I have a mixed rack of cams purchased back in 1995 that have been kept in excellent storage condition. I've used them from time to time and none have suffered strain caused by falls. When not in use they have been kept out of direct sunlight and in a storage container away from corosive materials. What's the deal with the stock webbing attached, is there and expiration to the stitching? Should I have it replaced - or does the whole unit need to be retired? The BD cams have the tubular webbing and the DMM have spectra.

I purchased my first set of cams back around 1995. I had them reslung by Fish Products (I believe it was Russ Walling) a couple of years ago to be safe. No need to retire the entire unit.

I'm planning on having my sets of old rigid friends and tech friends reslung this winter. Has anyone worked out the sling color-size combo for Wild Country cams that most closely corresponds to the BD sling color-size standard?

jaypg:

They should immediately be retired....

Please send them to me for proper disposal.

Mountain Tools has a service whereby they resing old cams with the color combo you want. They do a fine job.

I learned an interesting thing in CA this summer from my old buds there. I had a set of old Chouinard (not BD) camalots, the bipolar ones where the wires come up through plates just inside the outer cams. Visible fractures have developed in these plates where the wires come through. Apparently other people have noticed this too in these old camalots. These babies are like from the Pleistocene, being Chouinard and all. I think I bought them in the early/mid 80s or so. Apparently there haven't been any catastrophic failures under load on these things, but they should be replaced. I went down and gave blood so I could replace them with the modern BDs and retired the old guys.
I hadn't noticed the fractures until my friend pointed them out to me and kindly told me I'd better replace them for my own good. I hadn't heard anything about these fractures before, so if people are still using these bipolar Chouinard Camalots, be good to check out those plates.

Thanks for that info Bob. I have one blue Chouinard Camalot from the mid-eighties and will check it out tonight.

Unless the cams have had a recall (worth a web search) I suspect they are sound units. I vaguely recall reading you could use dry silicone or teflon-based products to lubricate them but I've very rarely done so with no ill effects. As for the slings I'd resling them for sure, and I'll give a plug to a local (Durango,CO) vendor, Forest Products. I have a mongrel rack and wanted to have the sling colors sorta sync up so I did some reslinging a few years back. A solid sling product (27Kn, vs 14Kn for BD stock C4 slings), a variety of colors and relatively prompt service. Just my .02.
-Tom

I really like the term "mongrel rack." I've been saying "mix and match rack" for years, but "mongrel rack" is way better. Thanks.