Shooting below rated poundage?
Equipment
Need to drop draw weight as part of injury rehab. What do I need to know about dropping poundage on my Maxxis 31 rated at 60-70#? How far can I reasonably go down (don't want limb bolts to come out)? Will timing be affected? I don't want to reconfigure everything. I usually shoot 64#. Would like to drop down so I can shoot comfortably and hopefully work back up by September. Thanks in advance for your reponses!
I would take it to the bow shop. No way I’m “winging” it.
Call a competent shop or the manufacturer.
I have a note that per Hoyt their limb bolts can safely be backed out 8 turns. HOWEVER, although I have this information in my personal tuning information records I can't recall the exact details for when or where I tracked that information down. DEFINITELY check directly with Hoyt, as I'm not certain that the number of turns is consistent across all of their models.
I have a Deifant and did the same thing you are proposing. The Defiant you could turn down 8 turns. And I did have to re-adjust the cable to sink the cams. If you don't have a press I would for sure take your bow to a shop and have them do it.
It won’t hurt anything. Draw length will change some, not a ton but you’ll feel it.
I dropped poundage on my bow this year from 60-70lb and bought new 50-60lb limbs. Not due to injury, but I just felt like I was shooting like crap and thought pulling too much weight for me was contributing. I think I was about $250 to have the shop change them. Worth a look if you ask me and I have the old limbs too if I change my mind. Good luck with your rehab (stuff sucks, but has to be done).
Hoyt, as stated can be backed out 8 turns from seated. It'll probably get you below 60lbs. you can also go lower by manipulating the cables some, if you you do you'll need to tune it.
You won't have to re-time/sync the bow if you back the bolts out evenly unless you have terribly mismatched limbs but will have to tune the bow for whatever arrows you switch to as part of the drop in weight.
Regardless of the bow what I would do is back the bolts off all the way then check just how many threads you have engaged to get the poundage you want. If you only have a couple threads...no way. The rule of thumb for a bolt is thread length holding to be equal to the diameter of the bolt for maximum strength. Anything beyond that isn't necessary. Now...you could always replace the limb bolts with bolts, say a quarter inch longer or so, and be safe from that aspect. Then your only concern would be to have the limbs "working" such that the string doesn't jump out of the cam.
PS If you were to replace the limb bolts with longer ones make sure they're heat treated...grade 5 or 8. Not soft steel grade 3.
I have no experience with Hoyts, but I've backed off the limb bolts on a Martin Jaguar and two Brownng single-cams, and a couple Mathews single-cams, to well below the recommended minimum draw weight, and have even disassembled three of the bows in that group completely by just backing out the limb bolts until the whole thing was under no tension whatever.
I did discover that it was possible to put the string back on a single-cam in the wrong way, yet still have it look like it was OK until I drew it 8^)
No damage or drama, even after making that mistake, just had to take it apart and start over.
There's no black magic involved in most of them, but it is a good idea to take some close-up pics of the string paths on the cams and any details that could be reassembled out of position, for reference.
Most of the bows I have experience with have had the limbs in the proper relationship to one another when they were bottomed out to maximum using the limb bolts, so I have used that as a way to assure getting back into proper synch. It would be pretty hard to tell when you've got a single thread started during reassembly, but you can always bottom them out to maximum draw weight without the strings on them, then keep count of the turns off of bottomed out before you can replace the strings by hand.
If you take your push mower to the dealer for a yearly tune-up and blade resharpening, maybe you shouldn't try it. But for most of us who enjoy tinkering with our stuff and take satisfaction in knowing that you can take it apart and fix what ails it and put it back together again, it's really no harder than prepping your push mower of chainsaw for another season. If it saves you a couple of trips to the shop, that would probably buy another week on a diy hunt in the badlands.
Plan B - find an inexpensive (used ?) bow in the draw weight range you want, use that for rehab, leave your #1 bow as it is.
I have rehabbed shoulder injuries three different times. I have a 12# longbow and a 30# recurved that I use to start building strength. I am happy to loan them to you if you would like them.
I usually Jump from there to 55#'# on my compounds. The holding weight on a 30# recurve is much more than you are holding on your compound. It works for me.
It is just an idea.
Good luck.
I still subscribe to the "if it ain't tight, it ain't right" theory. I'd rather buy weaker limbs, or another bow with the draw weight you want, rather than back out the limb bolts to the maximum amount.
As mentioned , you will likely need new arrows to match the lighter setup.
Matt
I had to rehab my bow arm shoulder 3x and used a BowTrainer, as mention above went to a 35# recurve to help to get my form back. Bought a Elite Emerge last Jan. that is set at 40# for late season, wonder why everyone needs a 60-70# for hunting. A sharp broad head and shot placement is everything, use to kill rabbits with my 15# longbow when I was a kid.
Thank you all for responses. This is just the sort of information I was looking for. I'm going to take this up further with my local shop bow guy.
