In a message dated 3/25/00 11:03:51 PM Eastern Standard Time,
Paul_Schroeder@... writes:

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

I also received a new AP mount last week. It was a 900 GTO. The 18 lb.
counter wts that I used for a few years with my 900 QMD were also very tight
on the new mount's counter wt. shaft but they do slide on with a back and
forth rotation. A lite work out with a little grit cloth did the trick. Other
than polish the brass surface there is no evidence of my major field
modification : )

Good Luck,
Bob Kuperinsky