Is there away to lube the vertical swing arm bushings? I use mine in the wild and water daily in all weather conditions, I carry my R5 w EF500 F4 ii on tripod & Jobu jr3 about 4-8kms, so it gets major use, ive noticed laterly its getting a little sticky panning vertically during shooting Waterfowl in low conditions in my floating blind causing me to me some amazing shots, is there a video on maintenance on the vertical swing are ( lubing? )
Hi Phil, great photos! I checked our channel, and I don't see a video on cleaning and prepping the Jr.3, although I thought we had indeed published one. In general, the Jr.3 is very robust and shouldn't require regular maintenance at all, but if conditions are seriously dirty, dusty and salty, then after enough time, yes, it could definitely need some TLC. The source of the jumpiness in the tilt is usually not the bearings at all, but the flat disc-brake between the main casting and the swing-arm. It is probably contaminated and oily. You can disassemble the Jr.3 by removing the tilt-knob assembly by using a 4mm Allen key to undo the knob carefully. Take care to keep all components, springs, washers, in the same order and then it can be cleaned out and reassembled with only a TINY amount of grease on the bearings. The actual disc-brake and mating surfaces should be scuffed lightly with 320-400 grit sandpaper and cleaned thoroughly with 70% alcohol to remove any traces of oil. Reassembly should be straight-forward.
If this is something you are not comfortable doing, we can do the service for you at no charge, other than shipping cost back and forth. If you want to go this route please contact us at sales@jobu-design.com . Any parts that need replacing would be swapped out at N/C as well.