Swing cable snapped mid-lift last Tuesday, what a mess

I was moving a 12-ton HVAC unit onto a roof in Denver and the swing cable on my 50-ton Grove just let go. No warning, no fraying I could see during my morning check. Had to set the load down quick and use the boom to keep it steady while my guy ran for chains. Anyone else had a cable snap without any visible signs beforehand?

2 comments

2 Comments

webb.ben5d ago

And I used to be one of those guys who swore a good visual check was all you needed, but this story is making me rethink that. If a cable can look fine in the morning and then just let go on a lift, there's something going on inside that you can't see with your eyes. Maybe it's time to start looking into those ultrasonic testers or something, even if it feels like overkill.

hannahm395d agoTop Commenter

What gets me is nobody talks about how temperature swings affect cables differently depending on the time of day, especially on older lifts where the lubrication has broken down unevenly.