Was taking down a crankup today, and mindful of the many horror stories
and warnings about crankups, let me relate a couple points I noticed:
1. Of course, as others have said, beward of worn winch cables, climb it
with a ladder not with your toes and fingers through the tower "rungs," etc.
No problem with the cable today and climbed it with a ladder.
2. But...I've heard the winch handle can suddenly start "windmilling"
real fast, your hands let loose, and it whips around and slams you in the
arm, possibly removing it. I was careful. But, this did happen today
and I jumped back and wasn't hurt, but that thing was really spinning
fast. It seems to happen when the safety click latch (like on "come
alongs") is rusted and not working. So, be careful and watch for this!
3. A new problem I've never heard mentioned before: Though the tower
was in good shape, the winch handle was rusted and in fact had rusted
clear through about 2" from the end. It broke off, no big problem,
though it left a somewhat ragged end, not enough to hurt your hand with
reasonable care and gloves on, but enough to snag in the cloth work
gloves I was wearing. In a "runaway winch handle" situation it could
snag in the gloves and break a thumb and some fingers, or pull them off,
or impede your escape from the runaway handle. I recognized the
potential danger of this and took the gloves off.
The job was completed without mishap; these potential mishaps were avoided.
73
Rich Boyd KE3Q
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