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Old timer's rope trick cost me a load in Odessa last month

A retired operator I met at a greasy spoon in Odessa told me to always keep my tagline slack before a lift, claimed it prevents shock loading. First time I tried it with a 12-ton concrete panel, the load swung hard enough to graze a scaffold and we had to set it down early. Took me two hours to re-rig and the foreman was not happy about the delay. His method might work for some setups, but my crane's load chart and the wind that day said otherwise. Anyone else had a so-called pro tip backfire when you tested it on a real job? What did you trust instead, your own numbers or their experience?

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hannah3204d ago

Old timers love their tricks, and some of them are golden, but that one sounds like it was made for a different machine altogether. My uncle used to swear by putting a wet burlap sack over his fuel cap in the winter, said it kept the diesel from gelling. Tried it once on a generator and the moisture got into the lines, froze solid, and killed the whole job for a day. I trust the numbers on the chart and what the wind gauge tells me, because that rope trick of yours could have killed someone if that scaffold was closer. Experience is nice, but it doesn't always translate to what you're running that day.

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