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Impact's "Things Done at Work"

Impact

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
517
Location
Kentucky
Occupation
Owner
That's me in the bibs and the white hair. I should have been in movies. We loaded the missile on my flatbed trailer after setting the counterweights on the crane. As I'm driving down the highway, I chuckle to myself thinking they trust me with a missile. Scary if you think about it.
 

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Tradesman

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2013
Messages
1,075
Location
Ontario
Occupation
Contractor
Wow !! That's super cool did you lay it over or did you have a tail machine? Is the missile at the end of its life or the first?
 

crane operator

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,275
Location
sw missouri
Looks good impact. Nice to see that liebherr working. Did you end up getting rid of one of your other AT's?

On a side note, I was in Iowa a couple weeks ago for a nephew's wedding and most of the farmers were crying the blues of low prices, high input costs and cash rent, so I didn't know how that was affecting your business?

I also like your alignment corners on your outrigger pads, I've never seen one's quite like that, most of the ones I've seen are much smaller (just a overlapping edge).
 

Impact

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
517
Location
Kentucky
Occupation
Owner
Crane op. We still have the 165 ton. We planned to sell it, but, it has been running continuously since we bought the 190. Farmers are always crying the blues. Yes prices are down, but business is still good. 2016 was the best year we ever had. This year not like last year, but, still pretty good. Of course a lot of our work is commercial graineries. We're doing another 1.3 million bushel tank with the accessories that go with it. We are also doing a 1.7 million bushel flat storage. It has 18' tall cast in place walls. 180' wide steel arch trusses with a canvas cover. Peak height is 80' or so.

Yes, the alignment pieces on the pads work well. Makes it much easier for one man to stack them
 

Impact

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
517
Location
Kentucky
Occupation
Owner
Tradesman, we set the missile at a place called Discovery Park. It is sort of a museum. The missile was donated to them. They spent 1-1/2 years restoring it. Interestingly, several of these have been setup, all but one have failed or collapsed. It is designed to be light and hold fuel. Standing upright, it is suceptable to strong winds etc. caves the sides in. These people researched, and added internal stiffeners. Maybe it will hold up. Time will tell. The Titan I is one of the first ICBM. They were smart enough to remove the warhead before they let me haul it.
 

Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,257
Location
Canada
Instead of a wide load sign, it could say Armed and Dangerous, handle with care. You'd have the roads all to yourself!
 

Impact

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
517
Location
Kentucky
Occupation
Owner
I've been busy and haven't posted in a while. I know you guys prefer photos, but, I'm too lazy. LOL.

Being in the grain business, we've been in crunch time mode lately. Two major storage projects that need to be filling with grain. Good news is, they both started filling mid week this past week. As always, just in the nick of time.

The week before last, we had the 190 and the 100 ton cranes scheduled at a local ethanol plant for the entire week. Whenever they scheduled it, I KNEW we'd be in crunch time mode, and couldn't bring myself to NOT take the job. Besides, I'm greedy. A weeks rental on those two cranes is good income. The 100T had to be lifting 7:00 AM that Monday, so we set it up late Saturday afternoon after moving it from one of my jobs. The 190 was there also, but, we were basically finished with it and any heavy lifts. Our 60 ton has been out of commission and still is. ECM problems or so we thought. Still not fixed. Mechanic is thinking it got struck by lightning. I had planned it to finish up at the flat storage site. Monday morning the 100T starts to work as planned. We sent a rigger to assist in setting up the 190. They got it on the outriggers, swung the job and extended the boom. No jib or boom luffing. They retracted the boom, checked all the connections and extended again. Same thing. On phone with Liebherr Tech they figured out there is a switch on side of the boom that tells the brains that the jib is stored. The switch was bad, so the brains thought the jib was stowed, but, the wiring harness at the boom tip is telling the brains the job is installed. It went psycho. In the old days, you'd remove the cover from the switch, and either jump the two wires or disconnect them. Not in today's world. It's down until we replace the $200 switch. Found out later if you're good enough, it IS possible with a laptop to lie to the brains. But, we're not that savvy. We had to break the crane down and move it as they called a crane in from Nashville. To pour salt on a wound, I had to call my competitor and rent a 35 ton crane from him the entire week to finish the flat storage project. I suppose in the end it all works out, just not the way I'd hoped. Oh well.

