Reinforcing tie in points on harness

What do you guys think would be the best way to reinforce a harness?
I was originally thinking of wrapping my lower tie in point with plastic wrap then reinforcing it with duct tape but then i though about how messy the adhesive is for duct tape is and decided against it, so i'm thinking of using the steamer at work to soften up a milk carton and mold it to the tie in point, but what do you guys think would be the best way to go about it?

Why are you trying to reinforced the tie in points. there rated very high and a good harness will last a long time

Kevin Beadle wrote:Why are you trying to reinforced the tie in points. there rated very high and a good harness will last a long time

Lower friction, pretty simple really. Ask mammut and petzl why they do it, i'm sure they will give you a few paragraphs on why they reinforce it.

that guy named seb wrote:What do you guys think would be the best way to reinforce a harness? I was originally thinking of wrapping my lower tie in point with plastic wrap then reinforcing it with duct tape but then i though about how messy the adhesive is for duct tape is and decided against it, so i'm thinking of using the steamer at work to soften up a milk carton and mold it to the tie in point, but what do you guys think would be the best way to go about it?

Just buy a harness that has a plastic insert. Modifying it with some combination of glue, ducktape and a milk carton is going to look ghetto AF. Mammut and Edelrid both make them. Petzl doesent use plastic, but they use very thick webbing to reinforce the points.

Indeed, all companies should add the plastic insert. It can easily more than double the lifespan of the harness. The tie in points really dont last that long on some harnesses, especially if you girth hitch a sling through them as many climbers do.

20 kN wrote: Just buy a harness that has a plastic insert. Modifying it with some combination of glue, ducktape and a milk carton is going to look ghetto AF. Mammut and Edelrid both make them. Petzl doesent use plastic, but they use very thick webbing to reinforce the points. Indeed, all companies should add the plastic insert. It can easily more than double the lifespan of the harness. The tie in points really dont last that long on some harnesses, especially if you girth hitch a sling through them as many climbers do.

Petzl use dyneema on the tie in loops and their belay loops because dyneema is slippery, also not a chance am i buying another harness i got mine about 3 months ago and have been mainly bouldering, it's literally brand new. Don't really care about it looking "ghetto AF" I just want it to work.

Ref. Edelrid Orion.

+1 for Edelrid. Plastic insert, but what I really like is that the waist band slides on the webbing (the load bearing component) so if the gear loops or belay loop aren't centered, you just scootch things around. Pretty slick, and a nice alternative to a heavier, 2-buckle harness (coughMistyMountainCadillac).

As for beefing up existing hard points: yea, ghetto. But I've done it too.

which harness do you have?

JoeCrawford wrote:which harness do you have?

black diamond chaos, nice harness i like it but it has 3 faults.
1. Has a weird break in time i have never had before.
2. Wish it had a 5 gear loop for belay tat. (will be adding one)
3. NO REINFORCED TIE IN POINT, it could really do with a low friction alternative to the nylon, it could be dyneema, it could be plastic, either way it must be done to keep up to date.

Gunkiemike wrote:+1 for Edelrid. Plastic insert, but what I really like is that the waist band slides on the webbing (the load bearing component) so if the gear loops or belay loop aren't centered, you just scootch things around. Pretty slick, and a nice alternative to a heavier, 2-buckle harness (coughMistyMountainCadillac). As for beefing up existing hard points: yea, ghetto. But I've done it too.

I had the camp chaos harness and i wasn't a fan, nothing stayed in place and the buckles dug into me. How did you go about reinforcing the tie in point?

What about slitting some webbing along the tube, wrapping around tie in and re-sewing the cut so the tube is around your tie-ins? There's a shot for what you want, but yeah sounds ghetto. My tie-ins seem to wear out about the time that the rest of the harness feels manky enough to retire IMO.

If you used the smoother webbing (climber-spec I think?) should be smoother than the tie-ins that are on most harnesses, and should be able to freely rotate around your tie-ins so should effectively be low friction

I scrounged a Mammut insert and put it on other brands that I wear. I've kept it through several harnesses. It only mattered when I was climbing a ton. Now that I'm a weekend warrior, the canvas that comes with most harnesses seems fine.

I think about one and a half inches of plastic conduit, split lengthwise to slip over the harness and taped in place would work fine. Use super narrow pieces of tape on each edge, so you don't get tape goo rubbing off on your rope.

that guy named seb wrote: I had the camp chaos harness and i wasn't a fan, nothing stayed in place and the buckles dug into me. How did you go about reinforcing the tie in point?

I did pretty much what Medic describes, though the webbing didn't go all the way 'round the lower tie in point. It pretty much eliminated all wear at that spot, but obviously the rest of the harness gets scuffed and fuzzed up over time.

that guy named seb wrote: Lower friction, pretty simple really. Ask mammut and petzl why they do it, i'm sure they will give you a few paragraphs on why they reinforce it.

I hope I'm not the first person to mention this but apparently you don't know what "reinforce" means. It is not, per se, a process of lowering frictional properties.

Kind of an uneducated opinion here, but I was always skeptical of plastic reinforcements breaking and causing a potential of cutting into the rope. Y'all think that is overthinking and absurd?

P.s. I've been using the same old bd momentum harness for a while now and it has no signs of wearing at the tie-In points.

I've just gone through my 3rd BD chaos and haven't yet had a hard point wear out before the belay loop or the waist belt webbing. I'm curious as to what sort of friction you are trying to mitigate; your knot, during a fall, is not going to create enough friction to cause major wear. Also, the Chaos does have nylon reinforcement on the hard points, which means that any visible wear on the outer layer of the hard points doesn't effect the strength of the harness. It isn't worth it IMO to add further reinforcement, especially as glues might have bad effects on the nylon.

Wanted to add that dyneema should not be on your list of things to use to reinforce if your goal is durability. Dyneema cuts, abrades and degrades faster and easier than nylon.

Jugging lines and bolting stuff can wear out your harness points pretty quick. Also aid climbing.

JoeCrawford wrote:Wanted to add that dyneema should not be on your list of things to use to reinforce if your goal is durability. Dyneema cuts, abrades and degrades faster and easier than nylon.

Everything you said was wrong (1 arguably),
1. Dyneema is literally used in cut resistant gloves
2. Dyneema is all ready used to enhance tie in point durability by petzl due to the fibers strength and slick nature.
3. There seems to be some debate regarding this, the sailing industry seems to think it's more UV resistant than nylon but the climbing industry disagrees, not really sure who to go with but i'm inclined to go with the sailors because they have more experience with the material.

that guy named seb wrote:3. There seems to be some debate regarding this, the sailing industry seems to think it's more UV resistant than nylon but the climbing industry disagrees, not really sure who to go with but i'm inclined to go with the sailors because they have more experience with the material.

Nylon textiles for climbing products always come with a UV stabilizing treatment, making nylon more resistant to UV degradation than dyneema. Maybe the nylon sailors use isn't UV stabilized?

I really don't understand the point of this. Use the harness as designed. Making modifications always has the potential to change some design element you don't know or understand, and compromise the safety of the harness.

Like other's have said, you'll wear out the rest of the harness before your tie in points cause you to retire it. Stop overthinking it, and just go climb.