Vortex Summit SS-P question

[Landiswood]

I have an SS-P tripod and want to upgrade the head. I purchased a Sirui VA-5 head. The VA-5 head has the female portion of the mounting coupling. When I took off the Vortex head that comes with the SS-P tripod, I found that there is no male end. Instead there is a cap or top that the vortex pan had fits onto. I called Vortex and it sounds like the cap does not come off (i.e., there is no bolt to be revealed). They said that the hole in the cap is threaded and I should get a bolt of the appropriate diameter and thread it into the hole in the cap and that they tripod head may then mount on it. Seems like a lot of trouble and not the best design. Has anyone else change the head on a Vortex SS-P? Any advice?

 

[5 shot group]

That's why I skipped the vortex tripod.

Sounds like you may be able to make it work though. I would guess you need a ¼-20 bolt (but definetly double check). Put a nut onto the end you will be keeping, then cut as straight and cleanly as you can (a Dremel would work great). Then back off the nut to fix up the threads.

Take the tripod into home Depot and find the right bolt and I would purchase a few in case you mess up.

 

[slick]

I put a Benro S2 on mine a few weeks ago. There should be a plastic screw in the tripod that comes out, so you have female to female. S and S archery gave me a thread adapter when ordering the tripod head, I then went to ace hardware and bought an 1” Allen head socket grub screw for 50cents , loctite’d and screwed it in, then tightened my tripod head on. No problems so far.

 

[Landiswood]

Thanks for the feedback. Sounds like I'm off to the hardware store.