I have a Summit Bushmaster climbing treestand that is a couple of years old (it is one with the air pillow seat). The past couple of evenings, it has made a pinging or tapping sound when I shift my weight or move my feet slightly. It has NEVER done this before. While the sound is not real loud, I' m afraid it might be loud enough to alert a deer if there is one in close to me. Does anyone have any thoughts as to what may be causing this sound and how to stop it?

Make sure all the nuts and bolts are tight. A little white grease at all the pivot points. Check all the welds to see if there are any visible cracks. Other than that, I don' t know what to tell you.

Arthur P - there are no nuts and bolts on my stand, just welds. I will go and re-check the welds, the lighting wasn' t the best when I first checked them.

Update: I emailed Summit about this problem. Two hours later, this is the response I got back:

" This sound could possibly be associated with a joint in the platform that
has some slight movement.

It is our policy to replace your treestand.

We will send a new stand and a pre paid fed ex call tag. Please place the
old stand in the new stand' s box and return it by using the fed ex label."

That is just downright incredible. It' s even more incredible that Summit responded to an email so quickly. Right now I am dumbfounded. How can you possibly top that kind of service?!

I had the same thing happen to me last year with that same stand....same results. Summit is a TOP NOTCH A++++ company. The BEST customer service I have ever experienced. Friendly folks and do everything in their power to make you - the customer - happy.

Will Woller of Summit sometimes frequents these message boards and i' m sure he will be happy to see you are a satisfied customer. In fact after a post on this message board talking up Summit he contacted me and offered to send me a free hat. How many companies do that? I own a Summit Cobra XLS and love it, when I get a new stand it will definitly be a Summit. They have made a life-long customer out of me.

That' s great to know. I have a summit viper. Anyone know why it slips on smooth bark trees? The bottom platform will drop up to an inch and the top just falls if there is not weight on it. Even on rough bark trees I sometimes get some slipping. I wonder if the teeth need to be sharpened? My stand is two years old. I saw a picture of a newer viper an it looked like it had a additional row of smaller teeth inside the larger teeth. Mine doesn' t have this extra row.

Thier response is just plain good business sense. It is cheaper to replace a stand than to fight a lawasuit if a weld breaks and you fall and die. It really helps thier reputation too.

I am very happy that i bought a Summit, it is good to know that the company really stands behind thier products.

good deal ,just goes to show summit is the cream of the crop , even with customer service!

do you mean behind or on their products?? hehe silly pun I know

I also have a Summit Viper.. I love it