How have Farley rests changed ? How?

B

Boyd Allen

Active member
A friend is thinking about buying a Farley rest. I presume that there have been some evolutionary changes in the design. I have also seen some aftermarket parts that are available, and have heard something about an upgrade kit. Can some of you bring us up to speed? Would an older rest that has the upgrade kit (whatever that is) be as good (functionally) as a new one? Thanks for the help.
 
Boyd,

I'll answer as best as I can.

1. The first rests had a lighter base, a heavier base became standard before the II model came out.
2. The farley II has more vertical and horizontal range. This is also a upgrade that farley does to the original rests.
3. Two modifications that people do are the tension inserts that Butch makes and the addition of teflon tape to the plate inside.
4. Several rests have two retangular pieces of steel that the internal plates slide on (they are each in their own goove on the left and right. Latter rests use round pieces to reduce the contact area.
5. The newest farleys have a different top (also available for older rests) and use a slightly different bag I believe.
6. They also brought out a very light base (which in my opinion is worthless).
7.They also changed the vertical lock down handle so more tension can be applied to keep it in place.

that's all I can think of right at the moment.

Hovis
 
except for the travel. the older rest will be just the same. For about 5.00 (not including new tension scews) you can make them real smooth. At least that's a rule of thumb. Can't say that there aren't bad ones out there.

Hovis
 
A friend and I each bought new Farley rests about 6 months ago.
We both got the Lambert tension screws which made a big difference in the operation of the head.
He asked me to put the Teflon strips in his, which I did.
In my opinion, they made little to no difference at all to the smoothness of operation.
After I compared his movement to mine – I didn’t bother adding the Teflon to my rest.
This is where we got ours...
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2000902/4004/Slick-Strips-3-Width.aspx?refcode=10INBING
the best thing is to have a friend offer you about a 3 inch square.
 
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I would use UHMW tape as first choice and teflon as second choice. Hovis is right on replacing the keystock with the round dowell pins. I use synthetic bicycle wheel bearing grease on the tension screw buttons that I sell, on the round dowells, and on the front sliding plate where tape is installed. I take the screws out of the rubber joystick cover, but leave the cover on the stick. That helps the stick from creeping back when it is in extrene travel.
Butch
 
Boyd, Mike Ratigan mentions adding a couple of screws to the rest in key spots to minimize warping. It is in his book.
Centerfire
 
Thanks guys. This thread is turning into quite and education, even if I was so preoccupied when I started it that I let a typo get by in the title. Keep it coming. Is there a particular rear bag that has worked well with your Farley?
 
Boyd,

Use the tape that Butch mentions, I couldn't remember exactly. Also, his advice for grease is #1. The 5.00 I talked about was for grease, tape and if you have the square dowels between the plates, replacing them with round.

I know Joel Kendrick used to do upgrades at shoots he was at but don't think he does that anymore. He would provide Butchs tension screws and tape and put them in and adjust for like 25.00. That was a great deal.

Hovis
 
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