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Re-greasing Bogen pan tilt head?

bensonga

Well-known member
Hi folks,

I have a very nice Bogen 3039 Super Pro pan tilt head that has gotten a little stiff over the years. I'm thinking that maybe the grease has dried up a bit or something. It's not obvious to me how the head can be disassembled for maintenance/re-greasing. Has anyone here ever done that with one of the bigger Bogen pan tilt heads? Any advice/tips appreciated.

Gary Benson
Eagle River, Alaska
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Gary:

My favorite fix for older heads is a product called "Dri-Slide," primarily manufactured as a weapon lubricant. It is a moly-sulfide (dry) base in a solvent carrier. The advantage is the solvent works into the smallest joints, breaks up and clears away the old grease, then leaves behind a dry film of moly-sulfide lube that molecular-bonds to metal.

Soooo, my suggestion is to remove as much hardware as you can, then soak the whole head in a solvent. (Paint thinner works well if you don't have solvent.) Work that around to remove as much of the old grease as possible, then wipe and blow it off and set aside to dry. Then lube it up fresh with dry slide.

Note that Dri-Slide goes on as a thin BLACK liquid and will stain any porous material permanently, however it can be wiped off painted surfaces easily.
 

bensonga

Well-known member
Gary:
Soooo, my suggestion is to remove as much hardware as you can, then soak the whole head in a solvent. (Paint thinner works well if you don't have solvent.) Work that around to remove as much of the old grease as possible, then wipe and blow it off and set aside to dry. Then lube it up fresh with dry slide.
Thanks Jack! I will give this a try. If I mess it up for any reason or the head still isn't as smooth as I'd like afterwards (and it's never been REALLY smooth), my backup plan is to purchase either a Gitzo G1570M head or one of the new Gitzo G2270M heads (wish this one had a higher load rating).

I like these big pan tilt heads with levels for use on my Berelebach tripod with the Pentax 67 and my Ebony 45SU. I've never been comfortable using a ball head (even the RRS BH-55) with these cameras.

Gary
 
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