old but free crane need info?

[egoman]

Ok guys this is what I come up with.Unit crane and shovel corp Millwaukee Wisc.Model 1020 or1920 cant clearly tell.Serial 56192 Date of man.2/7/56.
Ok here is what I need ,any info on these machines.

[Lashlander]

Looks to be about the same as this one. I think it was manufactured in 1940. They still use it everyday during the Salmon season at a Cannery on the Island. I'm not sure what the capacity is but I think its around 15 ton.

[egoman]

Thanks LL I was told by the current owner that he thought it was a 9 ton. Do you have acess to this crane and could you post more pics of the interior and operating instruction plates that are under your rtight elbow while sitting in the seat. The one I have here has these plates but they need to have a lot of crud and paint removed,heck take pics of everthing. Once again thanks for your response. ANYONE ELSE ????????????????

[[-Agent-]]

I think this is the first crane I have seen that has a step for the operator. ***

[Lashlander]

Right now I don't have access to this crane. Its around the backside the Island. We go down to work on the dock now and then so will take a bunch more if we do. These are the only other pics I have of it. Sorry.

[egoman]

Dont be sorry this is a really good picture of the boom and it helps me with some questions I had.

[egoman]

Well would you look at this. Two days ago I seen the first unit crane I had ever seen in my life and now I found myself a boom attached to another.
This one is the same model but its 3 years older.The glass is mostly there as well as several other pieces that I could use.I am probably going to get the clutches and the brake bands off of this one as well as the boom cables and the block.This is either my lucky day or Im getting in deep.

[ror76a]

You have a 1020 there. They are rated ten tons lifting and 3/4 yard as dragline/shovel/hoe/etc. The left lever is the swing/travel/boom hoist, middle is lower drum, and the right lever (which you apear to be missing, your machine must only have one drum? but it still has brakes for two drums?) would be hoist. The tall lever off to the front right is the swing/travel/boom selector, the small one with the lock to the right of it is the steering lever. The small lever on the right that swivels is the swing lock, make sure you have it disingaged when you put the machine in swing and try to swing it, or you can rip the lock right off the machine. I am suspecting that your machine also has a torque converter because I don't see the master clutch lever, but there is a pedal in it's place (guess you could have a master clutch peadel, but ive never seen that before :beatsme). Does it have the Detroit 3-71 engine or a gas engine? The old Units were a tough, quick, dependable crane, and most of the clutches/brakes are interchangeable, not only on the machine, but between most models.

Landlasher - I would say that the Unit in your pictures is a 5 or 6 Ton (half yard) model 514 or 614 - due to the smooth counterweight.

We just serviced our 1965 Unit 1220 this weekend and got it ready for another season. My grandpa has always had a Unit crane or excavator, or both, or several of both around here since the 50s so I guess I've picked up a little bit about them. If you have any other questions ask away.

Heres a picture of our old girl

[egoman]

You wouldnt happen to have a weight chart available for the1020 model would you??

[Lashlander]

Landlasher - I would say that the Unit in your pictures is a 5 or 6 Ton (half yard) model 514 or 614 - due to the smooth counterweight.

You may very well be right. I never knew and asked the guy running it. Thats what he thought. It seemed about the size of our Bucyrus Erie 22B so it made sense. Thats the only Unit Crane I'd ever seen. Nice looking unit you have. Thanks for the info.

[egoman]

Ror76a since you actually know what your talking about you need to be the one thats going to tell me how to lower the boom on the parts crane so it doesnt end up looking like a pretzel. I will figure it out at home where I will have lots of room to play but at the salvage yard there is not much room for mistakes.

[ror76a]

I take it that the parts crane does not run?
You should be able to slowly back the brake off of the boom hoist drum and bring it down nice and smooth. If I have time tonight I will look through my old manuals and see if I can get more specific for you. Maybe even some pictures.

[egoman]

ror76a you are the best . This is the type of info that makes you feel that the world is going to be OK. Its good to know that there are people out there that are willing to lend a hand.Would appreciate any pics and direction you can provide. I actually work with the previous owner and he says that the boom on these cranes lowers really smoothly and slow.Once I get this home then I can learn it in the open spaces of my acreage.

[cat d9]

So have you bought the one with the stick still on it or are you still gonna try put the other one back in operation.

[ror76a]

PM me with your email and I will send you the files. I am having trouble posting them.

