Hoist free fall

[td25c]

I wouder how many hydraulic cranes had this option,and how many operators use it.I use mine when changing the headake ball to the block.It allows me to hop out of the cab and manually pull out cable when reeving the block.Sometimes on a tall lift I will return the emty hook to the ground with the free fall.It's handy,I dont think I could be without it.

[liebherr1160]

Grove had it as you well know..the Tadano Crevo ,single and double XL Tadano's have it ,some P&H and i cant remember if it was Bantam or Link belt...

I enjoyed them all for the same reason's you listed ...I'll never forget the P&H T750 ...you have to push the lever all the way ahead and then over center was free fall ..
The operator just showed me how it worked and how getting rid of a load with 8 part line was futile ..just a So you know kinda learning experience ..
there was 40 Ton on the hook and the load about 20 feet in the air ..he gased up the ol' Jimmy and rang in on free fall... that hoist whaled like a gas turbine... pinned the throttle squeezed the brake rang in on full power down .....there was noway you were gonna get rid of it ..and i also learned how to get out of free fall just in case i managed to get into it ...letting go of the lever on that machine would be a disaster ..

[ATCOEQUIP]

Bucyrus 45C II had free fall main drum. Link Belt made one of the best Hyro Crane clutch drums out there. It's design was almost identical to the drums used on their conventional cranes. Hoist control lever (drum clutch control) was a seperate lever. Really nice brakes and brake pedal locks. :)

[td25c]

Bucyrus 45C II had free fall main drum. Link Belt made one of the best Hyro Crane clutch drums out there. It's design was almost identical to the drums used on their conventional cranes. Hoist control lever (drum clutch control) was a seperate lever. Really nice brakes and brake pedal locks. :)

That's how mine is,free fall on the main drum,and the free fall is a seperate lever to the far right with a safety lock.

[JDMGrading]

1968 Link-Belt 82 1/2 ton has free fall....Also the LS-248 Hylab 2.....Not sure about the Hylab 5.

[qball]

a manitowoc tripple two i was on had a keyed provision for free fall.

[JDMGrading]

Qball: Thats the same way the 248's and 348 H5 are activated.

[piledriving]

give me a friction rig any day of the week. not to fond of the hydro rigs

Justin

[td25c]

I like both ,hydros and friction rigs.welcome piledriving.What kind of rig do you run? Why are you not fond of the hydraulic cranes?

[piledriving]

25c, I play with a little bit of everything. I am not a full operator. soon to be in the near future. I work for a marine construction company. THe new company I work for has a American 9310, Link-belt 218 and a 248, Terex HC80. I havent been here long so I havent been in the seat of any of these rigs. The company I worked for before had 4 HC80's a HC110, Link-Belt 518 and 218, 2 American 5299 and a 597 which I have had seat time in all. My old man is a operator/pile driver, so I have been around this work all my life. I myself have been around pile driving and cranes and marine work for about 10 yrs full time. I dont like the hydro rigs just cause I dont like the fact that most dont have free fall, so you dont have control if something goes wrong. and I dont like the fact that computers are in the rigs. I geuss I grew up around the old school, hard for me to not run a rig by the seat of your pants.

Justin

[td25c]

What dose "full operator" mean? Hydraulic & friction cranes are made for different jobs.