Repairing a Leica M

Hi guys, Before any one says it I know,
Im after striping my Leica m4 due to the seized frame line problem,
When I open it up it was.. well a little dodgy, One of the light shields were glued on side ways, it looked like I wasn't the first amateur to open it up.
The spring that pulls up the longer frame lines had hoped off a long time ago,
most of the movements were sized. I have the frame lines freed up now.
But......
While it was open I started shooting and applying some lighter fluid to the gears, all was going well until half way thru a 1sec exposure I here'd every thing stop with the shutter stuck open, I did not here or touch anything it just jammed up, further investigation reviled that under the bottom plate there was a small coil and hook spring magnetically stuck onto one of the bottom gears, it was not affecting its operation and I can't see where it could have come from, and I recon its not related to the shutter problem.
So now I'm going to get her going if it takes me a life time,

I have the Leica m2 repair guide which is the only one I can find on the internet.
Is there any where I can buy a repair manual?, ''an explode view is what I'm really looking for altho that might be beggars belief''
Dose any one know if you can still buy parts for the old Leicas?, do leica sell parts?

This is something I want to do as an education so logic isn't a part of it

DAG may be willing to sell some parts, he's got a good reputation as a technician and I believe has sold to others.
Try Sherry Krauter at Golden Touch too.

http://craigcamera.com/ has a few Leica service manuals under the Reprinted Service Manuals link. I saw a M3 but no M4. May be of some help.

I have the frame lines working now, The shutter is back in order, But the self timer is not reseting itself, ''it doesn't lock as i wind it, or trip the shutter'' unless I manual reset it while the camera is striped,
A long shot, But has anyone a picture of a working Leica self timer? I've been all over the internet and can't find one of sufficient quality to make out if me mystery spring could solve the problem.

Have the M4 working now, frame lines still need minor adjustment tho, When I attach a 50 adopter it displays the 50 and a little bit of the 35mm lines, won't bother adjusting them until I have a real m mount lens and il do the range finder at the same time.

The rangefinder is not trivial you need to set it with three special tools or a known good lens at 1m, 10m and infinity such that the rangefinder is exact at each distance.

There are only two adjusters one alters the pivot point of the arm the other alters the pivot point of the rolling follower. They both alter the effective length of the arm. So there is only a limited range that is exact at all three distances, to minimise intermediate errors.

The factory have an automated procedure.

There may be some interaction with the horizontal adjustment. And if there has been a lotta 'damage' you may need to dismantle rather than just tweak the three adjustments.

Ive know this happen but it was not my camera.

I may have a spare adapter which I could confirm works on all my bodies and post if you want to try that route it would be a Cosina or Chinese but if it is ok on my M2 and M4-2 it should be ok on your M4 you might think? I'd need time as my den is in cardboard boxes that are not all accessible until I finish house repairs and decorations. (You are in the 32 counties?)

Sadly I have had various problems with M cameras and M lenses not being too compatible over the decades. Like not mounting at all, for example new lens just out of box... Asph /2.8 28mm in Leica dealers on dealers camera. I've also had your ghost or vestigial frame problem in the past, I just ignored it.

So a Leica lens may be no better than a Ch adapter. I've not had problems with any adapters BTW.

I never use a self timer the M4-2 does not have one and only one of the M2 has one I'd not have touched.

Good luck.

John Koehrer said:

DAG may be willing to sell some parts, he's got a good reputation as a technician and I believe has sold to others.
Try Sherry Krauter at Golden Touch too.

Click to expand...

I will never use Sherry Krauter again and do not recommend her to anyone who is not one of her buddies. Not if you want to see your equipment again anytime soon. Her cantankerous behavior has been written off to her being from NYC. I was also born and raised in NYC and in my opinion, her whole Leica Diva routine is highly unprofessional and a little too cute by half. Although I have used her in the past, my latest experience was a disaster, and I will never ever use her again. I asked her if she could fix a 28mm Elmarit. She said yes, I sent it to her, and never heard from her again. She barely responded to my emails, never responded to my voicemails, would not mail it back to me unrepaired. Finally, after four months, I had to drive 50 miles to her house and retrieve the lens. Sorry folks. My family has been in the photography business since 1948. This is not professional behavior.

Since the mid 1990s, my M-3 and lenses have been been serviced by Mike Hakine at Professional Camera Repair here in Houston.

They can CLA, Fix—or rebuild —the Screw mount and M series equipment.

http://www.professionalcamerarepair.com/