I finally tried that cheap rope trick for leveling and wasted half a shift

Saw a guy on YouTube using parachord to rough-level a 50-ton crawler before setting up the mat system, so I gave it a shot on a job in Birmingham last Tuesday. Turned out my knots kept slipping and I had to re-do the whole leveling sequence twice, burned about 3 hours I coulda spent just using my regular turnbuckle method. Has anyone else fallen for a shortcut that ended up costing more time than it saved?

2 comments

2 Comments

black.joel22d ago

Oh man, I've been there. I tried that same trick once and my knots slipped worse than a greased pig, ended up just going back to the old turnbuckle setup too. Idk why I keep believing those YouTube shortcuts, they always seem so simple in the video but never work out that way.

margaret_jackson7322d ago

You know what gets me about those YouTube shortcuts is they always film with brand new rope that's still got that factory stiffness. My stuff's been sitting in the back of the truck for two seasons, it's all frayed and dusty, no way it's gonna grip the same way as their shiny perfect cord. I swear half the time they're using some special coated line you can't even buy at a normal hardware store. That's probably why your knots slipped, the rope was too worn in for that fancy trick they showed.

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