Advice on what to do about having a hard time lifting my Trendsetter…

[brent]

Hi everyone,
Today I had a nest check and one of my Trensetter houses (8 compartments) was hard to lift back up. It appears to be dragging along the surface of the 3” post. The cable is tight as I lift it and it does lift easy until I get it about half up then it drags and the cable tightens. I afraid that if it gets worse I might not be able to lift the house. Any one has had similar problems and what have you done to make lifting the house smoother? Thanks all. Brent

[daveh]

could it be possible that the cable has come off the pulley on top of pole?
dave

[Martintown33]

Hi Brent. Can you see if the cable is binding on something when the house gets to that point? Hard to say without seeing what’s going on… hope somebody has a solution.
Rob

[brent]

I’ll check that tomorrow but I don’t think that’s the case since it does come down without a problem except when I get to the part of the pole where the two parts of the pole, top and bottom, meet and I have to jiggle it a little for the house to continue it’s descent. If it were a snag in the pulley I wouldn’t be able to move the house at all I think. Could it be that the pole surface needs to be cleaned? This is an old picture of the house. I’ve never cleaned the poles before. Has anyone else cleaned them?

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Brent

[Thomabear]

If the tight area is 1/2 way up, can you get on a ladder to have a closer look when your house reaches that spot? If it's only tight in that spot I would first try spraying the pole with low odor silicone lube to see if it helps. If it does help, maybe a light coat of grease will get you through the season. I agree, a pully or wench issue would be tight throughout the entire travel.

[BioJoe]

check to see if the pole has any bend in it or the bottom of the house itself is bent. we had a situation with ours after a major storm.

[brent]

Thanks everyone. I did check the pulley and all looks good. Tomorrow is another nest check day and it has to be lowered. I’ll look at it closely and if the pole or the house is bent what do you do to correct that? I will try to clean the pole and use silicon. For the remainder of the season I might only be able to lift it to a limited height just to make certain that I am able to use it. I don’t know just what to do but I’d hate for the house to get stuck or the cable to break. I won’t force it. I might limit the height I raise it. I’ve got 39 eggs as of my last nest check in that house so I want to be very careful. Do you think that debris could have accumulated inside the hole in the center of the house and when I raise it the debris is hindering the lift by wedging between the post and the inside of the house channel? I’ll let you know how it goes. Thanks again. Brent

[dsonyay]

Yeah.. the debris in the hole of the house sounds plausible.. also.. maybe lubrication of the pulley wheels.. in addition to the pole.

[brent]

Hi all. Well I checked it out and there is no bend in the pole or the base of the house but there is a slight lean to the pole which I think affects the glide of the house. I noticed that the house seems to have moved to adjust to the lean putting one side up against the pole. So I decided to clean the pole and wax it. And decided to use compressed air to blow out any debris that might have accumulated inside the hole. I attached a Swiffer mop to an extended paint roller pole and voila it worked saving me having to climb a ladder. After finishing, the house glided much better but still with a little resistance but better. Completed my nest check. Raised the house. Back to normal. Damn, I’m outside and just was alerted by the martins…HAWK!!!! Blew horn 2 times. No birds taken. Whew!!! Alright back to normal. Take care and thanks again. Brent

[Thomabear]

Brent, When I had my Lone Star Golaid house, two upgrades I did was to install a larger stainless steel cable as I didn't trust the very tiny 1/16" cable supplied to endure repeated wear and tear. The 2nd upgrade was installing 1/16" thick nylon glide shims between the pole and the house on all sides. It was a great improvement, basically eliminating sliding noise, twisting movement and friction when lifting and lowering. Afterwards, that house slid up and down the pole like greased lightening. Absolutely zero drag... Just wanted to throw that out there in case that's something you may want to try installing during the off season. It was a quick and easy project with great results.

[Martintown33]

Hi Brent. Glad you solved the issue. I agree with thomabear on the nylon shims. My rack hubs have nylon inserts that stop any metal to metal contact and provide a smooth action. That with some car wax on the pole as you mentioned. Glad you fixed the problem. And good luck with the hawks! Man!
Rob