Ball Nuts (isn't that redundant)

[Baltoro]

I'm looking into some Ball-Nuts for addtional placement options, mostly for aid but maybe the occassional free placement as well. Does anyone have any input as far as which brand to go for, Trango or Camp. I know the Camp model has evolved from the original Lowe-Balls, but as to specifics between the two versions I am not sure. Any help would be great. Thanks!

[fern]

they are made in the same factory

[billcoe]

Where the hell is Joseph? He not only has this stuff wired, but has a bunch of ways to retro the ballnutz to make them better.

 

I just feel fortunate to be able to figure out which end goes in the crack, so I'm going to refrain from opening my mouth and sounding like an idiot. Well.....opening it any more than I already have I mean.

 

Does anybody know how to do that "search" thingy an see if Joseph might have already answered this?

 

Bill

 

Errrr, I mean in addition to Ferns comments.

Edited June 23, 2005 by billcoe

[MCash]

Where the hell is Joseph? He not only has this stuff wired, but has a bunch of ways to retro the ballnutz to make them better.

 

Interesting. Make them better in what way?

 

Increase the expansion ratio?

Make the cable more durable?

Change the shape of the ball to make them more effective in flared cracks or pin scars?

[billcoe]

Where the hell is Joseph? He not only has this stuff wired, but has a bunch of ways to retro the ballnutz to make them better.

 

Interesting. Make them better in what way?

 

Increase the expansion ratio?

Make the cable more durable?

Change the shape of the ball to make them more effective in flared cracks or pin scars?

 

If only we could figure out that search thingy I mentioned above...........Damn they make these computers complicated don't they?

[billcoe]

Ok, I broke down and did the search. It was hard and tough, not like struggling up a 5.5 handcrack kind of way though, but way up there on the difficulty scale. I'll share how I did it: I clicked the word "search" above, then typed in "ballnuts" and changed the "date" to 1 year. Look what I found!

 

What follows is Josephs post word for word:

 

"That's the spirit Blake! There's definitely no need to let gear languish the way it comes out of the box. So, yeah, I modify the following gear:

 

Ball Nuts: a) [Carefully] melt the outer plastic tubing really good [bubbling] and flatten it so it locks the the smaller, inner wire race tubing in place and so the outer tubing doesn't obstruct placements of the smaller sizes; b) On new Trango and Camp BallNutz you should grind the paddle/blade corners to a round chamfer else they tend catch and hang up badly trying to place them in tight spots - this was an inadvertantly oversight when both licensees of the original Lowe/Byrne Ball nut design started manufacturing (along with a couple of other minor details hopefully to be corrected in the next year or so).

 

Tri-Cams: stiffen the webbing with electical cable heat shrink tubing (Radar Electric or URS Electronics); sport tape the cams back to the webbing so that when holding the now stiffened webbing like a stopper you can flip the cam to either the stopper position (uncammed) or in the camming position (folded back); this allows you to place it with an extended reach like a wired stopper and also place it like a cam by just pushing it via the webbing into a crack.

 

Larger cams: all have thin, long, leashed cotter pins for pinning the cams together so when you're climbing they don't hang up on things while racked.

 

Crack N'Ups: Thin wire swaged to the top so you can rack them in the beaks down position; dyneema slings through the hole from the cammed side up around the anchor head, then tied in place with very thin nylon cord; #2s and #3s have plastic tape under the dynemma to keep the sharp edge action down.

 

Metolius Cleaning tool: drilled to accept sewn shoulder leash; point ground ala Opdyke into a small, sharp claw for cleaning out fine cracks (for ballnuts, brassies, and Crack N'Ups.

 

Not a mod, but: A couple of my doubled trad draws have matching doubled loops of elastic/nylon cord along with the doubled sling for setting pieces in opposition where the bottom one won't stay "set" on it's own; the elastic cord keeps the two pieces in tension and so in place until they get loaded by the rope going by or by a fall.

 

I'll have a digital camera in a few days and I'll edit this to add photos... "

 

Heres the link: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/s...true#Post425845

 

Whew...... enjoy ! Please don't ask how I did this or that with my ballnuts, again, I feel fortunate being able to stick them in the crack frontwards and not backasswards: you have to ask Joseph, a quick reminder, everthing in quotations above (which look like this " " ) are his words, plagerized directly.

 

The plastic really helps the smaller sizes fit in the crack too.

 

Regards

Bill

[catbirdseat]

I had a conversation with a climber who told me he only trusts ball nuts for aid. He claims they are not reliable enough for free climbing and prefers micro cams. He also said that it is especially important with this sort of device to orient it as closely as possible in the direction of the expected load.

 

What I remember from previous advice is that it is important to avoid using too small a ball nut for a given crack so it has room to expand and to set it with a good tug. I've never actually taken a fall on one myself, so I don't know what to believe.

 

I sure wish Joseph would chime in on this thread and fill in the blanks for me.

 

Anyway, I've found a thread on RC.com with some excellent information: Ball Nutz

Edited October 7, 2005 by catbirdseat

[Matt_Anderson]

 

 

I had a conversation with a climber who told me he only trusts ball nuts for aid. He claims they are not reliable enough for free climbing and prefers micro cams. He also said that it is especially important with this sort of device to orient it as closely as possible in the direction of the expected load.

 

Disagree with the guy who doen't trust them. They're great for free climbing, and I'm yet to have one rip during a fall, despite many falls, some long. Agree, that direction is important.

 

Also agree - it makes no difference which brand, they are all the same.

 

Longer missive on ball nuts here:

 

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/s...=true#Post35947

[JosephH]

Ah, just stumbled over this one. Below are links to posts I've done on gear mods (including ball nuts) and one specifically on ball nuts. The best ball nuts to get aren't made any more; they are the Lowe/Byrne units and the come up on ebay fairly often. There are about 10 issues I have with the current ones and have gone over them with Seth at Trango should they ever escape the demands the Max Cams long enough to do a new rev of them. Here are some links to some discussions of them:

 

 

Gear Mods: http://rockclimbing.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=79606

 

Ball Nuts: http://rockclimbing.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=79606

 

&

 

http://www.rockclimbing.com/forums/viewt...ew=&start=0

[catbirdseat]

One question I have concerns "sport tape restraining strip and collar for restricting the head movement and to ensure alignment". Are we referring to side to side movement or simply about keeping the head slighly cammed to begin with so it will rotate more readily?