Any Tower hands out there?

CascadeScaper · Sep 27, 2013

Any tower hands floating around on here? Took a dispatch out of the hall almost 4 months ago as a bellman for a tower crane outfit here in Seattle, for those of you locals I'm sure you can take a stab at who it is. Anyone run tower that prefers it to any other crane? I've worked around everything, but most of my experience at this point has been around a Manitowoc 4100 but I'm really taking a liking to the tower gig. I kept having battles with myself on whether or not I wanted to go back to the dirt this spring and as luck would have it, riggers were in short supply and I took a chance. Seems as if now all I'm pushing toward is getting my NCCCO tower cert. however I'm perfectly happy chasing hook in the meantime. Watching the tower torque up coming in on the swing just spins my crank for some reason. Am I the only one?

gostr8r · Oct 6, 2013

You aren’t alone out there. This is my 40th year in the business, and I absolutely prefer tower cranes over EVERY kind of crane I have operated! I have spent years on almost every kind of crawler that is available in the US and the same with the squirting mobil cranes too. Do most jobs with their various attachments, such as Manitowoc Ringers, MAXERS, Luffers and mobil towers, Link Belt’s in Luffers and their Heavy Lift Ring, as well as Lorains and Americans in tower configurations. Even tho they add to the charts and range of the original machine, they all lack many of things that attract me to the towers. There’s just so much about tower cranes that is soooo much more operator and user friendly. Towers will always be my first choice! We own 8 tower cranes in our fleet of around 100 cranes, so I get on them every few years or so for a term job. In fact I just took down my tower crane last night after a year running night shift at Universal Studio’s Islands Of Adventure in Orlando. Can’t wait to get back in the air!

CascadeScaper · Oct 6, 2013

What's your tower preference? We have quite a few Liebherrs in the area, there's a few Potains, and a couple Kroll rigs. I haven't been in anything other than a Liebherr but they seem so well thought out. I spent a little time around a Liebherr HS895 crawler on the last job and everything about that crane was built to make the job easy on the operator and boost production. I've always associated Liebherr as the gold standard for mobile cranes, what's your opinion on their towers?

gostr8r · Oct 7, 2013

I can’t argue about Liebherr’s reputation for making such great tower cranes, or mobil’s either for that matter. They are absolutely my fav’! As an operator I’ve run the Piener/Terex’s, Potain’s, Wolff’s, and also played with a Linden or two as a crane inspector. They all pale in comparison the the famous Liebherr towers. The cabs are so operator friendly, the swing motors strong and smooth, the latest designs are state of the art and their reliability matches any others. Krull of course has the most massive and powerful tower with the K-10,000, but it is very limited in it’s use and marketing. Did you know that Bucyrus Erie made a very fine tower crane back in the day? It was an exceptionally good rig, but was too expensive to continue that model, so they dropped it completely.

CascadeScaper · Oct 14, 2013

Good to know Liebherr has the same reputation across the country. I know some guys don't care for the Litronic system, the exact reason for that I'm not sure. I've been told that a bellman can end up eating a whole lot of rigging if asleep at the switch coming down empty hook with a Litronic rig, they just can't slow that winch down quite as fast, so I'm told.

gostr8r · Oct 26, 2013

They shouldn’t be hoisting down so fast when near the ground

! A few minutes of pre-lift operational tests

will give a real operator a feel for how the slow downs and delays need to be timed to bring the hook to a smooth and predictable stop. The issue you described tells me that the ones that are having that problem are those cutting corners when they jump in the seat and don’t don’t their duty as a responsible operators and test the controls and the functions first

. Operators/flagmen that let the hooks hit the ground are screwing up, not the crane or the system. Alert, aware and competent professionals don’t do that kind of thing on Liehberrs any more than any other rig, if at all, and if it happens it usually is human error! Personally I use in cab mirrors in front and down low to see the speed of the load sheave and to help me stay aware of how fast it is picking up or slowing down in speed. As I approach any obstacles or deck I am looking in my peripheral to see that the line speed is responding. Here’s a shot of what I do that really helps me with the line speed awareness! It’s a trade off. I tolerate a slight blind spot in my field of vision, which is easy to work around, for peace of mind. :yup http://s1029.photobucket.com/user/g...rp experiences/DSCN0397.jpg.html?sort=6&o=171

Tradesman · Oct 27, 2013

gostr8r said:
They shouldn’t be hoisting down so fast when near the ground! A few minutes of pre-lift operational tests will give a real operator a feel for how the slow downs and delays need to be timed to bring the hook to a smooth and predictable stop. The issue you described tells me that the ones that are having that problem are those cutting corners when they jump in the seat and don’t don’t their duty as a responsible operators and test the controls and the functions first. Operators/flagmen that let the hooks hit the ground are screwing up, not the crane or the system. Alert, aware and competent professionals don’t do that kind of thing on Liehberrs any more than any other rig, if at all, and if it happens it usually is human error! Personally I use in cab mirrors in front and down low to see the speed of the load sheave and to help me stay aware of how fast it is picking up or slowing down in speed. As I approach any obstacles or deck I am looking in my peripheral to see that the line speed is responding. Here’s a shot of what I do that really helps me with the line speed awareness! It’s a trade off. I tolerate a slight blind spot in my field of vision, which is easy to work around, for peace of mind. :yup http://s1029.photobucket.com/user/g...rp experiences/DSCN0397.jpg.html?sort=6&o=171

I'm not going to hyjack this thread but I looked at your pics on photobucket, gostr8r man you've done some stuff!:notworthy and I like the idea of a mirror to see your winch
Regards

gostr8r · Oct 27, 2013

Thanks Tradesman! I posted it, knowing it can lead to my other pics and albums, so he and others might get some ideas about how an old school/old timer does things.

CascadeScaper · Oct 27, 2013

I know if I was running a tower, after the first trip to the street I'd make a mental note of hook height. Some guys don't want to watch the display during a pick after the load is in the air, so in their defense, they don't know where the ground actually is. It is 100% bellman's job to keep bad things from happening in the blind, I take that stance when I'm chasing hook. However, when you get carpenters or laborers who don't normally work with a tower on the other end of the radio, things can get interesting.

Actually have some time off waiting for the next gig to start so I'm headed to knock out my NCCCO tower practical. Couple weeks at the training grounds in our tower, hopefully have me tuned up and ready to go.

Any Tower hands out there?

CascadeScaper

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