Wire Rope Termination Methods

Swage, crimp, or mechanical: which wire rope termination should you specify?

The right wire rope termination depends on three things: how much of the cable’s strength the termination has to hold, whether the length is known before installation, and whether the connection ever needs to come apart.

Is swaging the same as crimping wire rope?

Yes. Swaging is another term for crimping. Both compress a metal fitting onto the cable so the fitting and strands lock together. What separates the results is whether that compression is done by a hydraulic swage machine in a shop or by a hand tool in the field. The two produce very different holding strengths.

How much of the cable’s breaking strength does each termination hold?

A cable assembly is only as strong as its termination. These are the holding strengths Tyler Madison publishes for its fittings, expressed as a share of the cable’s rated breaking strength.

Holding Strength Table

Machine swage vs. hand swage vs. wire rope clips: How do they compare?

Can a swaged sleeve and thimble eye hold the full strength of the cable?

Yes, when it’s made correctly. FAA guidance for aircraft cable (AC 43.13-1B) states that copper oval sleeves pressed with the Nicopress process can be used up to the full rated strength of the cable when the cable is looped around a thimble. Three details decide whether a sleeved eye reaches that strength:

• Use a thimble. The full-strength rating applies to an eye formed around a thimble, with the sleeve placed close to the thimble points.
• Leave the cable end showing. The cable end should extend slightly past the sleeve, because the sleeve lengthens when it’s compressed. If the end ends up inside the sleeve, the splice may not hold full strength.
• Press in the right order. On sleeves that take three presses, the center press goes first, then the press nearest the thimble, then the one farthest from it.

A lap splice (two cable ends overlapped) usually needs two sleeves to develop full cable strength.

How strong is a copper oval sleeve compared to a copper stop sleeve?

Much stronger. An oval sleeve grips two passes of cable to form an eye or splice. A stop sleeve is a single-pass fitting used as a cable end or intermediate stop. These are the tested strengths the FAA publishes for each, using flexible aircraft cable.

What sleeve material should you use on stainless steel cable?

Plated copper. FAA guidance requires plated copper oval sleeves on stainless cable, because pairing plain copper with stainless causes electrolysis between the two metals. The FAA’s sleeve table lists plain and plated versions of each sleeve size.

What’s the difference between a single-shank and double-shank ball fitting?

A single-shank ball is used at the end of a cable. A double-shank ball has a shank on each side, so it can be swaged at the end or anywhere along the length of the cable, such as the center. Both are swaged on with dies matched to the fitting. See ball shanks.

How do you check that a swaged wire rope fitting was done correctly?

• Gauge it. FAA guidance calls for checking a swaged fitting with a go/no-go gauge to confirm it was compressed to the right diameter, then inspecting the finished terminal.
• Confirm insertion depth. The FAA reports cases where only 1/4″ of cable ended up inside the terminal. Measure the terminal’s barrel, mark that length on the cable before swaging, and check the mark afterward to confirm the cable didn’t slip.
• Mark it for future inspection. Painting the joint between fitting and cable after swaging makes slippage visible later as a gap in the paint.

When should you use a hand swage or wire rope clips instead of a machine swage?

Hand swaging makes sense when you can’t know the final length until you’re on site and the application doesn’t need full cable strength. You cut the cable yourself, so the measurement is guaranteed to fit. The trade-off is strength and consistency.

Wire rope clips make sense for temporary installations or connections that need to be adjusted later. For anything permanent, Tyler Madison recommends having assemblies professionally swaged in-shop rather than relying on clips.

What measurements do you need before ordering a machine-swaged cable assembly?

Accurate ones. A machine-swaged assembly is built to length before it ships, so a wrong measurement makes it unusable. Before you send a print, check where the length is measured from on our measuring points guide and which length tolerance your application needs.

Can you swage an end fitting onto vinyl- or nylon-coated wire rope?

Not over the coating. Vinyl or nylon coating has to be stripped before an end fitting can be properly attached. Coating doesn’t change the steel cable’s internal strength. See our wire rope coatings guide.

Are swageless wire rope fittings as strong as swaged fittings?

Tyler Madison supplies fittings for hand crimping, swageless connectors, and machine swaging, but doesn’t publish a single holding strength for swageless connectors. Ask for the rated holding strength of the specific connector before you specify it.