Overheard a guy at the equipment auction about bucket truck cable wear

Was at a Ritchie Bros auction outside Tulsa last Saturday and overheard two old timers talking about a 2019 bucket truck they were inspecting. One pointed at the boom cables and said, "See that fray? That's how you lose a bucket and a limb in the same afternoon." He said most guys check the lift cylinder but skip the cables until they snap, then they're paying for a hospital visit and a new truck. I've been running my own climbing gear for 12 years but never thought about the cable inspection side when I rent a lift. I went home and pulled the manual for my buddy's truck we use for deadwood jobs, and sure enough, the recommended check is every 30 hours, not whenever someone remembers. I've got a big job next week in a tight alley where a cable failure would drop the bucket right onto a fence and maybe a pedestrian. Has anyone else had a cable fail mid-run, or does everyone just trust the last guy's inspection sticker?

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carter.julia28d ago

That 30 hour check sounds great on paper, but how many shops actually log it on a rental or a buddy's truck? The sticker only shows when it was last inspected, not what the cable looked like mid-job. Do you trust the paper trail more than your own eyes before you send someone up in that alley?