I need a Crane Mechanic's help, please!

[sunniesailor]

Hello,
I am new to this forum, so thank you for having me! Also, I hope I don't break a rule about posting here for this (I read the rules, and didn't see anything specific, but I could have missed something). Anyway, I hope to contribute a lot more, but my initial purpose in joining your group was to hopefully find a crane mechanic that would either be willing to come out and repair our cranes as a temp, or one that might be interested in a full-time, very well-paid position. Right now, we have a Grove (upper engine) and a 240 Liebherr (hydraulics; pictured) that are down (..I think... I'm just the chick that does office stuff, so please forgive my ignorance. : / ). Thank you in advanced for either scolding me for the improper post, or for your consideration. If you'd like more details, please PM me!

 

[Wytruckwrench]

Greeley Colorado area? I was in Greeley Colorado this morning. Please let me know what I can do to help you.

 

[crane operator]

Looks like the grove dealer for colorado is Honnen equip. Liebherr service is out of houston. I've heard great things about the factory support from houston.

The grove dealers in my experience can be really hit and miss. Honnen looks like they are really a john deere dealer, that is also the local rep for grove. Sometimes they can have a good crane guy, sometimes not.

That's been my experience with most grove dealers. They don't sell enough cranes, so they are usually mainly a dealer for something else, with cranes as a "sideline". My "local" crane grove dealer is actually a big dirt equipment dealer. They used to have a real good mechanic, the last guy, I met- not so much. And they have multiple locations, but they are all 3 hours away from me.

You usually have 2 options,

1- hire someone for hourly wages yourself, and he does all your own repair work, generally a guy that's a mechanic, but not necessarily a "crane" mechanic, but he's handy and will just figure it out. There's good phone support for most things, and service manuals for some things. You've probably got trucks for your counterweight loads, and trailers etc, so can probably justify a full time guy working on your other equipment, but you're not going to get someone that is a trained GMK tech for what you can pay as a hourly wage.

2- hire the "factory" service guy, at 100-150 per hour, that might actually know what they are doing, so they are done in 1/2 the time (but they might not- it could take the same amount of time to figure it out), and you only hire him for 2 weeks, and send him down the road when he's done fixing what you currently have broken.

Pick your poison.

I have option #1, a full time mechanic. He's not a trained crane mechanic, but was actually a car/ pickup mechanic, a good guy that used to have his own shop. I have 7 cranes, my largest is only 70 ton. But between the trucks and trailers and cranes, I keep him busy. We won't do everything- but do 99% of the repairs ourselves. Usually between him and I, and some phone calling, we can figure out most problems. He will also go out with the cranes as a rigger/ signal man, haul manbasket etc.

I know a guy in my same business, who does option #2. He has 3 cranes, and he does no mechanic work. He just hires it done, and probably at the end of the year spends a lot less $ than I do. If he has a problem, he calls the dealer, pays $2,000 and has it fixed. May not need the mechanic for another 6 months. No workmans com, no expensive shop and all those tools. He figures he's better off running cranes than fixing cranes.


You're GMK is probably a mercedes upstairs, find the local truck diesel repair guy, and have him give it a whirl. Hydraulics is hydraulics, any good heavy equipment mechanic, should be able to figure out your liebherr. It can't be good for business to have them both broken. Down time is super expensive, and you don't want to be the one that no one will call, because their equipment is always down.

 

[sunniesailor]

Thank you Crane Operator! I really appreciate your insight! Unfortunately, we have had a couple of bad and very costly experiences with using techs from Honnen. To be clear, I don't want to bash anyone. The circumstance here is that crane mechanics are in very short supply and incredibly busy. So, likely what we suffered from Honnen was just a situation where they sent out the only men they had available with little crane experience. Our go-to from Bigge is booked up with certifications, and we have been thinking about hiring a mechanic for some time now. We're offering a 6-figure income so we can get an experienced crane mechanic, but they seem to be in short supply?

 

[sunniesailor]

Greeley Colorado area? I was in Greeley Colorado this morning. Please let me know what I can do to help you.

Thank you for your response! I have started a conversation with you individually.

 

[crane operator]

I've done a little work with Crane Sales and Service out of Kansas City. They are owned by Barnhart now, they've got some good guys, and they go all over. Barnhart owns a little bit of everything, so most of their guys have worked on several different brands of equipment, but their main emphasis is cranes.

