Yellow 77 is the only way to go.
For real long and not so straight runs, we still soaped the conductors, even Simpull. Getting big conductors stuck in a long pipe run sucks and can get real expensive real fast.
The nice thing about Yellow 77 is that it dries into a wax type substance and still acts like a lube years later. Some of the other stuff used for lube turns into glue when it dries.
appreciate the point of view.... screwing up a $5,000 pull over 5 gallons of goop..... hard to rationalize....
i'd probably do the same.
longest pull i've made with simpull wasn't big... 3 #2's and a ground in a 1 1/4" emt...
4 90's, two offsets, and two kicks, with C condulets spaced appropriately... i think it
was 660' long, and we pulled it with a 1200 lb mule tape in one shot, with the high
speed on a maxis tugger, and the strain gauge on the triggers showed briefly
500 lbs a couple times, and 250 lbs half the time, and nothing the rest of the time.
turned it down to low speed, and it didn't show any gauge reading at all. regular tugger
speed....
i've got a couple tugs coming up this month, and i'll do a video, as i have an idea on
tugging that may save a bunch of labor, and these two runs would be a good test...
one is 200' with three number 2's, and a #6 ground, and the other one is three #2's
and a #6 ground, 770'... i'm gonna pull them both dry with simpull, in 1 1/4" EMT....
and use a webcam to watch the feed, as it seems i'm gonna have to pull them solo.
gonna use a battery powered webcam to stream a HD video of the spools and pull
to my iphone on the other end, with me running the tugger.....
it's only 2,000' of #2 at risk... what could possibly go wrong? (film at 11)