2013Gimbal forum
Zephyr gimbal sticking and hunting behavior after water exposure
13 years old. Gear and prices may have changed since.
What the thread found
- Water entering gimbal bearings can cause sticking, unfamiliar noises, and dragging to one side during motion.
- A gimbal clamp spacer in early models could spin and come loose, and over-tightening the screw could bend it.
- Applying Loctite 222 (purple low-strength formula, not blue) to the gimbal clamp screw where it contacts the barrel allows controlled rotation without self-loosening or self-tightening.
- Hunting behavior describes a gimbal constantly rocking side-to-side after settling, indicating bearing problems.
- The gimbal pan section can develop slight play or misalignment between its two rotating sections.
- Drying a wet gimbal with a blow dryer may temporarily reduce noise but does not resolve underlying bearing damage.
- A loose gimbal clamp can be tightened with an Allen key, but this is separate from bearing issues.
- Tiffen service is recommended for internal bearing problems that cannot be repaired in the field.
Depends on
- The post is from 2013, so current Zephyr gimbal design may differ.
- Water damage repair methods are described anecdotally rather than as documented procedures.
- The exact cause of the hunting behavior was not definitively diagnosed in the thread.
- No step-by-step repair instructions for disassembly or bearing service were provided.
Gear in this thread
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