Telescope Reviews: Rebuilding a G-11

tidroplane, I haven't done much myself but need some work done and I'm not knowledgeable enough to do it myself yet (before I do anything I need to look on the Losmandy user group) and have little time so as yet gave just let the problems go and use the mount 'as is'. As far as what I said about tweaking and adjusting I'm going on what you hear a lot from others on various fora (granted, many of these people are trying to get the mount to work /perfectly/, not just good enough to track a DSO and keep it in the field for half an hour - they are imagers and/or perfectionists and the 'issues' getting the G-11 to perform at that level have been discussed a lot elsewhere. The company even has had to produce upgraded worms, if I remember correctly, to improve performance). Mine has a common problem in that the RA needs adjusting because there's obvious play (very easy to see and feel when moving the scope). Once, in an unrelated issue, it got completely 'seized up' where the mount would hardly move at all. I consulted a machinist / local astro club member who said it had to be taken apart due to old original grease that had turned to a hard, dry layer. It was removed and the mount was regreased (my old AP turns as smoothly as new with no work done on it to date). Another issue: the mount to three-'pronged' tripod section connection (not talking about the legs that one normally calls a tripod) has a serious flaw: the holes in the mount base that accepts the bolts or hand knobs (I have the upgrade hand knobs which are much easier to attach than bolts) are //slotted//. The holes in the tripod section (the outer holes where the bolts are first inserted) are threaded. This means that when any heavy scope is placed on the mount the mount can and does tip forward or backward by about five degrees (it scared me when it first occurred) when the tightened bolts 'slide' upward in the slots (note that I tighten these as hard as I am able, and I am of average strength). Normally with a smaller scope like a Tak FS-102 it isn't a problem and doesn't tip noticeably or at all but with a scope on the upper end of the capacity for this mount it will easily tip the whole mount/scope combination up and then back down inside the slots in the mount base. It is an amazing oversight in how they made the mount. The holes need to be 1) round and close fitting around the bolt/knob threads (isn't it obvious?) and preferably 2) //threaded// to accept the bolt. The outside holes are threaded for the bolts/knobs but the holes that they go into are not. They are slotted at about a 2 to 2.5 to 1 ratio hole diam. to height vertically and have no threading. What this means is that the only thing holding the mount firmly to the tripod is the pressure you can apply to the knobs pressing against the metal of the outside of the tripod - because there are no threads or even a close-fitting hole to hold the knobs' threads as it goes into the mount bases. This may not be clear but if it is and anyone has had this issue with their G-11 I'd like to hear what you did - I'm considering having new holes tapped close to the original slot but then the tripod won't be aligned with one leg straight north - I suppose this won't matter. I don't know if any machinist who could fit the mount's base onto a lathe, though, to do this modification. Any ideas? Thanks for your help.