In article <332077BF.57F4@lagoon.ultranet.foo.com>, pnelson@lagoon.ultranet.foo.com says...

>This morning as I was preparing to go out
>and photograph comet Hale Bopp my Nikon FM2
>and its beautiful Nikkor 180mm f/2.8 ED-IF
>slid off the quick-release mechanism of the
>FJR equatorial mount is was "attached" to
>and crashed onto the floor.
>
>The lens hood was extended and it landed
>on that and crushed it. I used a pair of pliers
>to bend it out far enough to get the lens
>cap off and to prevent vignetting. Other than
>the hood the lens APPEARS to be undamaged
>and fully funtional but I'm not kidding myself
>to think that a delicate optical instrument can
>hit the floor with crash that loud and not have
>something shaken up inside.
>
>What should I do next? Should I send it back to
>Nikon for some sort of refurbishing? What
>should I have them do and what should I expect
>to pay? How long will it take? How much
>like new can they make it?
>
>This is one of my favorite lenses - it's one of
>the best lenses in that focal length range (200-
>ish) on the market, and it's performance is
>superb. (or it used to be!)

I would test the lens before sending it to Nikon
for refurbishing (I find Nikon repair does not seem
to find optical problems, and has a low success
rate [in my experience] in correcting them...).
It would be better to know that it is (or is not)
in good optical alignment before shipping the lens,
so you can be specific about the needed repairs.
With a near-infinity subject, focus one small
item (with good detail) carefully, then, without
refocusing, shoot the small target in the center,
then in all four corners, and in the middle of all
four edges - all at f2.8. For a medium-close target,
a brick wall works well, since the pattern is uniform
across the field, and the pattern makes reasonably
accurate alignment easy. Shoot 3-4 frames, refocusing
each time, all at f2.8. Use 100-speed B & W or color
negative film, or slow slide film. Check the negatives
or slides directly with a good 8-10X magnifier -
what you are looking for is anomalies, not absolute
sharpness. If the four corners, or the pairs of opposite
edges, are not equally sharp (and if anything is very
different from the center-of-frame reference with
this excellent lens), there is probably an alignment
problem. My guess is that you will not find any problem,
since the shade served to absorb the shock (slowing
its stop while being crushed). Shade replacement is
a fairly easy process. Good luck!
Hope This Helps