Just some work pics

[crane operator]

Finished up the big wooden beam building before I left for vacation.

 

[crane operator]

First day back, set steel all day, just beat out a thunderstorm finishing up, I had boom back in, but did ctw. and mats as the wind hit. Hit hard rain about a mile from the jobsite.

 

[crane operator]

Trusses.

 

[gtermini]

Don't let the Portland effect give us Oregonians all a bad name lol. There's more than a few of us "normal" folks outside the big cities, and we can't stand the weirdos and their shenanigans just as much as you.

 

[catman13]

gtermini is right we all not crazy in oregon

 

[crane operator]

I didn't figure everyone out there was crazy. There's several of you guys on the forum from oregon, and most of you seem on the sane side. I did see several logging outfits and some of the boat repair yards full of equipment, and figured they weren't all wearing tutu's.

From what I read and see on the news, you guys really have a mess of two distinct groups, a super liberal large city group, and a much more conservative business minded rural area. From what I read in the local papers while I was there, a lot of the planning and zoning and business processes can be a real headache.

It seems the state politics is even more divided, than the country as a whole is right now, with probably a larger divide between the two sides than in a lot of other areas. Seems like not much middle ground. But a lot of times, the news just wants to show the extremes, not the middle of the road people either. (Sorry if any of that seemed political leaning toward anyone, I'm not trying to push one side or the other here, just a outsiders weekend view).

I was surprised at the number of scales and how many were open. Maybe I just hit the wrong days. But that would make it tough to get a lot of work done, if you have to mess around in the scales all the time. The limited number of roads between the coast highway and I-5 kind of funnels most of the east west traffic down to just a few routes, so they kind of have you guys in a box.

Where I am, there's only two scales that are within a two hour drive from me. One in Joplin on I-44 and one in west plains on 60 highway. I've only had a crane through the one on 60 highway, I've never been through the one in Joplin. They are both out of my regular travel area.

 

[catman13]

we have a super liberal large city group, and a much more conservative business minded rural area and it is in the Portland metro area and the rest of the state cant out vote them.

 

[crane operator]

Youngest daughter got her drivers licsense a couple weeks ago, so I had to give up the 1997 3/4 ton red ford truck, so she would have wheels. I really like that truck, but its reliable, and with her rolling around in a nice big steel machine, she's probably going to come out on the good side of a accident with a plastic car. I'm keeping my eye out though for something else for her, I kinda want the old body style truck back.

So with her taking the red ford, I needed another set of wheels. 2001 f450, 7.3 manual, two wheel drive. Odometer says 168,000. 11' bed, and it has grout or something stuck all to the flatbed. A/C works like a champ!
Bought it at a auction with 3 aux. fuel tanks. One of the guys went and picked it up, and said it was missing badly, but the old owners say its a new crate motor with only 30,000 miles on it. It looks new, new radiator, new or reman transmission too. Bed has been bumped around with the forklift a few times.

Owner said it has been setting for at least a year- company got bought out and is selling all the old trucks. The fuel cap was replaced by a 80-90 jug lid with a paper towel folded up in it, instead of replacing the fuel cap, so I think contaminated fuel is part of the poor running issues.

I got new fuel in it today, and it smoked a little at start up, but cleared up and is running a lot better now.

The tanks don't look too bad either, except someone took one of the hoses, and the auto fill nozzels off, and one was missing its cap too. I think they scavenged some items before they hit the auction. At least they left the pumps on all of them, those 12v pumps are getting $$$$. It seems like tanks have gone up in price too, I think the new one I was looking at was over $400.

New bumper was online for under $200, so I think I'll splurge for that, I don't mind a dent here or there, but I don't like a torn up front bumper, makes people think you can't drive.

 

[crane operator]

Ritchie Bros got a little of my $ also. A hydraulic dumping roofers hopper. A hyd. clamshell. 50 ton cap. lifting bracket. And a job box with some rigging hooks and shackles in it.

I'm going to convert the dumping hopper to electric remote dump, I don't want to put a hyd. reel on a crane, I want to be able to use the box with any crane. The clam and lifting bracket were both pretty cheap. I don't know if I'll ever use either, but they were "one job will pay for them" priced.

 

[crane operator]

Liebherr got some of my $ too. I kind figured the black smoke/ over fueling on the liebherr was a boost issue. The turbo's were supposedly not very old when I bought it. Evidently they were self installed, SAE bolts in metric threads leads to loose turbo's. New gaskets, and one of the turbo's is bypassing oil, so a new turbo too. Found a gasket in the air to air piping connections that leaking a little too.

I'll say this though, I emailed about the gaskets around 3-4pm, and the same with the turbo, and I had both my items at my door the next morning before 10:30. If I give a description/ location on the machine, the parts guy will confirm from his parts breakdowns, and the parts came out of their california warehouse. Parts man is factory support employee in virginia.

