Hey guys and gals,

Question for you but a little bit of background info first. I live in an apartment and do not have the luxury of shooting close by to where I live. Ihave been on a questto learn to tune my bow for about 6 months now. On that note here is my question.

If I take a wrench and torque down my limb bolts completely, what do I need to worry about? Remember I am an novice and have always had the pro shop do any sort of modification to the limbs.

I am quite familar with retuning my bow. Centershot, paper tuning, etc. I want to maximize my limbs...maybe get 63-65lbs out of my 50-60lb limbs. I understand that I now might be underspined. I am due for another dozen arrows anyways.

My quest is to be as independent from my archery shop as possible.

Thanks!

The only real thing is to make sure you don't over tighten the limb bolts. I snug mine down all the way, then back them off 1/4 turn.

you could twist your string to make it tighter but dont recomend

Most bows will go slightly over their listed max without doing anything more than just cranking down the bolts.

Some bows will need to have both the cable(s) and string twisted shorter - if you can do it without messing up cam timing - to increase the pre-bend in the limbs and make them store a bit more poundage. That also increases the brace height some, which shortens the power stroke and reduces the speed gain, but it's still a net gain in poundage.

Problem with doing that is that it does place more strain on the limbs and will lead to premature limb failure, eventually. Usually only happens after many thousands of shots but sometimes they don't last long at all. The tiny gain in speed isn't worth it, IMO, but some guys will buy a new bowifit'llshoot even 2 fps faster than what they've got. Poor little fellers.

Side note - and the reason for me even posting the above -if your bow is rated a certain max poundage but it doesn't get there when you've got the limb bolts maxed out, then the likelycause isyour cable(s) and stringare too long - out of factory spec-and need to betwisted up or replaced. That'll get the limbs to the amount of prebend and strainthey're designed for so your bow will perform the way it was meant to.

If you really want to maximize your performance, forget about going over the top in poundage. Adjust your dynamic tiller instead. Some guys have a really complicated method for doing that. My way is quick and easy and works just fine - unless you're a world class shooter.

Assume your shooting position. Hold your bow straight out and place a sight pin on a target. Now, draw the bow straight back and watch what the pin does. It will likely pull off the target, either up or down. Usually up, for me.

If it pulls up, then your top limb is overpowering the bottom limb. Take a turn off the top bolt, add a turn to the bottom one, or both.

If it pulls down, then your bottom limb is overpowering the top limb. Take a turn off the bottom limb bolt, add a turn to the top, or both.

Repeat the process until you can draw the bow straight back and the pin will stay relatively close to the target. Now you've got the limbs working together. They're fire at the same speed, which will make the shot smoother and quieter, and very likely increase your arrow speed. They'll be under equal tension at full draw so the bow will be much steadier while holding on target. They'll return to brace at the same time, so recoil, vibration and noise will be reduced, often dramatically. The bow will be much easier to tune, also.

After I check to make sure my axle to axle length and brace height are in factory spec, and set an approximate nocking point, turning the tiller is the first adjustment I make to the bow when I'm doing a serious tune up.

Just make sure your turn each limb the same numer of turns, I know its basic, but your limbs usually will be treaded differently. I did the same thing you want to do and turned my top limb 2 more turns than the bottom limb, that screwed up my tuning. Had to adjust to get equal tiller

Measure from the bolt to the string and make sure its the same for each limb, exactly the same.(i think this is tiller length) And as Arthur said its the absolute #1 step, cause everything depends on this.

Also, I wouldnt max it out.. go tight, then back out about 1/2 turn.