Nikon Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8 stuck zoom repair

The zoom becoming stuck after even a small drop seems to be a common issue with these lenses.

I looked a little online and the smallest drop anyone reported causing the issue was 6", and the official repair costs between $400-800 USD.

These lenses used to be worth thousands of dollars, but now seem to retail for around $600 USD on eBay. If you have a broken one I think it's worth taking the plunge to see if you can fix it yourself.

This video does an amazing job of explaining how get to the most likely broken part. I won't duplicate it here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWmijPt0u6U

(Though you will have to unscrew the front element from the front group, and remove the second to front element from the barrel)

Even purchasing the replacement part may be prohibitively expensive though given the current value of the lens.

For example this listing is $220 USD
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/266465627649

Luckily in my case at least the part was repairable!

The issue seems to be that when the lens is dropped the little posts that move the front group forwards and backwards dig into the barrel, causing little bumps on the barrel that stop it from sliding.

I was able to simply sand off those bumps with a small file. Once the inside of the barrel was smooth to the touch (no bumps) I re-assembled the lens and it worked perfectly!