At the risk of igniting a huge controversy here, I need some advice on maintaining the wire rope on a cable blade system. For years I worked with drill rigs and cranes and we used various types of rope lube compounds to more than triple average wire life. I am reviving a D8 1H with a LeTourneau blade which will be worked in the near future. What is the normal practice RE any rope lubricants? My own opinions have always been that dirty grease is better than no grease, but I have never worked with cable blades before.
Thanks!
Jeff

Hi, Jeff.
Slightly(????) different operating conditions on a 'dozer - dust-n-dirt are your enemies in keeping pretty much anything running, including wire rope running through sheaves like a 'dozer blade lift. If you lubricate the sheaves like the good book says you should, some of that grease will end up on the rope - collecting dust-n-dirt - which will in turn help to wear out your rope.

I started out with cable controls and nobody ever told me that I had to lubricate the ropes.

Just my 0.02.

Same idea as Deas. In the mid 60's I ran a D6 and cable scraper for three months digging irrigation canal ditches and we never lubed the cables. New cables replaced about once per month and the scraper was busy 10-12 hours per day.

grease attracts dirt which becomes words best grinding paste. the uncle worked in black soil country on farms growing cotton and grain a couple of the farms he worked for didn't grease the grease points on their implements he asked why and was told they lasted just as long as they rebuilt it every year. if it got greased it was once before the ploughing started and at rebuild time new bearings would be greased if they weren't grease filled when purchased.

the last contractor he worked for found white food machinery grease didn't attract as much dirt working red soil. they were bailing and spreading contractors though.

Hi Jeff, Deas is correct. The environment that cable control cables operate in is not the place for grease. My first 'dozer had a cable operated blade. I was fortunate to have a mentor tell me that the real enemy of the cable was slack. He told me that while learning to operate the blade I should try to have the sun to my side so I could see the shadow of the blade cables and sheaves visible to me. He said "Pay attention and you will "feel" when the cable is tight." I learned that lesson so well that my cable failures were fewer and at the blade end instead of the cable control end. 
Craig