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Moving old garwood crane problems

workshoprat92

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2014
Messages
817
Location
Bois D Arc Missouri
I have this old military garwood crane mounted on an fwd chassis. It is my dads and i need to move it from denver colorado to springfield mo. I know its to old to put on a job site but it invaluable in the yard and for help building dump trucks. Plus im gona need it to put up a new shop building. My problem on moving this thing is it has tires from 1982 and the original engine was replaced with a 280 cummins. It tops out at about 35 mph. Plus i think all the sme laws have changed in colorado and kansas so a 35mph 4 day road trip might be a trip from hell laden with paperwork issues in 3 different states. Hauling it whole is an even bigger issue and huge expense as i cannot haul myself and puts it out of the range of do able. Its over high on a lowboy as its 13' 6" setting on the ground and my dad tells me you gotta remove the counterweight to get it down to 54k lbs on single vehicle. So im pretty sure there would be overweight issues. So after long and hard thought on this i got to thinking maybe im trying to do to much at one time! If i were to seperate the top end from the carrier chassis and reduce everything to two seperate loads i may be able to get it done with mt 20ton tag along. Sure need to get a detachable someday! I have considered everything from flat towing to driving it and now think this may be my best option. What are your guys thoughts and ideas?

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Tugger2

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2018
Messages
1,366
Location
British Columbia
I shipped this machine up from Seattle. I cant say for sure if the dimensions are similar but most of them were close. With the boom shortened to the heel and gantry down it fit nicely on a tri axle stepdeck. They had a loading ramp where i bought it and i used a tandem tilt deck wrecker backed to the step deck to get it off. Backhauls can be found a lot easier with stepdecks. Thats a great looking little yard crane worth the move for sure.P5231288.JPG
 

workshoprat92

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2014
Messages
817
Location
Bois D Arc Missouri
I dont know man its sure hard to tell from the pictures but I really do think my crane is much bigger and heavier. Its rated 20 ton. I also have a linkbelt speeder rated at 20 ton but this garwood dwarfs the link belt of the same rating. Military underates everything. They take a 20 ton truck and make it a 5 ton rating. You would just have to see it in person to understand how beefier everything on this machine is compared to a 20 ton civilian model.
 

td25c

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2009
Messages
5,250
Location
indiana
It's a " Truck Crane " . Built & designed to move itself .:cool:

Understand the distance and thinking a " beam trailer " if you hire a hauler ?

Sell the crane in place in Colorado and forget about it ?

Or drive it home ?:)

 
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workshoprat92

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2014
Messages
817
Location
Bois D Arc Missouri
Driving it I think is to big of a legal issue across 3 different jurisdictions. Colorado and kansas both require smm registration and plates but missouri does not. And at 35 mph your a dead target to get stopped. Trust me if i thought i could get away with it id give it a shot.
 

workshoprat92

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2014
Messages
817
Location
Bois D Arc Missouri
Would any of you guys think it to be a totally crazy idea to fabricate a huge fith wheel mount tow bar and flat tow this thing behind a truck I already have leagal for long haul? The crane has glad hands on the front by the radiator so I think it was already designed in to do that by the military. Since it would be being towed I think that takes care of all the legal issues as the pulling vehicle is legally registered and its basically just a load at that point. Am I wrong on this?
 

workshoprat92

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2014
Messages
817
Location
Bois D Arc Missouri
Truck cranes bigger than that are hauled all the time on detachable goosenecks. If you have to, jack it up on the out riggers and pull all the tires.

In any case you are looking at probably $8K plus for the move?
Yes you are correct as I had already priced that. Heck anything can be done if you throw buckets of money at it! Now if I had a big job for this nachine and there was a large return of investment on that cost it would be a no brainer and it would already be here. Unfortunately old antique latice boom cranes are now just kind of a hobby thing and a labor of love. At best this crane might bring 3500 on the open market. So a 8k haul bill would be just insanity and the numbers when crunched tell me that id be better off to just sell or scap this unit and go buy something local for the same money. Now that being said i spend a good part of my youth on this thing balling concrete and would like to save it. Again a labor of love. To me the magic number is about 2k. If I can figure a way to get it transported by myself in the 2k range then the numbers work in my favor enough to want to do it. 8k its gona be torch iron at the local scrap yard and thats just an unfortunate truth!
 

workshoprat92

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2014
Messages
817
Location
Bois D Arc Missouri
If you register with antique plates isn't it exempt
Any kind of plates i get would have the same issue of not being able to get it because of not having a title. How do you get a title for something that never ever had a title even from the manufacturer? Dealing with bureaucracy is so much fun! Wheeee! They can make the simplest thing a total nightmare!
 