[egoman]

I cant afford the one with the stick and its not as good mechanically as the other one.
You guys are relentless about me ending up with 2 of these arent you??ror76a I am PM ing you.

[cat d9]

If ya don't get them both you will be sorry!!!!

[Ray Welsh]

I cant afford the one with the stick and its not as good mechanically as the other one.
You guys are relentless about me ending up with 2 of these arent you??ror76a I am PM ing you.

I have no experience with your brand of crane/dragline, however all others (many makes) lower the boom at engine speed. A good safety measure from around 50yrs ago......C ya...........Ray

[TunnelGuy]

We have load charts and most repair data and pars suppliers for the UNIT cranes. we still use and have over 15 in service for us they work great. if you are needing information on a specific part or other info just let me know.


Also if anyone sees these along the road we also buy them and rebuild them for our operations.

[Turbo21835]

We have load charts and most repair data and pars suppliers for the UNIT cranes. we still use and have over 15 in service for us they work great. if you are needing information on a specific part or other info just let me know.


Also if anyone sees these along the road we also buy them and rebuild them for our operations.

You wouldnt happen to work for a company out of the Columbus OH area would you?

[TunnelGuy]

Yes i do

[Turbo21835]

I remember seeing you guys all over the place when I worked down there. I used to work for Performance Site Management. You guys primarily use those unit cranes for bore pits and tunnel projects?

[ror76a]

We have load charts and most repair data and pars suppliers for the UNIT cranes. we still use and have over 15 in service for us they work great. if you are needing information on a specific part or other info just let me know.


Also if anyone sees these along the road we also buy them and rebuild them for our operations.

How about some pictures? What models do you have?

[egoman]

Its been a while since I checked back here(been sick) and there has been some action.Just to update you the crane is just waiting for the snow to recede in order to be retrieved. We just got hit with another 4 inches last night.Turbo thanks for jumping in and will be asking more questions as work commences on the project.

[TunnelGuy]

Well the long and short - Crawlers we have 614, 617, 1020, 1020A, 1220, and 271C. Wagon cranes we have 1525, 357, and 271W ranging in age from 1951 to 1974

[OneWelder]

Tunnel Guy There is or was last fall a Unit Crane in one of the local yards they do not use it. If your interested in something this far away I can find out about it ( New Hampshire) I am quite sure it needs repairs

[TunnelGuy]

We have traveled all over to retrieve these cranes from auctions in TX to southern canada. they are hard to find since they stopped manufacturing in 1974. we can still get parts from some stocking suppliers and old dealers that have them stashed in the back corner. we also use a few local machine shops to manufacture some of the componets. I would like know what the model - serial number is we currently are looking for 1020A - 271 - 1220 models ranging from 9 ton to 25 ton. Never hurts to ask if you get a chance.

[ror76a]

How do you guys like that 271? I have never seen one in person, but they look like a good machine. I would love to find one of those, some jobs the old 1220 is a little light. :D Do you guys run any Unit excavators?

[OneWelder]

I go to that area every 4 - 6 weeks I will ask on next my trip.
I knew the owner before this one and would GUESS it to be in late 50tys - first guy had four runners(one shovel,backhoe Dragline and A crane) and a lot of parts
This is the Crane

[OneWelder]

Sorry - But it is Gone

[egoman]

Road restrictions are off and we were ready to move it on saturday.............
except that it rained a record amount on friday.Moved a cat 955 and a 933 but the driver could not get close to the crane. aaaarrrrgh now it has to dry up a little more before it comes home.We tried to start it to move it to drier groundbut it would only run on ether. Pulled off the valve cover and found that the injectors were seized . They pushed down and stayed there and the racks wouldnt move at all. Oh well the free part had to start to catch up eventually didnt it???????????:beatsme

[egoman]

Went and got new injectors at JIMMY DIESEL in winnipeg and he even gave me a complete copy of the instructions. I even decided to read them!!!!!
Everthing went together and it started up and ran. .......pretty good too.We moved it up front to dry ground and called the haulers. My friend calls me today and says that they will move it tonight:):):)
I go out and mow lawn to kill time and when I come to the house My wife tells me they phoned and it will not happen tonight.:(:(:(:(
Yes the crane is free and it runs but its not at home yet and I am feeling a little depressed.:beatsme

[egoman]

Hooray its at home finally!! After waiting for the road restrictions and a pain in the butt moving contractor I got fed up . Called a neighbor and made my own arrangements. He called me and said lets move it now and (gasp) he actually showed up. I gotta tell you that learning to drive it while loading on a lowbed may not be the best time. My buddies wife watched us for about a minute and said it looked too scary.....should have seen it from the seat!

