Trekking poles loosening

[vaporjourney]

I've got a set of Leki trekking poles that have the 'easy lock' technology. Ever since I got the poles, they seem to find a way to gradually come loose over the course of 20 minutes or so, and eventually a push toward the ground will cause one of the sections to collapse. It seems to mainly be the right, lower portion that comes loose and then will begin to shorten with downstrokes if I don't ruitinely tighten the poles. As you can guess this is extremely annoying and I can't figure out what is causing this.

My first thought was that it was the tensioners inside the poles. The instructions online (didnt say this on included paperwork) say that if you happen to bend the tensioners while taking the poles apart it could cause damage. Perhaps the first time I took the poles apart to disable the anti-shock feature, I damaged the tensioners somehow. Another theory is that I may be using them improperly, and striking down into the ground at an odd angle. This doesn't seem as plausable. My last thought was to buy rubber tips, which would make the poles sink into the ground less. I think that if they don't go into the ground, there will be no opportunity for them to slightly twist when being pulled out of the Earth.

I should say that I've tried not to overtighten them since I've read this also causes damage. Just a solid snug twisting is what I usually give. Has anyone else gone thru this?

[Gaiter]

Maybe play around with the tensioners?
I usually turn mine a little past a snug twisiting. but where i can still get them undone.

[ShakeyLeggs]

I have a set of Leki Super Maklu's if you take the poles apart you can adjust the locking mechanism so that you can get a secure lock. Also on mine to disable or enable the cushioning effect all you have to do is push down, compress the inner spring and twist to lock out the spring or enable the spring. If you did indeed damage the inner workings the Leki's have a lifetime warranty. Give em a call.

[Alligator]

I've got a dead spot on mine, maybe from overtightening. Meaning, the pole will slip on at my usual setting.

Fix #1-On one pole, on the bottom section, instead of lengthening it to the max, I keep it a little shorter. Then the middle section needs to be a little longer than it used to be. This avoids the dead spot.

Fix #2-Clean the insides of the poles.

[Cheesewhiz]

my left pole frequently collapsed and I came to realize that it was body weight applied to the pole then with wrist rotation it would loosen little by little.

[RockyTrail]

The inside of the poles should be squeaky clean; make sure there is no oil on the plastic part that wedges out against the inner wall. I twist the collars as tight as I can twist it, no damage yet.

With my poles, the Phillips screw that holds the tensioners on the pole used to work loose. If that happens the smaller pole will spin inside the larger and never get a grip. I put some Loctite Threadlocker on the threads and completely stopped that problem. If you need to do that, use the blue type (not the red) because the blue can be removed with 5 ft-lbs of torque (the red is darn near permanent) . It's sold at auto parts stores for use on bolt threads.

[DavidNH]

I bought a set of Leki poles at AMC Pinkham Notch. On rock they seem to hold nice and firm. But on muddy areas or areas of soft soil..they have a tendancy to collapse. Can anyone explain this?

David

[Big Dawg]

cause one of the sections to collapse.

I've had this problem for a while,,, and what a pain in the butt. I've had a coupla nasty falls b/c a pole collapsed. I attributed it to my big a$$ putting so much pressure on the poles while planting/twisting, etc,,, that they loosen, and finally collapse,,,,, so I switched to Leki ski poles-----no sections,, just 1 solid shaft----and haven't had a problem since. When I owned the collapsable poles, I never collapsed them down except when I was home, and they were in storage,,, so nothing missed now that I have single shaft poles.

[Wanderingson]

Here is a cool little troubleshooting guide from Leki:

http://www.leki.co.uk/photos/Leki%20Care%20and%20Maintenance.pdf

Enjoy the reading.

[Burn]

contact leki...they will do everything in their power to make it right and help you resolve this....they make like 100 bucks per set and they want to keep that kind of profit margin going thru service and future recomendation to purchase leki's thru word of mouth

[bigcranky]

I have exactly the same problem with my daughter's new Leki poles. They have the easy-lock mechanism, which we specifically bought because she didn't have the hand strength to fully tighten her older poles. With the new ones, she'll walk for 20 or 30 minutes and one pole will collapse. It's *very* annoying. I doubt it's due to her putting excessive weight on the poles, since she weighs maybe 90 pounds soaking wet.