Hi all -

Well, my 600E GTO arrived from AP earlier this week-- it is absolutely gorgeous
and very solid. Tonight the skies cleared up nicely, and I had hoped to give it
a brief test drive.

Alas, I got tripped up by a fairly (very?) mundane problem.

Put simply, I couldn't get the 9 pound counterweight to slip over the
counterweight shaft. It was _incredibly_ tight. With maximum hand pressure, I
couldn't get the shaft more than 1/4 inch into the counterweight.

The only conceivable way I could have gotten it in further would be to do some
serious banging with a rubber mallet. I didn't feel very comfortable doing this
with a brand new mount. As it was, it took both me and my son pulling very hard
to get the shaft out of the counterweight (even though it was only 1/4 inch
in!).

Are the counterweights normally this snug? Is there a break-in period to
"loosen" the collar inside the counterweight, or does this sound unusual?

I'll call AP on Monday, but if anyone had any suggestions maybe I could try
again yet tonight (or tomorrow night).

Thanks and best regards,

Paul Schroeder