Not sure if I'm doing this right so I'll ask. I have a nice little JD350 short track dozer with what looks like a 24T Carco winch on it. Every year I'll lash the cable to a big tree with a trunk saver, put on a little brake drag and drive it out to the very end. I'll loose wrap a rag around the line and run it back and forth to check for snags, Once its snag free I'll get a gallon jug of bar and chain lube, put on some rubber gloves, wrap my fingers around the cable and pour the oil into my hand as I walk backwards. I can usually get the cable to suck up about a quart to quart and a half of oil. Its a 100' 5/8 cable. After it sits for a couple minutes, I'll spin up the winch and let it pull the dozer back to the tree so its all laid on nice and flat. Is bar oil good enough or should i get some #1 grease? Any better ways to do this?
Yair . . . fast_st. Mate you would have the best cared for rope I have ever heard of, way beyond what most folks do, I wouldn't change a thing . . . I used sump oil on the D8. Cheers.
Sure beats what I do....just pour some drain oil on the drum.
When I used to run an old 1080B Case excavator, it had a contraption that held a can of spray lube for the swing gear. Case would send out cans of wire rope/open gear spray lube. It was in a yellow can. You did NOT want to get that stuff on your hands. Just an idea?? Couple of options: http://www.sprayon.com/product-cate...en-gear-and-wire-rope-lubricant-aerosol-lu201 or http://www.whitmores.com/products/wire-rope-and-cable.htm
It sounds like you have a winch line that is better cared for than most hoist lines. The only thing I can see doing different is that if you do ocassionally use it to pull would be to cut a foot or so off the line on the drum end before you rewind it. That will put the rub, wear, reeve back, points on to a new spot between the cable and the drum.
Diesel fuel does a good job on things like that. You can use it straight, or heat it up and melt a little more wax into the mix, add some linseed oil, etc. The oil is lighter and doesn't last, but the wax and other heavier portions are left behind. It can't attract any more dirt than bar oil does. Works nice on high lift jacks, chain binders, come alongs, so I'd think it would work for a winch cable.
Thanks gang, I've just seen so many winch lines on wreckers and the like fail, they look fine on the outside but the inside just dissolves and the cable snaps under load in a cloud of orange dust after a little bit of crying. I'm cheap so prefer not to replace any cables without good reason. I also hate snags! had one go right through a glove and corkscrew into my palm. So anytime I find one, I'll clip it back and if its still bitey, will give it a lick with a small torch tip to ball it over. But it seems, if you treat a cable kindly you won't get snags! I do like the idea of shifting the position of the cable on the drum and I do have a 5 gallon pail of cosmoline as well.
I have been trying the Fluid Fim AR.... buy it by the bucket anyways so why not
I like the fluid film as well as Cosmoline and boiled linseed oil, also have gemplers XO rust, Anything to slow rust down outside of moving to arizona.