Replacing a Norseman Fitting

Here is a badly installed norseman fitting. It's a testament to the strength of mechanical fittings that this held at all.

Step one is removing the fitting from the old wire. This can be done in place but it's much much easier to do it at the bench. First you unscrew the fitting. If it was put together with red loctite like it should you may need heat but brute force generally gets it done. After you get it apart clamp the cable in a vise just behind the fitting. Typically a wire diameter or less. Give the fitting a good smack with a mallet, lead hammer, or other non-marring tool. This should pop it loose from the cable and let you slide the fitting up. After you do that, cut the cable and remove the fitting.

Old fitting cleaned up and installed on a new wire. On Norseman's and Stalok's the cone must be replaced. On Hi-Mod's you can reuse all of the parts. The wire is evenly splayed out (no twisted or crossed strands) and the cone is inserted over the core with the taper pointing towards the fitting. The cone is inserted 1 1/2 wire diameters from the end of the cable. Cone placement is critical and is the number one causes of bad installs. I can't stress enough how important it is that the cone go on the entire core correctly. On this old fitting only two of the internal seven strands was inserted. I've even seen a "professionally" installed fitting where the rigger had filed or ground the core wires to make the cone fit easier. If you don't have an easy fit you need to reassess what is going on before continuing. It is NEVER necessary to alter the fitting or the cable in anyway. Norseman are the least user friendly fitting at this step.

The splayed outer wires are now twisted back to their original place making sure none of the individual wires lies in the groove of the cone. If the cone was inserted the proper depth the wires should lay approximately as pictured. This allows the recess in the male end of the fitting to do its job.

Red loctite is applied to the threads to lubricate them for the next step. Stainless is very susceptible to galling and the lubrication prevents this. Don't skip this step. I've put together a dry fitting by hand before and needed two large wrenches to get it back apart and the fitting was destroyed in the process.

The fitting is screwed together. You will feel it if anything is going wrong. If so stop, take it apart, and inspect it.

Take the fitting apart and inspect that the ends of the outer strands are wrapped evenly over the end of the cone. I wish I had a better picture here but I was having trouble with the depth focus. Now is the time to inject any sealant. My default is either 3M 4000UV or a polysulfide sealant. This isn't the place for silicone or 5200 although 5200 would work in a pinch. Just squeeze some right on top of the wire and in to the hollow in the male portion of the fitting.

As you screw everything together the sealant should squeeze out at the base of the fitting.

Fitting finally finished with the excess sealant cleaned off.