Hot take: My car hoist method for adjusting governor ropes was a bad idea

I was working on a 12 story building in Phoenix and used a car hoist to tension the governor rope, thinking it gave me more control. A guy from the local union saw it and said, 'You're putting a side load on that sheave it was never meant to take.' That clicked and I realized I could have damaged the assembly. How do you guys get perfect tension without specialized tools on site?

3 comments

3 Comments

sagew501mo ago

That side load risk is real, a simple rope clamp and weight works well.

bettys511mo ago

You guys ever actually used one? They hold fine if you set them right. Seen way worse jury rigs than a clamp and a dead weight. Sometimes simple is just simple, not sketch.

the_morgan1mo ago

Wait, you're just using a rope clamp and a weight? @sagew50, that sounds like a total sketch setup. I mean, what if the clamp slips? I've seen stuff go wrong when people try to cheap out on rigging. A proper tensioning system isn't that much more and it's way safer. Maybe it's just me but that seems like a huge risk to take.