MmmmElk

Ok, first post here, although I' ve been reading here for a coupla years. Howdy ya' all.

Ok, here' s the situation...about a month ago, I noticed one of the washers under one of my limb bolts was cracked. Not a big deal, since the bow' s 4 years old. Took it to the shop and they replaced it, although they did say it' s rare for them to EVER break. Well, getting my bow paper tuned last night, I see the washer that they replaced has broken AGAIN, in probably less than 200 shots???? This is a 2000 model Martin Phantom with the fuzion cam. Bad thing is, I leave in ohhhhhhh, about 3 hours for an Az cow hunt! My bow' s tuned, and hopefully I' ll only need one shot while I' m gone, so I' m not too worried about it, but what the HELL is causing this washer to break???

Danny45

That' s the weirdest thing I' ve ever heard of. I' ve shot thousands of arrows thru different bows over the years and never saw that.

The only thing I can think of, would be that the limb is putting too much pressure in that area when being drawn. Further back on the limb, but still in contact with the riser is a pivot point. The riser usually has a oblong pocket, and the limb some sort of pivoting devise attached on it' s underbelly that fits into that pocket. Maybe something there is out of whack.

Or, maybe there is a burr or something on the limb bolt that is digging into the washer and over time, causing it to crack. Those washers aren' t top quality steel. Usually aluminum.

That' s the only thing I can figure. Maybe some of the more experienced guys that own pro shops will see this and know something.

WV Hunter

Never heard of that before either??? Weird???

My best advice...hit your knees and pray she holds together till you get back!

BTW, welcome to the board, and good luck on your hunt!

MmmmElk

I' m beggin the huntin gods as we speak. Scary thing is that with every shot, one side of the washer slips out probably about 1/4 of a millimeter or so...not much, but 20 practice shots adds up. Luckily, I' ll only need a coupla shots once I get up there to make sure everything' s still on. I tried pressing the side of the washer that' s slipping out back in, but no dice. Oh well...like I said, I should only need one shot!

Dalejbrass

I think I would take it back to the bow shop and have them replace it again! It could just be coincidence, but you never know. I don' t think I would be going on a bow hunt knowing the thing was broken. You can always re-tune the bow. That problem could quite possibly give out on you at the time of truth! You will also need to practice while in camp to stay sharp. If it breaks again, I would get the bow back to the manufacturer, because something is seriously wrong. Don' t take a chance with stuff like this........if that thing decided to blow up in the middle of full-draw or at release, it could cause serious, if not fatal damage. I' ve seen a couple of bows blow up during 3-D shoots and it was not pretty!!!!!

MmmmElk

Just curious....how long should it take a shop with a bow press to replace that?

Danny45

About 5-10 minutes. They have to relax the bow, take off the entire harness system (cables, cams, and string) and then replace the washer and put it all back together. If they' re careful, they should get it back pretty fast with a minimum of tuning necessary.

MmmmElk

Alright, I' m gonna swing by on my way outta town and see if they can do it (I tried calling, but they don' t open for another 90 minutes). I' d rather miss opening morning (to fine tune the sights) than miss my entire 6 day elk hunt!

Arthur P

Maybe 15 minutes IF that was all they had to do. Right now, with hunting season upon us, I' d bet they' ve got bows laying all over the place that are in line to be repaired.

I' ve seen this quite a few times before. So, if I was to hazard a guess on past observation, I' d say you routinely bottom out your bolts and really lay into them to make sure they' re bottomed out. You' ve probably torqued too much pressure on the washer and forced it to split. You might also have crushed the limb butts, setting yourself up for a broken limb that will mysteriously whack you on the head someday.

MmmmElk

Well, they fixed it for me. He said it was because the limb bolts were too tight (they' d just recently been tightened, so I don' t think there was any further damage). I still made it on my elk hunt in time too! Unfortunately, I didn' t get one. My bro-in-law shot a nice cow though! I called a 5x5 bull to within 15 yards of me, but I couldn' t shoot (cow tag), but it was a rush! Oh well, tag soup is starting to grow on me!