M4 suddenly heavy wind?

john neal

john neal

fallor ergo sum
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Jan 10, 2005
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I was away last week and the wind-on of my M4 has suddenly become very heavy, even without a film loaded - it used to be almost as sweet as my MP, so I'm a little worried.

the shutter still fires Ok and all the speeds sound to be right, and there is no evidence of debris in the shutter path. I definitely haven't "chipped" any films (shades of the LTM bottom-loader) or lost anything inside (!).

A couple of weeks ago the self-timer lever seemed to have developed a droop and it doesn't trip the shutter anymore - could this be related?

Anyone come across this before, or is it CLA time?
 
with the self timer problem and the winder I'd say CLA sounds good. When was the last time you had it worked on? I think they recommend one every 10-15 years.
 
Yeah, CLA time.

Something has gone wrong. The covers need to be taken off, and examined. It is an extremely robust mechanism; probably some debris has gotten into the wrong place.

Vick
 
john neal said:
I was away last week and the wind-on of my M4 has suddenly become very heavy, even without a film loaded - it used to be almost as sweet as my MP, so I'm a little worried.

Anyone come across this before, or is it CLA time?
Click to expand...

John: Did you take your M4 with you when you went away, or did you leave it behind? I think it may have some abandonment issues, and has become depressed. But nothing a CLA won't fix!
 
Rob-F said:
John: Did you take your M4 with you when you went away, or did you leave it behind? I think it may have some abandonment issues, and has become depressed. But nothing a CLA won't fix!
Click to expand...

Rob - :p

I guess it is CLA time - I have only had this one about 2 years, bought from a dealer who assured me it had been serviced "recently" (I suppose that could just mean "in living memory")

It's a user, but has been a solid performer up to now. I had thought of stripping it down myself, but I just can't budge the screw that hold the rewind knob in place. Full hand force with a correctly fitting screwdriver will not shift it. Given the cost of a replacement knob, I'm loath to try any harder, so it will probably be off to CRR as soon as Peter can fit it in.

Thanks for the thoughts guys.
 
It may still have been a recent CLA as you were told. This happened to my M2 in 1977. The repairer's note mentioned a "stripped bearing". I serviced it electively in 2007, after the slow speeds stopped running so smoothly. I will get it done again in 2037 if I haven't already passed it on to one of my children, by choice or otherwise.
 
Well, the news from Peter at CRR is that the main bearing was incorrectly assembled, and had siezed. He has completed a fullCLA, so it's now correct to spec.

Just writing out the cheque - can hardly wait to get it back

So much for a dealer CLA!
 
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