Frozen Leupold 45X help

CYanchycki

CYanchycki

Club Coordinator
Well one of my biggest fears has come to light just as I was cleaning my rifle this evening.

I was cleaning the front scope lense and I could hear some sort of clicking sound resonating through the rifle. After some taping of the scope and rifle it appears that the front lense is loose.

This is a Leupold 45X with the Bukys freezing. I have no idea how long it has been like this or when it may have happened.

So who is the go to to have this looked at and repaired? Pretty sure Leupold Canada will not even entertain the thought of looking at it.

Calvin
 
C contact Buckys if he froze the scope. Maybe Jackie will chime in. Call Leupold also maybe the give you some help.

John
 
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CYanchycki said:
Well one of my biggest fears has come to light just as I was cleaning my rifle this evening.

I was cleaning the front scope lense and I could hear some sort of clicking sound resonating through the rifle. After some taping of the scope and rifle it appears that the front lense is loose.

This is a Leupold 45X with the Bukys freezing. I have no idea how long it has been like this or when it may have happened.

So who is the go to to have this looked at and repaired? Pretty sure Leupold Canada will not even entertain the thought of looking at it.

Calvin
Click to expand...


Yes, the front lense is most likely loose. Simply spanner tighten the front lockring adjacent to the front lense. I most often see the lense loosen when the synthetic ring behind the lense shrinks due to aging, and then requires periodic tightening of the mechanism..................DON
 
You don´t have an Bix n' Andy trigger on your rifle by any chance? The ball bearings inside them rattle quite a bit...
 
Are you noticing

that focus changes without you fiddling with the parallax knob? If the front lens is loose it should show you some evidence of that if you fiddle with it.
 
No Bix N Andy trigger

The lens is loose. Confirmed that with my lens cleaning pen.

Big JM, would like to leave dealing with Leupold Canada out of the picture.

I will contact a photo shop to see where I can maybe find a decent spanner.
 
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CYanchycki said:
Where might I find a spanner wrench that will be able to do the work?

Calvin
Click to expand...

Hi again Calvin, this one of those things you do not want to overthink or engineer, you simply just want a thin piece of metal that will go from one slot in the threaded ring to the 180 degree opposing slot on the other side of the ring, and having enough surface gripping area to allow for a couple of foot pounds of torque/turning motion of the threaded ring in order to tighten the lense in place. I use an appx. 1.75" long x .5" wide x .125" thick aluminum shim stock, with the ends ground/filed to .050" thickness which fits into threaded ring slots. I wrap a couple winds of electric tape around the middle of the shim stock, which will be adjacent to the lense, in order to prevent any lense scratchs. Simply grab the shim stock with a mini-vise grip, insert and tighten the lockring.........Don
 
Don said:
Hi again Calvin, this one of those things you do not want to overthink or engineer, you simply just want a thin piece of metal that will go from one slot in the threaded ring to the 180 degree opposing slot on the other side of the ring, and having enough surface gripping area to allow for a couple of foot pounds of torque/turning motion of the threaded ring in order to tighten the lense in place. I use an appx. 1.75" long x .5" wide x .125" thick aluminum shim stock, with the ends ground/filed to .050" thickness which fits into threaded ring slots. I wrap a couple winds of electric tape around the middle of the shim stock, which will be adjacent to the lense, in order to prevent any lense scratchs. Simply grab the shim stock with a mini-vise grip, insert and tighten the lockring.........Don
Click to expand...

Don, it really is that simple.

Back when I was doing this, I made special tools to use on all of the various spanner nuts found in Leupold and Weaver Benchrest Scopes.

The only thing to look for is there are two nuts, the inner tightens the lens, the outer is a jam nut.
Often they will turn together. But the best bet is to remove the outer jam nut, tighten the inner nut as you prescribed, then reinstall the jam nut.
 
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Thank you all

for your replies.

Will dig thru the scrap pile and come up with a tool to do the job.

Calvin
 
Calvin,
Google this "spanner wrench for camera lens repair"
There are a bunch of them.
Use the right tool life will be better
 
I looked up a spanner wrench for tightening camera lenses and this is what showed up on a search. I’d bet it would work pretty well for what you are wanting. At least will give you an idea of how it’s made.

D02E2F9A-F646-4EFE-833C-87FB42050B28.jpeg
 
Thanks Gabe and Mike

Mike, I seen those and wondered how sturdy it would be. As cheap as they are I may just order one from Amazon to give it a go.

I did order the Neewer Stainless Steel stands and am pretty impressed by them. 3 in a box for under 30.00 Canadian right to my door.

Calvin
 
I’m not sure Bill Ackerman is still doing the scope repairs. I understand his daughter has taken over and is though. Still same business name and address.
 
loose lense ??

Calvin,

if you'll send the scope to me, I will tighten the lens for you at no cost to you except for freight charges both ways -- I have the tools because I always check the lenses for tight when I lock up a scope

contact me via email and we'll work it out

Gene
 
Dang......what a pain

So I get a spanner wrench, and think this is a simple fix just by tightening the nut. WRONG.....

I turn and tighten the inner ring against the lens till it bottoms out then the lock ring. Lens is still loose.

Looks like it needs more work than just a simple tighten.

Now that I have moved the lens the side focus is all screwed up. That I can likely bring back but it is the loose lens that is a pain.

So, who works on these aftermarket, or who will work on these frozen scopes?

Calvin
 
CYanchycki said:
So I get a spanner wrench, and think this is a simple fix just by tightening the nut. WRONG.....

I turn and tighten the inner ring against the lens till it bottoms out then the lock ring. Lens is still loose.

Looks like it needs more work than just a simple tighten.

Now that I have moved the lens the side focus is all screwed up. That I can likely bring back but it is the loose lens that is a pain.

So, who works on these aftermarket, or who will work on these frozen scopes?

Calvin
Click to expand...



I’m not sure if the 45x Leupolds have a nut on the inside of the sope to seat the lens against. They have to have someway to set the focus so it is timed with the knob on the side.If so, it might be loose.

The lens it’s self might be bonded into a thread sleeve the way the older 36x scopes were.

I’m just thinking out loud. If it was mine, I would just unscrew the two outboard spanner nuts and see how the lens cartridge is mounted and positioned.

If Gene sees this thread, he can tell you exactly how the lens is backed up inside the scope tube.
 
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