adjusting draw weight on hoyt bow
 

Today I decided to turn my draw weight up a little bit so i got out my owners manual and read it to make sure i was doing it right ect and i just want to make sure i didn't do anything wrong thats going to break it. the instructions said to loosen the 2 bolts on the side (for each limb), well, one side on both limbs loosened, then when i tried to losen the other side the already loosend side just turned, then when i tried using 2 wrenches or whatever it wouldn't turn. so i figured i'd try to tighten down the main weight bolts, and i tighted them all the way as tight as they could go, was probably 3 turns for each one. then i drew the bow once, and it felt easier to draw than before i increased the weight, and 3 turns would increase it alot (wouldn't it?). well, i just want to make sure that my not getting both those nuts on the sides loosend isn't causing any pressures on the limbs or anything that will break them. I'm going to wait to draw it again and shoot it until i hear what you guys have to say.

RE: adjusting draw weight on hoyt bow
 

Not sure why loosening one of the side screws effected the other, as far as I know, they are not connected. I always have to loosen and tighten both.

As for turning 3 turns and getting lighter, something is wrong. If you are tightening the limb bolt (turning clockwise) it should raise the weight. Check the amount of space between the limb pocket and the riser, as you tighten the limb bolt the pocket should get closer to the riser. If not, you're going the wrong way.

RE: adjusting draw weight on hoyt bow
 

Just to make sure we are talking about the same stuff here.

You are turning the weight locking screws first right? The ones on the side of the riser. There are four total, two on the top limb pocket and two on the bottom. Unless you have an older Hoyt hunting bow with only one side weight locking screws. They are the same size allen wrench that the limb bolts are.

I fear you may have loosened the pivot point screws. They are at the back of the riser and connect the pocket to the riser. They use a smaller size allen head, and are connected. They have to be torqued to a certain weight and should NOT be played with. If you think you undid those, bring it to a shop as they will know what to torque it back up to. DONT shoot it without them being checked first though, as you could do serious damage. Hopefully you didnt strip them, (unfortunately its not hard to do).

After you have loosened the weight locking screws, you may turn the limb bolt counter clockwise to lower the poundage. 5 turns should equal about a 10 pound drop in draw weight, but not every bow setup is the same so check it with a bow-scale. Also, make sure to turn the limb bolts equally, top and bottom. As this will keep your tiller the same.

To be perfectly honest, you can change the draw weight without loosening the weight lock screws, it will be harder to do, but Ive been a dunder head and forgotten to undo them once or twice and they honestly dont do all that much. I think if Hoyt "ridged" them, it would serve a much better purpose.

My bet is that you undid the pocket to riser connection and that you need to get it torqued back up at the shop. If you are still unclear on what screws are what, have them go over it with you.

Good luck, hope all is well with the bow.---Matt

RE: adjusting draw weight on hoyt bow
 

Would the tiller height come into play if the limbs were not adjusted the same?

RE: adjusting draw weight on hoyt bow
 

Yes, if you have your bow tiller tuned and then change draw weight unequally on either limb bolt, you mess with tiller. This also changes the nocking point height.

The easiest and best way to assure even tiller is to bottom both limbs out as heavy as they will go, and then back them off equally until you reach your desired draw weight.

Im 99% positive that QT undid the limb/riser connection. Hopefully no damage was done to the smaller set screws inside, and it can be torqued to spec. Have a pro-shop look it over though, other wise you may have problems. Nothing major really, but it will definitely cause inaccuracy.

RE: adjusting draw weight on hoyt bow
 

You were right, i loosened the bolts that hook the pockets to the riser. My hoyt ultra mag doesn't even have weight locking bolts. Feel kinda dumb, but i'm glad i didn't go out shooting it after i made the changes. I'll be taking it to fin and feather next week to getter set back up. Thanks for the help.

RE: adjusting draw weight on hoyt bow
 

Dont worry about it QT, everyone makes mistakes. Trying to learn to do your own work is not always easy, sometimes something breaks. Im positive that nothing broke so, you did alright. At least you had the sense to ask about it before you put 100 shots through it.

