Pulling heavy copper wire through coduit

[copperhound]

Does anyone have any krafty, efficient way of pulling cable out of conduits still in the rafters. I have a demo job with lot of wire. I was thinking about something like the block they use on "Deadliest Catch" to pull crab pots. Maybe electric winch, loop cable around spool twice and pull the loose end so it will be a continuos pull. Any ideas?

[injunjoe]

How about a windlass?

[copperhound]

That looks neat. Is it a continuos pull? Who sells it?

[injunjoe]

Boat stores but they cost an arm and a leg! Just wanted to give you an idea to work with.

[PistoneScrapProcessing]

Towmotor, cables, and pedal to the metal!!!! You said demo job right so that means the whole building is coming down right? Who cares if you pull a few pipes out of the ceiling give her hell. Pulled 1 inch MCM three strands at a time with a 10,000 lb lift a few hundred feet at a time didn't even untie them just pulled it so hard I thought the roof was going to collapse from where the wire was still tied to it. We tried it with a bigger fork truck 40,000 lb lift but found out the speed wasn't right and it would always snap a cable every few pulls. I am not saying we didn't tear up a few yokes on the towmotor but it got the job done and we pulled miles of the stuff.

[copperhound]

I thank both u guys for input. Pistonescrapprocessing I like your subtle aproach,sounds like me.

[copperhound]

Any new ideas.

[RSComputer]

You can try using a cable tugger. Works similar to the boat pulley. Call around to rental places. They run about 50 bucks a day. Another thing you may wanna try if the conduit is exposed and accessible is to take of a piece at the coupler then cut the wire with a sawzall and repeat till the job is done. It's not gonna be easy but if the wire is large gauge it should pay off.

[copperhound]

Ty sir. Someone else mentioned the cable tugger, I never though of checking a rental company. Thanks again. And yes lots of loathe cable, should b fun.

[blackpula]

Hello I used some heavy duty chain on some 500 and 350 McM. And a five ton fork lift hook it to the back one wire at a time works best.

[Bear]

i've seen them on big jobs using a little electric cathead to pull heavy wire, but it was tied on the end of a long rope

[Ptscrapper]

Also I don't know how good this will work with existing cable but I know with new cable wire as a former electrician we used to use something called soap for electrical pulls but we would soak the cable down real good before it went into the conduit so I don't know how it would work on existing wire but if you can find a way to get it in there it will make your life a hell of a lot easier! Good luck!

[protorch]

choke the wires with a chain or sling and hook them up to a bobcat, or choke the wires and pull with a chainfall

[BarrenRealms007]

I have taken a Ridgid 400 power head, taken the legs off and bolted to concrete floor with anchor's and used a piece of 2" ridgid pipe thru the power head to pull with. The wire will probably not wind around the pipe so this method might require you to make short pulls and cut the wire. A wire pulling basket will come in real handy in this situation, it fits around the end of the wire. I have also taken an F250 diesel loaded with weight and pulled 750 MCM copper from existing under ground services by tying a chain to the wire and pulling it out one run at a time. Soap will not help with existing wire. Also go slow on your pulls, if you go to fast friction will cause heat and if the pull stops for some reason the insulation can actualy stick together.

[toula]

Cut the conduit in sections then pull the wire by hand.