The end of last week I was finishing up the second of two sub division houses that where side by side when on about the last three picks it started squealing, I run winter grade Grease in it all winter so I figured it had melted out on what was a warm day. When I got home I stood it up at eighty degrees and started filling it up with fresh summer grade grease, No problem right. I reached in the window to lower the boom a bit to put more grease in when I saw the boom rock at the heal pin " oh no". My boom pin has tapered wedges on each end and one of them was out of round and letting the pin rock, by the look of the pin it been doing it for quite a while but I guess I've kept enough grease in it that it hasn't been making any noise. Yikes shame on me for not picking it up sooner, but we pulled the pin today and are replacing the pin, two brass bushings and both tapered wedges. Looking back and knowing what I know now there where signs, I'm just glad I found it with no further damage or an accident
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new ride
- Thread starter Tradesman
- Start date
The end of last week I was finishing up the second of two sub division houses that where side by side when on about the last three picks it started squealing, I run winter grade Grease in it all winter so I figured it had melted out on what was a warm day. When I got home I stood it up at eighty degrees and started filling it up with fresh summer grade grease, No problem right. I reached in the window to lower the boom a bit to put more grease in when I saw the boom rock at the heal pin " oh no". My boom pin has tapered wedges on each end and one of them was out of round and letting the pin rock, by the look of the pin it been doing it for quite a while but I guess I've kept enough grease in it that it hasn't been making any noise. Yikes shame on me for not picking it up sooner, but we pulled the pin today and are replacing the pin, two brass bushings and both tapered wedges. Looking back and knowing what I know now there where signs, I'm just glad I found it with no further damage or an accident
crane operator
Senior Member
Good catch. I find most problems like that also- when greasing. I don't usually find anything when doing a " inspection",i.e. just looking at it. Frequent greasing helps find issues like that.
I had a boom hoist cylinder pin walk 3/4 of its way out of the brackets after the holding bolt/washer vibrated out (3hr drive to jobsite), I caught it when booming up after putting block in, getting ready to lift a crusher. Sometimes your guardian angel has to work overtime.
I had a boom hoist cylinder pin walk 3/4 of its way out of the brackets after the holding bolt/washer vibrated out (3hr drive to jobsite), I caught it when booming up after putting block in, getting ready to lift a crusher. Sometimes your guardian angel has to work overtime.
Wow! I'll give mine a closer look tomorrow. Very good catch. One thing about crane cranes and airplanes: the more reliable and trouble free they are, the easier it is to get complacent. I've had things happen in both due to "too" much reliability.
We had a concrete products company (septic tanks etc.) a few years ago here who did a little work on the side with their 22 ton Manitex BTC boom truck. One day, without (hard to believe that part) any warning at all, the boom FELL OFF! The turret base bolts had been loose for a long time it turned out, the thing never had an annual, but luckily no one got hurt.
15 years ago, on my Terex 3470 I had at the time, at the end of a long day, I had one more pick: a couple of steel beams on a hill side. Not too heavy and not too far, but a steep setup area. I got lazy and in a hurry ( I only had about 4,000 hours of running boom trucks then, another flying comparison.... once past the initial learning stage you think you have it all figured out, not so of course), and after getting level as I could, made the pick. Then it turned out the beams went further out then I thought... so I went ahead and boomed out some more.....and got 'er done.
Two weeks later, setting trusses, I noticed a squealing sound, that grease didn't help. Long story short, I had tweaked the turret base, I had found out side loads are a bad thing, the hard way. 6.5 K $ later and a couple weeks of down time, I was back in business, with a greater appreciation of what the bubble was telling me when setting up. I use that story when pressured by a customer as I'm setting up on a slope nowadays, who tries to hurry me.
We had a concrete products company (septic tanks etc.) a few years ago here who did a little work on the side with their 22 ton Manitex BTC boom truck. One day, without (hard to believe that part) any warning at all, the boom FELL OFF! The turret base bolts had been loose for a long time it turned out, the thing never had an annual, but luckily no one got hurt.
15 years ago, on my Terex 3470 I had at the time, at the end of a long day, I had one more pick: a couple of steel beams on a hill side. Not too heavy and not too far, but a steep setup area. I got lazy and in a hurry ( I only had about 4,000 hours of running boom trucks then, another flying comparison.... once past the initial learning stage you think you have it all figured out, not so of course), and after getting level as I could, made the pick. Then it turned out the beams went further out then I thought... so I went ahead and boomed out some more.....and got 'er done.