Just so you know, this isnt a major problem and it shouldnt cost you much if anything. Bows come from Hoyt like that sometimes, so it may not have been right in the first place. The dealers are supposed to inspect and break-down the bows to check them before they sell them. Afterall, the bow is just being mass-assembled at a factory. Unfortunately many shops dont do that.

By the way, I would have checked a few hoyt bows for you with my torque wrench, and you could have torqued it up yourself, but all my tools are 30 miles away right now.:(

If you want to wait till the end of the weekend I could let you know what to torque it too. Actually, I may be able to ask someone.....
Bring it to your shop if you like, but I will try to get back to you with the specs too.

Have a good one---Matt

RE: adjusting draw weight on hoyt bow
 

Ok, I just talked to a guy that knows just about all there is to know about hoyt bows.

He said that he is unaware of a specific torque value, and that if you make it reasonably tight it will be fine. He works on tons of bows, so you can take his word for it. He said it was interesting that I thought there was one, and that there may be... he is going to ask a hoyt tech to be absolutely certain. So I may have a more definite answer sometime soon.

He wasnt sure if your pockets had set screws or not. So check inside the screws you undid with a flashlight. If there is a smaller screw inside the larger one, find the proper allen wrench and loosen it. Then tighten the larger ones you undid in the first place to about where they were. Then retighten the set screws. If you dont have set screws, just tighten the ones you undid.

Either way you should be good to go.

Just so you dont over-tighten anything, he also sent me this link.

Torque Table CLICK HERE

I believe the bolt is a 1/4"/20 into aluminum, so you can see the maximum recommended torque is about 47 pounds or there abouts.

After talking to him, I dont think you should bother bringing it to a shop, they would just hand tighten it, not check it and charge you. We arent charging you a thing, so you know we arent yanking your chain.

Let me know any updates or if you have any other questions. Hope this helps---Matt

I asked my dealer at the proshop to adjust the poundage of my Hoyt Katera to about 64#. I saw that he didn't loosen the weight lock screws when he adjusted the weight.
When I mentioned that the user manual recommends to loosen the pocket locking screws before the weight adjustment, he said that it is no problem to ignore that if you make minor changes.

I thought he only said that because he didn't want to admit that he didn't know it or just forgot about it. I was worrying that it was very bad for the limbs.
But when I read your post I calmed down a bit. (I remember that he needed a lot of power to rotate the screws - I think you mentioned that it's harder to make adjustments when you forget to loosen the screws)

I didn't touch the screws on the bow since that but I wonder if it makes sense to loosen the pocket locking screws now and then immediately tighten them. Or should I only do that before the next weight adjustment (probably in winter)?

Start now and work toward next season. What you described is the kind of thing I've run across in every shop I've ever been in. Not loosening those screws is inexcusable. I'll tell you what kind of guy that was, he's the kind of guy that will force things that are not meant to be. Not the kind of person that I want working on my stuff. You'd think the second they were hard to turn he'd stop and figure out why. The limb bolts do get sticky sometimes but should turn easy after a little pressure.

The thing that ticks me off the most is bow manufactures force people to go through these shops making them the face of the company. I don't deal with companies with that face either in my professional or personal life unless there's no other option and I'm forced to, we're forced too.

Just tell yourself, if you want it done right, your going to have to do it yourself. Start now. There's is more to it than just loosening and tightening the locking screws and you don't need to do it fast.

Basically what your trying to do is get both ends to do the work equally so that neither is working against itself eating up energy and causing the arrow to eat up energy compensating for erratic flight. That takes fine tuning you never understand if all you know is locking bolts. That a baby step. The bows are made to shoot fine in baby mode but will never be as efficient as one fine tuned either in performance or and importantly noise. Vibration eats up energy and creates noise. You want the arrow to fly to it's target like a Chinese Olympic diver, not your fat mother in law doing a cannon ball. :)