gregl

Thanks, Steep. I found those screws under the bottom ring on an earlier exploration but was hesitant to go farther. I'll try that. By the way, that ring allows the body to turn when trying to zoom. Annoying. While it seems that the design idea might have been to permit orienting the index mark after the ocular is clamped into a diagonal or focuser, I think I'm going to tinker with the shim rings I found in there and see if I can make it stay put.

Progress report: I wrapped the collar with a piece of rubber gasket material and was able to get a grip on it. It slid right off. The lower lens group slid out easily. While I had the lower lens group out for cleaning off the original grease, I discovered that a significant amount of the drag is coming from the upper section of the eyepiece body; the part that probably contains the click stop (which won't click, by the way). So a new question arises: How do I get into that upper section to clean it as well? THANKS again!

Thanks, Steep. I won't be able to deal with this for a few days but I'll report back.

Please forgive me for resurrecting this old thread but I have the same problem and a question. Below is a photo of the end of the zoom. Is the ring indicated by the red arrow what needs to be removed? It does not look like a separate piece from the plate below. There is a small groove at the bottom of the ring that I can get a jeweler's screwdriver under, but it does not want to move and I'm reluctant to pry on it. I don't want to destroy the ring in order to get it off. I have a lathe and can turn up a clamp or collet to go over the ring if needed. Any advice on how to proceed will be appreciated. THANKS!