SLING INSPECTION

All slings must be visually inspected for obvious unsafe conditions before each use. A determination to remove slings from service requires experience and good judgment, especially when evaluating the remaining strength in a sling after allowing for normal wear. The safety of the sling depends primarily upon the remaining strength. Wire rope slings must be immediately removed from service if any of the following conditions are present:

Six randomly distributed broken wires in one rope lay or three broken wires in one strand in one lay

Wear or scraping on one third of the original diameter of outside individual wires

Kinking, crushing, bird caging, or any other damage resulting in distortion of the wire rope structure

Evidences of heat damage

1 End attachments that are cracked, deformed, or worn

Hooks that have an obviously abnormal (usually 15 percent from the original specification) throat opening, measured at the narrowest point or twisted more than 10 degrees from the plane of the unbent hook

Corrosion of the wire rope sling or end attachments

To avoid confusion and to eliminate doubt, you must not downgrade slings to a lower rated capacity. A sling must be removed from service if it cannot safely lift the load capacity for which it is rated. Slings and hooks removed from service must be destroyed by cutting before disposal. This ensures inadvertent use by another unit.

When a leg on a multi-legged bridle sling is unsafe, you only have to destroy the damaged or unsafe leg(s). Units that have the capability may fabricate replacement legs in the field, provided the wire rope replacement is in compliance with specifications. The NCF has a hydraulic swaging and splicing kit in the battalion Table of Allowance (TOA). The kit, 80092, contains the tools and equipment necessary to fabricate 3/8- through S/S-inch sizes of wire rope slings. Before use, all fabricated slings must be proof-tested as outlined in the COMSECOND/COMTHIRDNCBINST 11200.11. PROOF TESTING SLINGS

All field-fabricated slings terminated by mechanical splices, sockets, and pressed and swaged terminals must be proof-tested before placing the sling in initial service.

The COMSECOND/COMTHIRDNCBINST 11200.11 has rated capacity charts enclosed for numerous wire rope classifications. You must know the diameter, rope construction, type core, grade, and splice on the wire rope sling before referring to the charts. The charts provide you the vertical-rated capacity for the sling. The test weight for single-leg bridle slings and endless slings is the vertical-rated capacity (V. R. C.) multiplied by two or (V.R.C. x 2 = sling test weight).

The test load for multi-legged bridle slings must be applied to the individual legs and must be two times the vertical-rated capacity of a single-leg sling of the same size, grade, and wire rope construction. When slings and rigging are broken out of the TOA for field use, they must be proof-tested and tagged&fore being returned to CTR for storage.

Check fiber line slings for signs of deterioration caused by exposure to the weather. Ensure none of the fibers have been broken or cut by sharp-edged objects.

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