question about a cam and how to sling it?

20 year old TCUs are damn strong ... stronger IMO than the new UL ones they have these days

I had a few cams like that BITD (not ABC, maybe early Metolius or Wired Bliss). We just clipped 'em with quickdraws; they worked fine. I'd think a quickdraw would be better than any knotted sling. Girth-hitching a sling to wire is a bad idea, just threading a doubled sling through is much better. See, for example, paci.com.au/downloads_publi… and dmmclimbing.com/knowledge/i… .

I also don't think there's anything the matter with smooth lobes. In fact, I've never really understood the notches in most cam lobes; it seems to me that they would just facilitate sheer-stress failure. Totem cams have a knurled surface that might actually contribute to friction, but the notched cams seem pointless if not counter-productive to me. On the other hand, I ain't no materials engineer (or any kind of engineer for that matter) so maybe there really is a good reason for the notches.

I don't think the age is an issue if all the components are in good shape.

Brian Snider wrote:.... Those lobes look pretty smooth, is that wear or just the style? I would either not use it or put a piece of webing with a water knot on it and save he sling. $10 sling vs 1.79 per foot webing.

When "Friends" were the only SLCD around (for $17.50 ea BTW!), I remember reading that the notches on the cams were cosmetic only - they didn't really affect the holding power. That may have been from an "Off Belay" magazine around 1978. However, that is just something I remember reading, BITD.

Some of the Metolius TCU's I still use came new with smooth cams and no webbing. You just clipped a draw to the "U" which was held open by the spreader. As RGold mentions, I sometimes basket hitch a sling through the "U" but never girth hitch it.

Aside from the cam, I have used the girth hitch. I would not cinch it down so it is clipped to both loops so it hangs shorton my harness. When placing it I can leave it or cinch it down to extend it out depending on the route.

Funny thought - it's onto exactly one of those ABC cams that I took my first aid fall. A factor two, 2nd step fall. That little orange cam held me from decking. I rather like them. I have never had my ABC tcu's walk, while I have seen many, many 4 cam units samba their way to the back of a crack. I think it has something to do with the axle free-floating inside the ends of the U. Small, light, stick like glue... what's not to like?

It's possible to get Mtn Tools/ Runout/ Fish to do a reinforced "open" loop, where they take the inside end and fold it over the plastic loop cover before stitching it all down. This increases the radius to help prevent the wire cutting through the stitched loop. $7.95 from Mountain Tools, I don't know what the other guys charge.

Hmm, I just found this 10 year old thread when looking for information on my ABC cams and whether or not I should trust them. That would make my cams 30 years old.

In my case, I bought them new and they have not really been used. I took a long break from climbing shortly after buying them and then was suspicious of them after starting again.

The only issues are the plastic on the wire loop has broken and the smallest one is frozen- can’t pull the trigger to retract the cams.

I kind of want to use them as they are on the smaller end of my rack.

Similar questions about the Tricams i bought back in the day. I never used them and they have been stored in a box in a climate controlled room since. I know that soft goods are meant to be retired after ten years and I bought these in the early 90s…

No question that my old number 2 friend with the steel shaft won’t go on the rack…it was bought used from a Yosemite climber back in the day and is as tatty today as it was when I bought it. 

Rob what do you think you should do with them, I'm curious? How would you go about returning them to duty?

Rob- I would use Triflow to clean and lube cams. It might be the most versatile lubricant on the market! Than box up the tricams and cams and ship them to Mountain Tools out in California to get reslung.  I even got my rack of Rigid Stem Friends reslung!!

Scott, might be closer for Rob to reach out to CAMP directly.

Plastic can probably be replaced easily enough, but I'd personally be a little concerned about the little cam having potentially lost some strength to rust given how tight the margins can be on small cams(not so much if it turns out to be just dust and dried lubricant though).

Cherokee Nunes wrote:

Rob what do you think you should do with them, I'm curious? How would you go about returning them to duty?

The ABC cams I would like to use. I had them slung with tubular webbing. That still seems to be the recommended way to carry and use them.

As for the Tri-Cams, my feeling is they are fiddly and hard to place but now that I’m climbing lots of limestone they might be friendlier than the horizontal cracks in sandstone where I did most of climbing when I bought them. 

Scott Biegert wrote:

Rob- I would use Triflow to clean and lube cams. It might be the most versatile lubricant on the market! Than box up the tricams and cams and ship them to Mountain Tools out in California to get reslung.  I even got my rack of Rigid Stem Friends reslung!!

I will give Triflow a chance.

There isn’t any obvious rust. I think it is dust and dry lubricant.

The pink tri cam is the magic piece, like the black totem cam. They do not age, they never need to be retired

Smooth lobes might be slightly less optimal than grooved lobes for obscure reasons. Smooth lobes won't catch on rugosities as well, and the Hertzian contact deformation of a grooved lobe can produce a larger contact area and perhaps sustain more load before shear failure. In the 1980s, smooth TCUs were the cat's meow.

I am fond of TCUs without slings because they provide a light and compact set of cams in the tiny sizes and can be racked like a set of nuts. Without a manufacturer's sewn sling, they are slightly weaker.