Giro Mount Performance question

Hi,

I just got a used Giro mount 2 from a fellow Astromarter.

The altitude axis seems to be slightly bent, that is if I rotate the mount in altitute axis there is an a point at which it sticks a bit.
In other words, the force needed to rotate it is not uniform. The axle will not move freely passed some angle, one needs to apply some additional
force to rotate it. This observation was done without any telescope (or
weight) attached. From what I heard, the Giro should have a very smooth
motion.

However, when I mount a telescope the mount seems to move fairly smoothly, i.e. the "sticky point" is gone.
The vendor is telling me that this is OK (a design feature). Could someone clarify this?

I am sure this is OK for normal viewing but I wanted to install DSC and perhaps the Tech2000 motor. So, I need to make sure that the axis are perpendicular.

Thanks.

my two Giros do not do that.

However, it may not be the shaft

One of mine did that when the collar on the shaft was pressed in to far.

loosen one of the shaft collars, take off and clean and relube the shaft, reassemble and put the collar on just a tad looser than it was, this should fix your problem unloess it is bent.

CF