact issue above. Have they made a design change for the advocate or is it the same bad formula?

My Domino has been great since it came back from the spidie spa, I sold my Southard but it flipped great as well upon return. Love the Domino, not a fan of the bearing and pivot setup. I would happily swap to pb washers if I could.

 

Isn't there a place youncan order new non bearing washers for dirt cheap? There must be.

 

This exactly.
Manufactures who weasel out of warranty issues should be questioned. I wouldn't expect this of Spyderco.

 

They look like the same size to me. I have taken apart my Southard, but not my Advocate. My Southard washers and bearings look the same as the ones in your photo.

My Southard was rough and then it wasn't, but I would expect it to chew through in time, also.

 

Hi UAB89, I'm curious about this issue. Did you make any adjustments to the pivot in the month before you disassembled the knife? Like in an attempt to center the blade?

 

As far as I know, bearing race issues were first widely reported on the Mantra. And again, as far as I can tell, they were largely ignored by Spyderco. Now Spyderco has a lot of customers who don't trust their bearing pivots. It's gonna take time to restore that confidence.
Don't get me wrong. I love Spyderco. Their 2017 catalog is miles better than the competition. I just wish they would have been a bit more proactive in this case.