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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

Zephyrcatalog

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