I don't normally post personal stuff, but, found out a few weeks ago that I had a melanoma cancer on my upper thigh. During all the crane fiasco I was dealing with that. The melanoma was the size of a nickel. Looked like a small bruise. I blew it off as nothing for the last few years. My wife has been after me for 5-7 years to see a Dermatologist. I kept saying, OK this winter. She set the appointment w/o my knowledge a few weeks ago, and took my, screaming and fussing the entire way. Good thing she did I suppose. When they called and said I had a melanoma I shrugged and thought, well, cut it out. I didn't know how dangerous they can be. More so than other types of skin cancer. Had surgery to remove it this past Tuesday. I'm cut from just above my knees up about 8" long. They took three lymph nodes from the groin area and tested them for cancer cells that may be in the blood stream. I've been holding my breath for a month or so now. But, got the report back last Friday the lymph nodes are clear and as far as they can tell, I'm cancer free. If any of you guys have a odd little spot somewhere, have it checked. It could be the difference between life or death.
 

Impact

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
517
Location
Kentucky
Occupation
Owner
OK. Here's a youtube link of the flat storage project.


It is 180' wide, 324' long. The footings all have a grid of Geopiers beneath them to stabilize the soil. The footings are either 16' or 20' wide, 18" thick or 24". The walls are 18' high. and thickness varies from 18" to 24". Peak height of 79' above the footing. Grain depth of 60' or so. Holds approximately 1.7 million bushels. Belt conveyors convey grain from existing system at a rate of 40,000 BPH.
 

Impact

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
517
Location
Kentucky
Occupation
Owner
Office got a call last week from an Amish guy who lives 150 miles away. Office guy calls me says they want to lay it on it's side and load it on a trailer & that the weight is 55,000 pounds. My first thought is, this thing is way to wide to haul down the highway. Even if they could, I think it would collapse. Ended up there was bad communication. They simply wanted to pick it up, hold it, and start taking rings off the bottom and disassemble it. That makes sense. Guy wanted our 165. Best chart we could get on the 165 was 58,000 pounds. Guy was telling me he thought it'd weigh 50,000 pounds, but was telling me 55,000 to be safe. I refused to use the 165, but held out for the 190 which we could get 75,000 pounds out of the charts. Always makes me more nervous taking something down than putting it up. Once they kick the bolts out, you've got it whether you want it or not. Ended up weighing 45,000.

Here's a link to a couple of videos


 

Impact

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
517
Location
Kentucky
Occupation
Owner
Not a crane lift, but, posting it anyhow. This is a 135' diameter grain tank we built a few years ago. The tank holds 1.11 million bushels of grain. Peak height is 115'. It's setting on a foundation 10' tall. Total weight is about 750,000 pounds. They assembled the first two top rings and roof before setting the jacks and starting to lift. Each jack is rated at 15,000 pounds I think. They start off with maybe 30 jacks and add more as it gets taller and heavier. They'll end up with 60 or so on it. The jacks are powered by electric motors, maybe 1-1/2 or 2 hp. The motors power a gear reducer which turns a Acme threaded lead screw and brass nuts. As you can see, it doesn't lift very fast.

 

Impact

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
517
Location
Kentucky
Occupation
Owner
Can ya'll tell I'm bored? This is a lift we made a couple years ago. An elevator head section. Weighs maybe 7,000 pounds and is 150' or so in the air. There was a total of 4 elevators on this job.

 

Tradesman

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2013
Messages
1,075
Location
Ontario
Occupation
Contractor
Thanks for the great videos. When I was watching the last one with the slow moving cloud overhead, made me think of the numerous time I've had a cloud like that scare the crap out of me when it felt like the boom was still moving with my hand off the controls.
Are you in the seat for these picks or is it an employee?
 
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