Spyderco Military Pivot Screw Issue

ejames13

ejames13

Basic Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2015
Messages
801
Hey guys,

The pivot screw on my Military keeps coming loose. I took the screw out and noticed there was thread locker on it, but somehow the seal had been broken. I cleaned the screw with acetone, put some fresh Permatex blue thread locker on it, and screwed it back together. Let it sit overnight, checked it the next day, and the pivot screw came loose with hardly any force. I took the screw out and found that all the Permatex had evaporated. Went through the whole cleaning process again and used Loctite blue thread locker this time, but the same exact thing happened. What am I doing wrong here??

I did the same thing to my mini grip and had no problem. Only difference I can tell is that the pivot screw on that knife is black instead of stainless. Is there some kind of special thread locker that has to be used on the Millie's pivot screw?

Thanks,
Eric
 
Try using alcohol after the acetone. Maybe you're not getting all of the solvent out??
Permatex Threadlock is good stuff, you shouldn't be having issues under ideal conditions.
 
Also, try degreasing the female side. For starters, try threading a dry q-tip into the female side. It's not a clean-room degrease job, but if there is lube in there it might get enough out to let the thread locker work.
 
Thanks for the replies. I soaked both male and female in isopropyl alcohol and tried again...still the same result. I read something about stainless steel being "inactive metal" and apparently regular loctite 242 doesn't cure well on stainless. Emailed Spyderco and they said they use 243 instead of 242 at the factory. Apparently it's specially formulated for stainless and also works well even in the presence of oil. I'll pick up some of that and give it another shot.
 
ejames13 said:
Thanks for the replies. I soaked both male and female in isopropyl alcohol and tried again...still the same result. I read something about stainless steel being "inactive metal" and apparently regular loctite 242 doesn't cure well on stainless. Emailed Spyderco and they said they use 243 instead of 242 at the factory. Apparently it's specially formulated for stainless and also works well even in the presence of oil. I'll pick up some of that and give it another shot.
Click to expand...

Good info, thanks. :thumbup:
I was just about to cut the tip off of a new tube of 242. I'll grab another now.
 
Got the 243 and gave it a shot but I have another problem. When I put the loctite on and secure the pivot screw, the loctite gets forced out of the top and gets on the blade/pivot area so then it's hard to deploy the blade. This happens with 242 or 243. How do I get the loctite in there without it coming out of the top of the pivot screw??
 
Sounds like you're using too much
 
It doesn't take much to do the job. Don't fill up the female side. Just a coat on the threads and you're good.
 
Definitely had too much. I was only using a drop from the loctite tube, but the drops were coming out big. Used about 1/4 of a drop and now seems to be all set. Thanks for all the tips!
 
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