Loose manfrotto tripod leg

<p>I have a manfrotto tripod (3021) and one of the legs pivots at the top very loose. I'm afraid it won't lock open and I'll drop something. Any ideas how to get parts fix this?<br>

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<p>Have you tried tightening the vertical hex head screws on top of the leg column?</p>

<p>As above - the leg pivots are clamped by a two piece hub that is held together by a hex head screw above each pivoting leg. You should be able to tighten the two halves of the hub, and get the legs nice and stiff. If you can't get the legs tight this way, you may have to disassemble the hub to see if one of the leg pivots has lost a bushing or suffered some damage, but that's rare.</p>

<p>If the lock itself is causing a problem after the leg is tight, this is something else. Different ages of the same numbered tripods have slightly different locking parts, so more detail is needed. </p>

<p>I now see the vertical hex screws on top but how do you get to them? The center column collar is in the way and it doesn't seem to want to come out. I've loosened it so it can spin but I can't pull it out.<br>

<br />Thanks</p>

 

<p>I finally got the center collar out. There is a holding mechanism that the lock screw goes into. You need to push that in from underneath with a small screwdriver (between the collar and the outer collar) Tightening the hex screws as suggested worked and now the tripod feels like new. Thanks for the tips, saved me from shelling out for a new tripod. It was functional but the thought of many $ worth of camera gear falling over because I thought the leg was out when it wasn't wasn't a risk I wanted to take. </p>

<p>The Manfrotto folks are very good at finding odd ways to put things together. There's always a way to do it, but finding it can be a challenge. </p>