I recently had a nasty fall where I ripped out a #00 TCU. The unit still seems to funtion normally and has the same action. However two of the cams are pretty scraped up due to being ripped out of the solid granite and the trigger wires seem to have been stretched. Do these symptoms warrant retirement??

-- Chris Davy (davyc73@hotmail.com), March 11, 2001

Answers

I would say that if the scrapes are merely surface scratches and that the overall shape of the cams is in tact then its probably fine. But if the scrapes involve anything that significantly changes the shape of the cam, like wearing a flat spot in the cam surface at the point where it contacted the rock while pulling out, then it should be retired. I would imagine that with a #00, you have very little room for error in this regard.

The bottom line is that even if the piece is fine, if you're going to have doubts about it, then it's best to toss it and replace it with something you feel confident about.

-- John Laughlin (jlaughli@yahoo.com), March 11, 2001.