Sleeve anchors

Michael Schneiter wrote: The 12mm bits tend to be pricey. I've never found a cheap source for them while you can find good 1/2" bits for about $5. I've removed and reused Triplex bolts numerous times. I often use them as a "working" bolt when I'm unsure of a bolt/anchor placement. I'll drill a 1/2" hole, place the bolt (which is "sloppy" and not good for the long term) and then when I'm sure of its placement I pull the Triplex and fill it with a much cheaper 1/2" Rawl 5-piece. In the long run, I doubt you could reuse a Triplex bolt that had sat out for a long time just because eventually that sleeve would probably get rusted but in the long run you're probably more interested in reusing the hole, not the bolt. When Triplex bolts sit for a short time, even a few years, they are easily reusable. The sleeves might get a little mangled but they've always worked for me again. It's been my experience that pulling Rawl 5-piece bolts can be hard. If they're old then the sleeve gets rusted in the hole and is super hard to get out. If they're new, then it's not too bad to get out. There's a process to do so that's been discussed elsewhere like on the ASCA website. If it's a 3/8" Rawl, it's doable to drill out the sleeve and cone with an old bit and a good drill. Then, you can enlarge the hole to 1/2" and reuse the hole.

DO NOT PLACE TRIPLEX BOLTS IN 1/2" HOLES, YOU MUST USE A 12 MM DRILL BIT!!!!

I am not even kidding. I did a test not that far back where I drilled a few 1/2" holes and placed Triplex bolts in them. I tightened them to Fixe's specifications and pull tested them in tention (straight out). The average failure strength was only 7.5 kN. What ended up happening was because the hole was too large, the cone pulled through the sleeve 3/4", than the sleeve simply pulled from the rock.

Keep in mind I used a 10 mm hanger. If I had used a 12 mm hanger and placed it over the sleeve the bolt would have probably pulled at a much lower load because there is a flange on the end of the sleeve which causes excess outward pressure on the sleeve when the hanger pulls on it. If the bolt is loose, it’s extremely easy to pull the entire bolt out.

Dan Godshall wrote: I started looking into the Hilti Coil but never really considered it. How many have people seen in the field? Have they been there long enough to show how they hold up against time? Has anyone tried pulling a couple, that have sat for an extended amount of time to see just how reusable they are? Thanks for all the previous posts!

Last year I pulled two Hilti Coil bolts that had been used to replace 1/4 inch buttonheads in quartzite the previous year (they had both become spinners - one was the crux bolt and the other was pulled to the side by rope tension in falls).

Both the coils and the bolt threads were mildly rusted (this is in the fairly arid Wasatch Range of Utah).

After looking at the amount of corrosion after only one year, and the fairly small contact surface area (because of the coarseness of the coil and threads) that is compromised by the corrosion, I decided that the Hilti Coil bolts probably aren't a great solution for rock climbing.

(I replaced them both with 1/2" x 4 3/4" stainless Power-bolts. There are still three other coil bolts on the route that I'll get to at some point. It'll be interesting to see if the others have corroded further in the intervening time).

Tristan Higbee wrote: If you reread my post, you'll see that I'm not saying that it's not a 5-piece because it's an allen-key type. I'm saying the one on the left isn't a 5-piece because it doesn't look like a 5-piece. (Take a look at the pic again; apart from the heads, the bolts are still not identical). It doesn't have the five separate pieces (it's missing the blue plastic separator thing in the middle). Not talking about the head, but about the bolt itself. Not having the five pieces would, by definition, mean that it's not a 5-piece bolt. Is it more or less the same kind of thing? Yes. Is it a Powers 5-Piece bolt? No.

Still not following you. It is a 5-piece Powers power-bolt. The 2.5" version don't have a metal spacer between the washer and the nylon compression ring. And it still has five pieces: stud, washer, compression ring, expansion sleeve, and nose cone. The longer power-bolts are actually 6-piece but all are called 5-piece out of convenience. Nit-picking aside, I wouldn't hesitate to order those bolts.