[TowerTalk] Winch cable for a LM354

[Doug Rehman]

First, I presume we are talking about the pull-up/pull-down cables, not the
tilt/raising winch cable. 

I think the confusion comes from the fact that the Tri-Ex LM-354's used to
ship with 1/4". My LM-354HDSP was one of the later ones (probably built
around 2001 or 2002) and it came with 1/4". The LM-354's now ship with 3/16"
according to the website.

I've already replaced the 1/4" pull down wire rope with 3/16". (It was in
very bad shape when I acquired the tower last year.) The pull ups will get
replaced in a year or two.

I've posted before on the topic of sheave/pulley diameter and wire rope
size. The sheaves on the LM-354 are too small for the recommended bending
radius of 1/4"; this will cause excessive wear on the wire rope. There is a
tale in the archives of someone who replaced 3/16" with 1/4" and suffered a
premature failure.

Doug
K4DDR