Pro tip: Don't trust that $80 CLA kit from Amazon

I figured I'd save a few bucks and do a CLA on an old Pentax K1000 myself last weekend. Lost $80 on the kit and another $120 when a spring flew out and I couldn't get it back together. Has anyone else had better luck with those generic repair kits, or is it just me?

2 comments

2 Comments

sarah_brown1d ago

Lost $80 on the kit and another $120 when a spring flew out" pretty much sums up my whole experience with those kits. I read somewhere that the tolerances on the generic screwdrivers are way off compared to proper JIS tools, so you strip heads before you even get deep into it. My advice: spend the $80 on a used body and practice on that before touching anything you care about. The spring thing is real, I had one bounce off my ceiling and land in a coffee mug, never found it. At this point I just send stuff to a guy in New Jersey who charges $60 for a proper CLA and doesn't make me want to cry.

jason_kelly821h ago

Give me a break, @sarah_brown. A lost spring is annoying but $200 in repairs from one mistake? That seems like a stretch. I've used the cheap kits for years and never had a screwdriver strip anything, maybe I just got lucky.