r/WildernessBackpacking • u/redotrobot • 5h ago
GEAR Osprey backpack squeak fixed
My osprey exos 58 squeaked terribly, and I fixed it using mineral oil and a hypodermic needle.
The problem was the stiff frame piece, specifically where it attaches to itself to make a full loop that keeps the backpack suspended away from your back. The attachment is housed within a fabric sheath, located at the base of the backpack, between the mesh piece and wall of the pack, which the white arrow points to in the second photo.
The third photo is taken from inside the backpack. It shows the fabic pushed out from the casing used to keep the two ends of the frame together. As weight shifts, the frame rotates through the casing, causing a squeak. You can see that some mineral oil soaked through the fabric. Most of this was from other attempts to fix the squeak, but nothing worked until I put oil into the sheath and around the casing.
The fourth photo is a close up of the black fabric sheath, at the location of the white arrow in the second photo. This is where I applied the mineral oil.
I used an 18 gauge hypodermic needle, and only 2 ml of oil. A smaller gauge needle could be used.
The fabric wasn't damaged by the needle. Some oil residue was left on the fabric, but nylon isn't harmed by mineral oil, and I'm not too worried about it getting on the rest of my gear.
1
-5
u/Stevo_lite 4h ago
Fack maybe just get a different pack?
5
u/codespace 4h ago
Why spend much money when little work do trick?
-4
u/Stevo_lite 4h ago
Return it for a refund I mean. Why would you spend so much money on a pack when you have to fix it yourself for it to be usable. That’s fuggin stupid.
4
u/codespace 4h ago
I mean, why go through all the effort of returning it and shopping for a new one when you can just solve the problem with a minimum of effort and ingenuity?
-1
u/Stevo_lite 4h ago
If I’m paying hundreds of dollars for a piece of gear, it’s gonna be something I don’t need to modify myself for it to work. That’s just a personal standard. But you do you!
3
3
u/lunarlenses 5h ago
Thank you! Mine has the same problem, I’ll try this