I'm having an issue with US made Spydies

[vivi]

Way too much loctite.

WAY too much.

I've disassembled four US made Spydercos recently. Siren, Chief rex45 and two Manix XL's. All had screws slathered in white loctite.

The Siren had tons of white loctite on all the screws. I had to boil water to soak it to get it to release. It was the most difficulty I've ever had taking apart a knife.

The S30V Manix XL had so much loc-tite it broke my torx bit, completely warping the head. Stripped a pivot screw in the process of trying to take it apart. It was honestly so bad trying to take it apart the first time I thought about selling it for that reason alone. Again I had to boil a pot of water to make the screws even consider the idea of rotating.



Tonight I tried to disassemble my Chief. I couldn't. Not with the tools I have. I managed to get the blade out, but I couldn't remove the stop pin by wrapping rubber around it and pulling it with needle nose pliers. Had to give up with that. Couldn't remove the steel backspacer because the rear body screw stripped as soon as I tried to do anything with it. This was after soaking it in boiling water before even attempting anything, based on my experiences with other US models.



This is starting to become a problem for me. I don't like the idea of breaking my tools trying to take apart my pocket knives. Never seem to have this issue to japanese models. My Police 3 is so easy to service I can take it apart in my sleep.

[Wartstein]

That sounds really unfortunate...
Wonder what others will contribute, so if this is an universal issue with all /most US Spydies.

Just tried to remember which US Spydercos I ever took apart myself: Very few actually.
I think just a PM2 (no problems, but it is an a bit older one) and a Millie (but that one had custom scales applied not by me, so potentially "too much locktite from the factory" was already removed).
Never took apart my Native 5 LW, and obviously not my pinned Manixes LW.

Perhaps I am forgetting one, but I guess that´s it in my case.

[ZrowsN1s]

One of the Pivot screws on my Rex45 Chief was stubborn to the point it started to spin damaging the D hole on one of the scales. Had to put the other side back on to loosen it. But other than that everything else came apart ok.

A possibility here might be the torx set you are using. I find the Wiha Torx drivers fit very well. I never have issues with stripping. To the point where the G-10 strips before the screws do apparently. You might try switching brands.

I did also have trouble with the Chief stop pin. The tolerances there are 'press fit'. I used my lynch pry bar wraped in a micro fiber cloth to get it apart, and had to use a padded clamp to press it back together.

[VooDooChild]

Except the seki spydies have no loctite and the screws loosen and then some person finally has a screw fall out and writes a review about the knife "breaking" even though its because they didnt maintain their knife.

Too much is also a pain though.

[CPM-Greg]

That's dreadful and I too have faced this challenge, but not to the degree you experienced. Good luck and change can occur when we give feedback. Thanks.

Take care, be safe and stay sharp

CPM-Greg

[kobold]

To be fair, so far I disassembled most of my spyders without any troubles, not even heat was necessary. About three Natives in both G10 and FRN, Para 3 and PM2 in G10, Manix 2 in G10 from Golden. Two Chaparrals and a Sage 5 CF from Taichung.
Speaking of Taichung, my only - as they say - catastrophic failure was with the Caribbean resulting in two stripped screws. For which I half jokingly blame Nick Shabazz for in his video ( https://youtu.be/vwS8h_wF7n0 ) he is using force and I tried to do the same. So that was stupid :o

[w3tnz]

Without seeing the screw threads / residual loctite hard to say what’s too much, but if they are using the correct kind (blue or equivalent) then it shouldn’t be too much issue even if there is some excess.
You should consider investing in a quality torx bit set, that would solve most if not all of your troubles and if you really need to apply some heat try a soldering iron directly on the screw.

[Evil D]

I haven't even tried to take apart my Shaman..makes me nervous to try. The last US made knives I've bought were all Native 5's and they've come apart fine. I wonder if this is just an individual getting a little over excited during assembly?

My Caribbeans were absolutely caked with white colored thread locker. One of the pivot screws is permanently attached to the pivot. I consider myself to be well above average in being able to get knives apart without stripping screws and overcoming thread locker (just based on all the threads seeing how often people struggle with it while I rarely do) so when I encounter one that's hard to get apart it had to be really bad.

[curlyhairedboy]

I usually use Eric’s tip about a sharp hit to the top of the tool to break the bond.

[aicolainen]

Don’t take apart my knives very often, but I did take apart the Rex lil’native. It was scary tight, but not impossible to get apart. Made sure to use my very best torx bits though.

[Oloung1]

On the subject of torx bits (can't help with the dreaded locktite situation), I've read on another forum that some screws are "torx plus" IP6 or IP8.

So I bought new Wiha IP6 and IP8 bits, seems like there are some tolerance differences between some clip screws versus body screws for the t6/ip6. On some screws the IP6 fit tighter, then on other screws they are too tight to fit (on an endura and cara cara).

