The replacement of U2 tailcap

:huh2: Hi guys! Iam the new guy of this excellent forums! Recently I bought a SF U2 in canada!No doubt,It's a very outstanding Flashlight.

But like everyone My U2's tailcap doesn't work any more! It can not recover from switch-on! I can only cut the power by twist it! SF will mail me a nwe replacement! And I am living in China,It takes about 1-2 months.


So anyone have any idea about the replacement of tailcap?Does it easy to break like the old one? Why SF not try to design the nwe tailcap after mail so many tailcaps?
Please give me some experience about your replacement of tailcap,Thank you a lot!!!!

I went through 4 tailcaps already. The first was very naughty. The other 2 were better but still not working properly. The one I got now for my U2 works very well. And I also emailed Surefire to send me another even though mines already worked. Of course I never told them that I wanted another tailcap just to pop on to my 6p. Got it in about 3 weeks. It works.

Oh and WELCOME!, hope you enjoy your time here.:rock:

NAW said:

I went through 4 tailcaps already. The first was very naughty. The other 2 were better but still not working properly. The one I got now for my U2 works very well. And I also emailed Surefire to send me another even though mines already worked. Of course I never told them that I wanted another tailcap just to pop on to my 6p. Got it in about 3 weeks. It works.

Oh and WELCOME!, hope you enjoy your time here.:rock:

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There is nothing cool about ripping off SF.

Hogx1

Thats true, but IF one of my tailcap breaks, at least I will have a back up.:naughty:

Thank you for sharing your experience!

Be honestly,I bought My U2 without any research,Beacuse I love flashlight so much and My family too!I don't know why,just love it.

I was shook by the tailcap at first.It's very hard to believe SF's product's quality just like this.

And I'll try to get another back up after I get my first replacement!:lolsign:

Oh, I forgot to mention. I saw a employee at a Surefire retailer around here fix a broken tailcap. He placed the tailcap on a table and pushed the switch as hard as he can. The tailcap then clicked on and off, on and off, etc.Try this. Use as much force as you can. Dont worry if of you break it because it already broken.:lolsign:

If the mechanism locks up once, it will lock up again... using it in that state will cause wear which will worsen the problem.

I use a Z49 on my 6P, seems far superior to the 'new' clickies (Z50 series)

NAW said:

Oh, I forgot to mention. I saw a employee at a Surefire retailer around here fix a broken tailcap. He placed the tailcap on a table and pushed the switch as hard as he can. The tailcap then clicked on and off, on and off, etc.Try this. Use as much force as you can. Dont worry if of you break it because it already broken.:lolsign:

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Yeah,sometime I shake my tailcap as strong as I can,It will work one day or two.
Do SF's M4 &M6 have these problem?today I read a terrible nwes in china,M6's bulb just live for only 3 minutes,then die!

BBL said:

If the mechanism locks up once, it will lock up again... using it in that state will cause wear which will worsen the problem.

I use a Z49 on my 6P, seems far superior to the 'new' clickies (Z50 series)

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Can you show me some information about Z49? May be z49 doesn't fit U2.U2's tailcap may be the z61,any way,I don't know. Thank you very much.

Frankbyerswat,

You can check out Surefire.com They have a section about all there different tailcaps. Anyway the tailcap for surefire U2 is either a Z58 or a Z59. But i'm pretty sure its a Z58.

And as for the m4 and m6, I never heard anything bad about them.

i thought pulling up on the tabs fixed all the tail cap problems.... thats all it took to fix mine...

anyways... as much as its wrong to rip off SF... the whole U2 tailcap debockle I don't judge NAW @ all... it makes perfect since to have a backup tailswitch, when the U2's tailswitch has been a proven problem...

remember we're talking an almost $300 flashlight with a tailswitch that is defective... A cheap tailswitch for a backup is completely justified in my mind... I seriously doubt Surefire cares since its their own fault for this mis-hap.... We can't have tailcap's failing on soldiers oversea's...

Despite my love for Surefire I have to say that this ongoing problem with U2 tail switches is a very poor advertisement for their products! It's not as if this particular problem isn't well known is it? Ultimately the cost of replacing these switches and the ensuing postal charges will be reflected in higher prices, either on the U2 or across the whole Surefire range.

I know how loved Surefire is here (with good reason) but I think that even the most loyal Surefire supporter would have to admit that the U2 is now a bit of a joke as regards reliability. This is something which detracts from Surefire's previous assertions as to manufacturing consistantly high quality products.

The shame of it all is that the U2 has the potential to be the best LED light in their range but is let down constantly by tales of unreliable switches.

