I keep seeing guys skip their daily wire rope inspections on crawler cranes

Last Tuesday a guy on my site in Houston nearly dropped a 12 ton precast panel because he didn't catch a broken strand in the pendant lines from the day before, has anyone else noticed this getting worse since the new guys came in?

2 comments

2 Comments

evan_stone1mo ago

Tbh I think you're mixing up pendant lines with the main hoist wire rope, those are two different inspections with different critical wear points. The real issue is people not knowing the difference between a broken wire and a normal wear pattern from the sheaves.

ericschmidt1mo ago

Start thinking about the lube point too, @evan_stone. Everyone focuses on wire breaks but neglects how dry operational conditions accelerate wear patterns across both lines. I've seen rigs where the hoist rope looked fine on the surface but had internal corrosion from skipped lubrication schedules. That internal damage shows up as weird wear near the termination points that people mistake for sheave issues. The pendant lines suffer worse because they cycle differently and catch more environmental grit. Check your maintenance logs against your inspection reports and see if the lube intervals match the manufacturer's spec for your specific operating hours.