Breaking T-nuts

So I've built a new climbing wall in my garage. I got 1 out of 3 total walls framed and paneled. I used the t-nuts I ordered from element climbing. I had juggy holds spinning pretty easily under one of my 200 lb friends so I tightened it down, heard a "pop" and found that the shaft of the t-nut had broken from the back plate of the t-nut. An old climbing friend with many home walls under his belt says he has always cranked down on t-nuts and never has had one do that before. To test and see if it was just one faulty t-nut in the batch i cranked on 3 more, and with very little relative torque all 3 popped in rapid succession. Just so people can gauge my experience I worked at a college wall for a short stint and set a few routes. I tightened to the point that I didn't have spinners and never popped a t-nut so unless I've gotten way stronger my relative torque applied shouldn't be much different...So I need general advice.

Has this happened to you before? Is this a batch of faulty t-nuts? Is the company responsible for the 120 dollars worth of plywood that has their faulty t-nuts in it if so? Is it safe to remove t nuts with a crow bar and install new quality ones in the same drilled hole (sounds sketchy to me). I need some advice and can post pictures if enough people are curious. Thanks for the help

Ryan Horton wrote:So I've built a new climbing wall in my garage. I got 1 out of 3 total walls framed and paneled. I used the t-nuts I ordered from element climbing. I had juggy holds spinning pretty easily under one of my 200 lb friends so I tightened it down, heard a "pop" and found that the shaft of the t-nut had broken from the back plate of the t-nut. An old climbing friend with many home walls under his belt says he has always cranked down on t-nuts and never has had one do that before. To test and see if it was just one faulty t-nut in the batch i cranked on 3 more, and with very little relative torque all 3 popped in rapid succession. Just so people can gauge my experience I worked at a college wall for a short stint and set a few routes. I tightened to the point that I didn't have spinners and never popped a t-nut so unless I've gotten way stronger my relative torque applied shouldn't be much different...So I need general advice. Has this happened to you before? Is this a batch of faulty t-nuts? Is the company responsible for the 120 dollars worth of plywood that has their faulty t-nuts in it if so? Is it safe to remove t nuts with a crow bar and install new quality ones in the same drilled hole (sounds sketchy to me). I need some advice and can post pictures if enough people are curious. Thanks for the help

sounds like China is laughing at US again, never had that happen

Ryan Horton wrote:Has this happened to you before? Is this a batch of faulty t-nuts? Is the company responsible for the 120 dollars worth of plywood that has their faulty t-nuts in it if so? Is it safe to remove t nuts with a crow bar and install new quality ones in the same drilled hole (sounds sketchy to me). I need some advice and can post pictures if enough people are curious. Thanks for the help

1. No, I've never had this happened to me and I work at a commercial gym.

2. No, Element is NOT responsible for your plywood, but yes you should contact them and let them know your concern.

3. Yes, it's safe to replace t-nuts with no cause for concern. (We do it all the time at the gym.)

Also, you should consider using an additional set screw (or two) to keep large holds from spinning instead of cranking down on the bolt/t-nut.

Just screw in a bolt and hit it to remove the T nuts. No need to gouge up the back of the plywood with a prybar.

yeah i've torqued the shaft off a few really old t-nuts...like 25 years old. Should not be happening on brand new ones. You can use a crow bar to pull the tnut out or do as mentioned and screw in a bolt and hammer out - cleaner. If you ding up the plywood a bit just place a new t-nut with some liquid nails around it (stick a chap ear plug in the nut itself to prevent any putty from getting on the threads.

and all of the above nailed it. Extra screw for large holds helps immensely

I work at a commercial gym and have never had that happen, if you need to on jugs or large features use a screw like stated above to stop spinning holds.

As for the T-nuts i would contact the company, that definitely shouldnt happen, I have tightened holds with a breaker bar to stop from spinning

Yes you can put another t-nut in the same hole, make sure the teeth go in new plywood not the old holes so they bite better, and if possible even though they are more annoying to put in for holds where the plywood has been chewed up i would put in some of these

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hope that helps, good luck

"Has this happened to you before? Is this a batch of faulty t-nuts? "

Strange that you should ask because this happened to me on two of the 4 routes I set at a commercial gym recently. I do not use an impact driver to tighten holds either but other setters do. That said, these T-nuts have been up for years and probably had gone through > 100 setting cycles.

Wow. that is pretty crazy. I mean I have pulled T-nuts all the way through plywood but have never broken the shaft.

Easiest way to remove pound-in t-nuts (and I have done this on a couple hundred t-nuts before):

- Take your 5/16" Hold Wrench (the big one)
- Stick it in the hole in the wood (on the side you would mount holds)
- Hit it with a hammer
- T-nut pops right out

and then do this

Eddie2170 wrote:Yes you can put another t-nut in the same hole, make sure the teeth go in new plywood not the old holes so they bite better

I've never had a t-nut break either...but plenty have strip out of the ply. Once t-nuts have seen a lot of action (hold tightening/removing) they will eventually strip out the plywood in the back as mentioned above (unless you bought high quality ply) which I didn't. Repositioning a new t-nut will work for a little while, but invariably they will strip out again. When the plywood becomes so gnarled out in the back, I yank the t-nut altogether and slap a sticker or screw-on hold over the hole. I'll probably need to replace the ply on my wall in another year or so since I've got almost a dozen t-nut holes that are stripped out and useless.

I've even had to use a hack saw to cut through the bolts because I couldn't unscrew the hold from the stripped out t-nut.

Allen Corneau wrote: 1. No, I've never had this happened to me and I work at a commercial gym. 2. No, Element is NOT responsible for your plywood, but yes you should contact them and let them know your concern. 3. Yes, it's safe to replace t-nuts with no cause for concern. (We do it all the time at the gym.) Also, you should consider using an additional set screw (or two) to keep large holds from spinning instead of cranking down on the bolt/t-nut.

This is really the only way to fly. Once you've started doing this, you'll never want to go back. Sidepulls and gastons or any other holds that will have off centered loading should get the same treatment.

Eddie2170 wrote:Yes you can put another t-nut in the same hole, make sure the teeth go in new plywood not the old holes so they bite better

While this seems to make sense it is actually bad beta. You have already severed the wood fibers when pounding the t nut in the first time, cutting new teeth holes just severs more fibers and leaves the wood weaker. It's better to re-use the original prong holes, adding some epoxy or gorilla glue to any that blow out when you remove the old t-nuts.

That is a bummer about those Tnuts, it seems the quest for the cheapest t-nuts has found the worst as well. Fastener Superstore is where I get all of my Tnuts, not the cheapest but pretty reasonable.