Overnight shipping is about double the regular ups. But if its $50 for 3 day, and $80 for overnight, I'm all for overnight so I can get the machine back together.

I did check, the turbo's were not available aftermarket, liebherr only. I think garrett makes it for them by the part # and online searching, but they only make it for liebherr. New turbo only available, but they will offer 0 to 30% core refund if I send my old one to them. But they don't sell reman's?

 

[crane operator]

New one for me. A timber frame pool pavilion, with walnut timber frame beams. I didn't ask what they cost, but they were twisted every which direction, hard to drill and chisel to fit, and a general pain to work with. I don't think it will stand the pool dampness without warping all over, and I'm afraid it will eat up the mount plates and screws, but it isn't my $

Put it right under a tree too, so I pushed the galion through the branches to set them.

 

[crane operator]

HVAC units down at the mall with the 35. I managed to change two different units, for two different HVAC companies, on two different stores, and only set the crane up once. Changed out one and then the other. I'll never get to do that again down there.

 

[crane operator]

Big chiller units. 16,000 lbs or so.

I felt a little bad, they paid for a 70 ton crane to load them where they got shipped from, and I set them both with my 35 ton. No iron like old iron.

 

[crane operator]

Local church had a outdoor evening event for their kids. 4 to 12 year olds I'm guessing in age. Buddy brought a dump truck and backhoe. Concrete mixer truck and concrete pumper truck. Local fire dept, ambulance and sheriff task force van and volunteer fire dept brush buggy.

I told the guy that was arranging it- I wasn't spending any time washing up the crane, it was coming straight from the jobsite. The concrete mixer truck guy looked like he spent 3 days cleaning his truck. And the firefighter boys don't have anything else to do most of the time but clean their trucks. But mine was all muddy and greasy, I'm sure there's some moms looking at their kids clothes tonight "WHAT did you get on your pants?"

I set up the 35 and the kids had a ball climbing in and out and wobbling the levers around. Maybe a future crane operator in the group, who knows?

 

[Nige]

I did check, the turbo's were not available aftermarket, liebherr only. I think garrett makes it for them by the part # and online searching, but they only make it for liebherr. New turbo only available, but they will offer 0 to 30% core refund if I send my old one to them. But they don't sell reman's?

Had the same with some big Cat turbos. They were Switzer but only made for Cat, the local Switzer dealer wouldn't even entertain overhauling them.

Regarding your particular turbo. Would you rather buy a Reman part of unknown provenance that's been rebuilt, or a new one where after you ship your old one back you can potentially get up to 30% Core Credit.? Sometimes when you buy a Reman unit but end up getting no Core Credit because of damage to the old one you've effectively paid new price for a rebuilt unit. That always stuck in my craw a bit. At least this way you've paid new price for a new unit with the chance of getting some money back. Let us know how it goes.

 

[crane operator]

Had the same with some big Cat turbos. They were Switzer but only made for Cat, the local Switzer dealer wouldn't even entertain overhauling them.

Regarding your particular turbo. Would you rather buy a Reman part of unknown provenance that's been rebuilt, or a new one where after you ship your old one back you can potentially get up to 30% Core Credit.? Sometimes when you buy a Reman unit but end up getting no Core Credit because of damage to the old one you've effectively paid new price for a rebuilt unit. That always stuck in my craw a bit. At least this way you've paid new price for a new unit with the chance of getting some money back. Let us know how it goes.

If we are talking about what I would really rather do, I'd really rather not have to buy it at all. I should start up a gofundme page for parts expenses...

But, I was actually pleasantly shocked at the price for the turbo, just over $2,000 usd delivered to my door. I thought that was a very reasonable price for a captured part, they could charge twice that if they wanted too, its not like you could shop them around. I was kind of thinking it would be $3,000-$3,500, so the $2,000 was a nice surprise.

 

[crane operator]

So how does it make sense to offer a core value to me for my old turbo, but the special turbo isn't offered as a reman replacement? Where's the value in the old turbo if they aren't rebuilding them and reselling them?

 

[Nige]

May be they are rebuilding them but only putting the rebuilds on Reman engines.?
Or even cheekier. Rebuilding and selling the rebuilds as new ones.

 

[donkey doctor]

Maybe keep them from being rebuilt by somebody else. d.d.

 

[Birken Vogt]

I have always wondered how the rebuilt/core parts store system works. Say you are an aftermarket rebuilder who wants to supply rebuilt alternators for a 1990 Ford, do you run around to every junkyard to get enough cores to start up a system? And then as people buy them and don't return or return unusable cores, do you have to keep junkyarding around to keep the core supply up?

Maybe that's what they are trying to do here, build up a core supply so they can supply rebuilts in the future. You can't exactly cruise the country for junk Liebherr cranes.