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Just some work pics

Knepptune

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Nov 22, 2012
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757
Location
Indiana
Just speaking out of curiosity here but I can't imagine being able to haul an RT around and being competitive. Granted we don't have the hills you do So getting into jobsites and set up usually isn't a huge issue for us. And that may be the difference. Just seems like it'd be a fair amount of trouble to call a truck for each job with that crane.

We did have one job where we had had to drag our tms200 (which had 6x6) to every set up spot with a d6 dozer. But I don't know that an rt would have done any better.

I guess my question is what keeps you running that rt vs trading it for another truck crane?
 

crane operator

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Mar 27, 2009
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8,274
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sw missouri
I purchased my rt in jan. Really didn't know how it was going to work out, but I've actually used it more than I thought we would. It only goes out right now, if I look at the site and say the only way we're getting in there is my rt. I charge my hourly rate on the jobsite, plus the trucking charge. That school job in the pictures, there were 2 soft holes I walked through with it, I would have buried my 35 truck crane. The trucking on that job was probably only $2-300 more than my travel charge would have been.

I've taken it to two jobs when I didn't have anything else available, and ate the delivery. I then usually try to just have it taken to the next site, rather than back to the shop (saving me a haul).

The crane is really because of terrain, the first two jobs it went on in the first month I owned it, were jobs I could not have done without it. And then jobs kept appearing, and I would find a way to get it done with the rt.

As far as the competitive aspect, I haven't had someone else come up and say "I'll drive my truck crane right in there". If I can't get one in there, usually no one else is going to.

I'm trying to get a truck and lowboy, or a truck and a pinning gooseneck and axle set up bought/built. That will ease up the bind that the separate trucking gets me in right now. I can't get excited about buying one. I've looked at used double drop detach, and 20,000 doesn't buy much. They're all beat to pieces. That and I need a heavy spec truck. The detach and 4 chains interests me a little more than building my pin system, but I think the pin system would be better long term. I'd get rid of +10,000lbs gross, and wouldn't belly out, both things that are difficulties in my situation.

Will it work for setting a a/c unit from a parking lot? no not near like my truck cranes, but you could do it in a pinch. I like it more for the project where they need it off and on for a week, or week and a half. I just bring it down there, and use it when they need it till they're done, then haul it home.
 

Knepptune

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2012
Messages
757
Location
Indiana
That makes sense. There definitely is no comparison when it comes to maneuverability. We just don't turn down many jobs due to the site not being accessible.

Back when we owned a couple rt cranes we kicked around the idea of a truck and lowboy. Local guy has a tri axle truck and tri axle trailer that he charges a straight rate of $80 an hour. At that price it didn't seem worth it to have one.
 

crane operator

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Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,274
Location
sw missouri
Typically my shop to a jobsite is $300. $600 round trip. I really don't think I'll save $ having my own. Its more that if the phone rings right now, I can't say yes or no, until I do a bunch of calling and get someone to call back. If its just one or two picks, the delivery and return doubles the cost. Saturday we drove 2hrs, he sat on site for me for 2-3hrs, then 2 hrs home. He's paying his driver for 8hrs. Probably be $1200. But he's buying $300 worth of permits (two states).

I'm hoping to get set up truck and dolly trailer for under $25,000. I've paid close to $20,000 this year having it hauled. I do plan on selling my smaller international truck (8100, with only a 330hp m-11, super 10), so that should recoup some of my cost in buying a bigger truck.
 

crane operator

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Mar 27, 2009
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8,274
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sw missouri
Gave up on one this week. Transplanting some trees on a golf course. I measured and calculated out the root ball, kind of put my rusty old eye ball scale, on the tree and everything, and I came up with 30-40,000lbs tops. I really thought 30-35,000 would load it.

