Things done at Work

[Tiny]

I used to see one of these now and then but not for a couple of years now , Anyone seen any of these machines ?? Might be that they are just to old . These sales brochures are from the early 70s

 

[FSERVICE]

there is a contractor here that has 4 of these link belts.. & still uses them on occasion..

 

[Tiny]

They were sturdy machines but time and wear will get to them all . Now a days boom trucks will go to 65 ton so they will slowly go away

 

[Tiny]

This older computer had some pictures that I had forgotten , What do you do when a crane runs off in a ditch ? Bring in a bigger Crane . 108 Link Belt Run off the road and laid over on its side. I went along the weights for the 150 grove then helped rig to pick the machine . Once it was back upright and back on the pavement a waiting wrecker took it on home .

 

[cecil89]

honstly I saw those pics I would have thought you may have needed a bigger machine. Pictures can be deceiving. And some charts on hydros suck so bad the further out you get. Job well done. I grew up running those smaller Link Belts

 

[Tiny]

That machine with the boom configuration was pretty stout . Used it a couple of times to set a 3900 house without weights .. 5150 Grove 150 ton + the operator was above average . He run that machine like it was hooked to his nerve endings .

 

[old-iron-habit]

I used to see one of these now and then but not for a couple of years now , Anyone seen any of these machines ?? Might be that they are just to old . These sales brochures are from the early 70s

There was one of these in a 65 ton configuration just north of Minneapolis for (edit, the last two years) doing new bridge overpasses. It is owned by Robert R Shroeder, out of Glenwood, MN. I was working for him when this machine was delivered brand new in the early seventies. It was a big crane in them days compared to the old 599 and the two 5299 Americans we had.
Roger

 

[Steve Frazier]

I don't have pictures but a crane about the size used to recover the smaller one in your pics rolled through our town one afternoon and pulled to the shoulder to let traffic by, unaware that just a few months previous fiber optic cable had been run under that same shoulder. The result wasn't pretty, apparently the contractor who put the optic cable in didn't do much in the way of compaction when filling the ditch and the crane sunk out of sight on that side. Traffic was tied up for the next few days while they brought in two more cranes of about the same size to lift the stuck one back on the road. It was quite a spectacle!!

 

[CRAFT]

Like Your New Avatar !!! …. Steve

 

[cecil89]

crane about the size used to recover the smaller one in your pics rolled through our town one afternoon and pulled to the shoulder to let traffic by

This is sad. Sometimes being nice costs a lot of money

 

[Tiny]

I get a call this morning for my oldest ,The Crane Operator . " I'm sick to my stomach right now " .. That brought my Radar around to full focus . My crane is laying over with the boom bent in 3 places . My heart sank for a moment .

As it turns out , his machine didn't have a job today and the boss had another outfit come out to do a 3rd party inspection on it . Kid was just getting in the truck to go help another guy out on another job . He saw it hit the ground . Outside outfits mechanic was in the seat . No one hurt however the crane is down for the count . Boom bent in 3 different places . no pictures yet .

He sure knew how to wake me up this morning .

Heads up gents , This work can kill you .

 

[Tiny]

one pic so far

 

[mitch504]

Humm, wonder if warranty will cover that?

 

[td25c]

That's rough Tiny . I imagine your heart did race at first during the phone call .

Guessing next inspection Boss will make sure the Operator is in the seat . Good Lord !

 

[Tiny]

He said when the dust had cleared the drivers cab was 30 feet off the ground . With as high as parts are and the age of the machine , My guess is the insurance will total it .

 

[Cranemech]

one pic so far

Glad to hear that your son wasn't involved. I wonder what the story is on that accident.

In my career, I've personally seen the aftermath of a Terex RT-190, Terex RT-230, Terex RT-450, a Grove RT890E, a Lima 90 ton conventional boom that fell out of the sky and an AC435 that got laid over on the freeway. There were no physical injuries involved, just some hurt pride. Most of these were caused by inexperienced operators on bare rental machines. The Demag was driven by a new oiler that was going too fast and lost control.

Never like to hear about a crane going over.

 

[kshansen]

I could tell one about a guy who got permission to borrow the old Koehring Bantam crane to set some trusses on the garage he was building just down the road. Had about a third of the trusses set by hand but wanted to save work. Ran it home quick after work and backed it into position between stack of new trusses and the new garage. Then decided to do a quick check to see if he could easily reach both places. Swung over to trusses, looked good then over to garage. A little farther to reach so he boomed out a bit. Did anyone note the lack of mention of outriggers? For some reason the end wall and trusses already in place did not hold up to the boom of that crane. Boom down enough to allow outriggers to extend then boom up and take it back to shop. Lucky no damage at all to crane, just pride!

What's even worse is we had plans to go out to supper that evening with probably one of the best Union Hall crane operators in the area that same evening. Needless to say got my share of ribbing at the dinner table. And after repairing wall and broken trusses set them all by hand!