Sounds like you've been down the road, of the dirt mechanics working on your cranes. Sometimes things just go wrong, and it gets expensive all the way around, and parts aren't cheap. And the new stuff is very, very complicated.

Good luck and it sounds like a great position for someone.

 

[sunniesailor]

Thank you so much! I'll get a hold of Crane Sales and Service if I don't find someone soon!!! Best Regards!

 

[Knepptune]

Wish you the best. In my humble opinion your best bet is to find a younger guy/gal and train him. Most experienced techs are happy where they're at because they can go about wherever they want. Find someone that's mechanically inclined and let him/her learn. If he/she starts getting the hang of it send them to some gmk classes. And yes if you expect to do repairs in house your tech needs the classes. Grove will not sell you software/repair manuals unless you have their factory training. Especially on the gmks.



I honestly don't know if you can just go out and hire a crane mechanic.


Definitely wish you the best. Sounds like a good position.


I went through Potain class with a couple guys from RMS cranes in Denver. I'm guessing the have some gmk guys but they may strictly be a rental barn.

 

[Junkyard]

Thank you Crane Operator! I really appreciate your insight! Unfortunately, we have had a couple of bad and very costly experiences with using techs from Honnen. To be clear, I don't want to bash anyone. The circumstance here is that crane mechanics are in very short supply and incredibly busy. So, likely what we suffered from Honnen was just a situation where they sent out the only men they had available with little crane experience. Our go-to from Bigge is booked up with certifications, and we have been thinking about hiring a mechanic for some time now. We're offering a 6-figure income so we can get an experienced crane mechanic, but they seem to be in short supply?

Really good techs are hard to find. Are you a union company? What kind of benefits if not? I will say if you go the route of getting your own mechanic he/she is only as good as the info and tools they're given, especially on the late model stuff. You can't give him a 3/4 ton pickup and a 200 piece craftsman tool set and get complex hydraulic issues repaired. If the cost of the down time is such that you're willing to pay that kind of money you might as well budget a service truck, some specialty tooling and training as well. On the other hand a good one could become a source of revenue as I'm sure you're not the only company up there facing repair issues.

Greeley isn't bad, I've got friends in Ault....lol

Just to give you an idea I'm a field mechanic for a drilling company and work on the side as well. I've been collecting tools since I was 13-14 (soon to be 40). I'm into the specialty stuff now, hollow ram cylinders, hydraulic torque wrenches etc. I've probably got enough invested to send two of my kids to college. It's not cheap to get setup. Between a truck and tooling beyond what a competent tech should have you could spend 150-200k pretty easy so factor that in as well. It's tempting....haha

Cranes usually mean heavy haul and I've got that covered too .

Shameless promotion! I will reach out to my friends in Ault, your company may know them, and see if he knows of anybody.

 

[Wytruckwrench]

It’s tough around here. I do some crane work and go down that way quite a bit. Seems like there’s not much support in this area. Maybe RMK, might have some ideas. Just depends on how many you have and what you need, long term.

 

[sunniesailor]

Wish you the best. In my humble opinion your best bet is to find a younger guy/gal and train him. Most experienced techs are happy where they're at because they can go about wherever they want. Find someone that's mechanically inclined and let him/her learn. If he/she starts getting the hang of it send them to some gmk classes. And yes if you expect to do repairs in house your tech needs the classes. Grove will not sell you software/repair manuals unless you have their factory training. Especially on the gmks.



I honestly don't know if you can just go out and hire a crane mechanic.


Definitely wish you the best. Sounds like a good position.


I went through Potain class with a couple guys from RMS cranes in Denver. I'm guessing the have some gmk guys but they may strictly be a rental barn.

Thank you Knepptune! I certainly think that training up a mechanic would be the easiest and probably best route. Unfortunately, we do not have any crane mechanics in our staff to do the training I have had a lot of heavy equipment mechanics apply that seemed promising, but the CEO and COO need someone that already has at least 3 years of experience on cranes since we don't have the right staff to train someone up.

 

[sunniesailor]

Really good techs are hard to find. Are you a union company? What kind of benefits if not? I will say if you go the route of getting your own mechanic he/she is only as good as the info and tools they're given, especially on the late model stuff. You can't give him a 3/4 ton pickup and a 200 piece craftsman tool set and get complex hydraulic issues repaired. If the cost of the down time is such that you're willing to pay that kind of money you might as well budget a service truck, some specialty tooling and training as well. On the other hand a good one could become a source of revenue as I'm sure you're not the only company up there facing repair issues.

