The Juice is Loose (Leatherman)

[Ourorboros]

I really like the KF4 and I wish they had put together a few of those. The S2 seems like everyone's favorite model and I'd like a chance to pick up one or two of them as well.

I looked up the KF4 and I'd get one right away. The tool sets just make more sense on the KF4 and S2, without the extra chunkiness of the XE6.

Looking at the models, Leatherman decided to go for more clumsy models with a WTF? corkscrew. If it doesn't fit the tool group, then keep it out and stay slim.

Idk, it seems that a lot of people want either a small or a large size and don’t settle for a medium sized tool.

Well Leatherman still has the Skeletool, so I assume it's selling. But Leatherman got rid of the Juice models that, in my mind, make more sense. Maybe that has something to do with it.

 

[shuutr]

I prefer the older style Juice without the plastic sides. I wish they’d bring them back.

I bought several at the state surplus store and put them everywhere: car, truck, backpack, etc. very handy mt in a small package.

 

[mitch13]

Pick em up why you can. I just saw 1 same model as mine, listed for $400AUD = $256US at current conversion.
Wasn't even including a sheath I'll pass.

 

[Blades of Glory]

Leatherman just dropped their Black Friday sale. Half off the Juice until they are gone!

 

[Guy McVer]

Leatherman just dropped their Black Friday sale. Half off the Juice until they are gone!

Well that makes me mad. I paid full price for 2 of the XE6 model back when they first dropped. Here we are 5 weeks later and not only are they still selling them, but now they're 50% off? That means I paid twice as much as I had to pay. I had no idea they'd even be available for so long, let alone that they'd be selling for 50% less. Everyone who bought these things thinking they'd be gone fast basically got suckered into paying twice as much as they had to.

Ah, hell. I guess now I can at least grab a couple of the CS4 now that they're cheaper, but I'm still salty about this.

 

[Blades of Glory]

Well that makes me mad. I paid full price for 2 of the XE6 model back when they first dropped. Here we are 5 weeks later and not only are they still selling them, but now they're 50% off? That means I paid twice as much as I had to pay. I had no idea they'd even be available for so long, let alone that they'd be selling for 50% less. Everyone who bought these things thinking they'd be gone fast basically got suckered into paying twice as much as they had to.

Ah, hell. I guess now I can at least grab a couple of the CS4 now that they're cheaper, but I'm still salty about this.

I'm in the exact same category bud. Didn't stop me from picking up a few more, though. Darn multi tools!

 

[hsherzfeld]

Leatherman just dropped their Black Friday sale. Half off the Juice until they are gone!

Now I'm glad that I didn't buy one when they first announced them. Snagged a Juice CS4 in Granite.

 

[craytab]

Well that makes me mad. I paid full price for 2 of the XE6 model back when they first dropped. Here we are 5 weeks later and not only are they still selling them, but now they're 50% off? That means I paid twice as much as I had to pay. I had no idea they'd even be available for so long, let alone that they'd be selling for 50% less. Everyone who bought these things thinking they'd be gone fast basically got suckered into paying twice as much as they had to.

Ah, hell. I guess now I can at least grab a couple of the CS4 now that they're cheaper, but I'm still salty about this.

I'd feel the same way! That was a real dick move by leatherman.

 

[Guy McVer]

Well, they appear to be sold out now. The pages on Leatherman's website for the XE6 and the CS4 both say "This item is currently not available".

I ended up with 2 of the Granite XE6 models and 2 of the Columbia blue CS4 models.

It's too bad they didn't have any of the Juice S2 for sale. I was hoping they might put some up later, but that obviously didn't happen.

I prefer the older style Juice without the plastic sides.

There was never any plastic. It's always been aluminum. They just updated the look of it to have one side textured with a wavy pattern and some anodizing. Maybe it was cheaper than adding color to all 4 scales. It definitely wears better than the smooth aluminum though.

