New Ride Part Deux

[Nige]

https://www.terex.com/cranes/en/product/pick-and-carry-cranes/mac-25-4
These things are pretty handy when you're working on big kit. We just took delivery of this one.

 

[Cmark]

You got yourselves a Franna. Good choice! Invented in Aus, very useful and pretty ubiquitous around these parts.

There will probably be more than a couple appearing in my random photos in due course.

 

[Nige]

In large parts of the World the name Franna would simply generate a quizzical "What now.?"

 

[Cmark]

Very true.
Around here you can pick up the phone in just about any town and say "Mate, have you got a 20 tonne Franna doing nothing?" and have one on site within a couple of hours.

 

[hosspuller]

Nige … did you get the OEM on-board refrigerator ? Seems like required equipment judging from the location.

 

[CM1995]

I have never seen one until now. Congrats Nige! Looks like a nice piece of iron.

 

[Theweldor]

New brand to me also. Nice looking machine and yes they are very handy working around equipment.

 

[mitch504]

A welding shop here had something similar, was navy surplus, I think it was made by pettibone in the early '60s, maybe?

 

[Ronsii]

A welding shop here had something similar, was navy surplus, I think it was made by pettibone in the early '60s, maybe?

remember these..

 

[mitch504]

Similar to this one, but it was longer, had a narrow rear steer like the Terex in Cmark's thread, if I remember right the rear tires would turn 180, the boom didn't swing, and was cantilevered and pulled down by a rod behind behind the pivot, straight in front of the driver. I think it was 10 or 15 ton. Also, the boom was solid, not telescoping.

 

[crane operator]

I think you're thinking of one of the old hyster carry cranes mitch.

I've seen lots of pictures of the type of crane nige has, all from australia. The closest thing here are some of the city crane's they import from europe.

The only downside to nige's type of small crane, is they can act like a big endloader with a heavy/ max load. You may be able to pick the load up with the rear straight behind you, but if you have to drive along and turn, the back end can get light in a hurry when it swings to the side when you turn. Then things get wonky in a hurry.

That crane on the aircraft carrier deck looks like something only a gov't engineer could come up with. Hugely expensive and overly complicated.

 

[mitch504]

Kind of half way between that and what I posted, a lot bigger than that Hyster, though. Had a long space between the seat and the engine.

 

[Nige]

The only downside to nige's type of small crane, is they can act like a big endloader with a heavy/ max load. You may be able to pick the load up with the rear straight behind you, but if you have to drive along and turn, the back end can get light in a hurry when it swings to the side when you turn. Then things get wonky in a hurry.

Cmark could probably confirm, but as far as I know from limited experience the crane SWL ratings are for any articulation angle from straight ahead to the maximum 40-degree turning angle on firm level ground and obviously if the load is swinging all bets are off..
This type of crane is NOT designed to be an RT, it's designed to pick and carry relatively heavy compact loads and manoeuvre them in a tight space if necessary. In our case it would pick and carry a 10+ ton excavator boom or stick in or out of the shop, then be able to install it on the machine without having to resort to using any other transport or lifting devices. Very much a case of a specific machine for a specific function.

 

[Cmark]

I have zero experience as an operator of Frannas. All I know is that around here they arrive on site with a qualified operator and rigger/dogman, and a pretty good selection of tested/certified slings and chains in the front locker. Any lift I have ever asked them to do, they have never refused due to excess articulation angle. Not to say it can't happen though.

Because they are so common they are widely used on construction sites. Driving home this evening I paid attention to a section of the highway that was being rebuilt and I saw no less than three of them in a 3km stretch. One unloading pipes from a truck, one placing noise barriers and one assembling a crawler crane.

 

[kshansen]

About the closest thing we had at the quarry were a couple different "carry decks".

First one was a Drott that looked like this one:

Then that one was moved to another quarry in the state when they were doing some major updating of their plant and we then got one of these:


One thing I liked about the Drott was it had one of the Case 188 Diesel engines just like many of the 1845 skid-steers we had at the time.
The Broderson had a Ford gas engine that was a dual fuel set-up but the propane side was not usable due to problems before we got the machine. I slowly removed 90% of the propane parts and it did run okay but not as good as the Case 188!

The swingout jib was handy at times on the Broderson. But neither were too good in the rougher parts of the quarry.

 

[Birken Vogt]

What is the difference between the Franna and the Groves we see over here?

 

[Nige]

What is the difference between the Franna and the Groves we see over here?

Grove's don't articulate in the centre and the range does not go quite so big in lifting capacity. Also FWIW our crane fleet here (with the exception of one Manitowoc crawler) is all Terex.

 

[Queenslander]

Not to be confused with “franger”, which is something entirely different.

 

[Ronsii]

Not to be confused with “franger”, which is something entirely different.

LOL!!!!! now this thread could get very weird...

 

[crane operator]

I have zero experience as an operator of Frannas. All I know is that around here they arrive on site with a qualified operator and rigger/dogman, and a pretty good selection of tested/certified slings and chains in the front locker. Any lift I have ever asked them to do, they have never refused due to excess articulation angle. Not to say it can't happen though.

Because they are so common they are widely used on construction sites. Driving home this evening I paid attention to a section of the highway that was being rebuilt and I saw no less than three of them in a 3km stretch. One unloading pipes from a truck, one placing noise barriers and one assembling a crawler crane.

Around here, that job is taken by a 10-12,000lbs capacity telehandler. Only instead of a operator and a rigger, a rental company just drops the machine off, and everybody and their dog runs it on the jobsite. Any large work site in my area has at least a 8k, but most are a 10k now. They have taken a lot of work away that used to be done by smaller cranes. I think I average setting 1 back on its tires a year that someone has tipped over.

The increased regulations for crane operators, has pushed the work to "forklifts", because forklifts require no certified operators or riggers. It may not be the safest way to work, but it requires the least paperwork.