Adding a wrench to your rack....

I think the fact that you recognize that maintenencing a bolt can go wrong, and you can recognize a bolt bottoming out means you're good. I climb in areas with heavily maintained pro, but in areas with lots of old brittle stuff I'd leave tightening and maintenance to the FA or local orgs. But it's all situational

I'll carry my nut tool with a wrench on it if I'm just going cragging, but generally if I have time to stop climbing pull off my tool, and tighten a bolt, I should probably just keep climbing since its doubtful I'm in danger of falling. Great for the next guy tho, I suppose. 

Use you fingers to tighten the nuts.

If that doesn't work, use your teeth.

I carry a small 6" crescent on my rack and have pulled it out a few times to tighten loose nuts. I don't mind a spinning hanger here or there, but we have a lot of wedge bolts at the local crag and sometimes the nuts are barely on anymore. Since most of these bolts are spec'd at a pretty high foot-pound torque, I don't think it would be possible for me to over tighten one with my little dinky walmart crescent wrench. You could ask over at the Fixed Hardware forum, but I'd bet if you did some searching you could find old topics on the issue already. 

Try Cam wrote:

Well, since it sounds like you know which way to turn the wrench, it’s ok with me if you tighten any loose bolts that you find on my routes. 

I think a more pressing line of inquiry for us to discuss would be “is it ok to replace ancient tat on tower rappels with new webbing?” 

Yes we should keeo MP to a one topic at time forum, that sounds amazing.  Edit: I'm also glad you recognize that tower tatt is the most pressing issue in the climbing world.  

To Guy, I know not to crank to tight. Though not route maintaince, I do come from a background of working on homes and know how to properly crank on a bolt.  As mentioned, I recognized the bottoming out as well and left as a spinner, and I have climbed on plenty of spinners myself. But your concerns are exactly why I thought to ask on MP for thought.  

My wrench is a 6" crecent wrench attached to a lanyard with two attachment points to the harness so even while I work it cant be dropped.

This little adjustable wrench is part of my standard sport rack. Weighs about the same as a quick draw. Some could argue that a small pair of vice grips work better, but I find this gets the job done most of the time

I’d much prefer folks be well informed and proactive rather than file a complaint every time a hanger starts to spin and expect someone else to do something about it. Good on ya. 

Good deal, then. Wrench on!

I keep an offset box wrench in my pack,1/2" x 9/16" handles most bolts in the US. It's made in metric as well if that's common in your area and they're very light weight.

https://www.harborfreight.com/8-piece-sae-offset-box-wrench-set-32041.html

OP, thanks for bringing this up. I will be fitting my kit with vice grips based on the solid advice from the functional community members on this thread.

Don't worry, I have the common sense to do it well enough to mitigate the risks brought up.  Cheers! 

Ryan U. wrote: I've added a small wrench to my rack to tighten spinning bolts.  I was tightening a few bolts this weekend on a route we did and it got me thinking what the community thinks of this? I have mixed feelings, on one hand it would be nice to see more people being proactive about bolt replacement/maintenance but on the other hand idk how I feel about anyone just grabbing a wrench and messing with the bolts that we rely on?   Most of the bolts took well to tightening with the exception of one that was definitely bottomed out. Should I ditch the wrench and just report spinners  here on MP or continue to lend a hand when I can?

You should definitely bring a wrench to the crag and gently tighten bolts, especially when it seems like the stud/bolt portion is loose. There are not enough "qualified" volunteers to tighten every bolt that comes loose. A competent sport climber should learn how to identify and tighten a loose bolt, and I would argue has the responsibility to do so as well. Perhaps the useless and cynical teenage dingleberries dangling around on Mountain Project will one day find a worthwhile contribution to make for the benefit of others.

It is good idea to clip in and pull outward on the hanger on 5-piece bolts while tightening them to prevent "spinnners". Contrary to the folklore seen on this thread, it is very difficult to snap an externally threaded wedge bolt with just a short (4-6") crescent wrench. However, loose wedge bolts will not fail when pulled outward since this only engages the expansion mechanism. The only way they will fail is if over-tightened, or if the nut falls off. Do be careful not to overtorque 3/8" 5-pieces. The bolts are only 5/16", and more like 1/4" in the threaded portion. Stainless 3/8" 5-pieces have a very low torque value of around 10 ft/lbs, and non-stainless ones could be corroded and snap at the threads. Just be careful and use good sense when you do this.

michalm wrote:

You should definitely bring a wrench to the crag and gently tighten bolts, especially when it seems like the stud/bolt portion is loose. There are not enough "qualified" volunteers to tighten every bolt that comes loose. A competent sport climber should learn how to identify and tighten a loose bolt, and I would argue has the responsibility to do so as well. Perhaps the useless and cynical teenage dingleberries dangling around on Mountain Project will one day find a worthwhile contribution to make for the benefit of others.

It is good idea to clip in and pull outward on the hanger on 5-piece bolts while tightening them to prevent "spinnners". Contrary to the folklore seen on this thread, it is very difficult to snap an externally threaded wedge bolt with just a short (4-6") crescent wrench. However, loose wedge bolts will not fail when pulled outward since this only engages the expansion mechanism. The only way they will fail is if over-tightened, or if the nut falls off. Do be careful not to overtorque 3/8" 5-pieces. The bolts are only 5/16", and more like 1/4" in the threaded portion. Stainless 3/8" 5-pieces have a very low torque value of around 10 ft/lbs, and non-stainless ones could be corroded and snap at the threads. Just be careful and use good sense when you do this.

Nothing too technical or contradictory at all in this post.

2019. Standard part of the kit