Hi Aaron,
The Az bearing should have the two metal plates with the black "wheel" with the silver bearings built into it sandwiched between the two metal plates. Mine is beautifully smooth to rotate. Makes a bit of noise but its very smooth to turn with no jerkiness. Take the top off and check the bearings are all straight and also make sure your central bolt is tight but not too tight. The more you tighten this, the more stiction you get.
As for the black screws on the collapse assembly, these seem to be a vacuum type friction system for the poles so you can adjust the tension it requires to lift and lower the secondary cage. Loosen these too much and you may risk "dropping" the secondary too fast when you loosed the t bar screws.
Its a bit more serious on mine as the secondary cage is quite heavy, but I have almost pinched my hand once or twice.
I hope this helps.
Cheers
Chris
|