5 replies to this topic

[skierdude9450]

Does anybody know how the Von Roll detachable grips work? I was riding up the River Run Gondola and was just thinking, how the heck do these work?

[floridaskier]

Good question, I've ridden them as well and I didn't see any obvious moving parts that would open the grip

[SkiBachelor]

I believe that the wheel you see on the outside of the grip that looks like a support arm when the grip enters the terminal is actually the device that detaches the grip from the haul rope. I was looking at the detachble process when I was at Silver Mountain and those arms do go down and up about an inch, just enough for the clamp jaw to move outward.

[skierdude9450]

So you're saying that the stablizing arms go up just a tiny and a skid on top of the cable or something like that does the rest?

[SkiBachelor]

When the grip enters the terminals, the stabalizing arm is pushed downward by the derailer which causes the grip to detach.

I guess these grips though are a pain to work on. The rebuilding process is super long.

[liftmech]

Those grips work on the cam principle. Inside the spring pack, the rod is two parts which you obviously can't see. They look like the shocks on your car, but instead of the gas inside the shock providing the extension force, the spring pack does. Those arms with the small black rollers lift up on the whole rod where the spring pack rests, and that lifts the mobile jaw away from the rope. In the photo above, the fixed jaw is to the left or inside, and the mobile jaw is to the right or outside. The mobile jaw is hinged to the spring rod, and as the spring rod lifts up it pulls the moble jaw with it. These grips lock open because of the cam action of the spring rod/mobile jaw juction.