Vantage Pro Avid Questions

R

R15K

Joined
Mar 22, 2011
Messages
132
Hello,

I've recently acquired a Buck Vantage Pro as part of a trade that is a piece of junk and I have a few questions for those that may be knowledgeable of them and willing to share some info:

First and most importantly is the blade is missing some sort of stud that fits in a hole behind the pivot that stops the blade from opening too far. Can anyone tell me what it is called and/or point me to a place where I can buy one? I tried the Great Google but without at least knowing what to call it wasn't very successful.

Second, is there anything one can do to center the blade better than what it is? The usual adding and removing of washers/fiddling with the pivot tightness weirdly doesn't seem to work. The blade actually makes contact with the liners when it's closed, enough to scratch the blade. I know they are known for this but I've seen pics of "fixed" knives just never with any info on how. Does it have to do with the liner lock?

Thanks for any help.
 
Stop pin. Call buck and see if they will sell you one maybe?

On the other issue....try taking the knife apart and put it back together stating with the rear screws and tighten the pivot last. Sometimes it helps. If all else fails. Life time warranty send back to buck for repairs.
 
spketch said:
Did you buy it new? The stop pin is completely internal so you won't be able to see it. Are you saying the blade keeps moving open past the locked position?
The vantage is a little different when it comes to centering. There are three screws underneath one of the scales that can adjust it. This video shows it well:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jLKjOhgZ8Vw&desktop_uri=/watch?v=jLKjOhgZ8Vw
Click to expand...

Thanks for that YouTube link. I've had a couple of mine apart before, but he pointed out lots of things I passed over. Excellent video to watch if you would like to tune or clean your own Vantage. :thumbup:
 
I lost the stop pin out of my own buck vantage pro when i had it disassembled to clean. Called buck and they wouldnt ship the part as its internal, instead wanting me to ship the thing in pay 10$ fee to get it together with the pin and ship it back. I ended up making my own stop pin from a machine screw that worked quite well.
 
Thank you guys very much for the info, I will contact Buck but unfortunately after Googling it and reading a post in this thread I'm not very hopeful about getting a replacement without sending them the knife and it's just not worth it. The knife was basically free as "junk condition" in a trade, previous owner tried to cut (grind?) a wave into it and I guess gave up halfway through. I was going to try and fix it then finish filing the wave but honestly don't see this as a worthwhile investment of more then like $5.

I've tried to make my own stop pin out of various things like machine screws and finishing nails but it's kinda tough not having one to copy and no instruments to take precise measurements. They all leave too much play.

spketch said:
Did you buy it new? The stop pin is completely internal so you won't be able to see it. Are you saying the blade keeps moving open past the locked position?
The vantage is a little different when it comes to centering. There are three screws underneath one of the scales that can adjust it. This video shows it well:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jLKjOhgZ8Vw&desktop_uri=/watch?v=jLKjOhgZ8Vw
Click to expand...

Yep, about maybe 3/4s of an inch. That's what prompted me to take it apart and notice the missing stop pin (a name I should have guessed!).

And thank you for the video but I don't remember seeing and screws under the scales when I disassembled it. I'll have to look again though to verify, I'm sure I just missed them or don't recall but that would explain why my fiddling with the pivot didn't help things (I've had decent luck in the past centering blades).
 
Start with a machine screw with a shank about equal or slightly larger in width to the hole so that all you are removing is the threads plus a touch more maybe. File or grind the screw slowly so that it stays round or close as you can until it BARELY fits in the stop pin hole. Its ok if its a bit tough to get in, just twist it a little as you push. File a length of it so that it can sit just overlapping both stainless steel liners while its in the stop pin hole. Cut that off so its now barely too long and file it to length then trim the sharp corners at 45 degrees so it doesnt cause undue wear on the steel liner or the small slots on the underside of the scale. Most machine screws are not stainless so it will require oiling to help keep it from rusting.

Doing this the liner lock did shift farther to the right toward the opposite side but it worked. You can always call buck customer service anyway just in case the guy you reach says sure why not instead of asking for it to be sent in.
 
Awesome, thank you guys very much for the info again.

The advice of the machine screw did the job fairly well and if I decide to peruse the project I'm going to order (and trim, it's just a bit too long) that stop pin.

ETA: Buck wanted me to ship the knife in (in lieu of mailing me the pin) until I mentioned that it was "modified" then it was just "we don't service modified knives." While I wouldn't call it bad customer service it certainly wasn't the resolution I wanted, obviously.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top