c/elevator-mechanics

DAE ever get a weird vibration after swapping out a 5-year-old sheave?

I replaced a worn traction sheave in a 10-story building last Thursday and now there's a high-frequency hum above the 7th floor that wasn't there before, so has anyone else dealt with a harmonic issue after what seemed like a straightforward swap?

Pro tip: never let a building manager rush your door zone adjustment

Had one in Phoenix insist I 'just make it work' while people were waiting, which led to a callback for a misaligned sill the next day. Anyone else get pressured to cut corners on safety checks?

Pro tip: check the pit before you tell the building manager the car is fixed

Last week in a Portland high-rise, I cleared a door fault and called it good. The manager hit the call button, and we heard a loud thump from below. Turns out a contractor left a five gallon bucket of drywall mud in the shaft, right on the safety plank. Ever had a 'fixed it' moment ruined by something dumb in the pit?

My old foreman in Chicago always said to check the governor rope tension first on a no-start call

Ignored it on a job Tuesday, spent 4 hours chasing power before the rope was just slack. Anyone have a better quick-check sequence they run through?

Can we talk about using a proper rope socket versus just a cable clamp for temporary car support

We had to do a full sheave swap on a 12 story traction job last month, and the foreman wanted to use cable clamps on the governor rope for the safety block. I insisted on setting up a proper rope socket with poured zinc. The clamps slipped after about 4 hours of work, but the socket setup held rock solid for the whole two day job. It's an extra 45 minutes of setup, but it's the only right way to do it. Who else has seen a cheap clamp setup fail on them?

Hot take: I was wrong about using regular grease on door hanger rollers.

Kept seeing rollers fail early in a high rise downtown, maybe six months tops. Switched to a synthetic lithium complex grease last year, and the callbacks dropped by half. What specific grease are you guys running on high traffic door systems?

Had a job in a 1920s building downtown where the governor weights were stuck in a brick shaft wall.

We were there for a full day trying to free them up. The old blueprints showed a small access panel, but it was covered over during a remodel. Ended up using a borescope camera (the kind plumbers use) to look down the side of the shaft. Found the issue: the original hemp rope guides had rotted and jammed the whole stack. Had to cut a new hole in the wall from the machine room. The super said, 'I haven't seen that part of the elevator since my dad ran this building.' Anyone run into a governor that's been sealed inside a wall before?

Am I the only one who saw a huge drop in callbacks after switching to a new hoist rope grease?

We had a bank of four traction elevators in a downtown Phoenix office building that were getting noisy about every eight months. I switched from our usual brand to a different synthetic grease last year. The noise stopped, but after about ten months, we started getting callbacks for jerking starts. When I opened it up, the grease had hardened and caked on the sheaves. Has anyone else run into this with a specific grease type causing more long-term trouble than it fixes?

Changed my mind about using a standard torque wrench on governor cables

I was doing a full cable replacement on a 20-year-old traction unit in a downtown office building last Tuesday. I torqued the new governor cable to the spec in the manual, 35 foot-pounds, with my regular click-type wrench. The next day, the building manager called saying the car was shuddering on stops. Went back up, found the cable had stretched just enough to throw the overspeed switch. My old boss always said to use a beam-type wrench for cables, and I finally get why... the click type can fool you on old, greasy threads. I reset it with the beam wrench and it's been smooth for a week now. Anyone else run into this with older Otis units?

I was using the wrong size spanner on the governor rope clamp for like a year

Can we talk about the new guys not checking the pit sump pump?

I was on a service call in Tacoma last week for a wet pit alarm, and the new apprentice had just been there the day before for a routine check. He told me he 'looked at the pump' but didn't actually run it or check the float switch for corrosion. It's a basic thing we all learned 20 years ago, but I'm seeing it skipped more often now. How do you make sure the new folks understand the importance of a full pit check?

I keep seeing guys skip the final torque check on the governor rope clamp. That's a 20 second job that can stop a big problem.

Got stuck for two days on a weird door lock issue in a 90s Otis elevator

The car door would close, but the hoistway door lock wouldn't engage, so the car wouldn't run. I checked the lock roller, the cam, the linkage, everything looked fine. After a full day, I finally found a tiny, almost invisible crack in the lock bracket itself, letting it flex just enough to miss. Had to fabricate a new bracket on site. Anyone else ever get fooled by a part that looked okay but was secretly broken?

Question about adjusting door zone rollers on old Otis units

For years, I'd just tap the rollers with a hammer to get them to seat right on the track. Last month, a guy from the union hall in Cleveland showed me his trick with a small pry bar and a feeler gauge set to 0.015 inches. He said the hammer method can crack the roller bracket over time. I tried it on a job last week and the door ran way smoother. Anyone else have a better way to set those old rollers without risking damage?

