Quote:
Originally Posted by A26B
I hear you Bob, just bothersome and a by-product of cost control. There are better methods of cable end attachment, but they are more costly.
The good thing is... your sharp eye and attention to detail caught it before something really bad happened.
It's just a thought, but 2 things crossed my mind;
1. Are the replacement cables going to be tested before they are installed?
2. I wonder if there is any benefit or detriment to applying some high strength Loctite product to the cable before it is crimped in place. Off hand, only detriment I can think of is the cable end test should be delayed until past cure time.
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Yes I am glad I noticed it, too. In my youth I used to make stays for sailboat masts by swaging stainless steel wire, usually with a loop on a thimble (that actually might be one of your "better ways" to secure the cables, rather than the direct crimp, but probably more expensive). Anyway, I got used to noticing if anything seemed out of whack. I would recommend that anyone with a lift that is a few years old do regular inspections looking for both broken strands around the sheaves or a loose sub-cable like mine. I put a little tension on the cables and the loose one was a bit more obvious. There was some luck involved--it was on a cable on the same side as the lift controls so in my line of sight when operating the lift. If it were on the other side I am not sure I would have noticed it when I did. Every time I used the lift I looked down the car towards the cable. I was used to seeing a uniform width cable, so when the loose one became visible it was because it made the cable look less uniform, a bit lumpy.
As to your two questions, I do not know if the cables are all tested or perhaps randomly tested when manufactured. I presume that some sort of verification of the strength of them was done at some point. And while I will defer to more talented engineers here, I would think that putting anything, even Loctite, between the swage and the cable would be detrimental to the pressure and friction bond between them. Kind of like putting some anti seize lubricant on a spark plus changes required torque settings. But that is just a guess. --Bob