Manfrotto 490RC4 = problem

[grumpygeorge]

can anyone advise =
my manfrotto ball head 490 cr4 has packed in = the tension screw decided to go all the way in and giving zero tension. searching online for info on this only says that they are wonderful and dont break down and the only thing they need is an occasional lubricant to the ball. well its not the ball, its inside the thing and i dont see any info on that bit.

does any of you know about this and what to do with it to get it going again without spending £££.

[Alun]

My 488RC ballhead seized up and was too stiff to move. Opposite of your problem. However it sounds as if the rolloers are not being moved to wedge the ballhead by the tightening screw and that they need to be put back in position. If you have a circlip pliers and a bit of patience, this should be easy enough - I fixed mine anyway. Here's what I did:
I removed the head from the tripod and turned it upside down. At the bottom of the tripod fixing thread is a brass screw head. Loosen the rotation lock a few turns and turn this screw (reverse thread just to make things ddifficult so tighten to loosen) to release the plate on which the head rotates. Remove this plate. You can clean it up and re-grease it before reassembly if neecessary.
The plate which holds the brass screw is held in place by a large circlip. On mine - this was fairly well corroded into it's grove and took a bit of persuasion to release after a visit to Halfords to buy a pair of bent nose circlip pliers. You'll probably need internal circlip pliers to get this out rather than external . Once removed the plate and screw can be removed to reveal another circlip holding in the plate which covers the ball locking ramps. There is a cut-out in this plate so I didn't need to remove it to get at the seized ramps but if you do - the same applies to this circlip - it was fairly well corroded in place on mine.
A couple of drops of oil and some gentle manipulation with a screw driver freed up the mechanism again.
I put in a small amount of grease before putting it all back together again (I used grease designed for a bicycle suspension fork as it claimed to be safe for plastic components)
Reassembly is just the reverse of the above but I put a little grease around the circlip ring before putting it back in - just in case I ever need to strip it again.
I cleaned the base plate before tightening the screw through the mounting thread. Don't over-tighten this or the head won't rotate - as I found out.



HTH and best of luck, George. It'll keep you cursing on a cold winter's evening, warming you up nicely as your frustration and blood pressure rise in equal measure. Remember, as I told myself, it's only a tripod ballhead....bleep, bleep, expletive, expletive.

[grumpygeorge]

oh! bleeping bleep!

cheers alun. dont know whether to smile or cry. och well, tomorrow = sort it. i dont have the tools, but a friend should have. i will let ye know how i get on. thank you for sharing your experience.:moil:

i will probably read this again later tonight and it will certainly cause me to have a "er" wee dram!

[Alun]

The explanation is far more long-winded than the reality of fixing it. As long as you have the crclip pliers to pinch the crclip together so that it can be lifted out of its groove, it's a breeze. Should take about ten minutes - less if you've been drinking but then it'll never work again :p

[grumpygeorge]

you are just so funny!

[mstphoto]

Have you thought about contacting Manfrotto direct and explain the problem?

[grumpygeorge]

they just want you to spend ages trolling their forums and they have a repair service and telling you how to sort it is in conflict of interest to that.

out of warranty = talk to the hand. - -- i am cynical!