Back to the question I asked, and answering it ---
I rented a 40' boom lift to lube cables and check and fix some things.
Today I lubed all cables for 2 HDX589s in about 4 hours. I (still) have
a rotator problem (another post). In process, I found the end director
on my 12L 2m beam loose. Since it is at the top of the 20' mast (15'
above tower top and a 4L SteppIR) it wouldn't have been fixed w/o the
boom lift.
I'd advise 3 of cans Prelube 6 per 589 as a generous amount, but I got
it done with 2 ea, barely. Adding a tube extension to the nozzle helps
a lot to keep the spray in the slit plastic funnel that helps the lube
go onto the cable. A random tube from my workbench (WD40?) fit the
Prelube can. With the tower nested access is pretty tight at the top,
so the tube helps a lot there as well. For the most internal cable, it
was hard to get the funnel in there so careful steady spraying down the
cable seemed to work well. When I could fit the funnel, a medium spray
level allows the lube to spiral down the cable at a speed that doesn't
fling it off. I was concerned that where the cables touch the W
bracing the lube might detour off, but not so much. I could spray until
the lube ran down 5 to 10'. Did this for every cable on that face, and
then I repositioned the boom lift lower, doing each tower side top to
bottom. A bit of lube foam marked the end of where the lube ran down
the cables, but it is quite easy to lose track of what is saturated.
Geez, there are a lot of cables! I made sure each thimble, saddle clamp
and around each sheave were thoroughly saturated. Disposable nitrile
gloves held up for the duration. By the time I completed a tower, the
first sprayed cables were dry to touch. Then I sprayed the cable that
never leaves the drum, the leadscrews, and gears. These towers have
been up about 18 months and the cables appeared very dry of any
lubricants. Redmond, WA rains I guess.
b.t.w. the tension springs were looking pretty rusty, not good for
spring steel. Any experiences about how to replace them?
To answer another post, I lubed the sheaves with 30w oil run down each
side. It stopped the squeal. It is certain the sheave bearings are
sealed ball bearings? Seems like oil wouldn't work with them but would
with porous bronze sleeve bearings. They would be cheaper and less
likely to fail in the weather. Spraying the Prelube on the sheave cable
probably got a lot to the bearings, whatever they are.
I've read a bunch of wire rope manufacturers literature, plus the
infinite loop reflector posts, and became convinced lubricating the
cables with Prelube 6 is the way to go. Seeing how dry the cables were,
and the bird crap already stuck on them, reinforced this as the right
decision for me. I'll do it again in three years or so.
Grant KZ1W
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