Guide for tightening the hip and knee joints of SS86-15 Sludge

Based on what others reported, I thought I was going to make new modified resin copies of the ratchet pawl. Nope, the existing joints just needed some extra reinforcement.

First off, do NOT put filler material into the pawl [ahem, DNA Design].
It's supposed to be able to collapse in order for a ratchet joint to work. If it cannot collapse, the pawl tooth will get worn down very quickly and make the problem impossible to fix without a replacement part. So, do NOT put plastic fillers, q-tips, etc. into the pawl center.

There are multiple ways to tighten a joint. For Sludge, I used paper to put the pawl into better position and tape to further tighten the pegs in the joint. The goal is NOT to make the joints super tight but have them be 'good enough'.


Knees:

Part of the issue is that the ratchet pawls are a little warped. The knee ones are not that bad compared to the hips. Again, do not put anything into the center space as the gray tooth needs to be able to collapse (or it will grind away very quickly). The center part of the knee joint is a long peg and using some type of thickener here will also help to tighten the joint:




Paper and tape are easy to use and work immediately. Remove the pawl with model / jeweler pliers. Cut out and wedged 2 layers of paper (you may need to adjust depending on your particular figure). Used hobby masking tape (which is fairly thin) on the knee joint peg. The tape should wrap around most of the peg but NOT all the way around. Then, I cut off the excess tape and paper:




To avoid scrunching up the tape when putting the knee joint back together, one trick is to purposely use tape that is longer than the peg length. Hold onto the excess end while putting the knee joint back together. Then cut off the excess end:




Hips:

Use model / jeweler pliers to remove the ratchet pawls. Place 2 layers of paper (you may need to adjust depending on your figure). Then, put the ratchet pawls back in:




This alone was enough to make the hip joints better. However, tape may also be used to add friction to the hip joints. The two hip sides are connected by a bar. In this case, I used hobby stretchy tape (it's like thinner vinyl taper). It doesn't have to go all the around the peg, either. Placing the tape like this will prevent the tape from coming off. I ended up using 2nd layer (looks like a cross pattern) to make it slightly more tighter (not shown):




Side note:

Use a proper screwdriver to avoid stripping the screw heads. If your screwdriver tip is pinpoint, sand it down to avoid stripping the screw head.