McKissick Sheaves

Quality Products from The Crosby Group

McKissick Sheaves Set the Industry Standard

Designing and manufacturing sheaves requires the ability to creatively use industry experience and resources to provide the best solutions for the product user. McKissick is a name known for providing sheaves to the lifting and energy industry since the 1900s. Since its partnership with The Crosby Group, and Crosby’s invention of the roll forged sheave in 1978, the two brands continue their leadership in sheave design and manufacturing.

Knowing which type of sheave you should be using is essential. Everything from the type of equipment to the maintenance schedule must be tailored to the specific job and environment in which you are operating.

Heavy Duty Sheaves (12 Inches to 78 Inches)

Stepped Hub Design

Stress failure in the weld is common in traditional hub designs, but the stepped hub design eliminates stress failure. The hub is pressed into place with metal-to-metal contact, which ensures an accurate alignment to the hub’s axis. This helps to make sure there is no wobble or lopping of the rotating sheave. With the precise alignment of both the hub and sheave wheel, this extends the life of the bearing and enables the sheave to be on the job longer.

Flame Hardened Groove

Crosby’s hardening process is a science and has been perfected over the years. It allows for maximum hardness on wear-resistance across the contact area for the wire rope. The sheave groove is flame hardened to a minimum 35 Rockwell C for a 140 degrees contact area with the wire rope. The solid steel plate is an ideal surface for flame hardening and an acceptable fit to the wire rope. This helps to reduce fatigue and wear.

Note: The sheave groove can be flame-hardened to a minimum 50 Rockwell C for a 150 degrees contact area upon special request.

Variety of Standard Sheave Sizes

Roll-forged sheaves are available in a variety of different sizes, from 12 inches to 78 inches. We have a great selection of bearing styles that will meet your needs. For those looking for a specialty sheave, The Crosby Group can manufacture custom sheaves and make small modifications to standard sheaves.

Closed Die Upset and Roll Forged-Not Split

When it comes to forming the groove and flange walls, Crosby does this in multiple steps. The upsetting and roll forging process eliminates the need to split and weaken the groove and adds strength to the groove section. We have complete confidence in our exclusive forging process. And, because it’s forged to distribute the wire rope forces evenly over an accurately formed load surface, this extends and maximizes life performance of the sheaves. In addition, uniformity of the roll forged groove adds longer wire rope.

Solid Steel-No Casting

Every sheave starts as a single piece of solid carbon steel plate. Then, it’s flame-cut from closely checked stock to ensure that there is no inherent web/rim flaw. There’s exceptional balance and better distribution of forces with Roll-Forged sheaves. Casting can result in groove wall variations. It’s either too thick or too thin which causes uneven stresses and can lead to early failure.

Bearing Selection to Match Your Job Requirements

The McKissick Roll-Forged sheave is available in the following:

Plain bore
Bronze bushed
Roller Bearing
Tapered Roller Bearing
Lubrication Thru Hub
Key Ways
Set Screws
Full Complement Bearing

Domed Sheaves (24 Inches and Larger)

Eliminates High Stress Weld Intersections

Domed Roll-Forged sheaves are welded in a circular pattern. This eliminates the higher stresses created by welding ribs and other forms of stiffeners.

Variety of Sheave Sizes Available

Domed reinforced Roll-Forged sheaves are available in sizes 24 inches and larger. Different bearing styles are available that can ideally fit your job operations.

Rolled forged Sheave and Latest in Welding Technology

For those in need of “extreme duty sheaves” domed Roll-Forged sheaves have the strength, fatigue, and rigidity needed for high operational stress and side loading.

Heavy Duty Sheaves (Available Through 166 inches in Outside Diameter)

The Best Solution for Large Sheave Sizes

Our fabricated sheaves are available with:

Machined Groove Rings
Machined Forge Rings

Both utilized for the rim or hub.

Large Range of Sheave Sizes

Fabricated sheaves are available in a great variety of sizes and bearing styles.

For Larger Sheave Sizes

These fabricated sheaves are an ideal solution when the required sheave size is too large to be manufactured by the roll forged sheave process.

Heavy Duty Sheaves (4 Inches to 12 Inches)

Closed Die Forging

Closed die forged sheaves offer:

The performance of closed die forging.
The precision machining capabilities of CNC machinery.

Smaller Sheaves in Heavy Duty Operations

Closed die forged sheaves are available in sizes from 4 inches to 12 inches. They are a highly effective solution for heavy duty operations where high loads are applied.

All the bearings we offer with the Roll-forged sheaves are available.

Normal Service Duty Sheaves (3 inches to 16 inches)

Machined Ductile Iron

Ductile Iron Sheaves are manufactured with material that meets ASTM A-536.

Smaller Sheaves in Normal Duty Operations

These sheaves are a solution for light or normal duty operations where sheaves are protected by sheave guards and minimal side loads are used. Standard roller bearings and bronze bushings are usually appropriate for these uses.

Range of Sheave Sizes Available

Sheave sizes available are 3 inches to 16 inches. Along with the bearing styles that best fit your normal service duty operations.

Bearings

Self-Lubricating Bronze Bushings:

Appropriate for work environments in which it’s difficult to get to the bearings for re-lubrication on a regular basis.
Best suited for jobs requiring low speed and intermitting operations.
Re-oiling self-lubricating bronze bushings will extend their life.

Common or Plain Bore Sheaves:

These bearings are for very slow line speeds, infrequent use, and light loads, such as hand operating or manual power hoist applications.
Not recommended for power crane or power hoist applications.
Re-oiling of plain bore sheaves for each use will extend the life of the sheave bore and shafting.

Plain Bronze Bushing:

Requires frequent lubrication.
Best suited for jobs involving heavier loads, slow speeds, and continuing ongoing operations.
If operation is daily, these bearings should be lubricated after every 8 hours for continuous operation.
If operation is intermittent, they should be lubricated every 14 days.

Straight Roller Bearings:

Best suited for jobs requiring medium loads and high-speed operation.
Frequent lubrication is required.
Should be lubricated every 24 hours for continuous operation.
Should be lubricated every 14 days for intermittent operation.

Tapered Roller Bearing:

These bearings are designed for use with heavy loads and work environments requiring high-speed continuous operation.
Should be lubricated every 40 hours for continuous operation
Should be lubricated every 30 days for intermittent operation.

We recommend using a lithium base grease of medium consistency for lubrication.

The Sheave Groove

Make sure the sheave groove is matched with the wire rope diameter. Unmatched conditions can result in premature ware of the rope and sheave. The size relationship of wire rope and sheave is critical to safe and efficient performance.