The bolts can be prone to bending, exacerbated by higher latitudes, but as raymo says with a little care it’ll be right.
After my inexperience led to my EQ6 alt bolt bending, I replaced with the astro developments one, but it doesn’t make smooth movement any easier, and I subsequently settled on an EQ6wedge.
The AZ-EQ6 and EQ6-R have an improved altitude mechanism - I’m assuming the AZ-EQ5 also. But these are all more expensive. You get what you pay for
