New Predator breaks down hard?

67GT500

67GT500

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I bought a new predator roadline SE at the Valley Forge show last April and absolutely love this stick. It has a great balance to it and hits like a dream with the 314-3 shaft with factory Everest tip. With that being said, I hate the way this thing screws together...It's ridiculously tight going together and apart!!! Is this normal or did I just end up with a bad joint? I have to grip both halfs so tight I'm afraid of ruining the finish on it:eek: Does anybody have any advise on what I can do to make this any easier (maybe soap the threads)? Winter league starts up in a few weeks so i'll be breaking the stick down on a weekly basis.

Thanks For Any Advice,

Dean
 
67GT500 said:
Winter league starts up in a few weeks so i'll be breaking the stick down on a weekly basis.
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Whooaaah hold up there. You really shouldn't be leaving the stick put together unless you're shooting with it. All of my cues in recent memory have been the uni-loc joint and the only time I've had trouble getting them apart was when one got kicked over by a drunk in a bar went flying and the joint smacked the table.

If you're leaving the stick out propped up against a wall, the sideways pressure could be damaging the joint (not to mention hastening shaft warpage). Always take the cue down and store it as close to vertical as you can.

It could be a quality control issue, maybe the joint threads weren't cut properly at the uni-loc factory. Maybe the joint got damaged or installed crooked at the Predator factory. It may also be a moisture/temperature issue. It could be a combinatino of everything. Regardless, you don't want to leave your cue put together unless you're shooting with it. It's steel going into brass. Steel is much harder than brass and sideways pressure will gradally deform the brass threads further. Both will oxidize and their oxides may fuse together slightly if the joint is left assembled for long periods. If you put it together when it was cold and tried taking it apart when it's warm, you're also going to find it sticks shut. (Brass in particular really expands and contracts in response to temperature.)

Uni-loc should go together and come apart easily, feeling loose until the final 1/4 twist, so unless there has been some sort of incident with the cue while it was assembled you may just have a bad joint. Predators do have a limited warranty, so you can contact the and see what they recommend. A cue repair guy may be able to look at it and tell you what's going on.

For now check that the shaft by itself rolls flat on the table. If so, check that the whole cue rolls flat on the table when assembled. If there's a noticeable wobble, the joint has been damaged.
 
Thanks for all of the replies:thumbup: I thought about putting something on the threads to make it easier but was hesitant to gunk up the inner joint on the shaft and possibly make things worse. As far as leaving my sticks together... I always lay all of my sticks flat on the table after I'm done shooting and never had any warping issues. The shaft rolls dead straight and the butt has a very slight wobble only due to the seam on the leather wrap. The only time I break my sticks down is to transport them and when I'm in a bar between games. I've seen and heard to many sticks fall to the ground in a busy bar:eek: On an average pool night I break my stick down about 5 times so I'd like to figure this out before my league starts. I'm not sure about the dissimilar metal theory since the stick has done this from day one. I think the best suggestion is to call Predator and see what they recommend. I wish I had a spare shaft to see which side of the joint is tight.
 
Johnnyt said:
Great quality control, sending a cue out like that. Johnnyt
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Lol yeah because they only make 1 cue a day right so why can't they get that one cue right lol oh that's right they make 1000s a day and in life shit happens. Tell me a company that mass produces anything that never has a single problem... Go ahead...I'm waiting.....
 
I wouldn't recommend putting anything on or in the joint as that will realistically make it tighter and could split the shaft wood at one of the splice points. When I have had a cue that is what I would consider too tight I just run a tap into the shaft and that usually loosens it up. If you have a local cue shop they probably have a tap to match your shaft.

Good luck
-don
 
Just a quick follow up for anyone else having this issue...
I was on the Predator website yesterday looking for a customer service number and noticed they recommend cleaning the joints of all new sticks with rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip, and periodicly after that. Thought I'd give that a try before I call them complaining and ended up getting some black residue out of the shaft. It now goes together and breaks down with normal effort :D
 
Does your cue have an Uniloc quick release pin or the Radial big pin? I dont know wich Roadline you mean by SE model, but I assumed you meat LE wich has the Radial joint. Others current models start with SP6**.

