ZF4 Mount Locking Lever

[K.H.]

Hey all,

I recently acquired my first K43 (AC 45 d block), complete with original ZF4 and mount. The mount has an issue that I’m looking to address. For lack of a better term the “teeth” on the inside of the locking lever are somewhat stripped, enough so that it will loosely spin on the bolt rather than properly engaging the ones on the bolt to tighten or loosen the mount. I believe at some point in the past the bolt was over tightened and some genius beat the lever open with a hammer or something. If I remove the lever and flip it over and reinstall it backwards, it works fine as the teeth on that side are somewhat more intact. A friend has a repro mount and I already attempted to swap the levers just to experiment, but the inner diameter on the repro was too tight to fit the bolt on the original mount.

Does anyone perhaps know how this might be repaired, or possibly know a source for a replacement? It’s a rather nice condition rig and unserialized later mount, so it’s certainly worth saving if at all possible.

I’ll attach a couple pics shortly. If any others are in order please just let me know. Thanks for any help or suggestions!

 

[mdarnell19]

I doubt there is a realistic way to repair it. I would post a want to buy add here for a lever and just wait for something to pop up. Check ebay and gunbroker also. That mount is definitely worth getting a good lever for. Good luck.

 

[K.H.]

Thank you. I figured that finding a good replacement may turn into a bit of a wild goose chase but I’ll give it a go and see what happens. At least it seems the teeth on the mount bolt itself are intact (I think?). I don’t really have anything to compare it to so if anyone is more familiar with what they should look like, I’d be interested to hear your opinion.

 

[biggymu]

Since it may be ruined and there is little to loose, you can try taking a hammer and punch and flatten the stripped teeth slightly. It may reduce the inner diameter enough to at least be functional. Might even be able to work a small file afterwards to restore some teeth. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

 

[K.H.]

Thanks for the suggestion. I’ve so far been holding off on trying too much so as to take it slow and not damage it further just in case it was salvageable by some means I was not aware of. If that idea you discussed fails for whatever reason, another potential I thought of would be to use the press and very very lightly squeeze in from the sides. Idea there being that since the teeth in the sides are mostly fine (relatively speaking at least), it might give it just enough bite on the bolt to hold. Since it’s not easily reversible, I would only consider doing so if the lever itself is truly beyond repair, but I also do not want to risk damage to the locking bolt so that’s also a consideration.

 

[Roger S]

It looks like when assembled it displays well. You may consider leaving it alone? Congratulations on your purchase!

 

[K.H.]

Thanks Roger! I most likely will leave it alone as I have done so far unless I can find a suitable replacement or a less invasive way of restoring basic function. I would keep the damaged original with the rifle in any case. It does display well enough, but the lever is rather loose when installed with the proper orientation as pictured, which just kind of bothers me I suppose. The process for getting it onto the rifle is also a bit goofy and requires the lever to first be installed backwards so that the good teeth on that side can actually engage the bolt to (lightly) tighten the mount onto the base. Then once it’s in place and secured, I had to pop off the spring and lever, and reinstall it the correct way.

 

[daltrey99]

This will take away any collector value of it but if you want it to function properly, you may consider putting a couple of tacks with a mig welder. You wont be able to take the handle back off again though. I would try to find another handle as hard as that might be to get one!!