Tried synthetic slings on a tower crane pick last Tuesday - never again

I thought I'd save time swapping out the wire rope for synthetic slings on a 12-ton steel beam lift. The sling slipped on the hoist drum after the third rotation, almost dumped the load. Lucky the spotter caught it. Learned the hard way: synthetics are fine for mobile cranes, but on a tower crane with all that drum wrap, stick to wire. Anyone else had a close call mixing rigging gear?

3 comments

3 Comments

victor_jones997d agoMost Upvoted

You mean a synthetic sling on the drum itself or just the lifting sling?

shane_fisher3710d ago

Yeah, that sounds about right. Synthetic slings just don't have the bite on a smooth drum like wire rope does. I'd never trust them for anything with more than a couple wraps.

grace_wright10d ago

Not gonna lie @shane_fisher37, I used to be all about synthetic slings for everything. Thought they were just easier to handle and no risk of cutting your hands up, you know? But after seeing a buddy's winch slip on a smooth drum with a synthetic line a few months back, yeah, that changed my mind real quick. Wire rope just grabs better on those first few wraps and doesn't give you that sketchy feeling. You make a solid point about not trusting them beyond a couple wraps, I'm honestly rethinking my whole setup now.