Just some work pics

[JaredV]

Just imagine a wood boat with several thousand gallons of fuel tanks on either side of an 8-71. After a couple days of constant running the fuel tanks are all warmed up and the wood hull acts like insulation.

 

[Manistar]

Hey crane operator, on your tms500e does your lmi have a spot in it where you can select over the rear or 360? I went to look at a tms540 today and I only see the 360 charts for the crane. In all of the Grove literature they show it as having over the rear charts so I was just curious if this is an option that it doesn't have or if there's a different spot in the lmi I didn't see.

 

[crane operator]

If it has it (my tms500e does):

There should be a rotational pot in the top of the swivel. Above the electrical portion of the swivel. Its set to show rotation of the upper, in relation to the lower- to the lmi. It is also what's used to set the imaginary wall limits in the lmi. It will auto change to "over rear" chart, when you are rotated to over the rear.

I do not know if the 540's have that function in the computer. I ran a mid 90's 870 that had it, but my 92 RT doesn't (both PAT systems) .

Are you looking at a 540 with the 115' main, or the 90' main? The 90' ones have a way better chart at radius, but I always felt like it really doesn't have enough counterweight to handle the 115' main. I want the 90' boom chart, with a 115' main boom. But they don't make that.

There's a ATS 540 with the 115' boom, about 4 hours away from me, for sale right now. And while I'm enamored with the all wheel steer and those big tires, with cross lock axles- the turning radius is absolutely terrible in the regular driving mode. You have to go to the low range of the drop box, and engage the rear steer if you need it. And then lock it back up for "on road" travel.

The ATS 540 is 49' 3" curb to curb turning radius. My tms 500e is 34'10". My 90ton is only 44'. So the ATS is kind of out for me.

 

[crane operator]

Our local college has a tms540 with the optional 6x6 front axle, all on 22.5 rubber. Its a 90' main. I've run it with jib on when they were short a operator.

I thought it seemed light in the a$$, and that the boom up/down was really fast. Once you got onto it being that quick, it was okay, but you better be on your game.

 

[crane operator]

My customer's broken lull has a 3-53 detroit. They borrowed my old fuel pump, and got it running with air pressure on the tank.

Customer says it runs terrible, and is making compression in the fuel tank. Story has grown and its actually been running real hot also, they ran a while back until it actually locked up. Let it cool down for a couple hours and fired it back up again. Got warm enough to burn all the slobbered oil off the block that time. "But its been running again for a while".

I'm guessing cracked head causing the compression in the fuel tank? But I also told them I know just enough about detroits to be dangerous. Unfortunately, engine is under the traveling carriage on the lull, so that's got to move to even get the valve cover off. They wouldn't mind me fixing it for them, but I got plenty of my own problems.

 

[Manistar]

Okay well it looks like it doesn't have it then. Which is kind of disappointing. The ones I'm looking at are the 90' main boom. The 115' main boom makes it a 10ton road minimum where the 90' can strip down to make a 9ton road if needed. The 113' boom setup on my tms300 gets just a little too short for 100' legs and towers which is a pretty common height for me to work at. The 90' boom with 30' jib puts me at 120' and at 40' radius it's a 12000lb chart.

 

[crane operator]

The 113' boom setup on my tms300 gets just a little too short for 100' legs and towers which is a pretty common height for me to work at.

Don't have room for dead stick? That gets you 136'. Or does yours not have the extra main section? Or you just want something newer?

 

[Manistar]

I am trying to update from 1975 haha. I have the dead stick and I'm sure I'll miss it for the 104' main boom but once you swing the jib to 136' its only good for 9500lb which is fine for a leg head section but after about 6500lb the winch gets a little jerky and without a lmi/scale I don't push the jib real hard. I'm kind of hoping to be able to lift the top 50' section of a 100' 10x10 tower which are usually around 8000lbs. I'll probably still chicken out on that pick and just bring in a rental for that pick.

 

[John Griffin]

I am trying to update from 1975 haha. I have the dead stick and I'm sure I'll miss it for the 104' main boom but once you swing the jib to 136' its only good for 9500lb which is fine for a leg head section but after about 6500lb the winch gets a little jerky and without a lmi/scale I don't push the jib real hard. I'm kind of hoping to be able to lift the top 50' section of a 100' 10x10 tower which are usually around 8000lbs. I'll probably still chicken out on that pick and just bring in a rental for that pick.

I have two tms300s myself. I got the update bug and bought a gmk3050-1. I kept the tms300s as backup. Figured I'd use them as yard cranes some, etc. I'm so glad I kept them as I have had almost 9 months of downtime with the gmk due to electrical issues.

I have wanted to add a load cell to my tms. Theres several good ways to do it it looks like. I can just add a load cell above the ball. There also a company that makes wireless load cell pins. That seemed like a nice way to do it so no reels and no change in ball height.

 

[crane operator]

but after about 6500lb the winch gets a little jerky and without a lmi/scale I don't push the jib real hard.

Your big winch should be smooth to at least 10,000lbs. Unless its stuck in the high speed side.

