This may seem like an odd and perhaps simple problem to solve but my wooden tripod legs seem perpetually stiff and require a reasonable amount of effort to be pushed down to be extended.
I seem to recall an old wives remedy of rubbing a candle (i.e. wax) along grooves/joints on all sorts of wooden carpentry to fix similar issues with furniture but before I go ahead with this I just wanted to check in case anyone else had some better suggestions.
Oh yes - just to clarify - Yes - the tension screws on the legs are all fully loosened and still the legs are very stiff and will not slide out unless pushed with some effort.
I have a 4 drawer cabinet that was always a pain to pull the drawers out, wooden slides.
Don't laugh! The only thing I had at the time (about a year) ago was a jar of margarine. I put a thin wipe on the surface with a rag and a few drops margarine. It has been Ok ever since.
A bit of wax will do the trick, but if you don't want to go down that path, a little sprinkle of baby powder will also help.
Just powder it on, move the legs up and down a bit and just blow or wipe off the excess.
It dosent hurt a baby's bum, so I'm sure the legs will handle it.