Rupe

What kind of pulley? Many ways of using the Petzl fixe, not really like any blakes set up though I don't think.

Any pics of you rfinished truck Mr Doberman dave? And weights too?

Cheers, but thats 1200 kgs all in including passengers and any kit! 1000kgs of chips is more likely I guess. Next job is to weigh it full and that may take me years to get round too!

Are you mostly going to be using it for a lanyard adjuster? Thats its best use IMO, then chokered on the stem for chogging if you like it that way.

So, what use would the rack be?

Otherwise folk would just use a figure eight to abseil, but they don't work if the rope below you is too heavy (long and wet) so you can't pull up enough slack to push a bight throught the 8, then you use a rack. Never used one myself though, but thats what I thought they were for.

If half the bars swing, do you not lay the rope over the other bars and then swing the swinging ones into place, thus capturign the rope? I thought that was the whole point of them, midline placement on fairly tight ropes?

Is it a nice rack? Or a spice rack? Lightweight lowering? Of course the obviouse srt decent, caving etc....

true, anything would work instead of the ropeman. I hardly ever use it now but it was a good idea at the time.

Bob, have you tried the system that allow you to move your friction away from you? It uses a hitch climber and ropeman, I don't know if it has an official name though.

Yep, top bloke. Footlocking next then is it?

This video is worth a watch. Jon T in ireland 2006. He was the only one to even attempt the jump (at 51 secs) and he nailed it perfectly. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuevLwIUHh8]YouTube - Workclimb Ireland 2006[/ame]

Simplest way would be to use a clip off of a horse lead (like a dog lead clip but bigger) put the ring on the karabiner and clip the clip end to a swivel cheeck pulley. That give good flexibilty to the system and you can advance the prussik in the normal way with the pulley getting in the way. If you were going to use a bit of string then thats fine, but while your at it you could attahc the other end of the string to the splice end of your rope using a prussik, then it would self advance!

Well I'm 39 and a bit, I first starting making a change in 2002, luckily the kit was still basic then but it has evolved very rapidly, its probably a daunting thing to do now but it will be worth it. Climbing competitions would be a good idea if you really want to see someone mastering the VT etc. There is still quite a shortage of decent videos on you tube though which is a shame.

The space for rakes is more for a workbench really, thats the most useful thing, oh and as an extension to the cooking area of course.

"Rupe that comment has made my day . Cheers Paul ." Cool, have fun with it. For what its worth, I made the changes quite slowly at first. I tried every possible advancemnent in climbign that I had missed out on until I had caught up with the VT users, instead of just going in one jump. So to astart with I got a 2 ring cambium saver and played around with self advancing prussik systems (pulley on a clip under the prussik etc etc) And then worked through, distel hitches, shwabish, icicle hitch, helical and VT's. And lanyards, we added pulleys at first with various hitches then positioners came out and now the cinch I have pictures from about 2004 onwards, but can make up any system and take photos if you want. I have all my gear at home over christmas so let me know if I can help. But I'm not suggesting I know it all by any means, but if I can help I will.

I would, thats what its for innit?? I have a gas burner in the truck and an MSR stove in the car. Got to ba bale to boil water and fry eggs at a moments notice!

I climbed for 10+years before I ever saw a throwline, cambium saver etc, let alone a VT!! Changed my climbing overnight really, and never looked back.

Thanks. For what I've got function wise, I'm pleased with it. Still haven't added ladder racks or underbody storage though, that will add a bit more to it.

Hard to tell, but almost certainly yes, it must do. It drives so much better than the old one that it feels really good. I only felt it was very heavy when full of beech chips, but it was ok and I only went a couple of miles. Beacuse my tipper is off a standard long wheel base, it is actually about 6 inches longer than you get it you had a crewcab tipper, so that extra six inches is over the back end so that all adds to the back axle.

That weight is empty as possible Dean. 3/4 a tank of fuel and thats it, I even took the dog out! If we are moving woodchip/logs off a job then I would often have my car there as well with all the rigging/climbing kit in that. Only the saws go in the toolbox. That way only one person needs to go and tip and I can go straight home. We generally only put all the gear in the truck if its a leave chip on site job (quite often) or smaller jobs that won't fill the truck.

Sure, no worries, but I not goign to say I'm going to overload it everyday. When full to the brim it will be overloaded, we all know that and we all need to be careful of that. 3.5t tippers can probably carry a level load of woodchips in the existing tipper body. As soon as you put a chip box on you are creating extra load capacity that should not really exist, therefore it could be overloaded, but we all need chip boxes of some sort to keep our worksites tidy so it is a compromise. Also a chip box (with roof) will keep the rain off. I'd rather carry a bit overloaded dry chip than a legal load in the rain with no cover on it which will double in weight by the time you get home. I've made the effort to keep the weight down so it is less overloaded, or overloaded less often and also so its a better truck to drive empty. I know plenty of companies with crew cab steel tippers with steel framed chip boxes which must weigh more than 2500 empty and they all manage ok. Oh I see the exclamation marks made it look as though I had the hump with you. Not at all.

Well thats up to me what I actully do with it! My old one weighed over 2500 empty so I'm better off with this one, thats good enough!

After cleaning it out and taking out some unnecessary clutter I finally got round to weighing my LDV today. And it came in bang on target! I had hoped it would be under this target but as long as it wasn't over then it would be ok. They gave me a ticket that read 2300kgs. It was handwritten so I'm guessing they rounded up or down a couple, unless it really was bang on 23? Anyway that is good enough for me. Total payload availabe 1200kgs. If we compare that to the payload of a standard LDV crew cab steel tipper (with no chip box) which is 1300kgs then I think I have got a much better vehicle all in and only lost 100kgs in the process. Heres the breakdown. XLWB Chassis cab 1550 Roller shutter box 125 Aluminium Tipper 345 Chip box 280 total 2300

It would work, but not that easy to release so not really ideal. I used one once as an adjuster on the rope bridge of my harness. That was ok, but there were concerns that it might cut through the rope if a heavy force was applied. Those concerns would also exist if usign it as a lanyard adjuster. Whether it actually would cut through - I don't know, but I stopped using it. Also I hardly ever needed to adjust the bridge so a bit pointless! It has great uses for make an adjustable length friction hitch system which has been shown here somewhere.