What do you do if you drop a small tool into the area around the winch drum?

[wildpig1234]

Sorry if it sounds like a crazy question ...lol... I am a model crane collector and if i drop a small nut into the winch area, I just turn the model over and most of the time it will just drop out.

But what do you do on a real crane? and how do you keep that area around the winch clean? any worry about water collecting there and promote rust?

 

[Vetech63]

Define “small tool”

 

[crane operator]

Define “small tool”

If you have one, you know it.....

 

[crane operator]

On to the winch question, now that we've cleared up that confusion. The winches have drain holes in the bottom, so unless they fill up with trash (leaves, grease etc.) they won't hold water.

I've dropped stuff down in them before when working, and usually you can take a piece of wire and work it out. If not, I have had to put in the block and run a bunch of stick out, and reel a bunch of the cable off so I could get down in there. There's a lot of room if there's no cable on the drum.

 

[DMiller]

Much of the tooling used around these NOT SMALL by any sense of imagination!! Have dropped nuts or small parts into Winch Heads, and also managed to fish out the drain holes, not much to catch on inside the support ends.

 

[tractormech]

If you have one, you know it.....

That's why you have to leave your feelings in the truck-they'll get hurt out here! I bought a 4hp Johnson for a little boat I have and my "SO-called-friend"LOL saw it and looked at me funny. I said I guess now you'll be telling everybody I have a small Johnson. BIG grin on his face. I need new friends.

 

[DMiller]

Almost as bad as a 'Buddy' talking about the Huge Johnson he drove down the lake!! That took a LONG time to wear off!!!!

 

[wornout wrench]

What do I do, quite often I just have to forget about it. The logging machines I worked on it were just about impossible to retrieve something and if the lines were on the drum, forget it.

I do have an extendable magnet that is really strong, wrap some black tape around the sides so it doesn't stick to everything and try to fish around. But usually all you get is a bunch of junk.

I used to do lots of machine rebuilds, it was amazing the amount of tools you found once you took them all apart.

 

[highwayghost]

When I work over an similar area where things can fall and be hard to retrieve, I tie off a string or thin wire to the tool/object. It seems like a waste of time until something slips from your grip. Then your glad you did, because getting it back really slows to work.

 

[wornout wrench]

I ran cheap tools, working in the elements can be hard on stuff, kept the good ones in the shop.
Set of cheap china wrenches, need to bend one or loose one, can replace the whole set for less money then buying a single snapon.

Honestly, are you going to spend a couple of hours dropping the belly pan on a D8 to rescue a 9/16 wrench or just go to the store and spend $13 bucks for a new one.

 

[tractormech]

Almost as bad as a 'Buddy' talking about the Huge Johnson he drove down the lake!! That took a LONG time to wear off!!!!

Some of this stuff has a LOT of glue on it.....it takes a long time to wear off. My daughter saw a coffee cup with POW/MIA on it. She was little and didn't know what it stood for. She read it like it looked-"POW"-a loud noise and "MIA"...a girl's name. What's "Pow Mia"?...THere's super glue on that one!

 

[Welder Dave]

I worked at a tank shop and was helping to block off a 400 barrel for testing. It was standing vertical and we were on top bolting a cover on a flange. We went up in a 3 ton bucket truck that could only be operated from the truck. A wrench fell inside the tank and there was no one around to let us down to retrieve the wrench. The laborer I was working with was allowed to wear steel toed running shoes because work boots were too slippery on steel. He ran down the boom into the back of the truck. Got someone to lift him back up and said next time I had to do it. That was one of the scariest/stupid things I've ever seen! One slip and he would have been toast. Another guy was fired because he lifted someone up in the truck and started moving the boom in out to shake the bucket with the guy at full height.

 

[tractormech]

What do I do, quite often I just have to forget about it. The logging machines I worked on it were just about impossible to retrieve something and if the lines were on the drum, forget it.

I do have an extendable magnet that is really strong, wrap some black tape around the sides so it doesn't stick to everything and try to fish around. But usually all you get is a bunch of junk.

I used to do lots of machine rebuilds, it was amazing the amount of tools you found once you took them all apart.

You must have worked on those yarders with the skycars and all that stuff. Looks very labor intensive. Like a friction rig crawler crane. We have a lot of pile driving cranes down here and everything is heavy,rusty,seized up and a general pain in the rear.They work on the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico and I don't think that anything's been made that salt air and water don't eat up.

 

[wildpig1234]

Lol. thanks for the entertaining answers. I guess i can make my models a little more realistic by taking a drill to the bottom of the model? I do notice that this area on an old used crane seems to be very dirty on a lot of the pictures.

And yes, it would be a real PITA to have to unwind most of the ropes to get in there to retrieve things. even just unreeling all the "rope" on my model crane is tiresome for the fingers....lol...

Not also to mention the fact that unwinding the "rope" on the model a lot of times causing the rope to jump off the pulleys....lolll..

 

[wornout wrench]

You must have worked on those yarders with the skycars and all that stuff. Looks very labor intensive. Like a friction rig crawler crane. We have a lot of pile driving cranes down here and everything is heavy,rusty,seized up and a general pain in the rear.They work on the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico and I don't think that anything's been made that salt air and water don't eat up.

Yup, when I first started my apprenticeship lots of our log loaders were modified cranes, did lots of work on Americans. All friction, all pains in the butt. Not too many worked in the salt air, thank goodness.

Closest I go to something like that was working on the self loading logging barges. Rust, ugh...

 

[kshansen]

Yes if you drop a wrench down in the belly pan or for that matter the VEE of some engines, just leave it there the next guy to do a major overhaul might just need that tool. I know I found a few over the years.

Did I ever mention the large Snap-On screwdriver I found in the door of a Mack truck? That's the good news. The bad news is I had lost that screwdriver about a year before and had bought a new one in the mean time!

 

[wornout wrench]

Lol. thanks for the entertaining answers. I guess i can make my models a little more realistic by taking a drill to the bottom of the model? I do notice that this area on an old used crane seems to be very dirty on a lot of the pictures.

And yes, it would be a real PITA to have to unwind most of the ropes to get in there to retrieve things. even just unreeling all the "rope" on my model crane is tiresome for the fingers....lol...

Not also to mention the fact that unwinding the "rope" on the model a lot of times causing the rope to jump off the pulleys....lolll..

I'll tell you this, many a time I would have loved to have been able to pick a piece of equipment up, turn it over and shake the crap out of it. Mostly out of rage.

 

[tractormech]

Yup, when I first started my apprenticeship lots of our log loaders were modified cranes, did lots of work on Americans. All friction, all pains in the butt. Not too many worked in the salt air, thank goodness.

Closest I go to something like that was working on the self loading logging barges. Rust, ugh...

You need a tetanus shot before you work on it.

 

[tractormech]

Yes if you drop a wrench down in the belly pan or for that matter the VEE of some engines, just leave it there the next guy to do a major overhaul might just need that tool. I know I found a few over the years.

Did I ever mention the large Snap-On screwdriver I found in the door of a Mack truck? That's the good news. The bad news is I had lost that screwdriver about a year before and had bought a new one in the mean time!

Now you have a spare

 

[wornout wrench]

I found that a good shot of Tennessee whiskey after the night was over worked better