ZT 0566 hard to open

filedog

filedog

Joined
Sep 3, 2002
Messages
518
Picked up an 0566 on the secondary market. Besides some clip wear it's in excellent condition. I've been collection knives for 10 years or so,
had many of the popular models, but my only flippers have been an Enlan El01 and a Kershaw Camber. The Enlan was rough around the edges,
but for a relatively big knife, flipped easily. The Camber is just excellent, detent/flip action seems perfect, easy to deploy, never hurts my finger.

So, I got the 0566, it was deassisted. A bit hard to open (the Enlan was considerably easier). So, since I love the Camber's assist, took it all apart,
cleaned it, inspected all the bearing surfaces, everything looked fine. I put the torsion bar in (correctly), lube with Tuff-glide, and re-assembled.
It's hard to open. Moves smoothly and all, but the amount of force required on the flipper results in my finger smashing down on the edge of the jimping
of the non-lock side, with enough impact to be uncomfortable. With the Camber, I can flip it open repeatedly with no problem. The ZT, not so much : (

So, I'm wondering, is this typical for this model? Deassisted was less painful to open, does the torsion bar ADD effort required to open? The only thing
I can think of is; maybe the detent is too strong because the lock bar is too tight? Any Ideas? I like the design, handle comfort, steel and blade shape.
But I will pass on this one, if I can't make it enjoyable to open.
 
I have a 566 that has not been de-assisted and it opens easily. One of my favorite knifes and my EDC.
 
redwolf53 said:
I have a 566 that has not been de-assisted and it opens easily. One of my favorite knifes and my EDC.
Click to expand...

Hmm, well, that's good to know. How hard is it to release the lock? Similar to a liner lock? I used to know a guy who went by redwolf, long ago...
 
No problem with the frame lock. Bought the knife nib, and there was some break in, but after that, all is good.
 
I just picked up a 556CF last week. It was my first flipper. Right out of the box it flipped out very easily. It is still assisted and closing with one hand too a while to get down comfortably. I did find the frame lock was very stiff, IMO but after a couple days it is a lot better.
 
There are a lot of variables as to why your particular knife opens with less or more difficulty. Even across different knives of the same model, you will have variances. The way the detent was set, the amount of tension the lockbar has, the tolerances & fit of the internal components, and the shape of your hand all contribute to the characteristics of a particular knife's action.
 
I have two 0566s and both have an extremely heavy detent. I leave them half open over night, but so far it hasn't helped much. My 0770 is much the same.
 
NeilB said:
I have two 0566s and both have an extremely heavy detent. I leave them half open over night, but so far it hasn't helped much. My 0770 is much the same.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Does the heavy detent make them hard to open? Similar to what I was describing, where your index finger kind of smashes into the jimping?
 
filedog said:
Interesting. Does the heavy detent make them hard to open? Similar to what I was describing, where your index finger kind of smashes into the jimping?
Click to expand...

Yes it can but might not be the issue.

I had a 566 that was extremely hard to open. I took the assist out and it was much better and a much better knife IMO. In my particular knife it was the torsion bar. I only sold it because I found it too small.

Like was said above, there are a lot of variables. One not mentioned is the pocket clip might be pushing on the lock bar.

Honestly, if taking the bar out doesn't help there might be more work needed than you might want to do. You might want to consider sending it to ZT.
 
I took it a part again, smoothed the washers, checked fit everywhere, re lubed. Still seems like to much friction. Pocket clip is off. It might need to go back.
Since I'm not the original owner, will they still service it? I don't think the original owner registered it, or sent it in for anything.
 
On my ZT 0566 the detent is fairly light...I think most of them are. What is tight is the assisted opening spring, you can try bending the spring a little bit for less tension. I removed my spring and feel the knife is much better de-assisted.
 
filedog said:
I took it a part again, smoothed the washers, checked fit everywhere, re lubed. Still seems like to much friction. Pocket clip is off. It might need to go back.
Since I'm not the original owner, will they still service it? I don't think the original owner registered it, or sent it in for anything.
Click to expand...

Yes they should still service it.
 
I had a 0566. I traded it for that reason. Was almost painful to deploy. I thought that was normal for ZT because I handled a nib one at a local shop and it was the same. Guess I was wrong and it'd def not normal.
 
Took the torsion bar out of my 566 and it sucked. The action was sloppy and the blade would fall out with the light detent not to mention how off center the blade was after the de assist. Idk why so many ppl want to de assist knives that were purposely designed assisted. My 566 was very tight out of the box and yes indeed required to much effort to pass the detent at first. When I put the bar back in I did two things, I smeared the bare torsion bar in Vasoline to lube it and keep it perfectly in place while I reassembled it. The second was when putting it back together I lubed both washers and pivot with Benchmade Blue Lube. It opens 5+ times easier and smoother now I love it. I to have the camber and did the same to it. It opens with quite possibly the best assisted action Ive ever experienced. Benchmade Blue Lube is no joke. Best results are when you actually take apart a knife and apply it piece by piece as the Blue Lube is juuust a bit to thick to fully spread out across surfaces otherwise. Another recent lube I tried with amazing success is Hornadays Elite Gun Lube which I got at W*lmart for dirt cheap that I used on some way to stiff Buck 110s that worked really well. Good luck....
 
