Unless those things are made in the USA I wouldn't trust them. The only
exception MIGHT be if they're made by an established
well-known-in-the-trade US company in one of their factories overseas
(China, Taiwan, etc.). Otherwise I'd stay clear of any tool made in
another country, the Far East especially, as they just don't have the
materials' quality controls in place and A) won't last, B) they're
dangerous! Nothing like having a guy cable suddenly snap under tension
(or worse) because the nylon web strap was of inferior material quality
or the ratchet suddenly fails because of poor quality steel.
You get the idea.
Bill Sievers
W5IQJ
W0UN--Signal Hill Ranch wrote:
>
> Come-alongs have been discussed here before and the
> cheapest ones may be worth even less than what they
> cost.
>
> The best deal on a high quality unit that is more than
> adequate for most ham applications is a unit that
> is available at Sam's Club. It is rated at 2 TONS and
> has a dual ratchet casting (forged? probably not).
> It is pretty heavy duty compared to most you will see
> at home improvement stores and the only thing that
> you can find that is better are the $200 chain-drive
> ones used by the utility companies. The ones at
> Sams have an extra hook and pulley so you can double
> the cable over for twice the lift.
>
> Price is only $18 and I think I have bought 6 or 8 over
> the past year. You can never have enough good
> come-alongs. They were still at the local Sam's Club last
> night so should be stocked around the country.
>
> Another thing of interest are the nylon load straps. These
> are the wide ones rated at 10,000 pound test. Great for
> hauling lots of tower and I just used four to secure
> a 1977 T-Bird to my big trailer to haul it 700 miles.
>
> The ones at Sam's Club are 27 ft long and identical ones
> (but only 25 ft long) were $28 at an auto supply store and
> the ones at Sam's are only $12. Shows you something about
> markups.
>
> Just leave some for me--I am sure I will want to buy more!
>
> John W0UN
>
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List Sponsor: Are you thinking about installing a tower this summer? Call us
for information on our fabulous Trylon Titan self-supporting towers - up to
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