SubSahara

21/10/2025

Keep Your Lifting Gear Moving — Genuine Demag and Konecranes Parts In Stock ⚙️

From wire rope hoists to brake drums, motors, and rope guides — we’ve got genuine Demag and Konecranes spare parts ready when you need them.
✅ OEM quality
✅ Fast delivery
✅ Expert advice
Don’t risk downtime — keep your equipment safe, strong, and certified.
📩 Message us today for pricing and availability.

29/09/2025

⚙️ Common Overhead Crane Failures & How to Prevent Them ⚙️

Wire Ropes & Chains
🪢 Failure: Worn-out ropes & chains = high risk of snapping.
🔧 Fix: Inspect & lubricate regularly, replace at the first sign of wear.
👉 Safety first, downtime avoided.

04/08/2025

❌ "Stop Doing This Before You Blow Your Hoist Motor— and your production deadline with it.”

An overhead crane hoist motor can "blow" (fail catastrophically) due to several key causes, most of which are related to overload, improper use, or poor maintenance. Here are a few of the main causes:

🔧 1. Overloading the Hoist
Exceeding the hoist's rated capacity puts excessive strain on the motor, brake system, wire rope, and gearbox, potentially leading to burnout or mechanical failure.

⚠️ 2. Side Pulling
This occurs when a load is lifted while not positioned directly under the hoist. It causes horizontal forces that the hoist isn’t designed to handle, leading to gear misalignment, motor strain, or rope derailment.

⚡ 3. Electrical Failures
Power surges, faulty wiring, or worn contactors can lead to motor burnout or short circuits—effectively “blowing” the hoist. This is especially common if the control system isn’t adequately protected.

🔄 4. Frequent Starts and Stops / Duty Cycle Exceeded
Using a hoist beyond its intended duty cycle (e.g. too many lifts per hour) overheats the motor and components, leading to burnout.

🛠 5. Lack of Preventative Maintenance
Worn brakes, stretched wire ropes, failing limit switches, or unlubricated parts can silently weaken a hoist until it fails under stress.

Tip: Regular inspections, proper load control, and ensuring the hoist operates strictly within its design parameters will prevent most failures.

18/03/2025

Keep Your Business Running – Avoid Costly Downtime!
🚨 Unexpected breakdowns can cripple your business! A faulty generator, forklift, or crane can bring operations to a standstill, leading to delays, lost revenue, and frustrated customers. Don’t wait for disaster to strike—take action now!

🔧 Preventative maintenance & expert repairs ensure your equipment runs smoothly, minimizing costly downtime. Our high-quality spare parts and servicing keep your industrial machinery in top condition.

📲 Contact us today for a FREE consultation! Let’s keep your business moving!

Call now to connect with business.

14/02/2025

🚨 The Dangers of Side Pulling in Overhead Cranes! 🚨

Overhead cranes are essential in many industries, but one small mistake—side pulling—can lead to serious accidents, equipment damage, and even injuries. Are your crane operators aware of the risks?

⚠️ Why is side pulling dangerous?
❌ Load Swing – A swinging load can damage equipment and injure workers.
❌ Wire Displacement – The rope or chain can slip out of position, leading to malfunctions.
❌ Hoist Damage – Excessive stress can cause the trolley to derail or bend the support structure.
❌ Voided Warranty – Manufacturers don’t cover damage caused by improper use!

✅ Safety Tip: Always ensure the load is directly under the hoist before lifting!

👉 Share this to spread awareness and keep workplaces safe! 💬 Let us know in the comments—have you ever witnessed the dangers of side pulling?

For a more informative article please head over to our website, Link below.

https://www.subsaharaess.co.za/the-dangers-of-side-pulling-in-overhead-cranes/

15/03/2023

https://youtu.be/NOcl-nm7wo4

Here is quite an informative video I found on Overhead crane safety. Have a look and comment bellow about an incident you know about, and what could have been done to prevent it.

General crane safety and how being unsafe can effect you. It is up to all of us to work safe and come home safely. This video is not sponsored and is done on...

13/03/2023

Lifting Slings.

What are they and what are some of the safety precautions to keep in mind?

Lifting slings are used with lifting devices or an Overhead crane to lift objects effectively and safely. Slings usually consist of chain, wire rope or webbing, and generally include devices such as hooks, shackles, links or rings.

With this in mind. How can you safely use these slings and prevent damage?

Lets get into Sling Safety:

Lifting slings are designed to move large, heavy loads that would be extremely difficult or near impossible to move manually. Your slings provide a direct connection from your lifting equipment, to the load that you are going to lift. Whenever you are going to lift with your slings it is important that you take the following steps into consideration:

Inspect your sling for damages:

Never use a damaged sling. If the sling breaks whilst in use, you could end up dropping the load; this could cause injuries, or deaths in the work place, and could damage your expensive equipment.
Make sure to always check your lifting slings before use.

Right tool for the right job:

There are different types of lifting slings, lets take a look at two, Round slings and Webbing slings. The webbing slings have a larger surface area to help protect your load, where as round slings offer flexibility, so they can mold to strange load shapes.

S.W.L.:

How do you determine which lifting sling you need? You need to know the weight of the load is before you lift it. For example, if you are lifting a load that is 18 tons, then you’ll need to use a sling with the Safe Working Load of 20 tons, don’t use a 15 ton sling to support your 20 ton load weight. Every lifting sling has a different SWL. If this SWL is exceeded you could damage the lifting sling you’re using, as well as the load you’re lifting. The people around the load will also be at risk of injury or even death.

Securing a load properly:

All slings must be securely hitched to the load in a way that gives you maximum control, prevents any slipping, sliding and movement of any loose parts on the load. Once the slings are attach and in place, it is very important that a trained rigger determines the most appropriate method of rigging.

Centre of Gravity:

When lifting a heavy load it is important that you determine the centre of gravity before lifting. Determining the centre of gravity is important to achieve total control over the load once lifted. If the load isn’t correctly secured, the centre of gravity will move directly under the lifting point, will cause the load to swing, this in turn could lead to the load being damaged or cause injury or even death to people around you.

27/02/2023

Lets get to the fourth major component of an Industrial Overhead Crane. Last week you read about the first three.

The last of the major components are the:

End Carriages:

End carriages carry the bridge and hoist of a crane, up and down the cranes' runway / rails. End Carriages are available in a variety of top and under running designs and are specifically designed to suit your crane's application.

Now you know the four major components of an Industrial Overhead Crane.

However there’s a lot more to an Overhead Crane, you need the Rope or chain connected from the Hoist to the Bottom Block / Hook of the crane, you’d also need the actual Bottom Block / Hook in order to hook and lift your load, as well as motors to maneuver within your cranes operating space, not to mention all the other smaller components that also need to work simultaneously with the rest of the crane.

However without power your crane will not work. You need a complete electrical system from your crane to the main power source of your warehouse or factory.

So, whatever warehouse or factory you have, there is a crane system that suits your exact requirements.

Please like, share and comment on what you thought about this article. Would you like to see more articles like this in future?