[TowerTalk] crankup winch cable, w/prelube 6 and dirt on surface

[Jay R. Holcomb]

hi,
i did use the prelube 6 on my crank up tower cables last fall and i think all went well.  however this spring i see the cables now have a layer of dirt on them. there is a lot of dust in the air here in spokane and the prelube has attracted it.  i wiped off a little, which took some effort, the cable under is shiny and looks like new.  Steve mentioned about grease attacking the dirt and this is not so good.
 
seems even if its prelube 6 that attracts the dirt this is not good either.  wiping it off is going to take a lot of work though should i go through the effort, or can it wait until i do the annual prelube 6 this fall? 
 
73 & soft landings, jay, wa0www> ------------------------------> > Message: 7> Date: Sun, 11 May 2008 14:16:48 EDT> From: K7LXC at aol.com> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] crankup winch cable ... etc.> To: k2qmf at juno.com> Cc: towertalk at contesting.com> Message-ID: <c71.2f636b6b.35589210 at aol.com>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"> > > In a message dated 5/11/2008 7:59:53 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, > k2qmf at juno.com writes:> > > Does stainless steel aircraft cable require a coating???> > There's no coating involved. A cable lubricant like PreLube 6 is a > lightweight material that soaks into the cable to lubricate the strands. > > I've seen guys lubing their crank-up cables with a heavy grease, which > is about the worst thing you can do. Not only does the grease trap moisture in > the cables, it also attracts dirt and contaminants that will accelerate > wear. > > Someone earlier mentioned using WD-40 to lubricate the cables. WD stands > for Water Displacement which is what it's intended use is. It's not really a > lubricant although it has some characteristics of one. > > I would imagine that any wire rope needs periodic lubrication. > > Cheers,> Steve K7LXC> TOWER TECH