new ride

This one of our own buildings we put the piece on the roof up in one piece in the first post with the two guys on the roof it started freezing rain if was me on the roof I'd of quit. The big trusses are 80's I just set the end set so they could tie it in and get ready for the next day my spreaders aren't big enough for 80's. the picture of the boom over the house just looked cool

bullet through another bullet?

Let us know how those 80' trusses fly. Looks like a pretty shallow pitch, they will be noodles. The last (and only) time I set some 85' 3/12 (!) trusses, we burned up a couple hours trying every combination of spreader bars and rigging me and the nail benders could come up with. We finally resorted to me welding up a 3" channel iron rectangle, C clamped to each truss, a lifting frame in effect. It worked great but of course was a bit slower. I fabbed it for free, they paid for the material, and I got to take it home at the end of the job, where I cut it up for misc. shop projects.

Natman said:

Let us know how those 80' trusses fly. Looks like a pretty shallow pitch, they will be noodles. The last (and only) time I set some 85' 3/12 (!) trusses, we burned up a couple hours trying every combination of spreader bars and rigging me and the nail benders
could come up with. We finally resorted to me welding up a 3" channel iron rectangle, C clamped to each truss, a lifting frame in effect. It worked great but of course was a bit slower. I fabbed it for free, they paid for the material, and I got to take it home at the end of the job, where I cut it up for misc. shop projects.

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I didn't set them thier regular crane guy was coming the next day and he had a 25 ft. Spreader. I'm not really interested in doing anything over sixty, I bet I've done over 1,000 60's over the years and I've done a couple buildings with 70's but they are also usually maybe 200 or more feet long and really should be done by mobile crane. As a contractor I wouldn't even do 80's for myself, in fact I start a large horse barn next week that is 135 x 115 wide with a beam line down the centre so its two large mono trusses and I'm having a competitor come in with his terex 8,000 cross over to set them,to do it right the crane will need to work at over eighty feet for most of the building, I'm going to have 9 men working on it and I don't want to screw around setting up the crane multiple time just so I can use my own. And I'm looking forward to getting up in the trusses myself, Ive always loved working in a big set of trusses. I will be using my own crane to finish the beam work and we will be building the gable sets on the ground and setting them the day before we start the main roof.
Pictures to come.

I've set several 80' trusses on pole buildings. I simply tied a long 6x6 post to the truss with ropes. After it is set in place and anchored I simply remove the post to the next truss.

I have had to also resort to different types of temp/removable stiffbacks, it seems no matter how big a span the spreader bar is, some trusses just need it. Too big a spreader, and the centers bow, too small and the tips do. Usually, about 1/3 of the vert height up from the bottom chord, works better then directly on the bottom, or top. The 60'er's with 2x4 top and bottom chords AND a 3/12 or so pitch are the worse. I've had the nail benders make up a stiff back on site, often just 16' long is enough to take the wiggle out, and a couple long reach Vice Grips or large C clamps really stiffen things up and only add very little time. Right now, around here anyway, the "trend" in the high dollar homes is super steep roofs, which is good for me as they hang a lot better! I'd hate to be a roofer or a drywaller these days, as needlessly complicated as the roof/ceiling lines are now, trusses hanging on girders, hanging on other girders, whatever happened to the concept of direct bearing?!

I had a bit of bad luck today, I was backing in a driveway today and I got to close to the edge and I slid sideways about a foot and a half off the driveway. I never spun a wheel I just phone the heavy tow truck and had it out in less than an hour. There was no way I was screwing around and lay it on it's side.
I'm hoping for a better day tomorrow when I go back to set the guys beams.

Its nice when it works out. And yes a wrecker is expensive, but much cheaper than the possible alternatives. So many guys get in a hurry, and try to get out, and it can get ugly. Its just unhandy when you get stuck.

So was it a really bad spot? or was it just one of those things that happen that you really can't blame on the site? (I'm trying to say you just messed up, without saying you messed up)

The reason I'm asking is because if I go look at a jobsite that's really steep or muddy, I tell the contractor beforehand, " If I get stuck there, I'm not paying the wrecker bill". I can usually tell if I'm going to have trouble, so I just point it out early, before I'm stuck.

A lot of them will either add some rock or wait till it dries out. I always figure I'm not spending $400 on a wrecker bill to make $800 on a truss job, I don't need jobs like that. Just wondering what everyone else does.

Good call on getting assistance to free the boom truck Tradesman . Good operator knows when to stop instead of going in deeper .

Do you keep a set of tire chains for the truck in bad road conditions ?

crane operator said:

Its nice when it works out. And yes a wrecker is expensive, but much cheaper than the possible alternatives.