[King of Obsolete]

looks good and nice to see you have mowed the lawn too, LOL

thansk
KoO
Published Author

[fritzie]

I have a model 614 [looks a lot like yours] drag line with a 35ft. boom and drag bucket with a chrysler 6 cyl. industrial engine . crawler mounted I'v gottenit to run . but my problem is i need to transport it but don't know what the weight is. I'v removed the counter weight , boom and drag line bucket. if any one knows where I might find a opperaters manual it would help alot

[Countryboy]

Welcome to Heavy Equipment Forums fritzie! :drinkup

[egoman]

fritzie is yours a unit? Send along some pics and we can help better. I have leads on several booms for mine and just waiting to see which one turns out the best.

[TunnelGuy]

We have a few of the 614's and we do not permit them for overweight (just overwidth) when we move them, they scale around 30,500# to 33,260#. We move them with the booms on and have no buckets with them. I have an operation and maintenance scanned as a PDF that we have taken from an manual, most all of the cranes models shared the same information in that aspect, back then they kept all of the paperwork simple as the cranes are.

[egoman]

Finally we found a boom . Its not the exact one but the lugs are in the right spot and I have 80 ft of it. I not only found it but I paid for it and I have it at home. Everthing came together in a total of about 5 hrs. Everything you see was loaded on the trailer by hand. I am lucky the egonephew was available to help.I only can use it as a single line for now so I need to find a headache ball or rework it to take the block that I have for a double line.

[egoman]

You will notice that the sheave end has been frozen and cracked. This would be a problem if I had not taken a piece that had two sheave ends bolted back to back.So now i have a spare sheave if I ever want to reengineer for a 4 pt line.Dont really see that happening.All together I have 5 ten ft sections 1 five ft section 8 ft of starter section and 8 ft of sheave section.All told this should put me at 76 ft. I dont need 76 feet but its nice to know that I have it if I need it.I will probably rig out at 41 ft. The main use for the crane is as a usable lawn ornament so I dont want it to look all gangly.As for the frozen piece I have inspected all the other pieces and they are all sound.I honestly dont know how the water got in there in the first place.

[egoman]

After I tore it all apart to unload I laid the starter sec. in front of the crane.
This is the first time that there has been aboom near this unit in a long time. I also painted one of the sections just to see how it would look from 20 feet.:) There are no prizes for anyone from Mb. who guesses where this came from. All I can say is the guy at Litz was one of the few who phoned me back and was a real gentleman.

[King of Obsolete]

litz was a big name in manitoba and had a lot of stuff. goood to see you got a boom, now you need a crane to assemble it, LOL

the rock band's bus is still there, the party must be a good one, LOL

thansk
KoO
Published Author

[DigDug]

My friend has a Unit Crane. He wanted $4000. for it a couple of years ago. It doesnt have a tracked undercarriage , it is on a frame with tires. It came from the navy and is pretty cool. Its all running and he has manuals with it. I was interested in it for around the shop but would rather have a tracked undercarriage.

[egoman]

Oh silly King you dont need a crane to rig up a crane.This entire job was done by hand.My dad helped with the assembly and now the crane has a boom on it for the first time in years. Went over to see a racer friend of mine due to the fact that I needed to turn down a portion of the pin from 2inch to 1 3/4 of an inch and to build some bushings. This is shown in the pics. Tommorow I will probably restring the boom cables and raise the boom.No viagra will be needed.I still have to reengineer for a 2 part line. If you have any ideas put them in here. I have a few of my own but even the egoman can profit from the ideas of others.By the way I wasnt kidding this was all done by hand. My dad is allmost as big as I am. If the egonephew was here we would have lifted the boom by hand.:eek:
If you look closely you can see the bushing by the grease fitting. It was a hammer fit to install and I may tack it in place yet.

[King of Obsolete]

oh you guys are suckers for punishment, LOL

looks good seeing the boom on, make sure you add the xmas lights to the boom before you raise it. that way you are not out in the cold and snow trying to do it, LOL

thansk
KoO
Published Author

[egoman]

Made up a new piece for the boom today and after the welding is complete I will post pics.Restrung the boom cables today but did not install the last connection to the boom winch. Takes 2 men to see and hook up as the winch is out of sight under the bodywork.

