Low gear on the main winch, more control or just slower?

I spent the last two weeks running the main winch in low gear on a tower crane in Austin instead of the usual high gear everyone at my yard swears by. At first it felt way too slow, like I was holding up the whole pour, but the precise control when landing precast panels was honestly a game changer. The load barely swung at all, even with a 20 mph wind gusting, and I didn't have to ride the brake as much. My foreman saw me do it and said I was wasting time, but I finished the day ahead of schedule. Anyone else tried this on a busy site, or am I overthinking it?

1 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

1 Comment

phoenix_bailey11d ago

You ever had a job where the slow way just felt right? I ran a similar setup in Dallas, low gear on the winch during a tight glass install, and yeah, everyone gave me grief about pace. But I found the load didn't drift half as much when the wind picked up, so I spent way less time fighting the swing. My trick was to bump the gear back up for the long empty hook drops, then drop to low for the actual pick and set. That blend saved me maybe 15 minutes a day, and my spotter actually said it was easier on his nerves.

3