Kyle_4 said:
On my ZT 0566 the detent is fairly light...I think most of them are. What is tight is the assisted opening spring, you can try bending the spring a little bit for less tension. I removed my spring and feel the knife is much better de-assisted.
Click to expand...
The spring seemed weak (maybe cause the knife is sticking) I added MORE tesnion, still doesn't get the blade out. I'm not one of those who hate assist, I'd like to have it work properly.

keroscene said:
I had a 0566. I traded it for that reason. Was almost painful to deploy. I thought that was normal for ZT because I handled a nib one at a local shop and it was the same. Guess I was wrong and it'd def not normal.
Click to expand...
Heh- so I'm NOT crazy - that's something. Yeah, it's not "user friendly" the way it is. Thought someone was gonna raz me about "soft girly fingers " )

CelticCross74 said:
Took the torsion bar out of my 566 and it sucked. The action was sloppy and the blade would fall out with the light detent not to mention how off center the blade was after the de assist. Idk why so many ppl want to de assist knives that were purposely designed assisted. My 566 was very tight out of the box and yes indeed required to much effort to pass the detent at first. When I put the bar back in I did two things, I smeared the bare torsion bar in Vasoline to lube it and keep it perfectly in place while I reassembled it. The second was when putting it back together I lubed both washers and pivot with Benchmade Blue Lube. It opens 5+ times easier and smoother now I love it. I to have the camber and did the same to it. It opens with quite possibly the best assisted action Ive ever experienced. Benchmade Blue Lube is no joke. Best results are when you actually take apart a knife and apply it piece by piece as the Blue Lube is juuust a bit to thick to fully spread out across surfaces otherwise. Another recent lube I tried with amazing success is Hornadays Elite Gun Lube which I got at W*lmart for dirt cheap that I used on some way to stiff Buck 110s that worked really well. Good luck....
Click to expand...

Hm, well. it's lubed pretty well, I can try something else, but it seems like there's too much friction for it to be just lube. My Camber needs zero improvement, perfect as is.

Does anyone know how long KAI takes to service a knife? they quote 6 weeks!
 
CelticCross74 said:
Took the torsion bar out of my 566 and it sucked. The action was sloppy and the blade would fall out with the light detent not to mention how off center the blade was after the de assist. Idk why so many ppl want to de assist knives that were purposely designed assisted. My 566 was very tight out of the box and yes indeed required to much effort to pass the detent at first. When I put the bar back in I did two things, I smeared the bare torsion bar in Vasoline to lube it and keep it perfectly in place while I reassembled it. The second was when putting it back together I lubed both washers and pivot with Benchmade Blue Lube. It opens 5+ times easier and smoother now I love it. I to have the camber and did the same to it. It opens with quite possibly the best assisted action Ive ever experienced. Benchmade Blue Lube is no joke. Best results are when you actually take apart a knife and apply it piece by piece as the Blue Lube is juuust a bit to thick to fully spread out across surfaces otherwise. Another recent lube I tried with amazing success is Hornadays Elite Gun Lube which I got at W*lmart for dirt cheap that I used on some way to stiff Buck 110s that worked really well. Good luck....
Click to expand...

Yeah, I actually bought a de-assisted ZT0566 from someone here (It's actually sitting in my mailbox at home right now). I sent a request to ZT to see if I can buy a replacement Torsion Bar since i'm not the first owner.
 
Cadillac86 said:
Yeah, I actually bought a de-assisted ZT0566 from someone here (It's actually sitting in my mailbox at home right now). I sent a request to ZT to see if I can buy a replacement Torsion Bar since i'm not the first owner.
Click to expand...

They have a parts request form, I requested a new clip, sent it (free) immediately, no questions asked.
 
I know this might sound crazy...but is this a first frame lock for you? If by chance it is, lots of folks have a hard time opening them because they put excess pressure on the lock bar unknowingly when trying to open them. I had the same problem on my sebenza until I realized it was my hand placement that was causing all the extra pressure against the lock bar & blade that made it difficult to open.
 
filedog said:
Interesting. Does the heavy detent make them hard to open? Similar to what I was describing, where your index finger kind of smashes into the jimping?
Click to expand...

Yes. I get a sore finger from trying to break them in. I agree that it appears to be the torsion rod, but I can't be certain yet.
 
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