Comments on: Canon EFS 17-85mm IS stuck/locked zoom repair/disassembly

By: Litelvr

Litelvr — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 07:09:00 +0000

When I put it all back together, some of the screw holes seem to be in a differrent position, and the screws don’t find anymore (7th picture from the top) and I can’t mount the outer plastic ring. Any ideas how this could have happened and how I can fix this?
Thanks a lot!

By: squirrelboy

squirrelboy — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:40:00 +0000

THANKS SO MUCH!
I thought I was having this same problem, but turns out the little black metal clamp thingie (removing it is going further than your tutorial) fell off and the two tiny screws that held it in place were SOMEWHERE in the lens. As I opened it all up, I found one screw & the clamp were stuck right between the side of the front lens and outer casing, and the other screw was harder to find, it was INSIDE the focussing unit, and I could barely see it through a tiny hole. It was stuck to a magnet in there, and thus the AF didn’t work any more.
Well, I solved the problem and my lens just works FINE again! :) :) Your description helped me a lot! But without the help of a youtube disassembly video I would’ve been lost with my problem. Anyways, to everyone who’s attempting to do this on their own, there are 4 basic rules to this:
1 – BE PATIENT, STAY CALM AND WORK SLOWLY!
2 – KEEP ALL SCREWS SEPARATED & IN ORDER FOR EACH STEP!
3 – DO NOT LOSE ANY OF THE SCREWS!
4 – USE A QUALITY PH00/P00 SCREW DRIVER!
Yes that last one is important too! Cheap shit screw drivers will hurt your tiny tiny screws. And you don’t want to end up with a “rounded” screw that is still attached and will stay in place forever, do you? Once you damage a screw on the lens, you might never get it out. So be CAREFUL!
Thanks very much again for this tutorial.
PS: This is the video that took me further http://youtu.be/c2xlM7bGHX0

By: Karsten

Karsten — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 08:54:00 +0000

Thany you very much for this wonderful description. My 17-85 is working again :)

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

jesus and I love you, man! after one hour of work, that thing is working again! thx a lot!

By: Norm S

Norm S — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 02:05:45 +0000

Great detailed information for repairing this issue. I too had the focus assembly issue.

After reviewing and following Anders additions I managed to get the Auto Focus working but the Manual focus still doesn’t engage.

Does anybody have a suggestion on how to resolve this issue? The focus ring moves freely and doesn’t engage with the lens.

By: bill carlson

bill carlson — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 23:45:38 +0000

Hi Travis & all the other contributors.(thanks for the info & photos)
I had the same problem (telephoto stuck at 17mm)…After looking at all the photos and reading all the posts I could find I was successful at fixing the problem( a screw had come out entirely as was suggested by Travis & others) A couple of things I did to aid in reassembly was to tag screw holes with a tiny pieces of masking tape…After inadvertlingy removing the plastic focus barrel I used masking tape to hold it together so I wouldn’t have it come apart again while I was dissasembling more pieces…( the tape also helped from stopping the small screws from falling inside the barrel when reassembling…The problem screw was glued in place with a permatex tread locker(purple coded model)…Take as many macro photos as you can to help in positioning parts when reassembling and read all the posts from contributors especially the do’s and don’ts as suggested by Tavis…Take your time and be persistent and you can do it…Thanks again to everyone who contributed…The internet community is a wonderful resource of knowledge
Bill Carlson

By: Don

Don — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 03:04:11 +0000

Thanks, the instructions are great! Didn’t have all the tools I would have liked, so some of the reassembly was a bit touchy, especially the cables. Anyway, the problem was as described and it’s back together and working!!

By: Niel

Niel — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 09:36:36 +0000

Awesome. Thanks all. I postponed this for almost a month, but finally took the time to sit down and do this today. Open then lens in 30 minutes only to find the one troublesome screw missing. Very upset I assembled it again and then when I stood up the missing screw fell of my lap (it was so loose that it fell out without me noticing. Anyway, second time round was much faster and now my lens is perfect again!

By: Fourdot00

Fourdot00 — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 08:46:11 +0000

I felt obligated to leave a comment because this article saved me a bunch of money in repairs. I did exactly as instructed and everything went smoothly. I tightened the loose screw and put everything back together.
When I slapped it on the camera body I found the AF wasn’t working. After reading the comments and seeing many people had this same problem I saw Anders’ comment. After following his instructions, everything ended up working like it should!

Thanks thydzik and Anders for saving me!

By: Nebojsa

Nebojsa — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:02:10 +0000

Thanks a lot for such a great article. My lens is fully operational again. Also, these instructions saved me £100. Thanks again!