Cable stop slipping past cable

[wcmarion]

I am shooting a PSE levitate I purchased back in 2022. I've shot thousands of arrows and hunted with it without issue until now. One year ago, the bow was dry fired. I replaced the limbs, cams, mods, strings, cables, and cable slide after reassurances that the riser and limb pockets would be unaffected. I hunted with it a lot last fall with success and no issues. I shot it frequently throughout the spring. Back in May, I added a back stabilizer and adjusted my limb driven rest up. Then the cable stop on the bottom module suddenly started slipping past the cable. The cable slips in between the mod and cam causing the pin on the mod to pop out of the draw weight hole. I live in an area without good bow technicians. Nobody is willing/knowledgeable enough to do a deep dive into the cause. I replaced both modules, but that did not fix the problem. One guy at the local box store did fix some cam lean with 4-5 yolk twist on the top and bottom and adjusted the tiller timing. Now, the cable stop does contact the cable, but it's off to the side of the cable stop and not center of it. Not good enough for me to have confidence this fall with multiple hunts planned. The top cam is center and the bottom cam is shimmed about as far left as you can go. The strings and cables do need to be replaced due to serving fraying. My delimma is this: do I buy new strings and cables, break the bow down, and do a complete rebuild and start from scratch? Or do I just purchase a new bow? I am concerned that the limb pockets or riser is bent. The price to purchase a new bow would be similar to buying all necessary equipment and new strings to fix the Levitate. I know how to work on bows, and it would be nice to have the equipment anyways. I can't get quality work done without driving 3+ hours. The dealer I purchased the bow from doesn't know what to do. I am running out of time with an antelope hunt in August and two elk hunts in September. I don't have time to send it to PSE. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[nighthawkf-117]

Post some pictures of the limbs and strings. It is possible your cables have stretched and worn to the point where they just need to be replaced.

How tight is your rest drive cord? I've seen them be so tight they actually tug on the limb causing lean.

Just because your cable is off to the side of the cable stop doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong, but if it's changed from baseline it could indicate a bigger problem.

Getting a press and draw board and knowing how to use them is a much better solution than relying on a bow shop in my opinion, however your timeline is pretty short to learn those skills and troubleshoot your bow.

That being said if it were me I would start with a full new set of strings and cables. I would return the cam shims to their factory positions, and set ATA, and draw weight to spec by twisting cables. Set cam timing. Then move on to your preferred broadhead tuning (ie shim cams to get straight arrow flight)

 

[ResearchinStuff]

Carbon can't really permanently bend. The first issue you described was because of a loose module, the current issue is because your shims are not set appropriately. Get everything back to baseline with new strings.

Where are you located?

 

[wcmarion]

Post some pictures of the limbs and strings. It is possible your cables have stretched and worn to the point where they just need to be replaced.

How tight is your rest drive cord? I've seen them be so tight they actually tug on the limb causing lean.

Just because your cable is off to the side of the cable stop doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong, but if it's changed from baseline it could indicate a bigger problem.

Getting a press and draw board and knowing how to use them is a much better solution than relying on a bow shop in my opinion, however your timeline is pretty short to learn those skills and troubleshoot your bow.

That being said if it were me I would start with a full new set of strings and cables. I would return the cam shims to their factory positions, and set ATA, and draw weight to spec by twisting cables. Set cam timing. Then move on to your preferred broadhead tuning (ie shim cams to get straight arrow flight)

The rest drive cord definitely isn't too tight. I was fortunate enough to take an in person bow technician class back in December where I learned concepts and got a lot of hands on experience pressing bows. I will get some pictures up soon. My gut is telling me it is due to worn out strings and cables. I know the ATA is currently 3/8 inch out of spec and the BH is 1/8 inch off. I think it's time to just get my own press. Thanks for your help!

 

[wcmarion]

Carbon can't really permanently bend. The first issue you described was because of a loose module, the current issue is because your shims are not set appropriately. Get everything back to baseline with new strings.

Where are you located?

Thanks for taking the time to comment! There isn't a lot of information online about cable stop issues. I was definitely leaning towards getting the bow back to baseline, and it's nice to have a little reassurance. I live in Wenatchee, WA, so it's a 3+ drive to go to an actual pro shop.

 

[nighthawkf-117]

3/8" out of spec is quite a bit. I wouldn't be surprised if new strings fixes your problems

 

[Marshfly]

You have a hunt in less than 2 months. You need to be dialing in a bow that is a known quantity IMHO. Not fixing a bow that may not be fixable. I would buy a new bow and get to dialing it.

Then, I would box up your Levitate and send it to a shop somewhere that can fix it for you. Budget for shop tools (press, draw board, vise) in the winter. Then you have a backup bow. But that's expensive and may not really be in the budget.


That said new strings and a press can be at your door in a week if you don't care about string color. The Easy Green is inexpensive and works well. That press, an Archery Designs draw board, and a vise were the best purchases I have made lately. I find myself using them all the time and will tweak/fix stuff right now rather than just dealing with it. None of my bows is ever going back to a shop ever again.

Also like @ResearchinStuff said, I bet there is a Rokslider with this equipment near you that you can drive to and take a quick look to see what the real issue is with the levitate.