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A good wrecker aint expensive ........ It's priceless

http://www.heavytruckforums.com/showthread.php?263-Some-Holmes-750-action&p=4024&viewfull=1#post4024

I only own tire chains for the pickup. We don't get that much ice/snow, and if we do, it disappears fast enough, I just stay home until it goes away.

We've used my old winch truck a few times to get out of a bad spot, I've got a hydraulic no-mar wrecker in the back yard that's a copy of a 750, without the mechanical winches. I just haven't gotten it mounted on anything yet. I've always thought that was a nice looking truck of yours td25c.

crane operator said:

Its nice when it works out. And yes a wrecker is expensive, but much cheaper than the possible alternatives. So many guys get in a hurry, and try to get out, and it can get ugly. Its just unhandy when you get stuck.

So was it a really bad spot? or was it just one of those things that happen that you really can't blame on the site? (I'm trying to say you just messed up, without saying you messed up)

The reason I'm asking is because if I go look at a jobsite that's really steep or muddy, I tell the contractor beforehand, " If I get stuck there, I'm not paying the wrecker bill". I can usually tell if I'm going to have trouble, so I just point it out early, before I'm stuck.

A lot of them will either add some rock or wait till it dries out. I always figure I'm not spending $400 on a wrecker bill to make $800 on a truss job, I don't need jobs like that. Just wondering what everyone else does.

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CAN YOU SAY OPERATOR ERROR!! The driveway was ice and snow covered and I misjudged where the edge of the driveway was, I never really drove off the driveway I got to close and it slid over and dropped down about a foot. Yikes I tore a chunk out of the seat clenching my arse,but all is good I'm back on the job in the morning.

crane operator said:

I only own tire chains for the pickup. We don't get that much ice/snow, and if we do, it disappears fast enough, I just stay home until it goes away.

We've used my old winch truck a few times to get out of a bad spot, I've got a hydraulic no-mar wrecker in the back yard that's a copy of a 750, without the mechanical winches. I just haven't gotten it mounted on anything yet. I've always thought that was a nice looking truck of yours td25c.

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Yeah crane op , the no-mar hydro bed project sounds interesting . Wonder if there is room behind the Western Star cab to just mount winch mast without the booms ?

Could still pull the detach trailer & have another winch puller at the same time .

I really like the old Ford winch truck ! Rig built for all situations .

I returned to the seen of the crime today

Looks like everything it frozen solid ..... I got a chill just looking at the pictures

No tire chains Tradesman ?

No chains, I've never had a set for a truck. When all I had was two wheel drive tractors I kept a set on my loader tractor but I haven't had them on in twenty years. Our back roads are usually capped with frozen snow I like to travel them in the winter because you don't get covered in salt and sand. The paved roads are salted and sanded and within a couple days of a heavy snow are bare but nasty anything your driving will be white with sand and salt residue. I wash my crane almost every time it goes out, which is a real treat in sub 0 temps I only have a cold water washer and as I'm blowing the sand off it's getting capped with ice.

In that environment I would invest in some single chains you could throw on when needed .

Keep a set on the truck . Don't take that long to drop them on when ya got to go in to a bad area .


You can crawl over & through some pretty bad road conditions with tire chains ......

We use this cam style type singles . http://www.peerlesschain.com/tire-chain-finder/traction/tirechains/434

I think I spent 1/4 of my time with chains on doing propane delivery. We always just used single chains on the outside duals. Very steep here. Very easy to go out of control without chains. Wore out more sets than I could count.

I had been stuck off the road such a number of times, just the thought of all the hassle involved and wasted hours would motivate me to get out and put them on before anything bad happened.

Big knobby mud tires, the type with only 3 rows of cleats the size of your fist, also help a whole lot.

I don't think chains would have got you out of that spot tradesman, especially because of how top heavy that boom truck is. You really chance letting it go on over. Don't you have cross locks also, in addition to your diff. lock? That would probably help out in mud or a slick spot, but it can also plow you and not let the front end come around if you're trying to come around a corner.

If you're on the snow like that all the time, chains would be a big help, we just don't have conditions like that here.

One thing nice about a crane, its not real hard to put them on, you can just jack up the crane and wrap them up.

One thing I might have tried in that situation tradesman- You could have kicked in the pumps. Jacked up the front drivers jack, and maybe the rear one too. Put your dunnage under the in the ditch tires, and make a path of blocks to get out. The blocks might have wanted to slide around on the snow, but if you could have removed the tipping factor, you might have got the cross locks in, and walked out of there. I probably would have done that anyway, even if I was pulling it out, just to eliminate the chance of it tipping over as it was coming out.