20160912_143232.jpg

Bob and I worked back and forth, pulling, lifting, swinging on it, and both ended up with +/-36,000lbs EACH. He was setting a lot closer in the truck crane, and I saw the front start to get light. I was in the rt, and Jim told me he saw a little daylight on the back jacks. So we both were getting all we could. We see-sawed back and forth a little trying to rock/ break it loose, and just couldn't get anywhere. Time for plan b.

20160912_143305.jpg

Decided the tap root was holding us, so brought out the old winch truck to drag/cut the bottom of the ball loose. We put a cable around the bottom of the ball, attached one end to the winch truck, and attached the other end to a semi tractor trailer (that we were planning on putting the tree on). Just drug the winch truck. Plan c

Dozer, dug a hole on the other side. D6 pushing and lifting on one side of the root ball, with both cranes lifting all we could, and the winch truck pulling. Slid the tree, roots, and ball about 8', inside the hole. Free now but not off the ground.

20160912_143358.jpg

We stood around, decided we needed to dig a trench, up out of the hole, to push the tree closer to the truck crane , move the rt, and then try to load it. That was when I pulled the plug.

All my talk in another thread about not being afraid to say no. Here we are, with both cranes pushing chart, a winch truck pulling, and a dozer pushing. I decided to quit before we ended up in a disaster.

I could just see the dozer backing off too fast, or the root ball disengrating, or any one of a hundred things, and we'd have a tree laying on its side,with it and the dozer, buried under both cranes.:pointhead

We would have all had to climb in the winch truck to get home.

20160912_154458.jpg


A larger crane outfit is looking at bringing in their 210ton crane (there are 3 total trees to move), if the course decides that they want to spend that much $, or they'll cut them down. I still can't believe we didn't get it loaded.

It actually makes more sense just to get the bigger crane, because even if we had moved the cranes closer, we wouldn't have had room to unload where they wanted to put the trees, nor could the trailer have handled it. I think it must be between 70-80,000lbs, the dirt just has so much rock in it, is the only way I can be off in my calculations.

Either way, we went, we saw, and were conquered. Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug.
 

crane operator

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Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,274
Location
sw missouri
Nice easy one today, setting trusses on a duplex.

20160915_080544.jpg

20160915_100447.jpg

Brought the 35 because we put a safe room in the far corner (it would be the far corner, not the close one). About 4,000lbs, set on a 16" thick concrete pad. Steel walls and roof.

20160915_101908.jpg

Racing the rain- 3 trusses to go!

20160915_130034.jpg
 

Bumpsteer

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Sep 2, 2009
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Front seat on the Struggle Bus
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Have a friend that ran a crane for a while, can't recall how big but his main thing was setting modular homes.

He HATED anything to do with trees. Climbers can't guess weight worth a shrit! They think you can take a 36" dbh, 100' tall oak in one pick.

Ex
 

td25c

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Joined
Feb 14, 2009
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5,250
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indiana
Gave up on one this week. Transplanting some trees on a golf course.







Decided the tap root was holding us, so brought out the old winch truck to drag/cut the bottom of the ball loose.

We stood around, decided we needed to dig a trench, up out of the hole, to push the tree closer to the truck crane , move the rt, and then try to load it. That was when I pulled the plug.

All my talk in another thread about not being afraid to say no. Here we are, with both cranes pushing chart, a winch truck pulling, and a dozer pushing. I decided to quit before we ended up in a disaster.

I could just see the dozer backing off too fast, or the root ball disengrating, or any one of a hundred things, and we'd have a tree laying on its side,with it and the dozer, buried under both cranes.:pointhead

We would have all had to climb in the winch truck to get home.

Smart decision Crane Op ! Get out while the gettin is good .:yup

They are asking you to do a job that aint natural . Dig out a grown tree that size & replant it somewhere else ? Nope ...... Aint gonna do it .

Might hack it off & pile it up somewhere with a dozer & K/G blade .:)


Local golf coarse transplanted a bunch of cedar trees when they were landscaping .

Now that's just asking for trouble . Bad luck follows if ya go planting a cedar tree !