Or since you are in Wenatchee, call Spokane Valley Archery and see if they have strings in stock and schedule a time to drive over there and have them installed.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

I'm in the wrong timezone, but I bet there's a bow press closer to you than you realize.

@Marshfly has the perfect infinite budget solution. Personally I think your levitate is probably salvageable by a knowledgeable person.

 

[Marshfly]

@wcmarion

This your bow?

Uncategorized | GAS BOWSTRINGS

All items are in-stock and ready to be shipped with no lead time.

gasbowstrings.com

 

[wcmarion]

You have a hunt in less than 2 months. You need to be dialing in a bow that is a known quantity IMHO. Not fixing a bow that may not be fixable. I would buy a new bow and get to dialing it.

Then, I would box up your Levitate and send it to a shop somewhere that can fix it for you. Budget for shop tools (press, draw board, vise) in the winter. Then you have a backup bow. But that's expensive and may not really be in the budget.


That said new strings and a press can be at your door in a week if you don't care about string color. The Easy Green is inexpensive and works well. That press, an Archery Designs draw board, and a vise were the best purchases I have made lately. I find myself using them all the time and will tweak/fix stuff right now rather than just dealing with it. None of my bows is ever going back to a shop ever again.

Also like @ResearchinStuff said, I bet there is a Rokslider with this equipment near you that you can drive to and take a quick look to see what the real issue is with the levitate.

Or since you are in Wenatchee, call Spokane Valley Archery and see if they have strings in stock and schedule a time to drive over there and have them installed.

I actually found a Matthews Lift X 33 about a two hour drive away that I'm probably going to pick up next week. Like you were saying, I honestly would feel better getting a new bow at this point being so close to a hunt. I don't like the idea of heading into a hunt without 100% confidence in my equipment. I can still fix the Levitate and have it as a backup bow or sell it to cover some of the costs for a bow press, draw board, vice, etc. Either way I am going to buy the equipment to work on my own bow. I really don't like to rely on someone else to do the type of tweaking/ tinkering that I'm in to (that's one of the best things about archery imo). Obviously, I would only sell it if I was completely sure it was fixed and safe to shoot. Thanks for taking the time to offer some advice!

 

[wcmarion]

@wcmarion

This your bow?

Uncategorized | GAS BOWSTRINGS

All items are in-stock and ready to be shipped with no lead time.

gasbowstrings.com

The string is the wrong length in this set. The Levitate with E2 cams requires a 62.25 inch string. I actually had a hard time finding the correct strings on the GAS website.

 

[Marshfly]

I actually found a Matthews Lift X 33 about a two hour drive away that I'm probably going to pick up next week. Like you were saying, I honestly would feel better getting a new bow at this point being so close to a hunt. I don't like the idea of heading into a hunt without 100% confidence in my equipment. I can still fix the Levitate and have it as a backup bow or sell it to cover some of the costs for a bow press, draw board, vice, etc. Either way I am going to buy the equipment to work on my own bow. I really don't like to rely on someone else to do the type of tweaking/ tinkering that I'm in to (that's one of the best things about archery imo). Obviously, I would only sell it if I was completely sure it was fixed and safe to shoot. Thanks for taking the time to offer some advice!

Order the SAS cable now for the Lift. You can do the vast majority of tuning with that cable plus the tuning built into the Lift X. I used just that for 3 years on my Mathews bows.

I bought a Lift X 29.5 a few weeks ago and pushed my V3X to backup service. I am LOVING the Lift. The integrated tuning is pretty awesome.

 

[wcmarion]

Order the SAS cable now for the Lift. You can do the vast majority of tuning with that cable plus the tuning built into the Lift X. I used just that for 3 years on my Mathews bows.

I bought a Lift X 29.5 a few weeks ago and pushed my V3X to backup service. I am LOVING the Lift. The integrated tuning is pretty awesome.

I actually just discovered the SAS system yesterday! What an awesome feature. I am leaning towards the Lift X because of the limb tuning technology. It just seems too convenient not to give it a try.

 

[Marshfly]

I actually just discovered the SAS system yesterday! What an awesome feature. I am leaning towards the Lift X because of the limb tuning technology. It just seems too convenient not to give it a try.

Definitely go X. In my family stable I have A V3x, Phase 4, and Image in addition to the X. The other three use top hats and man, the limb shift is just so much faster and more accurate to tune.

 

[NXTZ]

I bet you’ll enjoy the lift x; I know it’s been a joy for me. Like Marshfly said, get the SAS; well worth it for tinkering without a press and as an emergency repair option. The tuning feature is slick, and I’m amazed at how well the 33 holds. Personal preference, but I think the 80% let off mods are the way to go; less of a dump at the end and just feels more solid.

 

[Marshfly]

I bet you’ll enjoy the lift x; I know it’s been a joy for me. Like Marshfly said, get the SAS; well worth it for tinkering without a press and as an emergency repair option. The tuning feature is slick, and I’m amazed at how well the 33 holds. Personal preference, but I think the 80% let off mods are the way to go; less of a dump at the end and just feels more solid.

80% is ALWAYS the way to go. Yes. More holding weight will always lead to a more accurate archer.

 

[darrenk75b]

Something that helped me with my levitate- consider some bowmar cable stops. They are quite a bit larger than factory, have a better back wall, and certainly less likely to slip past the cable.