Would you use it?

Found a green alien on a climb at the gunks. It was under some mud and leaves on a ledge with only the sling sticking out. The cam was rusted and all gunked up and wouldn't even retract. After taking it home I soaked it in metolius cam cleaner at 100% solution and scrubbed it with a very fine wire brush. It now works and is rust free. I cleaned it up with some lube and the action works just as good as any of my other cams.

Now there is some pitting of the metal on the trigger plate as well as where the trigger wires connect to the top trigger plate but it seems cosmetic. The brazing on the wires seems in tacked. The sling is even in good condition, although I will probably have it reslung with the lot of cams im sending out to yates soon anyways.

So now the question, would you trust it? I am thinking of trying it out this weekend when I go, test it out, maybe give it some static blows on the ground to see and then maybe hang from it and bounce. My partner said he wouldn't trust it as a keychain but I lost my greenie awhile ago and this is like a gift from the climbing heavens. Ill try to get pics up soon.

if it was any other brand, maybe.

Cute Christmas tree ornament...

What is the manufacture date? It is stamped on the trigger. If it is outside the recall period, I might trust it. You can also have it pull-tested. Ask Yates if they can do that for you.

Have it pull tested by yates and have them throw a new sling on it.

If it passes and looks fine, go for it.

If you weren't sure about the safety of your seatbelt or brakes or bike helmet, you would get it fixed or buy a new one, no question. What is the difference when talking about gear? Just my opinion.

Im going to give yates a call tomorrow and see if they can pull test it and if it passes have it reslung.

lets see those pics.

Tom Rangitsch wrote:If you weren't sure about the safety of your seatbelt or brakes or bike helmet, you would get it fixed or buy a new one, no question. What is the difference when talking about gear? Just my opinion.

The difference is that you can't buy a new alien like you can a seatbelt, brake, or bike helmet. Frankly, I find aliens fit in places where nothing else does so if faced with the decision to trust a questionable alien or nothing at all, I would take the alien. However, it would remain the last option on my rack and I would only use it if necessary. Unless Yates says it's good to go after a pull test and a resling.

added pics.

No I wouldn't use it.
Frankly, it seems foolish to even consider using it.

A) it's an Alien ==> It was suspect the day it was born
B) see above

Don't use it, dude, this is your life here - and don't be a jerk and sell it on ebay, that's someone else's life.

I would use it, especially as an aid piece. If you were to take a whipper, dont use it. I found a sweet yellow alien at the base of East But. of Higher Cathedral. Same thing happened to that one. It was tweak open and rusted shut. I soaked the head in WD-40 and now it is one of the pieces on my rack. Have it reslung and fall on it with a back-up piece to test it.

That's what I call Aid Gear. Body weight only placements . . .

I'd go for it, i like to live life on the edge.

Jasmine Kall wrote:Cute Christmas tree ornament...

+1

Whats the difference between a brazing and a weld?

Bill Duncan wrote:That's what I call Aid Gear. Body weight only placements . . .

^^^^ (+1) ^^^^

John Maguire wrote:Whats the difference between a brazing and a weld?

With welding, the material of the parts being joined is melted together. Depending on the joint to be welded, this joining can be done with or without additional filler metal of the same basic composition.

With brazing, the material of the parts being joined is not melted. A brazing alloy is melted in between them, which bonds to each material of the parts being joined. One advantage of brazing is that highly different materials can be joined with the proper selection of a brazing alloy that will bond with each of the dissimilar metals.

With soldering, the process is very similar in nature to brazing however soldering is done at a much lower heat than brazing and the filler material is much softer.

-Glenn

If the action is good, nothing on it is kinked or funky looking, and it's outside of the recall range, I'd trust it exactly as much as I trust my other Aliens.

Which is to say, I'd personally test it to 5kN, and then happily put it on my lead rack.

GO

Well I decided to just go ahead and test it already. I went across the street to the public park and went to a small rock wall I plugged it and backed it up with an anchor set from 3 trees if it failed. through a figure 8 on a bite in the biner connected to the alien and jumped off the top, fell about 8 feet on it and it held. Im still going to have yates pull test it.

It seems that if you like aliens (i learned on them so I do) you trust them, and your willing to use them and fall on them.

If you don't like aliens your all against them, you would never use them, let your partner use them, and think they were suspect all the time.

The alien is outside the recall range, the pitting is only limited to the trigger plates, and therefore is cosmetic. The small amount of pitting will not cause the trigger plate to snap or bend, and there is nothing wrong with the unit as I can see. like I said I am going to have it pull tested by yates, and based on that I will add it to my rack. But it already tested fine with the "hold my fat ass" test.