Buzzlineman is reader supported. If you purchase after clicking the affiliate links, I’ll earn some money- maybe even enough to buy me a new pair of work gloves. You do not pay a higher price.
What is a cable grip used for? Well for us lineman they help us grab the guy wire/strand to keep it from moving. Honestly, most of the things a cable grip can do can also be done by a preformed guy grip. However, preforms are inefficient and more work to use, especially when climbing poles. I’ll tell you a few ways lineman use cable grip pullers regularly and which one is my favorite.
The Best Cable Grip for Lineman
Reliability and ease of use are two important factors when it comes to using cable/wire grips. This Klein Chicago grip gets the job done over and over with no fuss and it’s so simple to use. Attach it to your strand and then attach it to your hoist and then you’re ready to go. When you’re done easily push and it pops right off. It’s not large and cumbersome like some grips can be.
Strap and Hoist on Pole
There comes a time every now and then when you cannot tighten the strand via truck or 4 wheeler. When this occurs a strap and hoist are a must. Simply wrap your strap around the pole, near your frame and then attach your hoist to your strap. From there all you need to do is put your cable grip/preform on the strand and then attach the other side of your hoist to your grip. Once you have all this complete you are ready to start tightening your stand via the hoist and grip.
Some lineman will call it a grip, some a cable puller, wire puller, pulling grip, cable grip puller. Whatever the name it does the job.
Down Guy and Hoist
When pulling a down guy you’ll need the hoist and once again the cable grip. Attach your hoist to the anchoring however you prefer, and then the other side of the hoist will attach to the grip. Secure the guy wire/strand in the grip, with the hoist strap or chain mostly extended. From there you simply use the hoist and normal until you have your strand as tight as you need it. You’ll need to loosen your hoist a bit to get some tension off the grip and then you simply push and pop it off.
Tightening Strand by Truck
One of the most often situations that a cable grip gets used is when we need to “suck up” strand. The strand is always loose on the ground initially. We then slowly raise it into the air to its desired height. In order to do this we use a truck, most of the time. In certain situations we will use a 4 wheeler. That usually only happens when we cannot get a truck to the pole line.
A strap and a cable grip puller is all that is needed to successfully get strand sucked up. We will attach the strap the grip and then the strap to the trailer. This allows you to quickly attach to suck the strand up and then when the lineman is done tightening the clamp the groundhand can back up, quickly pop the grip off and then continue driving off more strand from the reel.
Conclusion
We pull a lot of down guys and suck up strand via truck almost every pole so using the grip is extremely handy and saves a ton of time in comparison to the preformed guy grip. Preformed guy grips are great, but they take too much time to twist on and off and they start to wear, which causes your strand to slip through the preform. When your strand slips through you’re never able to get the desired tightness you need. For these reasons I prefer to use a cable grip, wire grip, whatever you want to call it.
Check out the article about The Top 10 Tools Every Fiber Optic Lineman Needs