UTG RECON 360-TL Bipod: Tension Lever Fix

[G-man]

Okay, I bought this bipod cause it allowed a certain degree of tilting and rotation that I thought I'd need.  I read reviews elsewhere and saw many people had issue with the "tension lever" losing its ability to apply tension to the turret not long after first use.  And they weren't kidding. Mine lost tension after very little use.
The problem was how to increase tension on the turret. The tension lever has a small Allen screw seemingly to hold it in place, and there appears to be a removable "cap" atop  the tension lever. Initially I tried just removing the Allen screw but could not remove the lever. Thinking the "cap" was preventing this I tried first to unscrew it and then tried prying it off. Neither were successful.  I emailed the company but the offices are all closed due to COVID-19.  I decided to try again in a few weeks.

So, today I had total success.  The "cap" atop the lever does unscrew and MUST be removed to allow adjustment of the lever. But it's not easy because the height of the cap, <1mm, does not allow easy grasping with tools. So, beware that you may scuff it up, as I did, when trying to remove it.  The best tool I found was a small vise grip. You could put tape on the vise grip to hep prevent damage to the cap. The cap appears to have some possible thread locking compound on it which explains why my first attempt weeks ago failed. The cap threads are small and on the center "spindle", not around the outside edge as I suspected. With the cap removed, the Allen screw can be removed and the lever sits atop a small hex nut. Lift the lever off the nut and advance it one position counter clockwise. Reset the Allen screw, replace cap and your good to go.
Now I can use this bipod w/o worrying about it not tightening enough. I just wish they'd included this in the directions/manual. You can't tell me they haven't seen/heard all the people complaining about this bipod losing it's tension so soon after purchase and use.

[Luis Leon]

Thank you G-man...

[Ljc300]

thanks for this fix it worked for me too.  ,I cut a a slot in the lever cap screw with a Dremel cutoff wheel.  Then it came off easily with a wide flatblade screwdriver . 

[Montana_AirGunner]

Thanks for the info man! Mine has also come a bit loose and I can not fully trust to it being tight. Now I will just have to take my time to tighten it correctly.