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Where are the wrecking balls?

Fastdirt

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2010
Messages
743
Location
GA
I have been looking for a year and can't seem to find wrecking ball/breaker ball. I've called all the demo, crane, metal yards, rental places, etc. with no luck. Finaly got a lead today and was told to call the owner of a local demo company which I was not familiar with. Called the owner and he said that he did not want to sell but had two of them and would rent for $1500 a week. He weighed them for me. About 3.5 tons and 4 tons on the other. He said you just can't find them anymore..... and eventually said to bring him $7500 and he'd sell one. Well I think I need a 1.5 ton or 2 ton ball. I have quite a bit of experience using them to break out rock. I just never knew the weight and niether did the owner of the wrecking ball. I assumed 1.5 to 2 tons. My excavator is 15 tons and so is the one in my video. As long as you are super smooth and careful it is ok to handle but can get ugly quick. It is very effective in my experience breaking out rock...but yes I've had to got the hammer a few times in the past when the ball seems to not be productive. Any help or leads would be greatly appreciated. I have video here if anyone can tell the size and how much I can expect to pay.http://youtu.be/8AYEybgExY8

I called a company who makes them in the mid east somewhere but was told that haven't made any up.
 

Turbo21835

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2007
Messages
1,135
Location
Road Dog
Just an FYI, that does not look like a wrecking ball. That looks like an ingot from a foundry. I used to work for a large demo contractor, and we usually had 3 on site. They come in handy. You may see if there is a small iron foundry around your area that could cast one for you. There is also Ginnow equipment that sell new balls that they cast. http://www.ginnowequipment.com/
 

Shenandoah

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2012
Messages
205
Location
Virginia
Looking at sold results on Iron Planet for the last year there were 5 wrecking balls listed under 'crane accessories', a 6,000 lb ball for $1,400 on 5/31/12, a 4,000 lb ball for $500 on 5/31/12, one with no specs for $550 on 5/24/12, a 16,000 lb. wrecking ball for $5,200 on 3/8/12, and a 4,000 lb ball for $2,600 on 3/1/12.

5 wrecking balls out of 42,074 items. They do seem a bit rare on that site...
 

OCR

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2008
Messages
1,195
Location
Montana
Occupation
Rancher/Farmer, Wildland Fire Fighter, State snowp
Thanks for the video link Fastdirt

Cheers

Same from me... :thumbsup




And then, I looked over to the right and noticed another video...


And then, I played this video I noticed...


And then, while it played, I recalled...

That's what I like about this place, I never stop learning.



Scrub, you think the fellow in this video I noticed and played...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=IznFcVuvICc&feature=endscreen

should join the forum, or in his case would it be more like...?




Dang, I kinda feel...:eek:...about bashing some guy from a YouTube video... maybe it's just me, but, couldn't he have used just a little bit better technique?

Aww heck, you folks can decide...


I'll find one from grandpa... then I won't feel embarrassed...:tong...:D

Oh, sorry for the hijack, too.



OCR... :)
 

OCR

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2008
Messages
1,195
Location
Montana
Occupation
Rancher/Farmer, Wildland Fire Fighter, State snowp
Yair . . . OCR I hear you . . . I was willing him to put the bucket down in the right place and crowd from the right angle!!!

Cheers.

...:thumbsup

Kinda painful to watch, isn't it?...:D



OCR... lol
 

OCR

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2008
Messages
1,195
Location
Montana
Occupation
Rancher/Farmer, Wildland Fire Fighter, State snowp
Looks like the fellow done just fine to me.... he didn't stretch and obliterate, he removed it.... good job mister!!!
Lol, Ok... I like it... good job, grandpa... :thumbsup...:D


OCR
 

95zIV

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2006
Messages
795
Location
Cincinnati, OH
Occupation
RR Contractor Super.
All the digging I've done has been on good going with hard rock underneath, but when I was delivering redi-mix and precast I heard stories about the bottom just falling out from under excavators. It's been my understanding in instances like that it's "HOLY ****, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO!. You then proceed to scrape, pull, wiggle, walk or anything else that might help. I'll give this guy credit, he's not rushing, he's not beating the crap out of the machine, he kept trying until he found the right mixture and it came out.

Now someone's got a whole bunch of cleaning to do! :D
 

digger242j

Administrator
Joined
Oct 31, 2003
Messages
6,628
Location
Southwestern PA
Occupation
Self employed excavator
< Digger now subtly guides the discussion back on topic.... >

Great stuck excavator video! So, how about we talk about wrecking balls?? :cool2


;)
 

OCR

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2008
Messages
1,195
Location
Montana
Occupation
Rancher/Farmer, Wildland Fire Fighter, State snowp
Oh, sorry for the hijack, too.



OCR... :)

Nah, it was my 'doing'... :eek:

I apologize again to all... and especially to Fastdirt.



OCR
 

Fastdirt

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2010
Messages
743
Location
GA
They are still made in Wisconsin. http://www.ginnowequipment.com/

Just an FYI, that does not look like a wrecking ball. That looks like an ingot from a foundry. I used to work for a large demo contractor, and we usually had 3 on site. They come in handy. You may see if there is a small iron foundry around your area that could cast one for you. There is also Ginnow equipment that sell new balls that they cast. http://www.ginnowequipment.com/

Thanks for the lead to Ginnow Equipment. I've called and talked with them and they have them ready to ship. I ordered a 2 ton ball and it should be here by Friday.
 

ichudov

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2014
Messages
432
Location
United States
I have two questions.

1. Can I use a wrecking ball with a HYDRAULIC rough terrain crane (Grove RT-60S).

2. I have some cast iron counterweights from industrial machines. They are basically huge rectangular cast iron bricks about 2 tons each. Dimensions roughly 18x18x36 inches or so, going by memory. I generally use them as counterweights for 30,000 lbs forklifts. But perhaps I can use them for demo's as well.

I never would demo a large building, just some cinderblock walls or some such.
 

crane operator

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,275
Location
sw missouri
I have two questions.

1. Can I use a wrecking ball with a HYDRAULIC rough terrain crane (Grove RT-60S).

.

Yeah- you don't want to do that. All the wrecking ball demo is done with lattice boom, a hydro has too much side to side slop to use a swinging motion to knock down walls. It also doesn't have free fall to use as a drop hammer. You want to find a old conventional lattice boom to do demo work.
 
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