[raymo]

Martin,
just take most of the weight with your hand on the bottom of the counterweight shaft when raising the altitude and the supplied bolts will last for many years. It is unrealistic to expect such a basic set up on a budget level mount to work as easily and smoothly as much more expensive set ups do. Even black knob type bolts will still be hard to turn, and will slowly chew into the mount when raising the altitude if turned against the full weight,
especially if the mount is carrying close to its maximum load.
The bolts are not poorly designed; they are what you get when a mount that performs well is produced
at a very affordable price. A much better system would be quite easy to incorporate, but would probably increase the price by a couple
of hundred dollars, which the Chinese must consider too much.
raymo