Two weeks later, setting trusses, I noticed a squealing sound, that grease didn't help. Long story short, I had tweaked the turret base, I had found out side loads are a bad thing, the hard way. 6.5 K $ later and a couple weeks of down time, I was back in business, with a greater appreciation of what the bubble was telling me when setting up. I use that story when pressured by a customer as I'm setting up on a slope nowadays, who tries to hurry me.
Well she's all back together. I don't think I'll go to the mail box for a week or so.And back to work tomorrow maybe!! there was no snow yesterday and sunny and warm, it just turned dirty about a hour ago and they're talking about the same tomorrow
Finally got an interesting job today. This guy got his telahandler stuck yesterday, I guess he didn't think it was bad enough so he picked it up with a big loader and it rolled back so that the fire hydrant was between the axel and the hydraulic tank. It was supposed to weigh 21,000 lbs. so I ran 3 parts and rigged the back end and lifted it out of the mud I had 16,500# on the lmi to get it clear of the mud, we cleaned the tires off and dropped the forks, it was now less than 13,000#. With it clear of the ground we filled in the ruts and put my ground matts under the rear tires, set it down, rigged all four corners and picked it up swung it onto the pavement and set it down, mission accomplished. Oh I had 26,000# on the hook, with my pre-warning buzzer going off. It felt solid as a rock. 
When I first got there I was thinking the same. But as I got the whole story I softened up a bit the guy was working on the weekend when I was loafing around home, got in a bad spot and had the good sense (and a bunch of good luck) to stop before something got broken and best of all called me.Nice work Tradesman getting the loader out of harms way !
Give them guys a business card , they will probably need you again in the future .
Ps. I gave them my card quite a while ago
Had a bit of fun today I moved 4 grain bins around all the way from this one at 1500 lbs. too one at 4000. There wasn't any lifting lugs on them so I dropped two 1/2" slings down the hole in the top and we hooked onto a 4x4 square tube. Worked really well and nobody had to climb up top to unhook.Nice. I've moved a different type, and the slick way the farmer came up with was a big old mounted truck tire that he rigged to, that was bigger around then the small hole up top of course, worked great.
As an aside, I was at the dentist getting my teeth cleaned the other day, then a small cavity fixed. While the dentist was working away, for some reason I kept thinking "my job is a LOT more fun then yours!" We are lucky.
As an aside, I was at the dentist getting my teeth cleaned the other day, then a small cavity fixed. While the dentist was working away, for some reason I kept thinking "my job is a LOT more fun then yours!" We are lucky.
Well it took me long enough but I finally took three links out of my A2B chain so that it doesn't 
hang in the grease from the ball swivell and I zip tied the tail end of my hoist line so the A2B weight doesn't get fouled on it. I can't see it causing any trouble because it won't be tight enough to act like a cable clamp attaching the live line to the tail end. Please let me know if you think I'm wrong
Ps. As you can see I have the much talked about terminator wedge, love it.
hang in the grease from the ball swivell and I zip tied the tail end of my hoist line so the A2B weight doesn't get fouled on it. I can't see it causing any trouble because it won't be tight enough to act like a cable clamp attaching the live line to the tail end. Please let me know if you think I'm wrongPs. As you can see I have the much talked about terminator wedge, love it.
Your words have come home to haunt me,I cut my 2" nylon slings into two pieces today, they where showing too much wear. So I had to put two of my purdy red roundies in the box so I have something thats ten feet " i use them a lot for balancing uneven loads " it broke my heart, as soon as I get new ten footers they will be back in the shop, only to come out on special occasions (I use them quite a bit,but i'd hate to see them up against a truss plate ). I was thinking of getting a light set of roundies or maybe just stick with the 2" nylon. Will they stand up to lifting piles of trusses, beams ....?Nice looking rigging. Just out of curiosity- why red's? 4 of those is kind of overkill for your crane isn't it? 13,000 per strap x4=52,000 (I know your not picking that
I'm not trying to be critical, its just I only run a set of 4 greens (5k per leg) in my 2 smaller cranes- all 4 will get me to 20,000. If I have to do a single leg 10k pick, I'll just basket one of them. My next bigger cranes, I only run up to 3/4" cable chokers, 10k per leg, and I regularly pick up to 40,000 with it. I've got some blue's that are good for 20,000 per leg, but they live in my 70 ton's support trailer, once in a great while I'll bring them with the 35 or rt if I have a 2 leg, single spreader bar pick, over 20k, but that's kind of rare.
I probably wouldn't keep something that big with you all the time. Leave them at the shop, and only take them if you know you need them. Smaller is cheaper, and they do always seem to get snagged. Otherwise someones borrowing them out of the box, when your not looking, to move the truss pile with their forklift (I've come back from lunch to witness that- they bought some new straps for me- they kept the ones they "borrowed" and snagged up).
