I searched the forums for "wire rope", "steel cable", "winch line" "cable" to avoid asking this question. How do you treat or use wire rope? Is it a vital part that you get specifically and when it is used up it gets scrapped. Like dozer sprocket? Shovel hoisting line? (Purchase Made to order) Is it a part of the machine that is use/abuse dependent and will last for your time with the machine? Dozer winch line? (Never need replacement) A consumable on hand.? You bought it without a specific job in mind. Like welding rod for repairs. I'm a farmer who has little experience with the stuff. I have read what I can from Audel,"Moving the Earth" and manufacturer handbooks but mostly used little pieces or small diameter for guying. Biggest I have dealt with is 7/16 out of elevators that was given to me. I want to build a Hook for removing weeds and a silt scoop to clean out a few ponds. Chain is not as abrasion resistant, more money and weight. I can buy new but if I can a few hundred feet of out of service life crane line it would work. I found one online shop with 3/4 6x26 for $1.50/foot so a used up ready to kill chunk is just not worth it. It is second nature for some of you. But unfamiliar territoryfor me.
Yair . . . FarmWrench . It may be worth a call direct to a crane hire outfit, last time I was at the local scrappers I saw some rolls of 5/8" that would bring tears to your eyes to see it scrapped . . . others on here will have a far better understanding of the crane situation than me. All wire ropes need replacing. On rope actuated equipment such as scrapers the coil is mounted on a reel and about ten or fifteen feet of fresh stuff was pulled through every week. This was to shift the wear pattern as the breaks usually happen on the sheaves. Some nice long lengths were available when it became time to weld on a new length and start again from scratch . . . not much availability of that stuff these days. Fishing trawlers are another possibility. Sure their ropes have run in salt water but they change them fairly often . . . they don't want to risk losing a set of expensive boards and nets. From what I have seen of trawler rope it still would have some useful life around a farm for silt scooping and such. Cheers.
Every logger has left 6-20 foot chunks of prickly twisted cable at every landing. Old wells are often littered with both new scraps and the used up. A very unusual piece was left by a cable dozer removing stumps in the '50 that no scrap collector will make off with. I know it gets used up but I rarely run into unused. It is not like chain that will let you know when it has been overloaded. If we got really stuck a neighbor had a huge old chain from a steel mill bridge crane that everyone would borrow. So I don't have the experience of using a big cable to recover equipment. Until recently I disliked all rope. I only knew it as that big old stinky brown thing that Grandfather asked me to fetch and it had rotted out to the strength of oatmeal. After learning a pile of knots in the fire department I have a new found respect. I always figured that the cable was such a pain and weak point that it helped doom draglines.
You've probably read this too, but I'll link it anyway, maybe some other folks might have an interest in wire rope... :cool2 Oh, and check some of the external links at the bottom, if you have a notion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_rope OCR...
I use and treat it different ways. We do overhead lifting of concrete structures, pipe, and shoring equipment, and in that situation it is imperative that the slings be in perfect condition with legible rating tags . As soon as a sling begins to show signs of wear, it is retired from lifting, but can still be used for pulling/recovery/guying a conveyor. generally the eyes/thimbles/ends are the problem, but sometimes it is in the middle of a run.
I remember when I first started on construction, on a big job the ironworkers would have a rig they would use to straighten out the inevitable kinks in the steel chokers so they would look good when they were used again. Haven't seen that for many years, chokers now get scrapped, preferably cut in half when they get too kinked up.
Check your yellow pages or Internet for your local crane rental service company. OSHA has very strict standards for crane cable and they get changed often. Some will give it away or sell it cheaply for tow cable. Hoist cable will have a rope core, skidder cable as well as most steel chokers will have a wire core. You can spin yourself silly with all the various wraps and wire compositions that are out there for various applications. With the exception of the 7 strand solid wire any of the wire rope will work for your application. 7 strand solid is used mainly for tie backs where it is installed once and not moved.
Most of my wire rope is used on a winch truck or crane. I do keep various lengths of tow & choker cables . They will last a long time if took care of. One thing I do is keep it all under roof out of the elements to prevent rust damage. Also try to avoid kinking it or wrapping around a sharp edge . Found some more information at www.vernoncorp.com/products/black-diamond-wire-rope/