[King of Obsolete]

will be waiting for the pictures.

thansk
KoO
Published Author

[egoman]

Boy o boy give you guys a few pics and there is no getting rid of you.
Ok here are a few more.You can see the piece that I made. It will insure that the cables from the boom will allways pull straight and even.I didnt have anything to complete this area so a little experimentation was in order.In another pic you will see the better half paying absolutely no attention to the amazing spectacle at all.Of course because I an the trained rigger the egonephew is the one at the controls.He just happens to be the first guy in the seat all the time.Tommorow the load line will be attached and maybe the crane can lift something for the first time in many years.If you are out there dell I will let you read this here first.And king why havent you been a little busier on your projects. You near superhuman capacity for work on old equipment seems to be slowing down.I knew that real job would be the beginning of the end.More to follow tommorow...... or the next day.

[egoman]

I havent made any further progress on the crane lately. Much like the king I have a real job now working pipeline. Does anyone out there have a 3 to 5 ton headache ball for sale . I can use the crane as a single line for now until I reengineer it for 2 part.

[Steve Frazier]

I'm liking the Scenic Cruiser you have there!!

[King of Obsolete]

sorry to hear about your "real job", i quit mine since it was taking up too much of my fun time, LOL.

thansk
KoO
Published Author

[egoman]

Finally got the crane up and running today and seeing that the egonephew wimped out on us lifting his van we needed a substitute. Luckily we destroyed a perfectly good car this week and it would look good hanging from the hook. When I say it was a perfectly good car I mean it .This car was a tie rod end away from being returned to the road.Of course what use would it be if we left it like that.

[OneWelder]

Finally got the crane up and running today and seeing that the egonephew wimped out on us lifting his van we needed a substitute. Luckily we destroyed a perfectly good car this week and it would look good hanging from the hook. When I say it was a perfectly good car I mean it .This car was a tie rod end away from being returned to the road.Of course what use would it be if we left it like that.
Does that mean you tested the free fall !

[egoman]

We have a few more parts to get off of it yet.
The nephew wanted to try the free fall but when I told him about the 400 Lb block that would probably go through the roof he thought better of it.
I have allready smashed the window with the block. I really need to get this set up for the double line so that its easier to control, both in lowering and lifting.

[egoman]

The egonephew ran the crane today as we pulled the engine out of the intrepid today and set it in the garage for the winter project. He only hit the garage twice and started to swing towards the hydro lines. Dont worry he doesnt tend to panic and learned that if pulling the lever makes it go one way then pushing it will do the other. Still he said that he needed to change his shorts.

[gonzo50]

Sounds like you have at least one good project coming up.
If I were you I would try to obtain both of these cranes and use one of them for parts.
I just bought an old Warner Swasey 45 ton crane and I am hoping to post soon.
Good luck,
George

[D9mike]

Hi,I have been following this thread and picked up a 1965 1220 myself. It was a municipal machine then ended up in the scrap yard in Mass. where the owner did not have the heart to cut it up.It runs and moves good and I am looking for a fairlead for it so I can do some dragline work.D9Mike

[D9mike]

Hi I am a new member so I can't post for sale ads yet so I will put it here.I recently checked out 7 cable cranes that are for sale in Long Island,NY.A scrap guy owns them now and is going to cut them up if they don't sell.So here is a chance for you to preserve some American iron. There is a 1955 Unit 617 with an optional independent boom hoist,399 American pile driver,1952 Bay city wagon wheeled crane,1930's Browning Crane on a Mack carrier,1940's Osgood crane/no boom,model 41 Lorain crane,model 31 Lima Crane and a Northwest 25D crane with a 3rd drum mounted on a truck.I have these posted on craigslist as "7 cranes for sale" Hartford,CT. I have pictures available too.Thanks Mike 860-627-0520

[egoman]

Actually if you do a couple of more posts then you can put up some pics. And everyone knows we like pics.

[D9mike]

Ok that's what i'll do.Thanks

[D9mike]

This should do it.

[egoman]

Ok the pics didnt work out yet but I am sure that you are trying.:)
Here are a few to remind us that the winter isnt over quite yet. These are from this morning.

[D9mike]

Here is a quick one when the Unit was still in the scrap yard. I will post some more soon.

[egoman]

Kind of cute machines arent they. Thats what sucked me in. Wanted it for a lawn ornament.