BD Hydra Hammer Issue

I've been climbing on the Hydra since last season and have been generally pleased with how they climb. However, I am now having an issue with the hammer on one of the tools and had to open a warranty claim. The hammer is loose and rattles no matter how tight the screw is. I talked to the BD store in Denver, and they have seen 1 other case. Sounds like a machining error on the hammers and/or picks. I will post an update when I hear back from BD.

The really unfortunate thing is that BD will not process warranties through their stores unlike Patagonia, Arcteryx, etc. They require that I ship the tool to SLC at my expense. So basically, I have to pay extra for a mistake that they made.

I have a Hydra which does this and also have a buddy with similar issue.

Had the same warranty experience as you-BD wanted me to pay to ship it in. Ended up not sending it in and then going back to climbing on my Nomics.

I think they have this one figured out. I didn't have to send mine in, they sent me a new hammer to fix the looseness

WHAM .wrote:

I think they have this one figured out. I didn't have to send mine in, they sent me a new hammer to fix the looseness

Seems like BD was certainly thinking that. Just got the new hammers today, but they did not fix the problem. I still can't tighten the hammer so there's no rattle. Reaching out to them again...

Do me a favor and take your pick and hammer off your tool and align the holes together. If you look carefully there will be a small gap between the machined lip in the pick, and the hammer. Find a piece of card stock, and cut a small strip maybe 1/2" to  3/4" long and about 3mm wide, place it so that it wraps around the nose of the hammer, place carefully together in the pick and tighten down, then go air swing, the rattle should be gone. 

If you need a photo of this, let me know.

Tightening the bolts will never fix this issue, since this gap is likely the combination of two parts at the opposite ends of tolerance being mated together. 

One of mine did similar - in my case the tolerances between the pick and hammer.  Tightening wont fix, nor did swapping the hammers round but dropping in a piece of fishing line as a spacer did.

I appreciate the suggestions for fixes. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer my safety equipment to function the way it's supposed to without having to do my own home fixes.

BD just sent me a new set of axes. I would say overall they did right with the warranty process, but I did miss almost a month of climbing days in getting the issue taken care of. 

I get that.  Its super tiresome, but i live in Europe so the returns process is a big faff.

More, given that critical factor here is the machining tolerances of the blade, changing blades will mean this will disappear, or appear on a good tool! Uff!

Wayne Oxboroughwrote:

I get that.  Its super tiresome, but i live in Europe so the returns process is a big faff.

More, given that critical factor here is the machining tolerances of the blade, changing blades will mean this will disappear, or appear on a good tool! Uff!

Correct. We want these tools to be hyper customizable, and the picks to not be so expensive to replace, readily available online and in store, while also being machined to a very high standard. 

Over the years I've played around with a lot of the laser cut plate services offered on the web and gained an appreciation of the difficulty in making things fit well together consistently from batch to batch. 

Fixed using electrical tape and an xacto knife.