New RT Cranes for us.

[MKTEF]

Last year our Logistic organisation wrote a contract with the Norwegian Grove distributor for new RT cranes to us.
The cranes is intended for use in my squadron, so there is only 4 to be delivered.:D
The first one has arrived at the distributor, and they are preparing it for Norwegian climate and mounting the whistles and bells for us..
U know; Webasto heater, 220v block heater, lifting gear, greasing system ++

So i took som spy pictures of it when i was in the area.:cool:

Our goverment has offered UN a engineer batalion for the Darfur(Sudan) conflict, so therefore much of our new equipment is whitepainted.
Only miss the UN letters on the crane.

[Lashlander]

Thats nice. What is it, about a 60 tonner?

[MKTEF]

I forgot that Lash.:)
Yes its a us 60t, european 55t.(RT760E)

U see in the states you can use it to 85% of the tipping load, here you can max lift 75%.
Then u of course got the override key....and u know in all commersial cranes there is som sort of patent to lock it in "on" position.
Like a prebent string, workers glowe, box of grease, a tool or something.

And i waited for your comments, i saw u got a RT in your business.:D
U got a 35 tonn ap?

[Lashlander]

Thanks for the reply! Ours is a P&H Omega 40. Rated for 40 ton. You aren't insinuating I'd bypass an LMI are you?:eek: :D Our crawler cranes are rated at 75% of tipping but like you said rubber tired machines are 85%. New cranes are nice, I've drooled on a few in Las Vegas at Con Expo.

[surfer-joe]

The Grove RT760 is one of my favorites. Big enough to do some serious lifting with good reach, small enough to be fairly nimble and get into tight places. You ought to be happy with them as they are very well constructed and engineered.

[MKTEF]

My crane instructor always said we shouldn't bypass the LMI.:nono
But he also said we were alowed.
But it should be used with your head. If you miss 5% lifting power to get it done without moving, it is OK.
But you should also know your crane, not all cranes can be used that way.

And for the users of new European cranes: Never, ever bypass the LMI!!!
The booms is constructed for the rated loads, nothing more!:badidea

There has been a lot of colapsed european cranes because of this.
And that is all of us users foult; we demand more lifting power and less weight. Then the extra safety goes away.

So the old US and japanese cranes got a stronger and more sturdy construction than the new european ones. Ive spent some time in a 2004Tadano Faun AT 45t, talk about fishing rod. The boom is so flexible you wouldn't imagine.:eek:
Our old PPM AT 55t from 89 has a flexible boom to, but far more stiff than the Tadano had.

Before writing the demands for the cranes we had some discusion around it.
Here in Norway everybody got AT cranes, we also. There is mayby 10 -20 RT cranes in the 40-100t class in the whole country.
There is a lot of 25-35t, because they could/can be roaded.

But all the AT cranes nowadays is packed with electronics. Have a look in a Liebherr, everything is electronic. I don't like that for our use.
A salesman asked us why we didn't by a RT, when we described our use, and that triggered the discussion. We do most of the lifting inside our camps and a few missions on the outside, and there is no DOT in Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq.:naughty

So we put our demands on paper and studied the available models.
We ended up with a 55/60t because it got enough reach, can carry weight, are strong and has an acceptable transportweight when u remove the counterweight.
When removing the extra winch, the boom extension and blocks we got it arund/less than 66 klbs transportweight.

The crane is not delievered yet, i've only looked at it by the distributor.
It looks real nice though, can't realy wait to the course in august!:woohoo
A real solid and well built crane as i can see so far.

[Dualie]

Tape makes an easy override for the LMI also. Looks like a damn nice unit. I really like the new groves!

But for day to day use my little old National boom truck is plenty for day to day site work around here.


The new Terex machines look pretty decent but I don't have any seat time on one so im just looking from the outside. I totally agree about the safety margins going away. The new national 600 series cranes weigh 5500 lbs less than the first generation units. all that weight savings came out by running the ragged edge of structural ratings.

[MKTEF]

We've got two delivered now, has had them in use for apr 4 weeks.
We are very happy with the cranes.:)
Everybody loves them for our type of use, easy to drive, solid and rather handy in tight spots.
Has even tested them in some terrain driving.(search for mktef on youtube)

At the course we had the dealer present, we where laughing when the us instructor told us abot boom deflection. This Grove has nearly no deflection at all.;)

I have made another post here with pictures and stuff about them too.;)