UKC

Gatecrasher Wall, Top Cat wobbly lower off

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 alifontbin 02 Jun 2014
Hi all

Just a note to say that I was at Tintern on Saturday and climbed Top Cat on the Gatecrasher wall, and noticed that the lower lower off is a bit
loose. It rotates slightly (perhaps one or two degrees), but I didn't test
it with any outwards force for obvious reasons.

I've emailed Rick Seward as advised on a different thread, but thought I'd better start a separate post to make others aware.

I'll update here if I find out more.

A
 jimtitt 02 Jun 2014
In reply to alifontbin:

Ha, the dreaded "clicky"! They occur sometimes and we don´t really know why it affects some bolts and not others. Single shaft bolts seem more prone than Buhler type ones but it might just be we´ve noticed more of them.
The fundamental reason it occurs is the resins used to glue bolts in shrink and the bond to the metal gives way. Different resin types and the amount and type of filler used varies the actual shrinkage and some resins are also possibly more elastic than others but it something that occurs with almost every brand I´m aware of. Installation temperature might have something to do with it as well but that´s merely conjecture and something we´d have to test.
If it´s one of my lower-offs then rest assured it still won´t come out, 20 minutes with a wrecking bar and a drill is what it takes and they still get the standard (at least the one I´ve tried did).

The cure is to drill a 10mm hole down alongside the shaft, put some resin in and then hammer a 10mm SS threaded rod down the hole. Doesn´t do the drill bits a lot of good so use an old one!
OP alifontbin 03 Jun 2014
In reply to jimtitt:

Thanks Jim, as long as it's safe I'll leave the technical stuff to the experts!

On an unrelated note, I was out in Sicily recently and your brother was there putting up routes. I didn't meet him myself but the others said he's a thoroughly nice chap!

Keep up the great work!

A

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