Proper Size and type of Bottom Bolt on Vaquero

[cactusjack]

I have am fairly new to metal detecting and have a Silver uMax and just purchased a used Vaquero. I noticed that the coil is mounted to the lower shaft with a 1/4" plastic wing bolt and plastic wing nut that works great. The Vaquero coil is mounted with a Stainless Steel 10-32 bolt with a plastic nut.
1) Is this correct having a metal bolt on the coil on the Vaquero?
2) If so, will it affect the performance of the coil?
3) Should I replace it with a Plastic/Nylon bolt and wing nut.

Thanks

 

[GaryF]

Hi CJ

I think you mean to say that the Silver's coil is mounted with the smaller steel bolt. That is actually the older style and wont effect anything.
If you were to call Tesoro I'm sure they would send you the newer plastic bolt and wing nut. Rusty sent one to me and all I had to do was drill it out
and insert the one he sent me. I did that on the Conquistador. If you have a steel bolt on the Vaquero I'm not sure where it came from but again it
wouldn't hurt to call and get the correct one.

HH
Gary

 

[cactusjack]

I wasn't clear in my first post. The Silver has a plastic bolt and nut. The Vaquero has a stainless steel bolt and a plastic nut. My mentor looked at an older Tesoro model and it had the same bolt as my Vaquero. I will call and see what's up.
Thanks

 

[hardrockminer]

I to have a conquistador with a stainless steel screw & a plastic nut with a brass treaded insert on the coil mount..........As it has been explained to me the small piece of metal is static (not moving) it is not crossing across the lines of flux created by the coil field & does not effect the detector proformance. You can tape a coin to the coil & then turn on the metal detector & the field generated includes the metal into its field. The detector is filtering the changes in the field (because of movement accross the lines of flux in the field) & giving you a signal because of the changes.

That is the way it was explained to me............I expect to get flamed for this..........So be it.

HaRM

 

[GaryF]

Hard

I'm not sure what exactly you expect to be flamed for...I believe you explained it correctly.

Good job.
Gary

 

[fwcrawford]

I believe the Vaqueros came out originaly with a small (3/16") plastic bolt or screw, but there were problems with it breaking so the bolt or screw size was change to a 1/4" plastic screw and wingnut probably like you have on your Silver.
The earlier models such as the Bandido II, Eldorado, etc. had the small 3/16" stainless screw and plastic kurled nut on them and that sounds like what you now have on the Vaquero.
It should be just fine, but if you want to switch over to the current screws, you will have to drill out the coil ears and lower rod holes which is no problem.. you can practically do it with a drill bit without the drill since you are only taking out an additional 1/16 of an inch.
Hope this helps,
Felix

 

[fwcrawford]

Here is a photo of the bolt that came with my new Vaquero when I purchased it back in 2007.
This is probably similar to what you have on your Silver detector.
Felix

 

[tvr]

My Cibola has the steel bolt and my Tejon has the nylon bolt. Makes no difference. Hardrockminer explained it well.
tvr

 

[cactusjack]

I called Tesoro and that is exactly what happened. My uMax is the latest style with plastic bolt like Felix's picture above. They will be sending me a new bolt for my Vaquero. I will just drill coil and bottom rod out. The explanation by hard rock miner gave makes perfect sense. It just did not occur to me that it did not move with relationship to the coil
I really appreciate the great info and all in about 1/2 day. Looks like buying Tesoro and joining this group were some of the smarter things I have done recently.
Thanks to all that replied.

 

[BarberBill]

I've got lower rods and coils with both types and have yet to see any difference in performance.
BB

 

[allcav]

The Vequero did have a stainless steel bolt on the Vequero. In order to switch to the plastic one, you have to drill the ears on the coil. If you don't feel comfortable drilling yourself, send it in and we can do it.

 

[cactusjack]

Got the new plastic bolt, nut and washers from Teodoro. drilled out to 1/4' and replaced. Thanks for all of the great help