Why Did My Lug-All Handle Break?

If you are wondering why the handle on your Lug-All come along ratchet winch hoist bent or seemed to break, you’re not alone. Users who don’t know all of the exact design elements of Lug-All winch hoists are sometimes confused when their handle seems to fail.

You might think that the handle is defective or poor quality. However, the apparent failure of a handle is actually an intentional design feature of Lug-All handles.

Lug-All web strap and wire rope winch hoists use different kinds of handles. Wire rope hoists use steel handles, while web strap hoists use fiberglass handles. Both types of handles include a similar function incorporated into the handle design: overload protection.

Steel Handles

Each individual wire rope hoist comes equipped with a handle specifically designed for the hoist’s capacity. For this reason, handles are not interchangeable between hoists of different capacities. When the load on a wire rope hoist is significantly higher than its maximum capacity (25 to 50 percent over the rated capacity), the steel handle will bend.

When the handle bends, it means that it is not safe to continue lifting or pulling the object attached to the Lug-All come along. The safe course of action is to use the bent handle to back off the load.

Fiberglass Handles

On web strap hoists, the fiberglass handles are attached with a handle socket assembly. The handle socket assembly includes a stress link that will break when the hoist is loaded over its maximum capacity. The stress link breaks with an audible snap, and the handle is secured with a separate overload link.

The overload link will cause the handle to wobble so that it doesn’t operate smoothly. As with the bent handle on a wire rope hoist, the broken stress link means that it is not safe to continue operating the hoist. It is only safe to back off the load.

Overload Protection

Both the bending function of steel handles and the stress links on fiberglass handles are overload protection functions. These functions are designed into the hoist handles to protect you and your hoist when it is loaded over its maximum capacity. If a hoist continues to operate over its maximum capacity, the hoist itself may fail. Failure of the hoist could result in permanent damage to the hoist, or even serious injury to the operator.

If the overload protection activates on your Lug-All winch hoist, you can fix it easily. If the handle on your wire rope hoist bends, you can purchase a replacement handle from Lug-All. If the stress link on a web strap hoist breaks, you can simply replace it with one of the replacement stress links that came with your hoist.

Never replace the handle with any other handle or makeshift handle, as this can lead to unsafe loading. If you consistently have the handle on your Lug-All ratchet winch hoist break or bend, you are most likely using a hoist with insufficient capacity for the application, and you should consider replacing it with a higher-capacity model.