Cut my suspension weight by nearly 2/3 with custom titanium becket hitch hardware.

**Russtang** · 01-26-2016, 14:54

Originally Posted by 1csleptonkayak

If you have aspirations for selling your hardware, you may want to have some professional tests done and get on good terms with a product liability attorney

.

Hehe, No thank you! No plans on risking anyone falling to the ground but me.

**sparky32** · 01-26-2016, 16:09

Originally Posted by 1csleptonkayak

I'm still using a set of Dutch's original speed hooks.

Ok, so this may be a bit off the topic of this thread but what is the difference between the speed hooks and the current whoopie hooks? I am going to be making a set of WH in the near future and was planning to use whoopie hooks with my set-up. Do the whoopie hooks also put too much stress on the Amsteel? It seems to me that if you're thinking of replacing your Amsteel after roughly 30 nights of hanging, then that is too short of a lifespan for the Amsteel. It seems like there are quite a few people using the whoopie hooks but I haven't heard of anyone needing to replace their Amsteel in a relatively short amount of time. Is there something I am missing?

**kunzman** · 01-26-2016, 17:12

You're all gonna die!

I'm still hanging with my speedhooks!

**TominMN** · 01-26-2016, 20:58

Originally Posted by sparky32

Ok, so this may be a bit off the topic of this thread but what is the difference between the speed hooks and the current whoopie hooks? I am going to be making a set of WSs in the near future and was planning to use whoopie hooks with my set-up. Do the whoopie hooks also put too much stress on the Amsteel? It seems to me that if you're thinking of replacing your Amsteel after roughly 30 nights of hanging, then that is too short of a lifespan for the Amsteel. It seems like there are quite a few people using the whoopie hooks but I haven't heard of anyone needing to replace their Amsteel in a relatively short amount of time. Is there something I am missing?

A WH on a WS has Amsteel taking up the load on both sides of the hardware. Also, the spot that might be subject to wear changes a little bit from hang to hang. Lastly, there is no hitch involved with a WH normally used, avoiding the compression that might be a factor that contributes to abnormal wear with a SH. I think (re the SH) there might be some concern with the combination of how the Amsteel rubs against the hardware, the tight radius, and the compression introduced by the hitch that, all working together, as everything tightens up under load, could be causing failure. I'm not sure anyone knows with absolute certainty.

**TominMN** · 01-26-2016, 20:59

Originally Posted by kunzman

You're all gonna die!

I'm still hanging with my speedhooks!

Wouldn't that be "You're gonna die and not all of us"?

**Russtang** · 01-27-2016, 12:39

Originally Posted by TominMN

A WH on a WS has Amsteel taking up the load on both sides of the hardware. Also, the spot that might be subject to wear changes a little bit from hang to hang. Lastly, there is no hitch involved with a WH normally used, avoiding the compression that might be a factor that contributes to abnormal wear with a SH. I think (re the SH) there might be some concern with the combination of how the Amsteel rubs against the hardware, the tight radius, and the compression introduced by the hitch that, all working together, as everything tightens up under load, could be causing failure. I'm not sure anyone knows with absolute certainty.

Has anyone heard about any failures with speed hooks? All I heard was that Dutch recalled them because the amsteel breaking strength dropped from 1,000 to 700 pound after hanging a bunch of times.

**TominMN** · 01-27-2016, 18:23

Yup. A few have dropped. Several others have caught the damage and avoided the fall.

**rty1138** · 01-30-2016, 03:36

i'll take 4. seriously.

**Firesong** · 01-30-2016, 09:50

It was the effect of the amsteel slipping in the hole. Not the actual bend over the Ti. If they weren't tight and a dynamic load / or sitting they could slip a bit and damage the amsteel.

**TominMN** · 01-30-2016, 09:59

Originally Posted by Firesong

It was the effect of the amsteel slipping in the hole. Not the actual bend over the Ti. If they weren't tight and a dynamic load / or sitting they could slip a bit and damage the amsteel.

Maybe. Or more accurately, that is almost certainly ONE factor but not the only one. Polishing the edges of the hole mirror-smooth doesn't eliminate the problem. There's also the concern about subjecting Amsteel to a tight radius and putting a majority of the stress on a fraction of the fibers.

I've heard concerns about compression possibly being a culprit but I'm skeptical about that one.