You will never get the kind of performance you are looking for with the smaller 540, those are only 5/8" winches.

I've had great performance from cranesmart load cells. Horrible support/ reliability from the old LSI ones, which is now trimble. A load cell is the best money you can spend on one of those old cranes. No more guessing.

If you have a load cell and boom angle indicator and boom length (by lines painted on the boom), you should never get into trouble. Without the load cell, you are always flying by the seat of your pants.

 

[Natman]

The CraneSmart load cell I bought for my first boom truck (the 4 later ones all had factory LMI's, thank God) 23 years ago, is the reason I'm probably still in business, plus they gave me a free coffee travel mug. Once you operate with one, you'll never want to operate without it.

 

[skyking1]

I am trying to update from 1975 haha. I have the dead stick and I'm sure I'll miss it for the 104' main boom but once you swing the jib to 136' its only good for 9500lb which is fine for a leg head section but after about 6500lb the winch gets a little jerky and without a lmi/scale I don't push the jib real hard. I'm kind of hoping to be able to lift the top 50' section of a 100' 10x10 tower which are usually around 8000lbs. I'll probably still chicken out on that pick and just bring in a rental for that pick.

No way to two part to the jib? That cures all sorts of jerky hoist issues.
We think the pressure was set too high on GLY's national and that made it a little nasty in the high end of the winch capacity. I two parted and got the line pull down for smoother operation.

 

[John Griffin]

No way to two part to the jib? That cures all sorts of jerky hoist issues.
We think the pressure was set too high on GLY's national and that made it a little nasty in the high end of the winch capacity. I two parted and got the line pull down for smoother operation.

Those grove winches are two speed. I wonder if he's stuck in high or has another problem. Mine are smooth to stall. 14k rated line pull.

 

[skyking1]

the national has a high speed pushbutton on top of the hoist lever(s). If I recall correctly it was limited to 3000 line pull. It was only 7700 and 9/16" rope. It was a bit of an arse around 4500 on up.
Here is as spot I two parted for. That little end piece was about half of the rest of them, and we had to drag and beat and cajole them under the edge of that glass wall. The next one sucked single part so we changed it up.

 

[Manistar]

It might not be quite as bad as I made it out to be but it has a old Detroit 6-71 and throttling up does help smooth it out but the winch isn't what it once was. Its not stuck in high speed but it does act a little funny when its in high speed its like its fast on the cable up but cable down isn't much faster than when its in low speed. The actuator and valve are working and you can feel it shift. I guess most things I pick with it are probably less than 5000lbs or over 10,000lbs and typically I'll add a part of line for every additional 5000lbs maybe just out of habit but it just makes the pick smoother.

With the tms540 I know the winch isn't as strong but you can two part the 30' jib so it should be capable, what the pick actually feels like might be a different story.

 

[crane operator]

Purchased a grove rt this week. A RT650e, which is similar in weight to the 700b I sold, 5' shorter main boom. Its a 2001. I had a linkbelt 8050 I really liked spotted, another 5 years newer and all repainted, a really nice looking machine, but it was another $60,000. Which I just couldn't justify for our usage.


One of the guys this week was "what if the phone rings and we have to have a RT to get where we need to go". And that kind of got me off my rear.

Some work down at the railroad. first picture we are lifting the car to change a wheel set. The second one I'm using the broderson to change a coupler.

 

[crane operator]

Hot tubs, these are nightly rentals, and are all a lovely shade of black.

 

[crane operator]

Some metal trusses on a hotel, and roofing project down in the middle of the fancy mall.

 

[John Griffin]

I like the buying an rt because you might need it.

I really should buy a low boy so we can haul my rt230. Wonder if I can get away with a tandem axle low boy or if I got to get a triple. 57k lbs is what the rt230 specs at for total weight.

 

[crane operator]

I like the buying an rt because you might need it.

I really should buy a low boy so we can haul my rt230. Wonder if I can get away with a tandem axle low boy or if I got to get a triple. 57k lbs is what the rt230 specs at for total weight.

I've had one for 10 years. When you really need a RT, a truck crane isn't getting there. It sat at a school project for 6 months, 2-3 days a week usage last year. Real busy for 2-3 months of it, less at the start and finish.

That project was a flat clay mudhole that wasn't walkable after a rain. We never would have gotten it done without the RT.

I have no idea what your state rules are for oversize/ overweight. If they will let you have 20k on a tandem you should get it on a tandem. 57,000 for crane and 20,000 for truck and 15-18,000 for trailer is 92,000 gross. Max, no permit, is 80,000. Rear axles of the trailer and your drives will be the problem.

For me in rental, the biggest pain with the RT is the hauling. There's never room to drop/ unload, its hard with narrow roads and tight corners. So we only take the RT if its the only thing that will do it. Which means I just didn't want a terrible lot of money tied up in one, but I still like having one. We have roaded ours about 3 miles at the most. I know some guys road them much further, but you want to watch transmission temps.

Ask a local dirt guy/ equipment hauler. He'll know what he needs for a 60,000lbs excavator.