loose nuts on bolts - how should they be tightened?
loose nuts on bolts - how should they be tightened?
Question for route setters, how tight should the nuts on bolts be? If I had a wrench, should they be finger-tight plus a quarter turn? Can you terminally weaken a bolt by overtightening?
Nuts are loose pretty often, and some recent experiences have made me think they should be tightened more than just with fingers, but I also don't want to damage them.
Found one on Bulldog at they Gym last weekend that had almost come completely off.
That wasn't a big deal, but a few weeks ago, while cleaning an anchor on a route down in Vantage, i guess I wiggled the rope enough to unscrew the second bolt on a route. It was the crux bolt, hadn't hadn't appeared loose when I clipped it, and I'd fallen on it on my first run, and sat on it on my second. Hm.
Nuts are loose pretty often, and some recent experiences have made me think they should be tightened more than just with fingers, but I also don't want to damage them.
Found one on Bulldog at they Gym last weekend that had almost come completely off.
That wasn't a big deal, but a few weeks ago, while cleaning an anchor on a route down in Vantage, i guess I wiggled the rope enough to unscrew the second bolt on a route. It was the crux bolt, hadn't hadn't appeared loose when I clipped it, and I'd fallen on it on my first run, and sat on it on my second. Hm.
It depends on the type of bolt. Torque bolts used in many US climbing areas have a rated torque to apply and should not be overtightened; for the nuts on the wedge/cone bolts like commonly used around Squamish and sold at MEC, they can be reefed as tight as possible with a wrench. If just hand tightened, they often loosen over time.
The torque bolts are the ones without a nut, and the head of the bolt is usually about 4 mil thick?Dru wrote:It depends on the type of bolt. Torque bolts used in many US climbing areas have a rated torque to apply and should not be overtightened; for the nuts on the wedge/cone bolts like commonly used around Squamish and sold at MEC, they can be reefed as tight as possible with a wrench. If just hand tightened, they often loosen over time.
Wish I had a picture.
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