[ThomC]

That's unfortunate. I've taken apart 4 U.S. Spydies of different years, both with red and blue loctite.
Not one of them was particularly difficult to disassemble.
PM2 and Millie in S30V, Manix 2 XL in S90V, and the Rex45 Shaman. And I was the first owner/user for all of these.
Maybe the problem comes from the white loctite ? I never saw that type on the U.S. Spydies I took apart.

[JohnDoe99]

Why are you taking them apart? There is a warranty process in place.

I prefer Spyderco keep doing what they are doing, like securing the product at the factory so I don't have to. The idea that we need to disassemble them later on and tinker with them is part of the overall, weird obsession over what are no more than pocket tools, similar to the steel bs. If we could kill that obsession, maybe the massive price inflation would come back down.

[Rp5]

Pivot on my recent Shaman purchase (Cutlery Shoppe orange) was also pretty heavy with white threadlocker. I wouldn't say it was caked on, maybe 3 or 4 threads up, but it was very tough to disassemble. Worried quite a bit that I would strip the screw, but in the end managed to get it unscrewed. Thankfully only on the pivot.

[ThomC]

Why are you taking them apart? There is a warranty process in place.

I prefer Spyderco keep doing what they are doing, like securing the product at the factory so I don't have to. The idea that we need to disassemble them later on and tinker with them is part of the overall, weird obsession over what are no more than pocket tools, similar to the steel bs. If we could kill that obsession, maybe the massive price inflation would come back down.

The warranty process has been altered so that disassembly doesn't void it anymore.
Maybe some of us are interested in learning and understanding firsthand how our tools work, or just like to do basic maintenance without sending the knife back or being able to do so (like overseas Spydie fans).
You've never taken apart a tool to clean it before ?
I won't even touch on the "steel bs".

[M Sea]

Why are you taking them apart? There is a warranty process in place.

I prefer Spyderco keep doing what they are doing, like securing the product at the factory so I don't have to. The idea that we need to disassemble them later on and tinker with them is part of the overall, weird obsession over what are no more than pocket tools, similar to the steel bs. If we could kill that obsession, maybe the massive price inflation would come back down.

The warranty process has been altered so that disassembly doesn't void it anymore.
Maybe some of us are interested in learning and understanding firsthand how our tools work, or just like to do basic maintenance without sending the knife back or being able to do so (like overseas Spydie fans).
You've never taken apart a tool to clean it before ?
I won't even touch on the "steel bs".

With you 100 %. I live on an island in a highly humid/corrosive environment. I have to get in to my knives just to properly lubricate/care for them. Not to mention if I ever wanted to change scales, adjust pivots etc. I am sure there is a valid perfectly good reason why they didn’t use screws on the Manix LW’s but my Maxamet one gets gritty monthly and just hitting it with blue lube/ballistol/rem-oil etc., eventually gunks it up. It should be easy to disassemble for cleaning. Very frustrating. All that said I just bought another one in SPY27 so it speaks for how much I enjoy the knife but disassembly shouldn’t be so difficult.

[TkoK83Spy]

Why are you taking them apart? There is a warranty process in place.

I prefer Spyderco keep doing what they are doing, like securing the product at the factory so I don't have to. The idea that we need to disassemble them later on and tinker with them is part of the overall, weird obsession over what are no more than pocket tools, similar to the steel bs. If we could kill that obsession, maybe the massive price inflation would come back down.

:confused: :confused: :confused: Some of us like to use our knives, which then require care and disassembly to make sure the moving parts still move and function properly. Maybe you're scared to do so, so look down on others that like to tinker?? No different than your vehicle needing an oil change, some people like to pay for someone else to do it, others like to do it themselves.

As others said, disassembly doesn't void the warranty. Also, "the steel bs" again...some of us use our knives, or work in environments where stainless or tool steel is better for the job at hand. Sounds like you've got a lot to learn...

[The Meat man]

Why are you taking them apart? There is a warranty process in place.

I prefer Spyderco keep doing what they are doing, like securing the product at the factory so I don't have to. The idea that we need to disassemble them later on and tinker with them is part of the overall, weird obsession over what are no more than pocket tools, similar to the steel bs. If we could kill that obsession, maybe the massive price inflation would come back down.

If you're a member of this forum I don't think you're in a position to criticize other people's weird obsessions. :rolleyes:

[The Meat man]

That's a bummer, vivi!

Personally I haven't had the same trouble, although I've only acquired one Golden-made Spyderco recently - the Z-Wear Shaman. That one disassembled fine without any tricks. Hope you can get that stripped screw out.

[Eliteone2383]

Why are you taking them apart? There is a warranty process in place.

I prefer Spyderco keep doing what they are doing, like securing the product at the factory so I don't have to. The idea that we need to disassemble them later on and tinker with them is part of the overall, weird obsession over what are no more than pocket tools, similar to the steel bs. If we could kill that obsession, maybe the massive price inflation would come back down.

You're wrong. It's not to tinker it's to maintain. Just like a firearm. You don't take it apart just for fun. It's required in order to maintain. Nothing wrong with wanting to make sure things you paid money for are in good working order at all times.