Tripod twistlock issue

[HillyDevon]

Hi, all! newbie here, so I hope I've chosen the right sub-group for posting a question.
In late 2024 I bought a Joby Rangepod tripod - not an expensive bit of kit, but would suit me, I thought, for the very occasional use I'd put it to. Probably only dug it out a handful of times when I used it the other day, and it looks in pristine condition. Now the problem.... one of the twistlock sections froze completely. The locking nut unscrewed completely from the fitting and the leg wouldn't budge. (I contacted Joby, who were extremely unhelpful, but that's a matter for them and the Trustpilot review I've given them!)
I've managed to push the stuck section back in - plenty of friction to overcome -so it's now frozen in the retracted rather than extended position. Surely I can't be the first person this has happened to? That's one of the questions I put to Joby, which they studiously ignored!
Hopefully the attached pics will help to clarify the issue. You'll see it's the thinnest, bottom section that's the problem. I removed the rubber end cap from the foot.
Hoping someone here has a better idea than the manufacturer as to how to rectify the problem!
Regards,
Tim

 

[snowbear130 61]

Welcome aboard.
It may be that some debris has gotten inside the tube. Perhaps some penetrating oil (I don't know if it is called something different in GB) or some light heat (blow dryer on high setting applied to the tube will help loosen it. If you can pull the inner tube out and wipe it down.

 

[HillyDevon]

some

Many thanks - I'll give it a go! I have got WD40 - assume that might loosen things up? I guess all twistlocks work pretty much in the same way?

 

[snowbear130 61]

WD40 should do.

 

[cgw132 157]

With respect, short of premium brands, twist-locs are failure-prone and often fix-proof. Guess I've never been keen on slapping a pricey camera+lens on iffy support. I like Manfrotto. Admittedly old school but they've never embarrassed me.

 

[Dale H. Cook126 20]

Guess I've never been keen on slapping a pricey camera+lens on iffy support. I like Manfrotto. Admittedly old school but they've never embarrassed me.

My tabletop tripod is a Manfrotto, because the leg design provides broad support. I also have a Manfrotto monopod strapped to my bicycle frame. My main tripod is a Benro with a fluid-damped head. I went with the Benro because I liked its build quality, I seldom use a tripod, and a Manfrotto with that head was more than I wanted to spend.

 

[Splitpair11 9]

Hoping someone here has a better idea than the manufacturer as to how to rectify the problem!

Can you purchase WD-40 in your country? If so that will get the leg loose, leave the collar off with the leg upside down, then spray WD-40 on the smaller tube and let it soak inside between the tubes, wait a few hours and apply a little more, then let it sit over night.
The next day flip the tripod over hold the foot to the floor with your feet and pull upward, hopefully the tube will slide out a little.

Slide it back half of what it pulled out and repeat the WD-40 application, then repeat the pullout.

Eventually you will get it all the way out, wipe it clean with mineral spirits removing as much of the WD-40 as possible, you don't want to leave any in place as it will attract dust and dirt.

After all that slide all the legs out and thoroughly lubricate them with dry silicone spray.

 

[benhasajeep61 60]

It looks to me part of the compression sleeve has broken off and gone down between the leg sections. If that is the case it's a matter of pulling and twisting until you can pull the sleve out. Sounds like you probably will not be able to buy a replacement part if they will not answer customer service questions.

 

[Dale H. Cook126 20]

The twist-locks will always be a weak point, subject to problems. They can never equal the performance of a clamp-lock on a high-end tripod.

 

[HillyDevon]

Many thanks for all the contributions/suggestions. I'll try and wrangle the thing into some sort of working order. I realise there are tripods costing hundreds of pounds out there, but didn't think my use case warranted that kind of outlay. Cheers all!

 

[Dale H. Cook126 20]

Did you buy that Joby online without examining it in person? In order to choose a tripod which suits your needs as well as your wallet, you really need to go to a camera shop which has a variety of tripods and brands on floor display. That was how I chose my Benro.

 

[HillyDevon]

FaIr point, Dale, though where I live the nearest camera shop of note is a small branch of London Camera Exchange 25 miles away - and even then, they wouldn't have every make and model to examine. Plus it wouldn't have helped in my case as everything looked/worked fine at first. It was a question of how soon one of the 9 twistlocks would fail, and I couldn't have known that with a first look. It was only ever going to be a light duty bit of kit, hence I thought an expensive carbon fibre job would be overkill. Every day's a school day!

 

[Dale H. Cook126 20]

It sounds like you need to make a trip to London to look at tripods. When I was young, and shooting film, I lived in Massachusetts. I made a couple of trips to New York for photography shopping.

If you can't go to look at a bit of kit in person, and if you don't know of anyone who owns that bit of kit, then if you buy it online you may get a pig in a poke.

I am fortunate that the only real camera shop in my area is about 10 miles from home. Although I am not a huge spender on photographic equipment, I have spent over $3,000.00 USD there in the 8+ years since I bought my Pentax K-70 body. In more than 50 years I have never been disappointed when buying any photography equipment in person.

 

[benhasajeep61 60]

It sounds like you need to make a trip to London to look at tripods. When I was young, and shooting film, I lived in Massachusetts. I made a couple of trips to New York for photography shopping.

If you can't go to look at a bit of kit in person, and if you don't know of anyone who owns that bit of kit, then if you buy it online you may get a pig in a poke.

I am fortunate that the only real camera shop in my area is about 10 miles from home. Although I am not a huge spender on photographic equipment, I have spent over $3,000.00 USD there in the 8+ years since I bought my Pentax K-70 body. In more than 50 years I have never been disappointed when buying any photography equipment in person.

What was wrong with Hunts in Boston? Though when I lived on the South Shore I only visited their Melrose store north of Boston, I was surprised by the size of the store being outside of the city. I have ordered from B+H and Adorama often, but never been to their stores.

 

[Dale H. Cook126 20]

What was wrong with Hunts in Boston? Though when I lived on the South Shore I only visited their Melrose store north of Boston, I was surprised by the size of the store being outside of the city. I have ordered from B+H and Adorama often, but never been to their stores.

I have been to B+H and Adorama in Manhattan. I also went to Manhattan periodically for heavy-duty used book shopping, so I could also go shopping for photography equipment.