[TowerTalk] Pulley Lubrication

[NPAlex at aol.com]

Steve,
 
Having had one LM-470 crank up cable fail because a pulley bearing had  
rusted and would not turn, and the added stress caused the failure. Sealed or  
not here in Florida they get water inside.  I also had a frozen bearing on  
my current US 589 tower, fortunately it was on the pull down cable and not a 
 high risk. 
 
Each of these pulley bearings are of the closed , ball bearing design,  but 
have had water intrusion and rusted.   Once rusted it is easy for  the 
bearing balls to become misshapen and then freeze the pulley - I am sticking  
with my recommendation as it has happened to me.
 
Norm W4QN
===========================================
 
In a message dated 9/4/2012 1:57:44 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
K7LXC at aol.com writes:

>  So my recommendation is to regularly lube the cables,  and rigorously 
grease the pulley bearings.  Because the pulley bearings  are deep within a 
'sheave' I recommend drilling a small hole (1/8") next to  the pulley mounting 
bolt so that a lubricant can be squirted directly into the  bearing
 
    It's probably not necessary. For years, UST (and  others I'm sure) have 
used pulleys with pressed-in sealed bearings so no  attention is needed. 
OTOH if your pulleys have bushings instead, periodic  lubing is a good 
practice. 
 
Cheers,
Steve     K7LXC
TOWER TECH