Remote on a boom truck?

[Hammer03]

Anyone know off hand what is the largest ton boom truck you can get with remote control capability?

Or if this is an option you can add to an existing. If so how much roughly?

Looking to use it when setting wood trusses. So nothing heavy but it would be nice in certain senarios for a better line of sight.

 

[crane operator]

55 ton national brochure shows it as a option. Most anything available with a pin on manbasket has them as a option. I've only ever run one on a altec 26 ton.

 

[Max87]

Expensive.
Had a customer order two smaller Palfinger knuckle booms for shoring equipment (like the picture below), and they were in manual configuration. He then decided he wanted to swap them over to a remote controlled setup. The difference from the factory for the two options is about 10k. Ended up being closer to 20k each. Your looking at about 80 hrs of labor plus parts, it was a lot more work than I thought it would be. Only had to do it the two times.

When I would price a main control valve (back when I worked for Hiab crane), they started around the 10k mark, the remote control by itself would be 5-8k.
Hiab has premium prices. Most hectronic/scanreco remotes by themselves are about $2500. I have never worked on national or altec's, but fassi, palfinger, imt, hiab will most likely have a different control valve for a remote setup. Maybe the older cranes its simpler, but modern remote control cranes have a ton of electronics, and when you need a remote and receiver, control box, control valve plus hardware, etc, and the labor to install setup and program the crane correctly, it gets expensive. For the crane pictured below, the remote kit came in about 3'x3'x6' box full of parts needed for the swap.

I have a customer that deliver trusses, and they use national cranes. Never worked on them, and maybe they are less of a hassle to set up a remote system on.

 

[Natman]

I used one for over a 1000 hrs on my 17 ton Terex. About 12 K as I recall. Super handy at times, but it was finicky, and I had to send it to Germany a couple times to get worked on. Can't remember the brand name.... It allowed to get a leg up on my competition, especially in setting trusses. Back then I also carried my Goldwing bike up on the bed, rigged. And I would get on the bike and fly myself off to the ground, unrig, and ride off and go eat lunch. After lunch, I ride back under the hook, snap in, and fly myself and the bike back onto the bed. One time, I flew myself up to the ridge of a two story building to talk to the framer, this was before OSHA, or maybe they were not around that day.

Somewhat to my surprise, I didn't miss it much when I got my first sit down boom truck, even more to my surprise, neither did my customers. My current rig, a National 30110A, has a remote option, but only if I abandon the free swing turret, can't have both, and I like free swing better I guess, mostly I like sitting on my butt in the almost sound proof cab, with AC or heat, and SAT radio, then running around with the remote on my waist.

 

[Max87]

I believe all the national cranes Ive seen have been manual. Maybe they are not as bad to run manual. Wallboard and knuckle cranes though, manual setups are becoming very rare from what I see. Cranes used to (still available to special order, but rare) come with topseat (seat mounted to column w/manual controls) and a remote setup. Not anymore, most operators will not run a crane unless the remote is working. And companies for that reason will save money and order without manual topseat controls.

 

[crane operator]

Knuckle boom or a standing platform friction swing boom, like a wall board delivery truck, I could see a remote being nice.

If its a larger crane with cab and free swing, anyone who knows what they are doing will be better off in the seat. I wouldn't bother with a remote if ordering a new large boom truck. Nor would I care if it had it in buying used. I wouldn't be using it anyways. They turn a fast smooth operation, into a slow day of tedium.

The only other place a remote is nice is on the small self erecting towers. They are slower than slow anyways, so a remote is fine. I see guys standing on the third floor of apartment buildings and right by the carpenters setting wall panels.

 

[crane operator]

Looking to use it when setting wood trusses.

That would be one of the last places I would use one with a larger boom truck. Probably the only place I would use one on a larger boom truck, would be with a boom attached basket, so the guys in the basket could position themselves. but I would still have a operator in the seat.

 

[Natman]

I also used mine for flying myself in my man basket a few times. When I built my shop 12 years ago, 40' span, 14' high, I dusted off my nail belt and played carpenter for the first time in a few years and set all my trusses myself, three at a time, in a couple hours. I also did a big demo job on some steel frames that came out of the big federal research facility in my area. All 6" square steel tube, with valuable equipment mounted in them. I crawled around with my torch and the remote and got the job done easily and safely. It made inspecting my grid tie wind turbine a one man job also. In a perfect world, I'd have my heated sit down cab with the swing brake, AND a remote for when I felt the urge for some Superman action. It was a lot of fun to use, this thread reminded me, though like I said I don't miss it much either. Now, I'm thinking maybe I ought to see about one again, and if I could NOT have to give up my free swing 100% of the time but only when using the remote? Standing up on the roof today along side the HVAC guys would have been handy, though not crucial.