96-inch cable reels: eight feet and over half a ton

Eight to a truck

Sonoco’s EcoReel table ends at 96 inches with a maximum of eight reels a load. That is the whole story of how big these are: a 53-foot trailer holds eight. Southwire’s steel 96s weigh 1,082 and 1,573 pounds empty, and its catalogue goes on past them to steel reels of 102 to 158 inches. At the top of that list the arbor hole is 7⅝ inches and the reels weigh two to three tons.

Who owns it

Southwire’s 96s are steel, coded RMT 96.60 under the Aluminum Association scheme for returnable metal reels, and carry a listed charge. Its steel reel policy credits the charge when the reel comes back within 12 months of shipment, and asks for notice by email, website or its app with the consignee, date shipped, reel invoice number and serial numbers. Phone calls do not count as notice in that policy. If you are a superintendent at the end of a transmission or substation job with steel 96s on site, start that paperwork before the job closes.

The wooden 96

Wooden 96-inch reels do exist; Sonoco lists them and refurbishes them. They are uncommon in this region and almost always come from a utility or a large power-cable job. If you have one with sound flanges and arbor hole, it belongs back in service, through Sonoco if you have a truckload of qualifying reels, or through the desk if you do not.

Handling

Crane, spreader bar, a shaft through the arbor. Forklifts only where the rating and fork length allow, with the reel standing. Blocked and chained on a flatbed. Ground under a stored 96 has to be firm and drained: the reel’s weight on two narrow flange edges will sink into soft ground and twist the reel.

Where they come from here

Dominion’s 500 kV and 230 kV work in Loudoun, Pepco’s 230 kV underground cable in the District, Potomac Edison’s lines in Frederick County, and the substations that serve the data-centre campuses.

Published dimensions at and near 96 inches

Sonoco's wooden 96-inch row has exactly the S-300's traverse and drum: the same cable, a different reel.

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 96s turn up here

Very few places: the largest transmission and underground cable jobs. Standing on a standard flatbed deck, a 96 comes close to the usual legal height limit, so moving one may need a lowboy trailer or a route check. If one is wooden and yours, the desk will look for a contractor or refurbisher who can use it, before anyone talks about breaking it up.

Requests for 96-inch reels

Selling or clearing

At 96 inches, check for steel before anything else. Steel and tagged returnable reels go back to the maker; send the desk only wooden ones, with photos of both flanges.

Buying

Say what will lift it at your end (tractor forks, loader, crane) and where it will stand.

Empty weight to plan for

1,082 to 1,573 lb (steel)