Cam locks - shafts - Arrgh!

[Ytcoinshooter]

I knew shortly after entering the freshwater yesterday that there would be issues. The sand that kicked up from searching and sifting had settled into the cam locks and lower to middle shaft. I'm tempted to cut off the stock cam lock and put one of pluggers on so long as I can free the plastic lower shaft from the upper one. No amount of rinsing and tugging makes a difference, though I can unscrew the outer collar to reveal the guts of the cam lock and I know how they are fitted. Poor design. Realistically I may just but another upper shaft to use on land only when swapping my coils that are on their own lower stems. If the upper lock gets jammed I'm going to flip. So I sent an email off to plugger to see if there is a slight difference between his shaft locks because the ones I have from him work on my whites an minelabs but not quite on this Garrett. I know how the Garrett cam locks go together and unscrewing the collar and trying to gently lift the section that notches onto the shaft didn't help when I depressed the button clip. I may be cutting the remaining collar off to extract the lower shaft. The middle to to lower sections should not seize up like I've seen happen to rods exposed to salt water that were not cleaned after ea use. I could just buy another upper Garrett section and use my seized one only for water hunting. Yeah I repeated myself and babbled on but this stupid, one use in fresh water ?

 

[ajaj]

Yup! My 5x8 coil shaft is now permanently attached to the middle shaft...happened last week after hunting under water and the sand. Bad.

aj

 

[Ytcoinshooter]

Yup! My 5x8 coil shaft is now permanently attached to the middle shaft...happened last week after hunting under water and the sand. Bad.

aj

Thank you for your comment! Although we can still change the coils at the end of the lower rod this still sux. Cant break the unit down to its smallest size for packing. One time in the drink and didnt even finish my hunt before i found this out. Having experience with water machines I stopped during my hunt and on a hunch to check the rod and try to slide the lower into the upper and found it had froze up. Now if it was neglect as in Not cleaning the rods after water hunting it would be my fault! But I paused hunting while waist deep to see how the Garrett rods were faring. I was stunned at this. You listening Garrett? Your rods can't take 2 hours in fresh water while scooping and sifting in an environment the are advertised to work in. Do I need a $120 carbon fiber shaft on a $500 - $600 detector? For now another upper stem will suffice for strictly land use, I have another lower on my 5x8". Maybe I should drop a dime Monday and see what Garrett has to say. I've been recommending this ATP to friends (some purchased one on my rec) but now will be sure mention this shortcoming.
HH = fully working equipment. A good day is coming home without losing anything or having an equipment failure. I take care of my 8 detectors, 6 scoops, 4 pinpointers, 17 coils and scads of related hardware. Just like my scoot, nothing gets put away dirty!
Ok I'm feeling a little better now that I unloaded

 

[goodmore]

My first AT Pro had no Cam locks at all. It was when they first came out. I didn't like the wobble and added Plugger's locks to both places. It was an instant fix. I also had to add the Gizmo and make my own headphone adapter. Well after trying many top end detectors I am back to the AT Pro. My first thought on opening the box was wow they added Cam Locks! Too bad they are the twist type! I knew the instant I saw them that they would be trouble. I have never liked them on any detector. They lock up or strip. Garrett is not alone with these things. The Excals and Sovereigns come with them too. And Minelab knows your going into the surf with them.

 

[BarryL]

Am sure glad I read this post thought I had cleaned mine pretty well and decided to get it out and see after reading this . I could barely unscrew them but finally got it loose and tried to pull the lower stem and sure enough froze up so I decide to spray a silicone lubricant into the shaft and also a few of the holes and finally got it to break loose I could not believe how much sand was on this shaft . Of course this was do to my own stupidity as not breaking it down completely but have only had it in the water twice I had to take my shotgun cleaning rod the clean the upper shaft with the brush and then rags patches now it is back to normal I will never let this happen again thanks for opening up my eyes with this post Guy's

 

[Ytcoinshooter]

Am sure glad I read this post thought I had cleaned mine pretty well and decided to get it out and see after reading this . I could barely unscrew them but finally got it loose and tried to pull the lower stem and sure enough froze up so I decide to spray a silicone lubricant into the shaft and also a few of the holes and finally got it to break loose I could not believe how much sand was on this shaft . Of course this was do to my own stupidity as not breaking it down completely but have only had it in the water twice I had to take my shotgun cleaning rod the clean the upper shaft with the brush and then rags patches now it is back to normal I will never let this happen again thanks for opening up my eyes with this post Guy's

Thank you Barry, I will try the silicone spray. The pain was I wasn't even out of the water yet when I checked on the rods.

 

[mudpuppy]

Damn! I tried to unscrew mine yesterday after a years worth of sand and water work and reading your post, no dice...whats a fellow to do now? Cut the shaft off and regroup? Leave it alone and say the hell with it?
Mud