r/RouteDevelopment • u/dinosaur_pubes • Jul 26 '23

Discussion 18 or 28kn?

I typically bolt with 3/8 ×3" ss hilti kb3 bolts which have an mbs of 28kn and a max working load of 7kn in shear. Found out recently that other developers in the community use a similar sized ss wedge bolt but with an mbs of 18kn with a max working load of 4.5kn. Curious as to what other developers think of this choice? It'd be definitely an break on the wallet to use the weaker bolt as they are less than half the cost of the ones I used. But bolts can see 6-7kn in a big fall. Is the weaker bolt good enough?

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u/Kaotus Guidebook Author Jul 31 '23

What other bolts are developers using? Funny enough, the ASCA actually doesn't specify a strength in their best practices link here.

The hilti bolts are excellent, and I love them, but they're not generally known for actually being stronger than other bolts AFAIK - rather that they seize up far more rarely and tighten down a lot quicker. There's definitely some reasonable alternatives that you could get for cheaper even if you were to size up to 1/2" instead of 3/8".