Valley Giant Cam Repair Recommendations

Hi Everyone!

I checked MP, Google, and YouTube and couldn't find anything on VG spring repair, only cam trigger wire replacement, and that BD will replace their springs (but I doubt they would replace mine!)

I placed my VG 9 on an amazing chimney in Vedavoo. When my partner cleaned it, he was not aware of the proper method to reduce the size for racking. I tried to explain to him the process of pulling the bar and wrapping the little sling to hold it in place. When he arrived at the belay, I realized what he had actually done was to force the lobes almost 360 degrees around until they held closed a little tighter. In the moment I didn't worry too much about it, and I eventually was able to unwind what he had done, and the cam appeared to hold its normal shape again. 

The next time I placed the cam, I realized that the spring was no longer strong enough to overcome gravity and push the lobes out after the trigger bar released. I started manually pushing them out, which seemed to work. The problem is biggest in flared cracks. I realized that when the top lobes spread out further than the bottom, the cam had no holding power, and could be lifted out easily like an unset stopper, as the springs are no longer strong enough to push the lobes into the rock.

I reached out to VG, but from what I hear, I do not expect to hear back. Does anyone know a way to fix these springs? Seems a shame to trash such a big expensive can due to spring failure 

Thanks all!

Sam

I'd reach out to Metolius to see if they could help. Awesome folks. Might be willing to look at the cam given your situation.

Your ability to not be angry at your friend is admirable 

VG is your best bet, even if it's a long wait, unless you have a hands on expert to reverse engineer.  The springs may be custom wound so it's a good question if anyone else could easily provide them, and unlikely to take the responsibility of reassembly.     Maybe the springs can be measured exactly with calipers (although at this point they are deformed) and buy replacements with long enough legs, and then trim & bend the ends to fit the studs they attach to.   Lee Spring  & Century Spring are 2 possibilities.

Before disassembly make sure to photo it up close & count how many wraps the springs make so you know how to install the replacement.    You would also need to know the re-assembly procedure for the axel,  for instance any specs on gap space,  torque, or a certain threadlock.

Disclosure, I don't own and have never held a VG cam. 

From the photos I've seen online, the arms of the springs seem to lever over a pin/screw on the lobe. Unlike other cams that have the spring ends bent and slip into a hole in the lobes. A photo of your cam would help.

Worst case, the spring is bent and you need a new spring. Either buy one from VG [best] or make one.

Another possibility, if my premise above is correct, the spring is simply unwound . As your partner over-rotated the cams and in turn over wound the spring. It's possible that the spring OD compressed and the spring arms that lever against the lobe pins, slipped off. This would uncoil the spring. To remedy this you can just give the spring another rotation to increase the preload.

Do both sides of the cam have this weak spring action?

Thanks so much everyone! I ended up taking it to a metal shop, and they sprayed WD-40 on it. It caused it to work better than new. The person I bought it from instructed me not to lube it. Do you think it was a good idea for me to do what I did?

While lubricant in general is good, WD-40 is not the best option for this case. It is good as a solvent, cleaner, etc. (It is also a pretty good fluid for machining aluminum.) However, as it is solvent based it will not be a long term solution. After cleaning the cam, I would apply a silicone based lubricant.

Sam Lawrencewrote:

Thanks so much everyone! I ended up taking it to a metal shop, and they sprayed WD-40 on it. It caused it to work better than new. The person I bought it from instructed me not to lube it. Do you think it was a good idea for me to do what I did?

Congrats! Wonder if you simply might have gotten some grit in it? Tom Kasper, a machinist himself as he is the Mfg of the Valley Giants, suggests NOT using WD-40. But if it's working better than new, Whhoooo Hooo!  Stick with what you know is working. You'll likely have to periodically clean and relube, which should be fine. 

http://www.valleygiant.com/VGcare.htm

• Do not lubricate your Valley Giant with any sort of silicone spray, WD-40, TriFlow, etc. The Valley Giant has been designed to work properly without any of that that dirt-attracting stuff. The Valley Giant works best when clean and dry."

Be aware that WD-40 use to define a single product, and that is no longer true in that WD-40 is wisely coming out with a full line of other products with the WD-40 still blazoned across the top and the type underneath that, so that some people still refer to it as WD-40, but it might be WD-40 Corrosion, WD-40 Degreaser, WD-40 etc etc.