Finally got that finicky door operator in the old bank building to run smooth

Three years ago, I started working on this 1920s bank building downtown. The main elevator door operator was a real headache, always out of time and slamming shut. Last month, the building manager called me again, saying it was worse than ever. I spent a whole day last week just watching it cycle, listening to the gears. I realized the original cam followers were worn down just enough to throw everything off. I found some brass replacements that fit, adjusted the linkage by a quarter turn, and now it opens and closes like it's on silk. It's a small thing, but after all that time, it feels good to have it right. Anyone else have a go-to fix for those old, worn cam systems?

Tried two different ways to quiet a noisy traction sheave and the second one actually worked

I had this old Otis gearless unit in a downtown building making that classic grinding sound. First, I just cleaned and re-greased the sheave groove like the quick fix guide said. The noise came back in about three weeks. Then I talked to a guy who said to polish the groove with 400 grit emery cloth first, then apply a thin coat of Molykote G-n paste. Did that six months ago on the same unit and it's still whisper quiet. The extra ten minutes of prep made all the difference. Anyone have a different paste they swear by for this?

Got schooled on a 30-year-old Otis unit in a Boston hospital last month

The governor rope was fraying in a way I'd never seen, almost like a slow twist. An old timer on site showed me his trick of marking the drum with chalk before a full pull. Anyone have a different way to check for that kind of hidden wear before it gets bad?

Found a way to shave 20 minutes off a standard door operator adjustment

We had a call for a sticking door on a 90s Otis Gen2. The usual method of adjusting the hanger rollers and guide shoes was taking forever. On the third visit, I decided to just slightly loosen the entire door operator mounting plate, about an eighth of an inch. Then I re-squared the door in the opening and re-tightened. The bind was gone instantly. It seems the whole assembly had settled out of plumb over the years. Has anyone else tried this fix on older traction jobs, or did I just get lucky?

Had a door operator gear strip on a 15 year old unit last Thursday

It was a Dover Miconic, the main drive gear just gave out during a normal close cycle. I was on a call for a stuck car, and when I got it moving, the door wouldn't shut right, just a loud grinding. Had to pull the whole operator to replace the gear assembly, took about four hours with the travel time for the part. Anyone run into these older Miconic gears failing like this recently?

Been using the same trick to check for door zone clearance for years and just found out it's wrong.

I always used a standard 6-inch level to check the gap, but a new guy on my crew in Phoenix pointed out the code spec is actually for a 2-inch sphere. My method was missing some tight spots by a quarter inch. How do you all check your door zones quickly without missing anything?

A 3-year-old code update in the Seattle building regs is still causing callbacks on older traction units

Last week, I was on a service call for a 1970s Otis traction lift in a downtown office. The governor rope had worn through its guide, something I've seen before. But the real debate started when I went to order the part. The supplier said the new spec, from a code change three years back, needs a different mounting bracket that doesn't fit the old rail holes. Do we drill new holes and patch the old ones, which is extra work but 'to code', or do we fight for a variance to use the old-style part that fits right in? What's your take on retrofitting old gear to meet new rules?

Spent $300 on a new digital door zone tester and it was a total waste.

Everyone at the shop said I had to get one. Said it would cut my time in half. Used it on a job in a 12 story building downtown. Thing gave me three false positives in one morning. Ended up going back to my old feeler gauge and a voltmeter. Anyone have a brand that actually works right?

Shoutout to the old timer at the trade show in Atlanta who showed me a trick with a zip tie

I was at the International Elevator Expo last month and got stuck trying to thread a wire through a tight spot on a mock-up controller. This guy next to me, who must have been in the trade for 40 years, just grabbed a zip tie, fed it through first, and taped the wire to it to pull it back. He said, 'Kid, sometimes the fancy tools just get in the way.' I've used that trick three times on jobs since then and it saves at least 10 minutes each go. What's the simplest tool or trick you've picked up from another mechanic?

TIL the old school guys were right about greasing the guide rails

For years, I thought the whole 'grease the rails every 6 months' thing was just busywork. I figured if the car was running smooth, why mess with it? Then I got called to a 15 story office building downtown for a persistent knocking sound. I checked everything, motors, rollers, you name it. An old timer on site just pointed at the rails and said, 'When's the last time you touched those?' I hadn't, and they were bone dry. I spent two hours with a rag and a tub of that thick Mobilith SHC 220 grease, and the noise was GONE. The ride went from clunky to silent. I've been doing it on schedule ever since. Anyone else have a job where skipping the simple step caused a bigger headache later?

Working on the old Otis in the Portland library made me switch how I check door locks

I was sure the worn rollers were the main issue, but after the door kept bouncing, I found the lock cam was off by almost a quarter inch. Now I always check that alignment first with a feeler gauge before I even look at the rollers. Anyone else run into this on those older units?