I do like buying 4 at a time though, that way you have a nice matching set.
I do also like roundups when rigging odd shaped items. I also get a bang out of seeing guys trying to figure out how to use them, if they haven't been around roundups before.
Cables or chains for trusses, beams etc. A set of 9/32 chains will lift a full bunk of plywood. Get some with adjustable legs and you'll never have to buy another set. If I'm on a truss job the nylons aren't coming out of the rigging box unless they're going on top of a spreader bar. (Or I trust the guys I'm working for not to tear them up).You get a nylon up against one truss plate and it's ruined.
Chains are usually heavier but I'd rather use chains then any other type of rigging. Infinitely adjustable. If you don't overload them, they'll never wear out. The only thing they're not really good for is if you have to choke a metal pipe or something of that sort.
We keep 2 sets of 2 legged chains in each crane. A 15' and 20' set. We've replaced all the straps several times but we've never had to replace a single chain.
Chains are usually heavier but I'd rather use chains then any other type of rigging. Infinitely adjustable. If you don't overload them, they'll never wear out. The only thing they're not really good for is if you have to choke a metal pipe or something of that sort.
We keep 2 sets of 2 legged chains in each crane. A 15' and 20' set. We've replaced all the straps several times but we've never had to replace a single chain.
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crane operator
Senior Member
Never use nylons on a truss, bundles or otherwise. I'm a cable guy myself, I have 2 sets of 12' long, 2 leg or as single legs, x 1/2" cable spreaders (eye one end, hook with latch on the other end). Then I hang 8'x 1/2" eye to eye cables in a basket for trusses (or choke for more length, or choke one end and basket the other for one way pitch trusses). Essentially I can end up like knepptune with 15' or 20', but then I can combine my 2- 12' sets into a 4 point pick for units or square items/ spreader bar etc. , with 20k of capacity.
The 1/2" cables are in my 25 ton's, my 35 and rt have a similar set up only in 5/8" cable spreaders (my 35 also has a little longer set in 3/4"). Most of my sets are individual leg sets, not two legged. Makes it nice if they are individual, because you can hang one from each end of two spreader bars on a 4 point pick.
You can see how I'm using them in a 4 point pick on the bottom of the spreader bars on this crusher (3/4" set). I hung my 1/2" x 8' on the bottom in a basket to take care of the bending coming around the crusher legs from the picking eyes, I try to be hard on the 8' cables, and save my spreader cables. I probably replace my 1/2" every year or two, usually from having a broken wire or two, quarry work is hard on them, this particular pick would have been great for a set of chains on the bottom instead of my cables, but I can't carry everything.
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The 1/2" cables are in my 25 ton's, my 35 and rt have a similar set up only in 5/8" cable spreaders (my 35 also has a little longer set in 3/4"). Most of my sets are individual leg sets, not two legged. Makes it nice if they are individual, because you can hang one from each end of two spreader bars on a 4 point pick.
You can see how I'm using them in a 4 point pick on the bottom of the spreader bars on this crusher (3/4" set). I hung my 1/2" x 8' on the bottom in a basket to take care of the bending coming around the crusher legs from the picking eyes, I try to be hard on the 8' cables, and save my spreader cables. I probably replace my 1/2" every year or two, usually from having a broken wire or two, quarry work is hard on them, this particular pick would have been great for a set of chains on the bottom instead of my cables, but I can't carry everything.
:I like the idea of using chains, what do you use for hooks? for bundles of trusses or lifts of plywood it would be nice to hook back into the chain
Kiwi-truckwit
Senior Member
Around here it's chains all the way, very rare to see wires for any general purpose lifting. On mine I have a set of 10mm (4000kg capacity) and 13mm (6700kg capacity), a 2 leg and 2 single legs of each in a 6m length. With those and a full assortment of synthetics, I'm prepared for 99% of the jobs I do.
All those have Kuplex latching hooks fitted.
All those have Kuplex latching hooks fitted.
I had an interesting job today I pulled two municipal water distribution pumps, waited while they swapped out the Motors and mounting brackets then they sprayed them down with Chlorine then installed the new pumps. Six picks in 3 1/2 hours. It was interesting I went into the building and got the lowdown on how things work
Tugger
Well-Known Member
I like chain bridles,i keep 2 5/16"x 12' 2leg bridles and 2 1 ft s with a grab hook on each end for shorteners to balance loads.The bridles with the adjusting hooks on the ring seemed like a good idea until you have lowered the ring a few times and tangled the bridle chain on whatever sticks out of the lift. The only thing with the chains is having to keep up the inspection yearly on them.the rigging shop does it for very reasonably so its not a huge deal.