Why does nobody talk about how fast crane cable can fray in salt air?

Been running a Liebherr LTM 1050 on a dock job near Wilmington, NC for about 6 weeks now. Checked the hoist cable this morning and found a strand broken on the drum wrap. I know the standard says replace after visible broken wires but this is only 4 months old. Factory spec should last way longer inland. Anyone else run into this near the coast?

2 comments

2 Comments

noah_walker161d ago

Man I feel your pain, I had a crane cable snap on me six months early on a pier job in Florida and my foreman STILL brings it up every safety meeting like I was the one who salt-water-dipped the thing. That "4 months old" factory spec line hit home real hard - mine was supposed to last a year and it started fraying around the drum like it was allergic to the ocean air. Salt spray just eats the lubricant out of those wires faster than you can say "replacement cost." I basically treat coastal crane cable like a consumable now, like printer ink but way more expensive and with way more potential for catastrophic failure.

rivera.simon1d ago

Printer ink but way more expensive" lmao @noah_walker16, that's brutal but accurate. I can't believe your foreman is still giving you grief over something the salt air wrecked before it even had a chance lol.