Need advise from pack experts.

[IBen]

yea i replaced all the foam to thicker foam in shoulder straps and hip belt. but the foam padding in mine was punched out after 3 years and numerous animals packed out lol.
I also replaced all the foam in my kifaru the first week i had it
View attachment 846358

What spec foam are you buying?
I have some evazote and measuring it with a durameter stone glaciers foam has the same score. It would be nice to have some denser foam. I carry the denser foam from the barneys lumbar pad and put it in for pack outs.

 

[madcalfe]

What spec foam are you buying?
I have some evazote and measuring it with a durameter stone glaciers foam has the same score. It would be nice to have some denser foam. I carry the denser foam from the barneys lumbar pad and put it in for pack outs.

honestly i have no clue lol. i went to a foam store in town and they had sheets of this 1" thick foam it was pretty similar to the density that was in the packs already just thicker.
so bought a 4ft sheet for 40$ and did both my backpacks took only 2 hours to do. the hardest part is trying to push the thicker foam back into the shoulder straps.
then just went to an upholstery shop and got them to stitch up a could areas that I had to rip the stitching out.
think i paid them 20$ took like 5mins to do.

 

[Marble]

I am having a hard time following. Had a previous move straps down, now this one is up.

Did you add foam to your shoulder straps?

And, in the photo of your belt where is the top of the belt in that photo?

There should not be a gap here. The solution can be several things. Lengthing strap, relaxing load lifters and positioning the point at which the load lifters attaches to the strap is right at your collar bone.

When you put your pack on, loosen all the should straps, load lifters and chest strap. Buckle the waist belt, tighten. Put on bottom straps of the shoulder straps until they touch from back to front. Pull load lifters until the pack touches your back. Chest strap last. It's sole purpose if to keep the shoulder straps from sliding into your arm pits.

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[roosiebull]

To me, this sounds like a training/muscular issue and not a pack issue. I have had it before, more training with a pack made it go away.

There is no such thing as too much weight on the hips, even with 150 pounds, you should be able to slide a finger between the shoulder strap and the top of your shoulder.

If the belt is too low and is squeezing the muscles on your lateral hips, that can cause issues to.

Good luck.

That was my thought as well, when I haven’t carried weight in my pack for awhile, I will be sore for a short time, but with a little acclimation, the soreness goes away completely.

I’m similar build to the OP, but a little lighter yet. I’m 6’ even and weigh about 150# right now, there just isn’t much natural padding on us skinny kids, body needs a little consistent pack use to adjust.

Every pack I’ve owned has been that way, the k2 was probably the easiest in that regard, but my k4 stays up better, so a day of sore hips when I haven’t been in my pack in awhile is completely fine with me

 

[fngTony]

@Marbles makes a good point. I wore my pack too low that would pinch my hip muscles. The second thing I was doing wrong was once I moved my pack up I didn’t readjust my shoulder straps, just pulled them tighter. Also I had issues with the original krux, krux evo and xcurve fitting me. The shoulder straps seemed to long, bottomed out and not snug enough. Hip belt would sag where the frame sat in it. At the time I was your weight and similar height. 45lbs later and my hips bring their own padding but moving to another brand solved a lot it for me.

 

[WVELK]

@Marbles makes a good point. I wore my pack too low that would pinch my hip muscles. The second thing I was doing wrong was once I moved my pack up I didn’t readjust my shoulder straps, just pulled them tighter. Also I had issues with the original krux, krux evo and xcurve fitting me. The shoulder straps seemed to long, bottomed out and not snug enough. Hip belt would sag where the frame sat in it. At the time I was your weight and similar height. 45lbs later and my hips bring their own padding but moving to another brand solved a lot it for me.

Thanks for all the comments. I think I am getting there. With the pack riding a bit higher it helps. There is no doubt my load lifters were pulled to tight in my photos. One thing that SG suggests in their fitting video is to even adjust the tension on the sides of the belt as a last step. I have not tried that yet but will eventually and report back.

 

[WVELK]

I learn a great dead from searching forum posts and responses and alleviate the need to post 90 percent of the time. Therefore, if one is reading this in the future, I like to give a final update as to what worked for me.. First, I did raise the lumbar pad higher and took out one of the foam inserts. There are 2.5 in a SG pack. When raised it helped the pack ride in the right position and fit the contour of my body. Taking out one piece of foam helped prevent the pack from tipping forward, but as someone noted above those pads are bound to compress so don’t throw away your extra insert.

As for the load lifters, I was definitely pulling them too tight for the load in the bag.

My harness straps had to be raised where that attach to the velcro on the back face of the pack. This allowed the harness to come forward to where the change in color was over my clavicle. I am built more like an Ethiopian distance runner than a Russian power lifter. Therefore, when I attached the shoulder straps to the bag at the point of contact on the velcro I moved the ends outward and the tope inward so the strap was more narrow in the front.

Finally, the hip issue. I watched the SG fitting video and adjusted the two cinching straps on the belt. For me making the top strap shorter and the bottom one as loose as it would go was the ticket. It immediately eliminated my hip pain or pinching of the hips. Imagine the shape of a Christmas tree. With the top more narrow than the bottom is sat much better on my boney thin hips.

Thanks to all who helped me sort through this issue.