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BD C4 Camalot - twisted at stem - possible defect

Original Post
James Dean Anderson · · Longmont, CO · Joined May 2013 · Points: 146

Anyone ever see this happen to a Camalot? The stem is twisted at a 90 degree angle from where it is supposed to be. It can freely twist near the trigger connection and makes a terrible cable crunching noise. I noticed this the other day following an aid pitch on Jumars. My partner had placed the piece and the stem was completely twisted when I got to it. May be time to retire it? Doesn't seem too safe like it is.

camalot

bearbreeder · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2009 · Points: 3,065

Its possible that the wire is breaking internally

The crunching sound is a dead give aways

Retire immediately and contact BD, this should never happen

On a side note to manufacturers, please start switching over to clear plastic sheaves ... That way we can inspect the cables

;)

Edit-

Ive posted about these types of issues before, MPers werent too impressed

mountainproject.com/v/have-…

;)

James Dean Anderson · · Longmont, CO · Joined May 2013 · Points: 146

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, thanks for the input. The sad thing is that this one is not even that old (had it maybe 2 years). Thought Camalots were supposed to be super durable.

Ken Noyce · · Layton, UT · Joined Aug 2010 · Points: 2,648
James Dean Anderson wrote:Anyone ever see this happen to a Camalot? The stem is twisted at a 90 degree angle from where it is supposed to be. It can freely twist near the trigger connection and makes a terrible cable crunching noise. I noticed this the other day following an aid pitch on Jumars. My partner had placed the piece and the stem was completely twisted when I got to it. May be time to retire it? Doesn't seem too safe like it is.
Bearbreader is correct that manufacturers should switch to a clear plastic so that we can inspect the cables, but he's dead wrong about this being a problem with your cam.

C4's have two cables going through the stem, and the cables are held together with the plastic sheath. When you twist the stem the terrible grinding sound you hear is just the cables sliding against each other and is not a cause for concern. The reason that the cam stays in the twisted position is also because the two cables are constricted in the plastic which doesn't let them rotate back without some effort (hence the sound). Take any new C4 and twist it 90 degrees like this and you will hear the same sound and it will stay twisted until you twist it back.

Now just twist it back and climb on, the cam looks brand new, I guarantee that the cables in the stem aren't frayed or breaking and the cam is pretty much good as new.
James Dean Anderson · · Longmont, CO · Joined May 2013 · Points: 146

None of my other Camalots do this and this one is actually pretty beat up although you can't tell from the photo. I tried to recreate the noise and twisting action with my other Camalots and failed to do so. This leads me to believe that there may actually be something wrong with this one. The people who have seen it so far said to retire it but i'll probably send it to BD to have them check it out.

bearbreeder · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2009 · Points: 3,065
Twists

Well thats what i get for using dragons the last few years

Seems like they do "twist"

Talk to BD to be safe

;)
DannyUncanny · · Vancouver · Joined Aug 2010 · Points: 100

I'm pretty sure it's an intended "feature" of C4s that you can rotate the stem for a horizontal. Not that I believe anyone ever uses it. All of mine do it.

James Dean Anderson · · Longmont, CO · Joined May 2013 · Points: 146

Thanks for the input, it may be fine after all. I'd never seen this on any of my other Camalots and everyone else I asked (who saw it) said to retire it.

bearbreeder · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2009 · Points: 3,065
James Dean Anderson wrote:Thanks for the input, it may be fine after all. I'd never seen this on any of my other Camalots and everyone else I asked (who saw it) said to retire it.
To be fair i cant remember this happening on the smaller camalots, ie the one with the metal sheaves at the head (red camalot and below)

Ill have to take a look when i get back home but those might be a single cable, or at least joined enough to be effectively a single cable at that point

Im in squish tmr and only have dragons, totems and aliens wirh me now, and the #4

You could probably check yourself the joint at the metal sleeve on those sizes to see if its a single cable

;)
reboot · · . · Joined Jul 2006 · Points: 125
bearbreeder wrote: To be fair i cant remember this happening on the smaller camalots, ie the one with the metal sheaves at the head (red camalot and below) Ill have to take a look when i get back home but those might be a single cable
Well, all C4s have a single stem cable, but is looped thru the thumb and both ends are terminated back at the head, sort of like how a U-stem cam is made. The smaller ones have that metal sleeve at the head (I imagine for termination), which makes it harder to twist. I bet the plastic sleeve of the said #2 is a bit deformed, making the cable easier to get twisted into a weird position.
20 kN · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Feb 2009 · Points: 1,346
Dylan B. wrote:A "sheave" is a kind of pulley.
A sheave is not a type of pulley but rather the nomenclature for a component of a pulley. This is a sheave:



I agree with the others, email BD. They will probably have you send it in and they will give you a new one.
Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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