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Cable snapped on a Grove RT650 at a job site in Phoenix - here's what I did
Ngl, I was about 80 feet up on a Grove RT650 at a construction site in Phoenix last Tuesday when I heard this weird ping sound. Then the load line went slack and the whole cable just unwound from the drum. I honestly froze for a second because I've never had a cable fail on me like that. Turned out the cable had a hidden nick from rubbing against a sharp beam edge on a previous lift. I kept my cool, lowered the boom slowly using the backup controls, and had the load secured with a tagline crew already holding it steady. Nobody got hurt, but the foreman chewed me out for not inspecting the cable more often between lifts. Has anyone else dealt with a sudden cable failure like that or was I just unlucky with that hidden damage?
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norathomas28d ago
That exact same thing happened to me last year on a Link-Belt. A tiny scrape from a concrete edge wore through the cable jacket and I never saw it during my walkaround. What saved me was having a ground guy already on the tagline, just like you did. The second the line went slack the tagline crew took the weight and I did an emergency boom down using the foot pedal controls. After the foreman cooled off he actually thanked me for keeping the tagline crew in place, which I always do now even for short lifts. Your backup controls are your best friend, I tested mine every morning after that and told the other operators to do the same. It is scary how fast it happens, but you handled it textbook.
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