You know, many of you who’ve been on this forum for awhile know me as one who answers questions and offers advise far more often than the reverse. It wasn’t always that way. When I first found this board over three years ago I posted my share of HELP! threads. And just like you all here, the advice came from people kind enough to take the time to share their knowledge with one less informed. I gotta tell ya, the quantity and quality of the responses here are enough to warm the contents of my dry sump oil reservoir, and that’s a pretty good trick at 12 below this morning. Thank you all very, very much.

Anyone interested in crimping/swaging sleeves/ferrules on cable HAS to check out the site seacow sent me. Wow, I didn’t know such tools existed. Hand held swagers with built-in hydraulics capable of 14 tons of pressure with rotating heads and interchangeable dies! It’s no surprise they don’t post prices! It seems there may be a regional difference in terminology too, as this site calls ferrules sleeves. They have the more conventional “bolt cutter” type tool too. It’s worth a look just to know what’s available.

http://www.loosnaples.com/

My interest in this tool was borne of frays in the first few feet of my winch cable from lifting the snow blade. The angle is such that the roller fairlead just doesn’t offer much help. This is the second cable I’ve ruined raising and lowering a blade. For those of you considering using your winch for this purpose, I have a suggestion that I’ll be implementing shortly. During the snow removal season take off your 50’ winch cable and replace it with a “sacrificial” piece only about 2-3’ long. It will get frayed but you won’t ruin your main cable. There’s just no way to control the winding of the cable while winching the blade up and down. Aside from the angle, the slack is what kills it. Eventually you just end up with a birds nest on the spool and crushed spots on your cable.

The subject of sleeves/ferrules gave me an idea. It’s not like I’d have need of this tool more than a couple times a year, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be portable. If I could just buy the sleeves it’s likely a good vise would supply enough pressure to secure the loop. A couple small round pieces of metal placed into the vise vertically next to the horizontal sleeve could provide some extra “crimping” action. What do you guys think about that idea? With this in mind, I’ll be shopping for ferrules today to try it out. And you know what else, I’ve never had a cable break or a crimped sleeve / swaged ferrule fail in the field, but a couple cable clamps wouldn’t take up that much room in my riding “kit” just to be prepared.

 

floodrunner, My son once tried to put a U Joint in our Bronco with my shop vice---It bent the screw. A vice really won't give you enough clamping force. At our truck shop we had a hammer powered crimper that was for 1/0 and 2/0 electrical cable end that would probably be better.

 

I use a nicopress tool all the time when working with high tensile galvanized cattle wire. Go to Tractor Supply or Southern States or any other farm supply in your area and they should have a tool for you.The sleeves are quite expensive so hang on to them.

 

I use a nicopress tool all the time when working with high tensile galvanized cattle wire. Go to Tractor Supply or Southern States or any other farm supply in your area and they should have a tool for you.The sleeves are quite expensive so hang on to them.

 

I just read your last post Floodrunner. About the breakage, it won't break. Believe me, a sleeve that is correctly crimped will not break. A fellow was driving through my pasture one day in a late model ford pick-up at a good clip and didn't see the high tensile wire that was professionally installed by me, and drove through it, but not without destroying the whole front of his truck. The wire almost didn't break but it did. The sleeves never slipped or broke, though. And about the vise; bad idea. An incorrect crimp will cause the sleeve to break or slide.

 

SuperDuty335, your story confirms the premise that a properly-swaged loop loses no strength. Flowing the sleeve metal around each strand of wire rope when crimping spreads the load around evenly. A cable clip spreads the load unevenly; thus, the loop is not as strong; a "barn job" with a vise would likely result in uneven distribution also; therefore, a specialized crimper, bought or borrowed, is probably a better idea (the rigging shop crimps my cables).

Just a suggestion: Ever thought about marking those cable gates with strands of brightly-colored, iridescent (as in "Da-Glo" blaze orange), surveying/flagging tape? Hehehehehehehehehehe!

Tree Farmer

 

OK, I’m sufficiently talked out of the vise-crimp idea. Good advice doesn’t always come in the form of something you want to hear, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good advice.

I’ll probably call the 800# on the Loops site and see what they get for their tools. Happy New Year guys!

 

As a matter of coincidence I just broke my winch cable last night using it to raise and lower my plow. Unfortunately, to lift my plow as high as it can go the ferrule contacts the roller fairlead at about the same time the push bars contact the frame. The fairlead my dealer sold me has minimal clearance between the horizontal rollers and the ferrule won't slip on through, therefore, if you lifted too hard (easy to do with a 2000# winch and no easy way to tell if the plow is up all the way) you are constantly pulling on the cable right at the ferrule. Well, it finally had enough of that and broke clean and flush with the ferrule. I went out tonight looking for a new ferrule and found them at Home Depot. I also found a swaging tool there for $24.88. It does three different sizes of ferrules. I bought it and I'll let you know how it works.

On a related note, does anyone have any experience with electric plow lifts/actuators made by Cycle Country, WARN, Moose, etc. I think I like the idea, but haven't heard of anyone using one.

 

M-Grizz, your story is one I’m very familiar with. My winch cable broke twice in seven hours of plowing two days ago. Home Depot eh? We just had two of them open up about an hour south of here. I haven’t been in either one yet but I’ll check them out this week, thanks.

I’d be surprised if the actuators didn’t do a better job of raising and lowering a blade. After all, unlike a winch, that’s what they’re made to do. It’s just hard to justify a couple hundred bucks for an actuator when there’s already a winch mounted there.

Wow, that's gotta be a mighty sharp Grizz from your description!

 

You're right about $200.00 being kind of hefty. I think I'll make it through the rest of this season without an actuator, but next year it gets one. The Cycle Country lift looks kind of frail and cheap. The Moose actuator is made by WARN, I think, but they want $45.00 more to have their Moose name on it. The WARN actuator looks the best and has a nifty handlebar mounted switch that's convenient to your left hand without having to take your hand off the grip. Here's a good picture of the WARN actuator. It's almost all the way at the bottom of the page and the page takes awhile to open. www.atvpartsdepot.com/winmounkit.html

I just happened to look at the shelf below the ferrules and stuck way back out of sight was the swager. They only had one and it looked like it had been there since the store opened three years ago, or else it had been purchased, used, and returned several times. It's not something you use every day. Anyway, I'm off to the cold garage to fix my cable and install the grip heaters I got for Christmas.