 

[hsherzfeld]

For the rest of y’all who bought Juices, how long did the shipping take? I ordered mine on 11/24 and haven’t received a shipping notification yet.

 

[Frank Morris]

I thought about buying one when they were $80 and when they dropped to $40 I almost did.

Then I thought, I carry a Pioneer X in left pocket everyday and wondered if I would carry the Juice.

I waited to long I guess as they are sold out, oh well

 

[Guy McVer]

The quality control really was all over the place on these things. I have 4 of these final run Juices, and a tool will be too tight or a bit loose on one of them, but the same tool is perfectly fine on another Juice. It's very inconsistent.

I just spent however long manually fixing the scissors on a CS4. The pivot was really loose and it wouldn't cut well, so I was hitting the rivet with my ball peen hammer to tighten the scissors up. Eventually it did start to tighten up, and I got it to the point where the scissors actually now cut paracord extremely well near the pivot, but near the tips they still struggle to cut anything besides paper. Meanwhile I've got a pair of scissors on an XE6 that aren't loose at all, and they seem to work just fine... but they don't cut paracord very well.

The amount of play on the corkscrews is pretty inconsistent too. One will be fine and another is borderline bad, while another is somewhere in the middle.

The flat screwdrivers are also ridiculously inconsistent from one Juice to the next. On one Juice they came too tight out of the box, but I was easily able to work them back and forth to loosen them up and now they're perfect. On another Juice they were also too tight but they still won't loosen up no matter what I do to them. And on another Juice they were exactly perfect right out of the box.

These Juices really seem to have been rushed out the door and I am honestly feeling a bit cheated. They're still great tools, but these quality control issues are just irritating and disappointing to see.

Anyway, I ordered a couple of nite ize universal stretch tool holsters with the plastic swivel clip on the back. They were on sale. They should be able to hold an XE6 plus a set of Leatherman flat bits and the bit adapter. We'll see. If they end up not working out then at least they'll make good flashlight holsters. Apparently that's what a lot of people use them for.

 

[hsherzfeld]

I received my CS4 yesterday. Never having handled a Juice before, I didn’t know what to expect. My initial response was mixed. The internal screwdrivers are absolute nail-breakers to open. I wish Leatherman hadn’t cut the blade from the original leaf/spear point to the weird sheepsfoot blade. I reprofiled the tip of the awl to make it more like a SAK 93mm awl.

 

[Guy McVer]

Isn't it funny how every quality control issue with a multitool can be related in some way to just one pivot?

Remove that one pivot, and suddenly you're able to fix a wobbly corkscrew because now you can access both sides of it for proper peening. Suddenly you can also release those screwdrivers which were so tight that they could destroy your fingernails and slice open the skin over your knuckles. Suddenly you can remove and discard those awkward scissors that wouldn't cooperate with all of your attempts to get them functioning normally.

Just one pivot.

This was simply the result of me getting frustrated. I'm not entirely sure what comes next.

 

[Sventhelumberjack]

Looks like a great start. In theory you should be able to replace all 4 peened pivots with 1/8" diameter threaded pivot posts and screws. I haven't tried it yet, but I am looking into modding my XE6 by installing the older full-length blades.

ETA, oops meant to quote/reply G Guy McVer

 

[Guy McVer]

In theory you should be able to replace all 4 peened pivots with 1/8" diameter threaded pivot posts and screws. I haven't tried it yet, but I am looking into modding my XE6 by installing the older full-length blades.

I'll wish you good luck, then.

I haven't found any 1/8 (0.125) inch pivot barrels longer than 1/2 (0.500) inch. The CS4 is only slightly thicker than that, so I think it should be just barely enough to get the job done.

For the XE6, I believe what people do is remove the head from a screw and then use that screw to join two pivot barrels together. You might also need to use permanent Locktite on that screw in order to make sure it won't come loose at some point. Then you'll have to trim off the excess to make the whole thing the correct length. It sounds like a lot of work, and you'll need at least 2 pivot barrels and 3 screws for each pivot that you replace, and that's only if you don't make a mistake and have to start over on a new piece to replace the part that you accidentally messed up.

