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Chockstone Forum - Gear Lust / Lost & Found

Rave About Your Rack Please do not post retail SPAM.

 Page 1 of 2. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 29
Author
Cracked Carabiners

JamesMc
27-Dec-2008
10:00:59 AM
Just checked all my carabiners and found that a couple had cracks in the ends of the gates.



They are Chouinard Light Ds, obviously not exactly new, but the cracks had been there for some time.

Something to watch for when inspecting your gear.

JamesMc
hotgemini
27-Dec-2008
10:53:27 AM
This sort of thing really annoys me, I mean you spend your money on something and after only 20 years you discover that they need replacing. Damn disposable society we live in.

ShinToe Warrior
27-Dec-2008
12:01:01 PM
Wow, good that you found the cracks now.....

Stay safe everyone!

Eduardo Slabofvic
27-Dec-2008
1:25:39 PM
Those biners are probably 25+ years old and were recalled in about 1989(ish). I had about 15 of them, all
were cracked, some also cracked on the little notch as well. chuck 'em.

JamesMc
27-Dec-2008
1:55:42 PM
On 27/12/2008 Eduardo Slabofvic wrote:
>Those biners are probably 25+ years old and were recalled in about 1989(ish).
> I had about 15 of them, all
>were cracked, some also cracked on the little notch as well. chuck 'em.

I was unaware of any recall.

Chucking them sounds like good advice. I'll have to tell the GLW I need a new set of carabiners.

JamesMc

Pat
27-Dec-2008
7:18:15 PM
Any more details on the recall? I have at least six of them. Any identifying marks?
BA
28-Dec-2008
6:41:02 AM
On 27/12/2008 Eduardo Slabofvic wrote:
>Those biners are probably 25+ years old and were recalled in about 1989(ish).

Glad I've never bought any of that modern gear :-)

JamesMc
28-Dec-2008
12:35:27 PM
BA,
Is it true that you taught Yvon Chouinard to climb when he was just a kid?

JamesMc

IdratherbeclimbingM9
28-Dec-2008
2:31:30 PM
I agree wit hotgemini comment higher above!

.... So JamesMc, you have been using these cracked krabs for how many years now before you noticed them in this condition? ~> says something about the reliability of gear even in less than ideal condition!
8-)

JamesMc
28-Dec-2008
3:48:22 PM
On 28/12/2008 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
>I agree wit hotgemini comment higher above!
>
>.... So JamesMc, you have been using these cracked krabs for how many
>years now before you noticed them in this condition? ~> says something
>about the reliability of gear even in less than ideal condition!
>8-)

It doesn't really say anything about the reliability of gear in less than ideal condition. The fact that one of my crabs had obviously had a crack for a long time means that I've not been very diligent at inspecting my gear. The fact that the crabs never actually opened in a fall just means that I never took any big falls on them. Anyway, I've ordered replacements for all my Light Ds.

JamesMc

IdratherbeclimbingM9
28-Dec-2008
3:54:38 PM
Relax JamesMc. It was more a tongue in cheek comment from me, but admittedly not well expressed in that respect.

I agree with you, and would further add that most dicey situations in climbing are never fully put to the test (includes belays as well as gear!), but as an aid climber I would still be happy to use those krabs for bodyweight only placements and as 'leaver krabs' on retreats if necessary.

Having said that, I still tend to think that much climbing equipment is spec'd to forces that they will never experience, but with the caveat that they may have to at some time. This basically says to me that much of it is 'over-spec'd' for most usage.

JamesMc
3-Jan-2009
10:07:19 PM
Wife says it's not just my carabiners - ALL my climbing gear is too old and needs to be replaced.

I argued for a whole nano-second, then realised she may have a point.... I'd better start shopping before she changes her mind.

JamesMc

gordoste
3-Jan-2009
11:50:40 PM
lol
mikl law
4-Jan-2009
10:14:29 AM
On 3/01/2009 JamesMc wrote:
>Wife says it's not just my carabiners - ALL my climbing gear is too old
>and needs to be replaced.

new gear is really good, and light. Even old staples such as hexes are a new experience (about half the weight). I just ordered some neutrinos from Rock hardware (there's a multicoloured special) for my rack. You might find your new rack is much better and weighs 1 or 2 kg less than the old one.
Shoes!! harnesses!!

Pat
5-Jan-2009
10:57:28 AM
Yep, echo the lightweight gear. I ordered some light weight DMM krabs form Rock Hardware - they are
even lighter than the neutrinos and I can't believe the advances in weight.
gfdonc
5-Jan-2009
12:11:51 PM
I've still got a few of these in the cupboard. In fact I still carry 3 of them - they're still my fave racking biner for wires as they have a narrow profile, good internal size for the weight and a hook nose to reduce the chance of losing wires when they slide off accidentally.

That does mean I never weight them, but I'll check anyway, thanks.

Echoing M's comments. A new rack of light quickdraws saves a significant amount. Some of the new wires are lighter, too. The steel wire is still a lump to carry - why doesn't anyone bring out a Ti set?
jrc
6-Jan-2009
9:10:54 AM
Thanks James. I just checked ALL my carabiners over & found a crack like yours in one bent wire D Black diamond. Junked it. This would date from 1990.

No cracks evident in the few lightweight Ds even under 10x magnification but i've decided to stop using them. It's amazing how bad scratches look under a lens! Didn't see cracks in any other BDs or other branded krabs. I was quite amazed also how roughly finished these older BD carabiners are; a lot of sharp edges inside the body of the krab.

Thanks again for pointing this out. Gear used as runners takes 2x the fall force.

Thought I might check over my hard stem friends too which still I carry in the bag to use as extras on big cracks.

The other device which scares me is the ATC. I buy a new one of these every 2y as the metal is so thin...




JamesMc
6-Jan-2009
5:14:24 PM
On 6/01/2009 jrc wrote:
>Thanks James. I just checked ALL my carabiners over & found a crack like
>yours in one bent wire D Black diamond. Junked it. This would date from
>1990.

NO don't junk your Black Diamond crab. Can you send it to me? I spoke the BD Melbourne rep a month or so ago about cracked crabs. He promised me that it was only Chouinard that could possibly have anything wrong, and since the company became BD everything has been absolutely perfect. I'd be very interested to see his response to a cracked BD crab.

JamesMc

Eduardo Slabofvic
6-Jan-2009
7:32:33 PM
Chouinard and BD have the same logo, and the light D design was also produced under the BD label, so
there are biners around that look similar with the same logo, but different manufacturers.

I think there was some hoo har over a harness failure of some kind (Lack of information regarding use of
buckle – or some such thang) which signalled the end of Chouinard and BD emerged from the ashes.
jrc
7-Jan-2009
8:57:12 AM
James it's junked from my rack. It is sitting on the bbq table. Next to another BD i found with a crack. So that makes 2 out of 20 of these lightweight D s that I have.

The first one doesn't have BD or C stamped on it; it belonged to a friend of mine but ended up on my rack (as they do you know) sometime around 92 when we did Ginsberg.

The second one has BD along the backbone and dates from sometime in 1992 - 1995 when I bought a heap of these from Paddy Pallin in Sydney.

I will happily send you both if you get me an address...you can email me a jcroker@bigpond.net.au


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There are 29 messages in this topic.

 

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