My Barnhart had the same issue with a Predator shaft at first but it was easily fixed by running a Radial tap in the shaft. The threads were originally cut a bit undersize, hence the over tight fit on the butt. I bought the tap for it as I have some shafts that I may fit to the Barnhart some day :) If you dont want to spend the $ on a tap, any cue repair guy should have one and can fix the thread in a minute :wink:
 
Compression fitting is a trait that makes certain custom cues play/feel/respond better.
Why ruin a good thing?
 
Kimmo H. said:
Does your cue have an Uniloc quick release pin or the Radial big pin? I dont know wich Roadline you mean by SE model, but I assumed you meat LE wich has the Radial joint. Others current models start with SP6**.

My Barnhart had the same issue with a Predator shaft at first but it was easily fixed by running a Radial tap in the shaft. The threads were originally cut a bit undersize, hence the over tight fit on the butt. I bought the tap for it as I have some shafts that I may fit to the Barnhart some day :) If you dont want to spend the $ on a tap, any cue repair guy should have one and can fix the thread in a minute :wink:
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Sorry about that typo...I have the le-4 with the gen-3 shaft with radial pin. It seems to work much better since I cleaned up the joint on the shaft but will keep the tapping idea in mind if it starts breaking down hard again.

Thanks For The Help,

Dean
 
67GT500 said:
Sorry about that typo...I have the le-4 with the gen-3 shaft with radial pin. It seems to work much better since I cleaned up the joint on the shaft but will keep the tapping idea in mind if it starts breaking down hard again.

Thanks For The Help,

Dean
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Nice car. Mines a 2012 in white:)
 
Have you tried your Predator dealer or cue repair? Local cue repair guy would probably seen everything under the sun, know right away if there is anything wrong with your cue and make some recommendations.
 
SUPERSTAR said:
Compression fitting is a trait that makes certain custom cues play/feel/respond better.
Why ruin a good thing?
Click to expand...

Best playing cues that I have owned over the years,,each and every one of them were hard to take apart. That means to me they are like one solid stick, from the bumper to the tip. My 2 cents issued
 
67GT500 said:
I bought a new predator roadline SE at the Valley Forge show last April and absolutely love this stick. It has a great balance to it and hits like a dream with the 314-3 shaft with factory Everest tip. With that being said, I hate the way this thing screws together...It's ridiculously tight going together and apart!!! Is this normal or did I just end up with a bad joint? I have to grip both halfs so tight I'm afraid of ruining the finish on it:eek: Does anybody have any advise on what I can do to make this any easier (maybe soap the threads)? Winter league starts up in a few weeks so i'll be breaking the stick down on a weekly basis.

Thanks For Any Advice,

Dean
Click to expand...
I have installed quite a few Radial pins lately and converted alot of shafts to fit customers Radial pin cues.
What I have noticed is that it's quite a big variation in the size of the Radial pins. I can thread one shaft, that fits snug on one cue, want screw down on another, and will be too loose on a third cue.
I don't give a f**k what people say. I buy my Radial pins from Elforyn and I'm pretty sure they are the real thing, made by Uni-Loc.
The cues I have made shafts for include Jacoby and Tiger, I'm pretty sure they buy their pins from Uni-Loc too.
Just comparing Radial stainless steel, with the aluminum, G10 and brass pins, shows that there is huge variations in the production of Radial pins.
 
trob said:
Lol yeah because they only make 1 cue a day right so why can't they get that one cue right lol oh that's right they make 1000s a day and in life shit happens. Tell me a company that mass produces anything that never has a single problem... Go ahead...I'm waiting.....
Click to expand...


Volkswagen...
 
The cue you have has the radial pin if i remem er correctly. Use a little bit of wax & it should resolve the issue. I often have troubke with my radial pins too & wax helped it a lot. Had the issue as bad as you too. Bad to ask someone else to get it started. After plying & working up sweat, it was near impossible to get it unscrewed.
 
Wow! That's a great piece of information.

JoeyA

67GT500 said:
Just a quick follow up for anyone else having this issue...
I was on the Predator website yesterday looking for a customer service number and noticed they recommend cleaning the joints of all new sticks with rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip, and periodicly after that. Thought I'd give that a try before I call them complaining and ended up getting some black residue out of the shaft. It now goes together and breaks down with normal effort :D
Click to expand...
 
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