Removing the factory pivots isn't any fun either, and I've heard that the reassembly of the springs can be pretty tough.

 

[Sventhelumberjack]

I'll wish you good luck, then.

I haven't found any 1/8 (0.125) inch pivot barrels longer than 1/2 (0.500) inch. The CS4 is only slightly thicker than that, so I think it should be just barely enough to get the job done.

For the XE6, I believe what people do is remove the head from a screw and then use that screw to join two pivot barrels together. You might also need to use permanent Locktite on that screw in order to make sure it won't come loose at some point. Then you'll have to trim off the excess to make the whole thing the correct length. It sounds like a lot of work, and you'll need at least 2 pivot barrels and 3 screws for each pivot that you replace, and that's only if you don't make a mistake and have to start over on a new piece to replace the part that you accidentally messed up.

Removing the factory pivots isn't any fun either, and I've heard that the reassembly of the springs can be pretty tough.

Yeah, pretty much the conclusion I had come to after poking around the internet for threaded 1/8" diameter pivot barrels. I could use a set screw to join two barrels for each pivot, but still would need to trim to length. If I could get some time on a lathe, I could make a custom solution. I don't really have any time for such a project right now anyway, but dreaming is cheap!

 

[kreole]

For the rest of y’all who bought Juices, how long did the shipping take? I ordered mine on 11/24 and haven’t received a shipping notification yet.

If it helps, I ordered something else on the 29th from Leatherman and didn't get shipping info til the 2nd (and it came today).

 

[Guy McVer]

Well, I did another stupid thing. I got another Juice.

I have plans for this one. It's going to be used for parts.

I am looking into modding my XE6 by installing the older full-length blades.

I don't really have any time for such a project right now anyway, but dreaming is cheap!

It's too bad there aren't really any of the Juice B2 models floating around. The B2 was literally just the plain and serrated blades and nothing else. No pliers, no screwdrivers, no openers, etc. Only the exact 2 blades that you are wanting.

It's funny though because I actually prefer the shorter blades on the gen 2 Juices. Hear me out. First of all, the shorter plain edge blade lets you have the lanyard ring out with a large SAK keyring on it, and the length of the blade is exactly perfect so that it's impossible to strike the key ring when you close the knife. It's perfectly out of reach even with the lanyard loop folded all the way over towards the knife and the keyring positioned as far towards the knife as you can get it. No matter what you do, you'll never accidentally hit the keyring and damage your blade's tip. Oh, and you can also use extra space at the end of the blade layer to store a small magnet.

The second reason is that serrated blades don't need to be very long anyway. They're useful for quick strap and rope/cordage cuts, and they typically don't need to be very long to be effective for that unless you're cutting thick rope, which is a pretty uncommon task in my experience. Maybe if you work on or near boats it could be important, but if that's the case then you would probably want something way more corrosion resistant than a Juice is because of all the moisture in that kind of environment.

The final reason ties into why the Juice is so appealing in the first place: short non-locking blades are allowed in most places where you'd get in trouble for having a longer locking blade. Acceptable lengths can vary from place to place, and the way the blade is measured can vary too. I like having the slightly shorter blade length because it gives me a little extra piece of mind knowing that I'm that much less likely to get in trouble or to freak somebody out.

If anybody else has their own thoughts on this then I'd love to hear them.

 

[hsherzfeld]

I've already started the process of looking for 1/8" pivot posts and a full-length Juice blade, but the eBay prices for used Juices (even heavily used) are way higher than I'm willing to pay for a parts donor tool. There's also nobody selling Juice parts that I could find, which isn't really surprising given their riveted construction.

At this point, my new CS4 has yet to replace my Champion or SwissChamp.