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Posted

Hello - recently ran into a situation on a sport route where the top twin anchors were missing - only thing left were the two actual bolts sticking out of the rock, minus the hangers, washers and nuts.

 

From this experience, I'd like to have a "kit" handy of two hangers and requisite hardware to replace missing items in future - sort of a combined safety/maintenance concept.

 

To that end, I have hangers but have no idea what the possible hardware needs would be; I assume two washers of some sort (?) and two nuts. Re the nuts, what is the usual/typical specs for anchor bolts? (i.e. thread pitch, metric or english, etc).

 

Thanks in advance to anyone who knows this stuff intimately

 

Steve in PDX

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Posted

3/8-16. 3/8" nut, 16 theads per inch. You should probably get stainless and standard both and use what matches the bolt. A magnet will stick to the standard bolt but not the stainless. Tighten firmly with a 9/16 combination wrench. Do not over tighten. Use a flat washer of the same material as the nut, a lock washer is not needed.

Dave A.

Posted

These nuts should be graded. Like minimum grade 5, better grade 8. Has to be a reputable supplier. Like Tacoma Screw or McClendon's. Lowe's or Home Depot you're taking a chance that nuts get mixed into the wrong bin. Bolts have a grade marking on them but nuts do not so you can't tell by looking, you have to know the supplier is giving you a graded nut.

Posted
3/8-16. 3/8" nut, 16 theads per inch. You should probably get stainless and standard both and use what matches the bolt. A magnet will stick to the standard bolt but not the stainless. Tighten firmly with a 9/16 combination wrench. Do not over tighten. Use a flat washer of the same material as the nut, a lock washer is not needed.

Dave A.

 

Good advice but I'd just go with just the 3/8-16 stainless. I don't know if I'd want to be carrying stuff around all the time like that which would very rarely get used. Pretty soon you'll be carrying more crap than Plaidman ( Plaidman expeditions.com ) and climbing even slower. (LOL) If you bump into me I'll give them to you as I've got plenty. There is a (<7%) possibility that they are 10mm studs as that is what Fixe sells. A 3/8-16 UNC thread is almost dead nuts the same size as 10mm, so if your 3/8 nut doesn't thread onto the stud, don't force it and screw up the threads.

 

Whats the location, I might know which it is.

Posted

2nd Billcoe. I wouldn't carry stuff like that out of habit. A couple small nuts that slide on their cables coupled with a bail biner will get you down from there in a pinch. And that stuff is much lighter/more versatile in the long run. Also if somebody stole the hangers once, you may need to replace the bolts with something harder to steal.

Posted
A couple small nuts that slide on their cables coupled with a bail biner will get you down from there in a pinch.

 

Personally, I disagree with this strategy. While a stud looped with a nut would be tolerable for a running piece, I would never use two of these alone for my rap anchor. As a running piece mid pitch, a nut-looped bolt has some backup from the pieces above and below, each hopefully more tolerant of violent jostling and outward pulls. As anchors, two looped bolts are all you've got, and (in my opinion) not sufficiently "solid" enough to be used as rap anchors.

 

Otherwise, I think Quarryographer's solution is best for midpitch bolts w/o hangers.

Posted

Well it's obviously not ideal. And you're right there is a great deal of risk. I guess you'd rather use girth hitched webbing or something with more grip. I still think it's a better option than lugging hangers and chain around just in case. Cheers.

Posted

you included "maintenance" in your objectives, which I presume means replacing "permanent" elements of the anchor - so you'd be carrying two of the nuts recommended above, two hangers, two "quick-links" for connecting chains to hangers, and two short lengths of chain. If it was me, I'd only carry this equipment on trips where I plan to replace or establish an anchor. For escape, should I unexpectedly find myself dealing with a bare bolt, I've had excellent results over the years hitching the bolt with half-inch webbing (I expect the newer skinny runners would work as well, I'm just too cheap to buy 'em). In my experience, the hitched web is far more secure than the sliding-nut-cable method.

Posted

Great, thanks for the info. I had issues at Bulo Point on some routes, am only interested in having along the hangers, washers and correctly threaded bolts to add to my "emergency kit" of webbing and rap rings, not going to mess with quicklinks, chains, etc. etc. There's only so much you can carry/do when your initial ignorant intent is to simply climb a sport route under the assumption that it's all there. And I sure don't mind making any small contribution I can to maintaining routes I have the good fortune of being able to climb thanks to the work of others. Cheers!

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