Zero Tolerance Detent Ball Replacement?? Size?

Airlsee

Airlsee

Gold Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2013
Messages
118
Hey guys, I've got a ZT 0566 that has vertical blade play in the closed position. It was de-assisted then modded significantly, to the point that I don't think KAI's warranty department would want to mess with it (although none of the mods had anything to do with the detent ball).

Anyhow, the blade play is due to the detent ball either being flattened down, sitting too low, or the hole in the blade being too large. It's not caused by the lockbar, because with the blade closed and putting full force on the lockbar it still has the same amount of vertical blade play. So now I'm to the point that I want to just replace the detent ball, although I'm really pretty nervous about it and wonder if anyone here has actually replaced one of the detent balls in a Zero Tolerance knife? It looks like they are 1/16" balls, but I'm not entirely sure about this. I figure if I'm going to replace the ball anyway then why not upgrade it to ceramic? I've also thought that I could just turn the flattened detent ball over thus assuring that it's the right size...but really haven't made up my mind either way.

I guess my main question is whether anyone here knows the size of the detent balls used by Zero Tolerance, specifically the 0566. And if there are any not so apparent problems that I'm missing before attempting this mod. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
 
I have changed a few detent balls. You can just press them out from the back side w/ a punch or something that will fit in the detent hole. Not sure on the size, just pop it out and measure, then order some from usaknifemaker supply.

Are you sure this isn't a detent hole placement or a lockbar issue? It sounds like the detent hole should have been drilled further back to barely let the ball sit down into it.
 
I'm really not sure if it's a placement issue or not, it really just seems like the hole was drilled too large, or that the detent ball is sitting too low. It seats all the way into the detent hole on the blade, but then has significant wiggle room while seated...
 
Airlsee said:
I'm really not sure if it's a placement issue or not, it really just seems like the hole was drilled too large, or that the detent ball is sitting too low. It seats all the way into the detent hole on the blade, but then has significant wiggle room while seated...
Click to expand...

Ok yeah then you probably need to replace it with a larger one, which means you will have to remove the current one, drill out the detent hole on the lock bar, and install a larger one. When you drill for the larger size detent ball, you will need to undersize by about 3 thou or so and then press in the new ball.
 
Yeah, you may be right...I think I will order 2 different size detent balls, and try the original size first, and if that doesn't work drill it out and install the larger ball. What a bummer! Haha...thanks for the input Josh.
 
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