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Pin on man baskets

John Griffin

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2018
Messages
264
Location
Huntsville, AL
We do mainly tree work with our tms300. There are times when we basically need to use it as a large bucket truck. I'm looking for a basket that we could pin on instead of the jib. We've used hanging baskets in the past and they absolutely suck for what we do. Any good places to look or companies that you guys have bought these from?

Thanks,
John
 

Tugger2

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2018
Messages
1,366
Location
British Columbia
As a pile driver for many years we use a device we call a pork barrel, 36 in pipe about 42 inch high with a bottom welded into it and a 2 part sling shackled into the top lip of the pipe . we built them ourselves and had them certified for carrying men. Ive used them for tree work when i had my picker truck and it worked quite well .
 

Tradesman

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2013
Messages
1,075
Location
Ontario
Occupation
Contractor
This my basket that I bought with my new crane, I don’t think it’s built by Manitex but built for them. A bit spendy but very nice, engineered and built specifically for my crane. So I am charted and it is in my LMI , which is a requirement in Ontario, I also have a engineering company do a NDT every year. Sorry for the poor pictures I was at my shop when I read your post and the basket is in a shed without lights.
Tomorrow in the light I’ll look for a name plate.
88E2E00E-975B-42E8-9BCD-89C2FA7F3B51.jpeg 8E2CC023-EEEE-40D1-92AB-F1F10155F7C3.jpeg
 

John Griffin

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2018
Messages
264
Location
Huntsville, AL
Thanks for the info.

Yeah that is one reason hanging baskets absolutely suck for us. The other is running a chainsaw out of one while swinging around. Sometimes we deal with trees where we don't want to lift sections with the crane as they are to unstable or brittle. Sometimes with these we will cut and throw smaller pieces. Doing this while tied in above the ball sucks as well. We do follow the proper procedures per z133-17. We actually bought a second tms300 a couple of weeks ago so we might use the man basket in conjunction with the other crane at times.
 

crane operator

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,275
Location
sw missouri
I always send two guys up in the manbasket, one to cut and one to hold on. That gets a lot of work done. You can't do anything by yourself with a chainsaw in the basket, as you have found out.

I have both a pin on basket and regular hanging manbasket. I find it a even split on which one is nicer to use. The hanging basket is easier to get it where you need it to be, the pin on basket is much nicer to work out of. If I had to give up one, it would be the pin on basket. I can do things with a hanging basket, you can't do with a pin on, and the opposite isn't true.
 

John Griffin

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2018
Messages
264
Location
Huntsville, AL
We have done the two guys in a basket. To me that's just asking for one to cut the other with a chainsaw. It is also probably not osha legal as they can't get far enough away to operate with the appropriate safe distance.

Arborists are allowed to tie their rope system in above the ball if they follow the procedures outlined in z133. We really don't need a hanging man basket since we can hang from the ball. Its easier to just put your spikes into the tree at that point instead of trying to get a large man basket down into the canopy. You can stay still working on spikes much easier than trying to keep the basket still.
 
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crane operator

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,275
Location
sw missouri
I typically use a basket when the trees are too dead to climb up into, and we are just taking them down. If they can climb them for trimming, I don't even get called. $$$$

The biggest problem with the pin on basket, is you can't work the other side of the main trunk, you have to be able to be pointed at what you're working on. The hanging basket, you can keep it above the whole tree and work the whole tree.
 

John Griffin

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2018
Messages
264
Location
Huntsville, AL
Crane operator,

I don't think you are quite understanding my previous post. In those situations where we would need to drop into the canopy, we don't need a man basket. We will just ride the ball using our climbing rope and harness. Our rules are different than construction. We are allowed to ride the ball as long as we do it per z133.

Thanks,
John
 

hosspuller

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Joined
Aug 27, 2014
Messages
1,869
Location
North Carolina

crane operator

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,275
Location
sw missouri
One issue you may have to deal with is the line in the lifting capacity charts from Grove. The one that says "Handling of personnel from the boom is not authorized except with equipment furnished and installed by Grove Manufacturing Company. "

Grove isn't going to make you a basket and install it on your crane. Tradesman has a factory basket. I have a National boom truck basket, that fits on my national boom truck, and I made a adapter that makes it fit on my jib of my RT740 Grove, for work that my national won't reach. Its not "authorized" as I have it on my RT. I'm willing to live with that, and stay within my 50% deduct for manbasket work. It may bite me someday if something happens, and I guess that's me sticking my neck out, with making a tool to do a job.

I just wanted you to be aware , of what is in the book and the risks involved. I'm not saying don't make a basket to do the job. But I just want you aware of the "factory" statement on the subject.

20191202_213252_LI.jpg

And I do understand what you are doing dropping with a line through the ball, I have one current customer that does it like that. I used to do a lot of work with another customer that always worked that way. I thought your concern was cutting off dead pieces and throwing them down.
Sometimes with these we will cut and throw smaller pieces.

Which you can do from a two man hanging basket. If you and your guys aren't comfortable with working that way, by all means use a pin on basket. Most of the time when guys are having trouble working out of the basket, its because of inexperience on the part of the operator or the guys in the tree, or in working together. A guy who doesn't run crane all the time, makes for a miserable day in the basket. He will have the poor guys in the basket swinging all over. Guys in the basket, that try to drag the basket all over in the tree by pulling it around everywhere, can also make it difficult. Usually after everyone gets on the same page with each other, it goes pretty good.

One of my biggest problems with a pin on, is tree trunk or other structures in the way of direct line of sight to the area you need to be placed in. Invariably, there will be more than one large trunk section, and a big leader going directly opposite of the crane out 40' further away, and you can't move the crane out of the driveway to "get around the corner" of the trunk. Cut your way in is the only way then.

The other problem with a pin on basket, is it won't knuckle in on itself like a bucket truck, it starts out at 30' length, and just doesn't get any shorter. Its even worse if you have it pinned on with dead stick out, or a jib on. You can't get any closer than 60' to yourself then. Works fine for 100' up, you just end up getting stuck in on yourself when your 40' off the ground, bringing down the rest of the trunk. Some jobs you may have all the room in the world to work with, and then its not a big deal. Or just pull the crane out of the way and finish with the bucket truck. Those issues are much less if you are just working off powered boom with no dead stick or jib in.

If you want a pin on basket, by all means buy one or build one, I was just trying to be helpful with some of the disadvantages of them, they just don't work in all situations. I really like our pin on basket, and its much nicer for a lot of jobs than a swinging basket, it just won't do every job. I myself, find it easier to place the guys smoothly where they need to be with a hanging basket, than with a pin on basket. Especially at long radius with a lot of boom out.
 

Natman

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2016
Messages
972
Location
ID
I made a direct copy of the Guiffre 1 man pin on, for my own personal use. It cost me less then $300.00 material (already had some of it) and about half a days labor. It is built "stupid strong", making up for the lack of formal engineering, at least for my own use, and i wear a harness also. I also have a certified 2 man hangar, with test weight, that came with my 1300 series National.
 
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