Just some work pics

[Tradesman]

I was thinking about your pictures and one of my local competitors that rolled his on and icy hill two weeks ago. On my way to a job in Crappy weather this morning my 30 minute drive turned into 45 minutes because I was driving like an old lady.

 

[Birken Vogt]

my 30 minute drive turned into 45 minutes because I was driving like an old lady.

But it would take a lot more than 15 extra minutes to buff the scratches if you ended up like post #1739.

 

[DMiller]

Another one bites the dust...

2018 altec, 33,000 miles, 2,400 hours.

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OUCH!!

 

[Natman]

I 'm sure you know but I had to learn the hard way, about going down the road with the CraneSmart ATB transmitter NOT being held free. I broke a 2 or 3 before it occurred to me I needed to transport winched up enough to have slack in that expensive little box, no problems after I wised up, loved that unit, on my Manitex 101S

 

[crane operator]

I just have the scale on that crane, no a2b. I've got a2b on the mack/national. I've always liked the cranesmart systems too. Simple and easy to read.

 

[crane operator]

Falling like leaves:

2015 terex crossover 6000

 

[Hank R]

Just asking other than the cable and maybe a winch there is not much useful?????

 

[Natman]

Maybe the internal retract cables and cylinder? Lot's of odds and ends I'd imagine. What a shame!

 

[crane operator]

Just asking other than the cable and maybe a winch there is not much useful?????

I always look at them thinking I could rebuild one. The big question is always whether the main structure is straight. If the boom, the upright turrent, bearing, outrigger structures are all straight, then you would have something. Put another truck under it and fix the cab.

But there's always something bent. When you have main sturctural components bent, it just doesn't really work out $ wise. If just the cab and sheetmetal is bent up, then it could work. Anything is fixable, its just whether it makes sense to tie $ up for a year and all the labor to fix everything.

Someday I'm going to rebuild one. I keep looking for the right one to remount and fix, but the right one just hasn't appeared yet.

The manufacturers can also be a hold up on rebuilding. If they are informed/ find out about a severely damaged machine, they will actually flag that serial #, and then they won't sell parts for that #.

.There's also the liability concern- if its ever in any kind of a incident the lawyers would have a field day

If you bought one to just part out, and say the boom was good. How long would you have to wait until someone needed that exact boom, and you could sell it? Its not quite like car parts, there's just not the big demand out there. Natman brought up internal cables, if you went to the work to pull a boom apart to replace the cables, nobody is going to buy used cables, you're going to put in new ones, its just too much work to get at them. If someone needed a second winch, used would be way cheaper than factory, but it might take you 5 years to find a buyer.

Someday though- I'm going to do one.

 

[DMiller]

Working at the Utility Company wrenched a many ALTEC or TEREX Electric Utility machine. Limits of twist or tweak on any component was pretty slim margins, any that received a hard hit or dumped or been in ANY form of accident got scrutinized beyond reality but had to be for safety. We scrapped quite a few for as little as .080" off specs, too much liability. Seeing them assembled at ALTEC and TEREX showed a level of quality control I did not expect. Now on the other hand our old TEXOMA rigs were beat to a PULP and just kept kicking!!

Most of ours were straight squirt booms, NOTHING as to cables internally, ugly part was the Cylinder tube extended with the boom, the ram was pinned at lower end.

 

[catman13]

It's not woth your safety, and if you hurt or killed someone is it saveing a few dollars

 

[Hank R]

One more Question, seem to me like a lot of wrecked cranes are mounted on trucks. I am guessing that a high center of gravity could be some of the problem? As well as driver error. Are there as many wrecks on roads as there are in lifting accidents for this group of cranes? I do understand that there will always be accidents.

 

[DMiller]

COG has some to do with it, some is inexperience or a taste arrogant knowing they could get it done. Soft ground, crust over mush, a slight tilt not corrected for, lack of adequate outrigger pads/cribbing, in that inevitable hurry, or not quite close enough to the work point and try to just cheat that least little bit and boom angle adjust just a little past safe. Only takes that one time you don't get away with it to contradict all the times had.

 

[crane operator]

One more Question, seem to me like a lot of wrecked cranes are mounted on trucks. I am guessing that a high center of gravity could be some of the problem?

