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Side Boom

DirtHauler

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2007
Messages
507
Location
Seattle WA
Occupation
Heavy Highway Dirt Hauler
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gMt2h70FwoI&feature=related

Do side booms have any kind of warning system that lets you know its about to tip over?

Are the conterweights controled automaticly to balance or are they just moved by the operator?

And any info on them in general would be cool, I see them used for locomotive recoveries and wondered what the weight limit is for their lifting.
 

greywynd

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Joined
Apr 25, 2005
Messages
225
Location
Peterborough, Ontario
Bet the first guy to go over was saying oh ****!! All in all, it went smoother than i was expecting though. I always thought these were neat machines, I'd like to know more about them too.
 
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AtlasRob

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Feb 8, 2008
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1,982
Location
West Sussex UK
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owner operator
booms

Cant comment on the newer hi-drive and hyd booms, but what you witness there is the speed at which you can get rid of weight with manual clutch & brakes. Although they went beyond the limits none of the machines went over and nobody got hurt, says experienced ops to me :notworthy I am not saying what they did was right, obviously it wasn't, as they lost control, eg were overloaded.
It is stated in the blurb that the intention was to SLIDE the pipe down the side of the ditch, so somebody knew they were operating on the border line of lift capacity. Just somebody didn't keep a tight rein on procceedings :rolleyes:
As to the weights, they are operator controled and when you are ready to lift you put them out as faaaaaar as they will go.:D
The overload warning device ( on the older models) is situated just below the operators waist at the rear, above the top of the legs. Its generally a crack that tightens as the offside track starts to lift :cool2
 

Buckethead

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Joined
Apr 4, 2007
Messages
1,055
Location
Waterfront
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Operator
A few times I was fortunate enough to work around them, and observe them in operation. When they were lowering-in it sometimes they would have about 3 or 4 feet of air under the right side track like it was nothing.
 

trainwreck

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Joined
Aug 26, 2007
Messages
247
Location
oregon
side boom can be very fun to run and yet very scary at the same time. if you look at the pics in my gallery you will find pics of 583k side booms that will lift about 140,000 lbs. you will see excavators holding down on the weight rack sometimes for more lift. where we go you sometimes cant get a bigger rig in there so say what you want about saftey and what not, i love running side booms keeps you on the edge of you seat.


http://www.budandraven.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=322
 

AtlasRob

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Feb 8, 2008
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Location
West Sussex UK
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owner operator
side boom can be very fun to run and yet very scary at the same time. if you look at the pics in my gallery you will find pics of 583k side booms that will lift about 140,000 lbs. you will see excavators holding down on the weight rack sometimes for more lift. where we go you sometimes cant get a bigger rig in there so say what you want about saftey and what not, i love running side booms keeps you on the edge of you seat.

http://www.budandraven.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=322

You do what you gota do trainwreck :D

I know exactly what you mean. 14 booms ( 2 x 594 ) rest were 583's + 1 Hitachi crawler crane, cross carriage. 48" shotcreted pipe for a river crossing.
Once in place every other boom had extra weight before lowering off. Some had a D8 winch some had backhoes sitting on thier weights. I will dig the pics out
 

95zIV

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Joined
Mar 11, 2006
Messages
795
Location
Cincinnati, OH
Occupation
RR Contractor Super.
Some companies use there track loaders for counterweight too! The first pic is swinging the car to the left. The second and third pics are from the same lift, they were swinging the far end of the car to the right. Sorry about the blur I was still getting used to the camera.
 

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PAYTON

Charter Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2003
Messages
85
Location
indy
Occupation
OPERATOR
we use sidebooms daily around work.. and there are many good things and bad things about them.. it takes some one with some serious know how and seat time to be good. other wise there very dangerous.. if we get in a situation where they might tip we usually use an track ho to put extra weight on the counter weights. seeing some of the old guys run them is pure rythm. its like magic. ive ran them a few times and i honestly dont like them. the newer hydro units have no quick realase in sense to the old manny units.
 

AtlasRob

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Feb 8, 2008
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West Sussex UK
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sidebooms

Can never find the pictures you really want when you want them, but here are a couple that show what we used for extra ballast :drinkup
 

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knucklehead98

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Apr 2, 2008
Messages
155
Location
Southern Illinois
The pics on the railroad are of RJ Corman's guys. They do pretty good work. I had a Samsung 280that quit on me, straddle of a main rail line. They came out and drug it off. Heard the bill was enormous too.
 
Joined
Dec 19, 2008
Messages
6
Location
Houston,TX.
Occupation
Pipeline construction.
Supervision!!

If the foreman lowering in are making tie-ins Don't know whats happening ?
Then anything can go wrong.
I've ran a boom for 20+ years all over the country . mountains to swamp on 48" & 8" .. I can tell if there is going to be a screw up before it happens..
 

Liebherr1967

Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2009
Messages
7
Location
Netherlands
Maximum Load Indicator for Pipe Layers

We sell Liebherr pipe layers world wide, we even shipped some 80 tons machines (weight approx 150.000 lbs. each) by plane (Antonov 124)from Germany to one of the former Russian republics !

We only sell with Roll Over Protection System (ROPS) to prevent the machine from squashing the operator. No hardhat or safety shoes will keep this kind of weight !

We know of a number of fatalities, mostly on slopes where the machines are less stable already. There are electronic devices available (green/orange/red light) to indicate if the machine is lifting towards the maximum weight. These systems even calculate if the machine is on a slope (either forwards, backwards or sideways). It is true that experienced operators feel when the machine is on the limit, even without the outer track being 3 feet in the air !

Wanted to insert some pictures but how ???
 

AtlasRob

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Feb 8, 2008
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West Sussex UK
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owner operator
Nice pics, does seem odd seeing them trundling into an aircraft though :D

Have you got any more side boom pics. :drinkup
 

Liebherr1967

Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2009
Messages
7
Location
Netherlands
Side Booms

See some below, all Liebherr hydrostatic driven machines. :beerchug
 

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AtlasRob

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See some below, all Liebherr hydrostatic driven machines. :beerchug

Great shots, thanks for posting.
Those are the first hydraulic booms I've seen from any manufacturer. :drinkup

Do all Leibherrs booms have a wider track pad on the lifting side.
I caught a glancing view of a sideboom on transport one day and was sure one track was wider than the other but by the time it actually registered in between the ears as to what I had seen it was too late for a second look :Banghead as a result I dont even know what make it was.

I'm guessing those two with the folding booms are about C@t 572 size, and I take it that the folding boom is to allow them to be ready for work on arrival.
What sort of capacity can they handle as that top section doesnt appear very robust, if you get my meaning. At first glance I wondered if they were intended as stringing booms.

on edit
Now I think they are paywelders and that jib is to hold the canopy :Banghead
 
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