WHAT IS A HEADACHE BALL?

Headache Balls, also known as overhaul hook balls, are very important devices used in a single line hoist wire rope with the purpose to add weight and help the line to drop down after coming up the crane boom and going over the sheave. Wire rope itself can be very heavy which if you are using a single line to lift your load, it will be difficult for the line to go down on its own without anything that helps to pull it down; also, if there is no tension that can help the movement of the line, it could easily lose control and become dangerous, therefore, headache balls are required to be attached to the wire line. The tension serves two primary purposes:

1) The tension allows the lifting sling (load line) to properly wrap around its load.
2) The tension allows the hook to lower when the sheave releases the lifting sling.

As an example; let’s say your crane requires 30m of line to be able to perform, (taking into account that the weight of a crane wire rope can vary between 4 -15KG per metre). If you are using a crane wire rope that weighs 6kg per metre, then your line will have a total weight of 180KG. This will require to go up the crane boom and over the sheave meaning that it will need something heavy to pull all that wireline weight down. Therefore, you will need to add these headache balls to the end of the line as the image below so the weight in the ball helps your single line to tension.

At All Lifting, we manufacture headache balls that weigh 43KG which means if you need to pull 180KG then you will need to add several of these items to your single wire rope line.

You can find a variety of these items in our online shop or if you need information related to our range of lifting and rigging products, please do not hesitate to contact us and one of our lifting specialists will be happy to assist you. Feel free to email us at info@alllifiting.com.au or call 1300 666 733.