Knocker of rock

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2012
Messages
249
Location
US Western Cordilleran seismic zone
Any kind of plates i get would have the same issue of not being able to get it because of not having a title. How do you get a title for something that never ever had a title even from the manufacturer? Dealing with bureaucracy is so much fun! Wheeee! They can make the simplest thing a total nightmare!

Not being able to register a vehicle you don't have title to hardly makes you victim
 

workshoprat92

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2014
Messages
817
Location
Bois D Arc Missouri
Not being able to register a vehicle you don't have title to hardly makes you victim
Maybee you belive that the government owns your rights and then doles them out to you as privileges but I however do not! I never claimed to be a victum of anything. If I did I would probably be a welfare whore and not even messing with this stuff.
 

workshoprat92

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2014
Messages
817
Location
Bois D Arc Missouri
You wwere the one crying about not having a title. If that's a problem go talk to the original buyer. The government didn't make them stupid.
Number one the original buyer WAS THE GOVERNMENT STUIPID! I would think that would be pretty obvious as to what a dead end that would be but guess not! Secondly it wasent a problem till they changed the law in 2015 and did not issue title to everything that never ever had a title even from the original manufacturer. How many pieces of heavy equipment did you see in 1957 sold with a title? Yea that right a big fat zero!
 

Junkyard

Senior Member
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Jun 5, 2016
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3,621
Location
Claremore, OK
Occupation
Field Mechanic
There are ways to title older things that don’t have a title or MSO. Technically even being towed it would need a title as it’s on the road. Trailers have titles and they’re towed.

Having done some stuff like this unfortunately there’s no easy or cheap way to move it. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near that thing being flat towed like that. If you made it a 100 miles before half the tires blew I’d be surprised.

Sorry we don’t have a magical solution that fits your budget.
 

mowingman

Senior Member
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Jul 10, 2010
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1,228
Location
SE Ohio
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Retired
Buy machinery plate for it. You do not need a title for that. Here in Texas, and probably most states, you can buy them. It lets you road a machine, like a loader, grader, or scraper, without a problem. I think we still had to get an over weight permit for the scrapers, but no permits were needed for the grader or loaders. We did not even need an escort vehicle for any of them, but we did have a vehicle in the rear with flashing lights as a precaution.
 

workshoprat92

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2014
Messages
817
Location
Bois D Arc Missouri
There are ways to title older things that don’t have a title or MSO. Technically even being towed it would need a title as it’s on the road. Trailers have titles and they’re towed.

Having done some stuff like this unfortunately there’s no easy or cheap way to move it. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near that thing being flat towed like that. If you made it a 100 miles before half the tires blew I’d be surprised.

Sorry we don’t have a magical solution that fits your budget.
Well bless your heart!
 

workshoprat92

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2014
Messages
817
Location
Bois D Arc Missouri
Buy machinery plate for it. You do not need a title for that. Here in Texas, and probably most states, you can buy them. It lets you road a machine, like a loader, grader, or scraper, without a problem. I think we still had to get an over weight permit for the scrapers, but no permits were needed for the grader or loaders. We did not even need an escort vehicle for any of them, but we did have a vehicle in the rear with flashing lights as a precaution.
Yes in colorado its an SMM plate. I have stated many times that colorado or californirado if you will you noe must have a title to get a plate. That plate is only good for thr jurisdiction of colorado and has no effect in kansas that requires the same thing now. Missouri i am good as special mobile equipment is still exempt from regular licencing requirements. I dont know how clearer I could be on this and have stated it many times but for some reason everyone wants to think thier state law apllies in colorado and kansas. The question at heart was about the theoretical possibility of flat towing it. I understand i can get hauled for a small phenomenal amount of money or i can get plates and drive it if i only had a title. I swear if i hear that broken record one more time im gona puke! Sorry I just hate to be an asshole but i really wonder how much of this stuff you guys read before you keep regurgitating the same useless information! So with that does anyone have an opinion or experience flat towing something like this. We already know one member is opposed to it mainly because he thinks the tires will blow in the first 100 miles. Not sure why everyone thinks it would not be an issue to just drive it but for some reason flat towing it the tires are more apt to blow. Maybee he thinks i would use a greater roadspeed which i would not. Dont know. All in all its probably the way im gona lean towards researching to get it done. I understand some of you dont have a magic solution for an affordable way to do this. That dosent mean im gona give up and quit trying to find a way. The only garunteed way to lose is to not try at all and thats just not in my nature!
 
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