Old hand told me to grease the wedge socket every single day... I didn't listen

First week at the Port of Seattle, a 20 year vet said grease that wedge socket daily or pay for it. I skipped three days and the rope started birdcaging on a 50 ton lift, nearly dropped a container. Has anyone else learned the hard way that little maintenance steps actually matter on these older cranes?

3 comments

3 Comments

jasonf3515d ago

Grease is cheap, cranes aren't. I saw a guy skip lube on a swing bearing for a week and it locked up mid lift, took three days and a welder to fix. Old timers usually have a reason for their crazy routines, turns out they just don't want us killing anybody.

laura_chen4115d ago

That story from @jasonf35 made me rethink skipping the grease gun myself.

karenb9714d agoTop Commenter

Yeah and the thing people miss is it's not just the mechanical failure. @laura_chen41 that grease gun habit also saves your back when you're not fighting a seized up bearing at 50 feet in the air. I've seen guys skip the lube and then dump water in the bearing housing to get it moving again which is even dumber because now you've got rust and grit grinding everything down. The old timers probably learned that lesson by breaking something expensive or dangerous first. Grease costs nothing compared to a hospital bill or a totaled machine.