Sluggish dampers

[BobDavis88@aol.com]

David,
You've gotten some good advice already, but here's a few other thoughts.

1. Don't get stuck doing this for free. The factory or the dealer might want
to pick this up, but you shouldn't. There's some possibility they'll say it's
routine maintenance that the customer should pay for, which will make the
client unhappy, but it's still not your fault. Yes, tightening screws can
have an effect on damper regulation, but if they were loose, you were fixing
a problem, and you told us that there were some slow dampers to begin with;
the likelihood is that there were more. YOU know that the tuning had no
effect; sometimes just telling the customer that with confidence is enough;
sometimes you have to use an analogy like "a tuneup of your car won't fix a
flat tire" or something.

2. This system should work well as designed. I like to use Protek only on a
joint which is properly functioning to begin with.

3. I agree w/Jim Coleman Sr. that you need to differentiate before you fix.
The guide may be tight (since you mentioned they sometimes don't fail), but a
wire pressing too hard against one side or the other is very common, too. You
don't want to make the guide hole bigger if the problem is the sideways
pressure of the wire. Tight flange bushings are fortunately less common, I
think, although we have found whole sets of them.

4. If you do need to use the umbrella stave easing tool, use it warm to iron,
and don't push too hard. Many guide bushings are not glued in, and
re-inserting one (for free) you have pushed out is a pain in the nose.

Good luck.
Bob Davis