Linemen Choose Lug-All Winch Hoists

A winch hoist is among a lineman’s most important tools. A good, versatile winch hoist can perform a number of functions to help make a lineman’s job safer and easier. Many professional line workers rely on Lug-All winch hoists every day to build, repair, and maintain the millions of miles of power lines across the U.S.

Lou Collazo, a 23-year veteran of electrical linework, says his Lug-All Web Strap Come Along Ratchet Winch Hoist is one of best tools he has on the job. It’s light and highly durable, which makes it ideal for the demands of elevated utility work.

Lug-All hoists’ lightweight cast aluminum alloy frames make them easy to carry to the top of a pole and easy to maneuver from inside a bucket lift. Lug-All hoists are built to last, and their high durability means workers don’t have to replace them regularly or worry about them failing in the middle of a job.

Collazo says that ease of use is one of the most important features of any tool that a line worker uses. When you’re off the ground in a bucket or climbing a pole, you have more important things on your mind than trying to figure out how to use your tools. Lug-All hoists are simple to use, so workers can stay focused on their work.

Lug-All hoists are also versatile. They can be used to tie something down or to pull wire up to a pole from the ground. They’re also strong enough to provide temporary solutions to allow workers to finish a job later. According to Collazo, they can be used to catch a wire off to remove it from the pole for maintenance and left overnight with the hoist holding the wire in place. The crew can then come back the next day to put the wire up and finish the job.

In 2012, Collazo and his crew responded to a situation during a large ice storm in Virginia. The storm damaged power lines, and in one case, a primary line on a pole fell and burned the neutral line, causing it to snap. The weight of the ice on the pole started to pull it down, and it began to fall over. With three hot primaries still on the pole, a fall could have been dangerous. Collazo and his crew had to hurry to keep the pole upright and prevent the primaries from reaching the ground.

With limited time and resources, the crew was able to use their Lug-All winch hoists to tie the neutral down into a makeshift guy-wire. They attached the winch hoist to the neutral line and pulled the pole back into an upright position. The Lug-All held the line and pole in place until the crew was able to return after the storm to finish the job.

The storm made it impossible to spend the time it would take to fix the damaged poles and lines completely, so the crew had to work with the resources they had on hand. Their Lug-All hoists were the right tools to address the problem quickly, and the crew could easily secure the damaged pole until they could return to fix it permanently. “You’ll use that tool the rest of your life,” says Collazo. “It’s a lineman’s best friend.”