Go with the " gut feeling " and don't be shy about sayin No to stupid money .;)

Plenty of people that need crane service on real jobs .
 
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CM1995

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Jan 21, 2007
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Alabama
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Running what I brung and taking what I win
Crane op you know why the framers didn't put liners under some of those headers in the safe room pic? Just curious. We always slapped the liners in before we stood the wall up.
 

movindirt

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Sep 5, 2013
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under a shady tree
Smart decision Crane Op ! Get out while the gettin is good .:yup

They are asking you to do a job that aint natural . Dig out a grown tree that size & replant it somewhere else ? Nope ...... Aint gonna do it .

Might hack it off & pile it up somewhere with a dozer & K/G blade .:)


Local golf coarse transplanted a bunch of cedar trees when they were landscaping .

Now that's just asking for trouble . Bad luck follows if ya go planting a cedar tree !

Go with the " gut feeling " and don't be shy about sayin No to stupid money .;)

Plenty of people that need crane service on real jobs .

There is no problem transplanting big trees, it happens more than you'd think. I think its awesome myself that we can take a grown tree like that and move it...

This is just a reason for crane operator to buy a bigger crane :D

Look up Big John tree spades, those guys move a lot of big tree's, its fun to watch them work.
 

td25c

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indiana
There is no problem transplanting big trees, it happens more than you'd think. I think its awesome myself that we can take a grown tree like that and move it...

This is just a reason for crane operator to buy a bigger crane :D

Imagine Crane OP is thinking the same thing .;):)


You guy's do know the best time to plant trees ?
 
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kshansen

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Mar 11, 2012
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Central New York, USA
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Retired Mechanic in Stone Quarry
Crane op you know why the framers didn't put liners under some of those headers in the safe room pic? Just curious. We always slapped the liners in before we stood the wall up.

CM1995, Are you referring to the spot like where the arrow points in this out-take?

framers.jpg

Took me a bit to figure out that was what you were referring to if I am right. I was told those were called "Jamb-studs". And it does seem odd that they are not installed. When I built our house with help from a friend and an uncle who were both old time carpenters all walls were constructed with the bottom wall plates running the full length of the wall and only after wall was up and fully nailed in place were the sections in the door ways cut out. Some were even left in place until sheet rock work was done. More for trying to get other things done first than any structural reason. But leaving them in place and having all studs in place help keep things lined up and sturdy while handling the sections of wall.
 

Knepptune

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Joined
Nov 22, 2012
Messages
757
Location
Indiana
We always called them cripples. I didn't even realize they were missing.

I like trees, I like cranes, I hate anything that involves cranes and trees together.
 

lantraxco

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Jan 1, 2009
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Elsewhen
Jack stud? Carpenter probably heard the whistle before he got them cut, or saw those "Budweiser clouds", LOL
 

crane operator

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Mar 27, 2009
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sw missouri
CM1995 - on the studs missing. I would guess that the stud gets removed, and a decorative fir/pine post 6x6 or 8x8, gets installed in its place. They wanted the header in place when the roof went on, but didn't want the finish post in place, exposed to the weather/ workers (nailbenders:D), while they're framing out. Lodge/rustic look. They'll probably put it in after the roof is on, and when they're finishing out the interior.


On the tree spade. They wouldn't have had a chance to spade this tree. The ground is all rock/clay interlocked, extremely hard. They tried originally to dry bore (navigator type machine with no water) under the tree for pipes/ undersupport for rigging attachment. They couldn't get the bore through it was so hard. We gave up on that for rigging, and just taper dug them (excavator, hand picks, and jackhammer), trying to save the root ball.

Just in case anyone is curious. We rigged the tree/ ball by installing a 3/4" cable, below the ball in about a 9' circle, doubled and cable clamped. Then I put another cable on top of the root ball, also about 9'- 10 diameter, both cable loops smaller than the root ball.

