I’ve seen some videos and articles on trekking pole tip replacement but I have never seen anything specific to z packs poles. I just replaced my tips and learned a few things that I thought I would share. The most common method I see online is to whack them off with a crescent wrench. I tried this and then repeated after soaking the tips in boiling water to soften up the plastic and any adhesive. None of this moved the tips one bit! I wound up cutting through the plastic along the entire length of the tip, and then I rotated the tip 180 degrees and repeated the cut. A dovetail saw or finer toothed keyhole saw is idea for this since there is nothing holding the blade at its far end and thus you can make a cut flush with the carbon along the entire length of the tip (unlike a coping saw or hacksaw, although you could just use a hacksaw blade, sans the saw. I would not use a dremel for this since it would be almost impossible to detect when your blade touches the carbon). Then I sort of pried the tip off by inserting an old chisel in the cuts and twisting. It appears that the tips were glued on, which means the “crescent wrench method” is not going to work. However, it also appears that the glue was only near the tip of the carbon fiber pole–i.e. no glue holding the tip on from the first 1.75 inches or so of the tip (measuring from the end furthest from the carbide). Therefore, I am thinking that if I had cut the glued on part of the tip off, then the crescent wrench method probably would have worked. This would shorten the pole by a half inch or so–no biggie.
Two years ago Zpacks sent me replacement tips while I was on a thru hike. Worthless. I don’t know how they thought I could do this repair in the field.
