After reading lots of good stuff about the Death Ray dispatch pole I bought a new one a few weeks ago. I got a chance to use it on my first catch of the season, a nice female yote. When I pulled the ring on the back to cinch the cable, it fell apart. The cable came off the end of the rod. I took it apart later that day to see that the little compression ring that holds the cable was not compressed on the cable at all. I fixed it and chalked it up to an assembly error. These things happen.
I went to use it again the next day and at first everything seemed great. However, I noticed the cable loosens at it sits there. If you pump the handle you can tighten it as expected, but when you let it sit, it slowly loses tension. My second yote woke back up. The only way to keep the cable from loosening is to keep some light tension on the handle that tightens it. Then it will hold tension on the cable all day. If you don't keep your fingers on that lever, the cable slowly loosens.
Am I doing something wrong? Anyone else experienced this? I've never seen one in action, and I'm thinking it is not working as designed.
Joe

I have been using a DR for several years and have never experienced the loosening you describe. Make sure the rod and lever are clean and free of any lubrication. Since yours is new, there could be some residual oil left over from the manufacturing process. A wipe down with alcohol should clean them up nicely. And when I pull the ring, I keep tension on the lever to eliminate the friction between the two parts. When snug release the lever tighten it up.

If you continue to have issues, call NO BS.

Morning, I sold the DR to Kendall Obermier of No BS Lures, about three years ago. Kurt, Kendalls brother, does the building of the DR’s, and doing a very nice job of it. Kurt called me a couple weeks ago, saying they were having trouble with the ferrel sliding off of that slick 1X19 cable. When they got all my stuff, they said they didn’t need the die for cable crimping, because it wouldn’t fit their machine anyway, so I built cables for them untill I ran out of cable this last summer. I boxed up the dies that I've been using and just recently shipped them to No BS. You should call Kurt and talk to him, he will make it right with you.

Like QBD said in his post, i believe there was some oil tracked onto the pull rod, as the brand new caulking gun should have a good lock on it! Kurt can help you with that also. Happy New Year to everyone! Lee

Now theres some good service

Bruce, I agree!
I know quietbutdeadly personally, and his word is gold in my book. We aren't best buddies or anything, but I know him well enough to know that. It's good to know it should not be loosening. I'll check to see if there's any lube left on the rod, and clean it up either way. (Thanks QBD)
Lee, thanks for replying too. As you noted, that ferrule was not tight on the cable. I didn't try to re-use it. I tig welded a small blob on the end of the cable, then gave it a cone shape to fit the inside of the lock nut nicely. It would be WAY overkill to produce them like that, but I wanted to be sure it didn't fail me again.
I'll be sure to ping the NO BS guys if I can't get it right. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing something dopey, and as I had hoped, I got really helpful answers quickly.
Thanks again!
Joe

I bought one just before season and found the same thing. I put it in the junk pile and chalked it up as a bad investment.

We have had the odd RTS setter rod slide back slowly under pressure when brand new. Cleaning the rod with steel wool or Brillo pad takes care of the issue 100% of the time on brand new setters. Alcohol or break cleaner works as well. There is a forming oil used in manufacturing on the rod that you can’t see. Sometimes it builds up in thumb piece causing slippage. Rare but it happens.

I have a new one from no B's the cable stop on end did pop off, I just put another one on and swaged it myself. Not having any other issues with it

I bought one from Lee year's sgo, never had anything go wrong with it.
I'd be calling them, hope they can help you out.

JoeR, you will find that welding cable is just a temporary fix. The cable becomes very hard beside the weld, and will break with much use. A better choice would be to silver solder it, keeping the heat as low as you can, and still flow the solder. The best way for it to last, is to swage them on, but the end result has to be round to fit the nut that screws the cable onto the pullrod.

Dollars must be abundant in your neck of the woods! Do you do the same with everything you buy?

You can send it to me, I'll take care of it for you

That's crazy. Why not contact the seller and see if they will make it right?

Same here I own 2 and would love a 3rd

Yea, if it don't work git rid of it!

Lee,
Thanks for the tip. If I get motivated, I'll trim it and silver solder it. I didn't know silver solder would hold stainless cable. You learn something new every day.
Joe

That’s like junking a truck because a tires flat.

Whenever someone buys a product line, they try to cheapen it or take shortcuts. The saying "they don't make 'em like they used to" is extremely accurate in most cases. If it didn't fit their machine, then they need to make modifications so it will, or buy a new machine. 20 years from now trappers will say..."I own one of the originals made by Lee Steinmeyer, they were the best."

If you've never met Lee Steinmeyer, the next time you're at a convention and Lee is there, introduce yourself, shake his hand, and thank him for doing things the right way and with integrity.

Seen enough videos to show that these thing work, something wrong in the new batch.
But looks like Lee & No BS are figuring it out. Top notch guys!
I’m sure their customers will be taken care of.

X2!

I have had mine for awhile. Thing is a tank