We then installed 8 grade 70 chains, from the lower cable, at a angle to the upper, then back down to the lower cable, interlocked. 8 points chain connected on top, 16 points on the bottom cable. Bob and I each had a spreader bar, with snatch blocks, rolling 20' 3/4" cables. Those 3/4" cables, shackled right in where the upper 8 chains tied into the upper cable. We then chained our outer shackles to each other, so my rigging and his rigging couldn't each slide around to only one side of the tree. There's also a wire fence/ cage around the ball.

There's really no manual on how to get ahold of something like that, and what we came up with, actually worked really well, it was picking very even. The snatch blocks, with the spreader bar really helped even out the load, and kept the chains from wanting to slide. Of course I was figuring on about 30,000 lbs, so I don't know if the other crane guys will want a whole different setup, considering its about double that. We actually never overloaded the rigging, I figured each crane had rigging for 40,000 lbs, which was more than either of us had chart for, I don't like skimping on rigging.

Probably the weakest point was the wrapped 3/4" cables top and bottom, but we were actually hooked into it about every two feet, and the pull was even, and the chains were actually carrying most of the weight. I don't have a engineer's stamp to put on it, but I wasn't worried about rigging, as much as I was concerned the root ball would split/ fall apart, causing the tree to tip itself within the rigging, and us not being able to stop it. I thought of tying the spreader bars into the trunk, but that makes it really difficult to move up and down, and adjust to each other.


I do quite a bit of tree work, both transplanting, and cutting down. I like to do all the tree jobs myself if I can, rather than sending my other guys. I like to work with guys I know cutting down, and I always have them cut smaller than I think I can handle. I try to estimate weight of the trunk sections, based on the higher smaller stuff we started with. They all weigh different, depending on tree type and time of year. I cut my crane chart in about half. If I'm good for 3k I want a 1,500lb chunk, I don't care how many cuts they have to make. The dangerous part is whatever they cut off, its yours. You either have it, or it has you.
 

crane operator

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Mar 27, 2009
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8,274
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sw missouri
Brought this home yesterday, my new rt puller. Now I'm just trailer hunting or building (probably both, I'll buy a trailer to use until I get mine built). 1998 western star, 12.7 detroit 60 series (475 hp). 13sp. (new w/clutch), jakes, only 12kfront, 40,000 rears (looking for front cutoff).

20160916_132426.jpg

It's not exactly what I wanted, but close enough. I think if we change the front end we'll be in good shape.


20160916_132436.jpg

I'm not sure all the chrome will fit in with my old equipment, but it sure does shine.

20160916_132445.jpg

I had actually driven away after looking at it, deciding it wasn't heavy enough spec. The guy called me when we were 10 miles away, "what will you give me?" I made the mistake of naming a number, and he came close enough. I wrote a check for $13,000.

I was actually just tired of looking for exactly right, and figured this has a lot of what we wanted, and we'll change the rest. You have to start somewhere.
 

td25c

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Feb 14, 2009
Messages
5,250
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indiana
Just in case anyone is curious. We rigged the tree/ ball by installing a 3/4" cable, below the ball in about a 9' circle, doubled and cable clamped. Then I put another cable on top of the root ball, also about 9'- 10 diameter, both cable loops smaller than the root ball.

We then installed 8 grade 70 chains, from the lower cable, at a angle to the upper, then back down to the lower cable, interlocked. 8 points chain connected on top, 16 points on the bottom cable. Bob and I each had a spreader bar, with snatch blocks, rolling 20' 3/4" cables. Those 3/4" cables, shackled right in where the upper 8 chains tied into the upper cable. We then chained our outer shackles to each other, so my rigging and his rigging couldn't each slide around to only one side of the tree. There's also a wire fence/ cage around the ball.

There's really no manual on how to get ahold of something like that, and what we came up with, actually worked really well, it was picking very even. .

I was impressed with your " basket weave " rigging on the tree job !

Damn good effort Crane Op !
 
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