Reels · flange sizes
60-inch cable reels: five feet, wood or steel
A 60-inch cable reel is five feet across and, at this size, it may be wood or steel: Southwire publishes both a nailed A-62 and a steel S-62 at 60 × 28 × 28 inches. The wood one is yours to sell or reuse; the steel one usually goes back to the maker.
From the reel desk · Checked 9 November 2026
Wood or steel: check before you sell
At 60 inches the first question is not size, it is ownership. Southwire’s steel reels are, in its own words, “returnable, charges required”, and its steel reel policy credits the charge only if the reel goes back within 12 months of shipment. A steel 60-inch S-62 sitting in a Dulles laydown yard belongs to that arrangement, not to the yard. Find the stencil and the serial number and send it back through the maker. The desk will not buy it.
The wooden A-62 at the same size is listed as non-returnable, no deposit required. That is the reel the desk takes.
What it carries
A-series reels are Southwire’s family for bare aluminium and ACSR, so the 60s show up on utility line work: Dominion’s transmission projects in Loudoun, Pepco and SMECO distribution work in Maryland. They also carry large copper and medium-voltage cable on campus builds.
Handling
Three hundred and forty to almost four hundred pounds empty. This is forklift and spreader-bar territory, with forks under both flanges and the reel never laid flat. On a truck, 60s ride standing on their flanges, nested where the drums allow: AFL’s van table counts 26 nested against 20 un-nested.
Take-back
A sound nailed 60-inch reel meets AFL’s and Service Wire’s size rules. Sonoco puts 39 to a truckload at 60 × 28 × 28, and AFL’s larger-drum 60s at 20 to 26 a van. A utility yard can reach that. A contractor with eight of them cannot.
Once empty
A 60-inch wooden reel is too big for most patios and just right for a farm (heavy hose, poly pipe, fence wire), a vineyard, a landscaper’s yard or a display. It also makes a strong working reel for anyone winding heavy cable.
Published dimensions at and near 60 inches
Southwire's wooden A-62 and steel S-62 share their main dimensions. AFL's van table adds two 60-inch reels with 35 and 36 inch drums.
| Reel | Build | Flange | Traverse | Drum | Arbor hole | Weight, lb | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A-62 | Nailed wood | 60 | 28 | 28 | 3⅛ | 397 | Southwire |
| S-62 | Steel (returnable) | 60 | 28 | 28 | 3 | 340 | Southwire |
| Load-table reel | Nailed wood | 60 | 28 | 28 | — | — | Sonoco EcoReel |
| Van table reel | Nailed wood | 60 | 36 | 35 | — | — | AFL |
| Van table reel | Nailed wood, centre support | 60 | 36 | 36 | — | — | AFL |
Reading the numbers
- Flange
- The diameter of the round end, edge to edge. The size a reel is known by.
- Traverse
- The inside width between the flanges, where cable winds. It sets how tall the reel stands on end.
- Drum
- The diameter of the barrel the cable winds onto. Stiff power cable needs a big drum.
- Arbor hole
- The centre hole for a shaft. 3⅛ in on most wooden reels; 5¼ in and up on heavy steel ones.
- Weight
- Empty, or tare, weight in pounds as the maker publishes it. A tag on the reel gives the same figure.
- Series letter
- Southwire codes the build: A and C nailed, N plywood or nailed, E and G plywood, S steel.
Where 60s turn up here
Dominion’s line projects in Loudoun, Pepco and SMECO distribution work in Maryland, and big feeder pulls on campus builds. The quick ownership check: look for a stencilled serial number and a code such as RM or RMT on the flange or rim. Southwire’s returnable steel reels carry them; its wooden reels do not. Nobody wants a returnable reel sold by mistake, least of all the contractor who signed for it.
Requests for 60-inch reels
- Selling or clearing
- A sound nailed 60-inch reel meets the size rules of the programs we have read; count by brand first in case one maker's reels fill a truck (39 at this size, by Sonoco's table). Send the desk the rest.
- Buying
- Say what will lift it at your end (tractor forks, loader, crane) and where it will stand.
- Empty weight to plan for
- 340 lb (steel S-62) to 397 lb (wood A-62)
Questions the desk gets
Is a 60-inch steel reel mine to sell?
Usually not. Southwire, for one, ships steel reels under a returnable policy with a charge that is credited when the reel goes back within 12 months. Return steel reels to the maker.
What does a 60-inch wooden reel weigh?
Southwire lists its nailed A-62 at about 397 lb empty.
Sources
Each opened and read on 9 November 2026.
- Southwire, Reel Packaging Information (CableTech Support): reel series, wooden reel dimensions and weights, steel reel dimensions and charges, tag contents; cites NEMA WC26
- Sonoco, EcoReel Recycling Program: free pickup of truckloads of viable nailed wood and polyfiber reels; reels repaired and returned to wire and cable makers; reels-per-truckload table
- AFL, Wood Reel Recycling Program: nailed wood only, no plywood; flanges at least 1½ in thick and 30 in across; 75% of staves; full truckloads; mainly East Coast and Midwest
- Service Wire, Reel Return: Service Wire labelled nailed wood reels with 30 to 72 in flanges, full truckloads only
- Southwire, Steel Reel Policy: steel reels carry a charge, credited if returned within 12 months of shipment