Greeley isn't bad, I've got friends in Ault....lol

Just to give you an idea I'm a field mechanic for a drilling company and work on the side as well. I've been collecting tools since I was 13-14 (soon to be 40). I'm into the specialty stuff now, hollow ram cylinders, hydraulic torque wrenches etc. I've probably got enough invested to send two of my kids to college. It's not cheap to get setup. Between a truck and tooling beyond what a competent tech should have you could spend 150-200k pretty easy so factor that in as well. It's tempting....haha

Cranes usually mean heavy haul and I've got that covered too .

Shameless promotion! I will reach out to my friends in Ault, your company may know them, and see if he knows of anybody.

Hello Junkyard,
We are non-union, and provide a full benefits package (medical, dental, vision, 401k, life insurance). We are asking that the mechanic supplies his own hand-tools, but we are prepared to set the mechanic up for success with everything else. I am already working with crane manufacturer reps to try and get Kran set up for their training courses, but our immediate need to to get an experienced crane mechanic to fix the issues with two of our cranes and complete much needed maintenance on the others. If you happen to know any crane mechanics looking for a change of scenery or wanting to join a company where they will already be in a senior role, let me know! Or, just tell them to go to our website for more information. (www.thekran.com) I really appreciate the insight! Certainly, as an administrator I have A LOT to learn!

 

[sunniesailor]

It’s tough around here. I do some crane work and go down that way quite a bit. Seems like there’s not much support in this area. Maybe RMK, might have some ideas. Just depends on how many you have and what you need, long term.

I would agree that there isn't a lot of support, at least, that's what I'm finding out. Unfortunately, y'all are so stinking busy there isn't a whole lot you can do about it either! Given my experience with this, I have started talking with manufacturers to see what we can do about it (training, support, maybe a gathering so you all can rub shoulders)

 

[Wes J]

I've never worked on a mobile crane, only permanent overhead cranes in buildings.

What's so different about working on a crane that excludes a regular equipment mechanic? Is it the safety inspections or the computer controls or something else?

 

[cranesafety]

Sunnie, when you have time check out the CCAA-Crane Certification Association of America. www.cranecertification.org
This is an association of independent crane certifiers that is all about educating the folks working in this profession. Some members offer services in addition to certification and testing. We recently held an educational conference in Tulsa, OK and visited the PACCAR Winch and Crosby manufacturing facilities. PACCAR has offered our members a 25% discount on service training school.

Get your young techs involved in this association early-on and send them to the conferences to network with a bunch of seasoned veterans. There is no substitute for experience and our members have a lot to share. As for the service you need immediately, you might try Rocky Mountain Hoist Services, Inc. out of Gillette, WY. https://rockymountainhoist.com/emergency-services/
This is a highly respected CCAA member company also offering Emergency Services, about 4hrs. from Greely.

 

[sunniesailor]

I've never worked on a mobile crane, only permanent overhead cranes in buildings.

What's so different about working on a crane that excludes a regular equipment mechanic? Is it the safety inspections or the computer controls or something else?

Because I'm a business admin, I don't properly know. My understanding is the computer systems, the electrical systems and the hydraulic systems are different in crane mechanics than other heavy equipment.

 

[Junkyard]

Because I'm a business admin, I don't properly know. My understanding is the computer systems, the electrical systems and the hydraulic systems are different in crane mechanics than other heavy equipment.

Fundamentally they're all the same. Issues with cranes come due to regulations regarding safety etc. If you repair something and drop a load and kill somebody over it you're in a world of hurt....liability is a huge deal with cranes, rigging etc

Getting a seasoned heavy equipment tech certified wouldn't be hard. They do schools for all of it. Breaking a tech of the "field fixes" we make on occasion might be the hard part.

 

[Knepptune]

Fundamentally they're the same but that's about it.

You could get someone up to speed on domestic cranes fairly quickly. The large German hydros are a breed there own. They're 20 years ahead of the domestics on their technology. Kinda like comparing a Chevy truck to a brand new tesla.

I will say that I've never worked on dirt equipment but I've worked on a lot of manlifts and even with them being 100% electronically controlled they are simple when compared to a German built crane.

 

[Junkyard]

I guess I don't know a thing then.

 

[Knepptune]

Not saying that at all. Just saying the large German hydro cranes are completely different in the way they do things. It does some time to get up to speed on them.

No different them working on a German car vs an American made car. They do the same things but go about them completely Differently.