I think the large boom trucks- 50 ton and up, are a poor design. It ends up putting all the crane, and outriggers on top of the frame rails, and usually a extra heavy frame rail (tall). Then the boom is extra high just to clear the cab. And the really big ones are typically high horsepower, so the road speed can really get up there. Then it only takes one person doing something stupid in front of you, and over it goes. I would say more get wrecked driving than get wrecked on jobsites.

Probably the biggest push in the industry away from dedicated crane carrier to the large boom trucks, is the constant redesign of engines for emissions demands. There's not the market in the Us for 80 ton cranes that there is for backhoes, so having to redesign the whole crane carrier around a different engine and emissions package every two years is hugely expensive. It's a whole different wiring package to run the engine/ gauge package from two locations. And to make everything fit for exhaust/ dpf regen stuff.

In the boom truck scenario, the crane manufacturer just has to make the crane, a 5-8 year lifecycle design, maybe some new cab features now and then to update. But they can leave the whole emissions/ trans/ cab issues to Kenworth, Peterbilt, W Star, Freightliner. And the warranty issues. Plus some buyers then feel they can take it to their local truck dealer to get it worked on.

My 70 ton truck crane the main rails are a fabricated box beam that the rear axles hook directly too. The outrigger box beams are all actually below the frame rails. The main boom sits much lower. It simply a more stable package.

 

[crane operator]

Set some trusses with the 25. I don't know how well they are going to be able to get in and out of this garage, they better not buy a long bed crew cab because it will never make the corner, and there's no way to get more room with the big ditch bank, unless they build a huge retaining wall. The carpenters said its what they wanted, and they don't plan on changing the driveway.

 

[crane operator]

Some more trusses. They are right up on top of the hill with this house.

 

[DMiller]

Could be just a 'Stuff' storage place, the larger doors make it easier to get Crap in and out. I have been dealing with eliminating OUR Crap piles!! Want my WHOLE shop back!

 

[Hank R]

Crane Op your 25 ton do they still build small dedicated crane carrier, or has the boom trucks taken over?? Thanks for your reply earlier. Hank

 

[Welder Dave]

I see stupid driveways and garage access on acreages all the time. You have 3-5 acres but have to back out your 400' driveway. People can build a big fancy house and a nice shop but they don't put any thought into getting in and out.

 

[crane operator]

The new cranes that pick what my old 25 does, are "40 ton capacity". Terex and Grove and link belt still make them, Terex is the cheapest and sells a lot more. Grove didn't make one for a while, their smallest dedicated carrier for a while was 60 ton, but I think there was a article this summer that they are going to start up again making the smaller ones.

Most have 95' or 105/110' main booms, where my old 25 is only 80' main, so that's nice on the newer ones. But really the market has mostly been eaten up by the boom trucks. I haven't priced new, but in the used market the price is pretty well the same between a dedicated carrier and a boom truck.

I drove our Mack home the other day from a jobsite, and it rides way nicer than a dedicated carrier crane, I think a lot of that is the fact that you're typically in front of the front axle in the truck crane , like a old cabover truck , vs the conventional cab that most boom trucks have. If you're doing a lot of traveling, its really nice in a boom truck because of the travel speed.

I've been looking at updating, and while I have one 23 ton boom truck, if I get something else that size, it will likely be a 40 ton three axle dedicated carrier. Probably a link belt or a grove. I probably would already own a late 90's/ early 2000's grove ats540 if they had built them with a M11 cummins and manual trans in them instead of a 3126 CAT with a allison.

The other option for the capacity I need is like a 18127 National boom truck (40 ton). But they all use a wider outrigger span (24') than the dedicated truck cranes, which are still only 20' wide in the 40 ton range. I tend to set up in hilly conditions, and the 24' outrigger span is a deal breaker for me. The boom trucks also tend to have a lot more frame flex, so its harder to set them up on a hilly site, because the frame isn't rigid enough to use a back jack to pick a front jack and walk them up into the air. They bend the frame around a lot when you're doing that.

This is what a ATS 540 looks like, they were a all terrain version of the tms 540, 115' or 90' main, 54' or so of jib, and the big deal- all wheel drive and all wheel steer. That rear steer would be awful nice, and the ground clearance. The not so nice is the 3126- and a max road speed of 52mph (probably because of the road grader tires and the planetary axles). But they sure look like they would climb a tree.



What I'll probably end up with is a link belt 8640. 3 axle 105' main, plus jib. They have a really good chart.