I have a 08 Cab Crossbow and have noticed one of my pulleys on the bar has seized and cannot be freed. I was wondering if anyone out there can help me with info on how to remove the float/pulley from the bar so as to replace the busted pulley with an aftermarket job. ( I have had a look and it appears the knot that goes into the bar may have to be undone?? It seems quite tight so undoing it could be a mission if neccesary?

I was also considering replacing the existing pulleys with those of a slightly larger diameter (pictured). Has anyone tried this before?? and can offer a suggestion on how handling may or may not be affected?

As im quite new to this caper any tips, tricks or links to help me resolve this little problem would be greatly appreciated!!

Just a note the existing pulley looks to be a ball bearing one, and the proposed new one doesn't appear to be. You can buy a pulley the same from a yacht chandlery if you decide to go that route..

Someone else is probably more experienced with replacing these than me so i'll leave the 'how to' for them

Yes, well spotted! on closer inspection the proposed replacement is indeed a ball "bearingless" pulley. Im unsure how this may affect performance but was just one I had lying around at home so was considering purchasing a matching partner for it and utilising the pair......

hi mate be very carfull. pullies have safe working loads and breaking loads either on the packageing or on the pully it`s self.personally i would be hesitant to put one on if i didn`t know how strong it was .you don`t want one breaking 30 feet off the ground puting you into a nasty kite loop.
cheers stu.

Good point. The proposed replacement pully is of the Ronstan brand which as I understand is marine grade. Perhaps this may be a better replacement... www.ronstan.com.au/marine5/range.asp?RnID=348

i use those pullies on my rev and can say ,they are top quality

how ever you will have to make a sling to go through the middle of each pulley. if you have trouble or are not sure take it to your local kite shop you don`t want to make a mistake.

hi slida, i've done this myself on two cab crossbow bars. note, the no-name pulleys that come on the bars are poop. any appropriately sized ronstan marine pulley, including the one in your picture, will do a better job.

to remove the pulley:
1. undo the leader line (rope running through pulley) at either the end attached to the rear line or the end attached to the centre lines and unthread it from the pulley.

2. then (and it can be a bit tricky) pull up on the pulley and squish the float down towards the bar so you have maximum rope exposed between the top of the float and the bottom of the pulley.

3. thread this rope back into the loop around the base of the pulley. the loop should get loose enough that you can slip it up and over the whole pulley (from left to right in your second photo) and slide it out of the pulley and bungee cord (that goes through the float to become the line retainers at your bar).

4. i suggest you have a small loop of rope handy to tie through the bungee cord and the loop that holds the pulley so that they don't disappear into the float as you line up the new pulley.

5. reverse the above steps to thread the rope through the bungee cord and loop it through and then around the new pulley.

hints: you don't have to undo the knot at the bar, this will only complicate the process. an extra pair of hands may be very useful in compressing the float to give you spare rope to work with.

confession: i couldn't work this out myself the first time. steve at kitepower talked me through it even though i had never bought anything from him, so belated props, cheers.

keeping those pulleys and the ones on the bridle lubed with a good silicone spray will make the crossbow a lot easier to turn too.

go well,

dojo

Dojo's absolutely right, just pulled out my old Cab Xbow bar and tried it. The floats are a bit awkward to compress especially if old and stiff.

What I did was pull off the neoprene cover and massage the float until it softened enough to compress. Without the covers they compress more.

The other option is to run a slit down the float, undo the pulley, put float back and slide cover over. The cover should hold it all together, if not glue the slit together or rap a bit of tape around the float.

My 2 cents

Cheers
Rich

Dojo, great advice. much appreciated.

Well it took an hour, 2 1/2 beers and a teaspoon (in replacement of another pair of hands) but the end outcome was achieved!!

Thanks again for your input guys

Just a quick note - I remember those exact pulleys when i was sailing. And I only remember them because the side of the actual pulley (The white bit) used to chip off and get REALLY sharp - especially when sun damaged.

Just be careful with your bar around hard things that could chip the pulley. Good work though! It's good to see more of this kind of stuff on here... Winter projects!