My uncle the retired ironworker swore by WD-40 on crane cables, nearly got me fired

So my uncle Bill, who ran a crawler crane back in the 80s, told me to spray WD-40 on the hoist cables every morning to "keep em slick." I tried it on a job site in Pittsburgh last Wednesday, and the safety guy caught me within 20 minutes. He said WD-40 actually attracts dirt and can make the cable slip in the drum grooves. Has anyone else gotten bad advice from an old timer that almost cost them their job?

1 comments

1 Comment

skyler_white1mo ago

Is it really that big of a deal though? I mean, one time on a job, a guy told me to use dish soap on the tracks of a mini-excavator to get the mud off, and I did it for two weeks before anyone said a word. A safety guy catching you in 20 minutes sounds like he was just looking for something to write up. That said, your uncle's advice might be old school, but maybe for a different kind of cable or situation. Hard to say without knowing the exact conditions on that site.

-1