Doug

I had a tailcap failure with my U2. At first it would come on spontaniously. I disassembled the tailcap and did some bending. This fixed it at the time. Later, the switch failed in a manner in which it wouldn't stay on. Again, I disassembled the switch and did some bending. This time, the metal tab broke. I was able to bend the remaining tab and get the switch to function as a twisty. I called Surefire and received a new switch. The clicky wasn't functioning as well as the old one, so I disassembled the switch. The new replacement had no lubricant. I mixed and matched pieces from the old switch to the new one (the lubritcated parts) and I used the old tailcap body (because it already had scars from use on it). The guts of the new tailcap had a slightly different design than the old one and so far it has been reliable.

I believe that there are two main types of failures. One is that the clicky portion (like a writing pen's mechanism) doesn't get lubed at the factory and it quickly jams up. This is easily fixed if you can get the tailcap switch body apart. I believe the other failure mode is that the metal tabs aren't bent properly, leading to erratic operation. I believe the second mode has been corrected with a slight design change (I believe that the metal isn't as brittle and flexes better, plus they have gone from 3 base tabs to 4 tabs)

Getting the tailcap switch apart can be difficult. I used 2 flexiclamp wrenches from micro-tools. These are wrenches designed to grip round smooth surfaces. www.micro-tools.com This company specializes in camera repair tools and the flexiclamp wrenches are designed for disassembly of lenses.

I was suprized that Surefire didn't lube the replacement tailcap, but I believe that is why mine didn't work quite right.

NAW said:

Hogx1

Thats true, but IF one of my tailcap breaks, at least I will have a back up.:naughty:

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If you want a back up tail cap, buy one. :thumbsdow

Lubing the guts of the tailcap will often help too...

First, unscrew the retaining ring. I found that this is pretty easy to do if you heat up the tailcap a bit. I used some small pliers witn round beaks to unscrew the ring. Just open the beaks a bit and push the tips in the openings on the retaining ring.

Then when the retaining ring is out, pry out the rubber cap. When it is out, you can take out the switch mechanism. Bend the metal tabs as described above, usually only a fine adjustment is needed, move them too much and they might break.

Now open up the switch, this is pretty easy too, look at the side of the mechanism, at the widest part you will see a line, thats where the bits are held together. Grab both ends and pull/twist them apart. Be careful, you dont want to lose any of the small bits inside.

You will find a plastic ballpoint-like mechanism, a small spring, a metal cap, another spring and a tiny metal rod inside. Set the plastic mechanics and the small spring aside. Take out the metal cap and the other spring. These are covered in grease, clean them up and also clean the metal rod. re-lube them with a slightly thinner grease. put the lot back together you can also add the other spring. Now put these bits aside.
Take the plastic mechanism and lube it. Silicon spray works ok, but I've had the best results with White Lightning, a wax based lubricant for multitools and folding knives. When these bits are lubed too, put the whole lot together again.

Ive tried this on my "broken" Z57 clickie, and now it is the smoothest clickie I own

:goodjob: Thank you everyone again,your experience are very impressive.
I must try the creative idea about tailcap after I get the nwe one.
And I think We should mail this topic to the SF department of Tech.It may helps a lot.So If everyone have any idea about U2,Please say out.
Unlucky,however I push the switch hard,it doesn't start to breath!

glockboy said:

If you want a back up tail cap, buy one. :thumbsdow

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its a flip'n $300 flashlight... you SHOULDN'T need a backup... but you do... therefore no one should spend another $35 bucks to get a backup... i'm sorry but thats not the type of bussiness I support...

anyho... surefire has no qualms about sending out tailcaps... they know its their mess up... its one thing to have a light fail on you while your goofing around your house @ night with the lights off... its another thing when your in Iraq and far from service...

glockboy said:

If you want a back up tail cap, buy one. :thumbsdow

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i am sure he would buy one.... if he was sure that it wouldnt break again.... but since the tailcaps suck, it will surely be a waste of money once it breaks..


on another note... this thread really sucks, because i just ordered a U2, and now i know its a POS.

-david

jar3ds said:

its a flip'n $300 flashlight... you SHOULDN'T need a backup... but you do... therefore no one should spend another $35 bucks to get a backup... i'm sorry but thats not the type of bussiness I support...

anyho... surefire has no qualms about sending out tailcaps... they know its their mess up... its one thing to have a light fail on you while your goofing around your house @ night with the lights off... its another thing when your in Iraq and far from service...

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They should send in a replacement tailcap and then have the customer send back the faulty tailcap
Else, they would run out of replacement tailcaps pretty quickly

IS THERE ANY OTHER TAILCAP THAT WILL FIT THE U2 THAT IS BLACK??

-David