I have a one owner T-350 on a Reo 6x6 that a good friends father drove out to the Bantam factory to have put together. I have pics but am unable to post, if someone else can I will send them to you. Two things, first I'm looking for intermediate boom sections and a jib, I have the base and head sections. Second I'm having issues when I boom down, it's all or nothing, NO finesse whatsoever, brakes are clean and everything else works as it should, booms up fine. F.Y.I., it does have the sprag clutch set-up. I've been told that there is some special lube made in Maryland to use for it, anyone know? I posted on H.C.E.A., here under old iron and on A.C.M.O.C. In hopes someone could help. Thank you for any help you may be able to offer.
I'm not really familiar with Bantams. It sounds like a "live" boom, but you say she has a sprag. Maybe the boom brake needs adjustment? Your best bet is to find a manual. But if you can't find a manual check if there is something that disengages the boom sprag. I remember on old American friction cranes, if there was no power down on one or both load drums,there was an air toggle in the cab to disengage the sprag when you wanted to back down the load through the machinery. (I mean the manufacturer "American Hoist and Derrick" not all cranes from this country) I can't tell without being there, but maybe there is a way to engage/disengage the boom sprag and it's disengaged? Again, your best bet is to find a manual for that machine. Hope this helps!
Thanks buckethead, I have the operation, service, and parts manuals and they are fairly vague, or I just don't understand, more than likely the latter. They had two different types of boom mechanisms, the sprag clutch set up and they had a gear driven power down set up.
Not familiar with the Bantam cranes either.Hard to say whithout seeing the setup or pictures of the controll & drum arrangement.My K-12 Insley is "all mechanical" ,no air or hydraulic actuators,just levers ,external brake bands and internal brake shoes on the drums.Boom drum has a "dog" to lock it down .When I want to boom down I unlock the dog then if I push partly forward on the boom lever it starts to release the external brake band allowing the boom to freefall .Now If I firmly push the boom lever all the way forward it engauges internal brake shoes putting it in " power down" mode.Then to stop the boom give a quick snap back to center position on the boom lever.Dont know if the Bantam is similar or not.As for jib & boom sections probably figure on fabbing up new ones as most items like this have went to the scrap yard lately.Good luck with your Bantam bigshow.
The bantam is basically the same as your K-12, as for the boom, I got a fab shop figuring up a quote for some stick, if they're to high I'll have some connecting lugs and pendants made and then I'll make the rest. I was just hoping someone had some around, I've found some,just no one wants to sell it. Thanks for the help.
Parts Did you ever find the parts you need? I know where there is a T-350 A that is complete with about a 35' boom. It hasn't run for a while, but looks to be in pretty good shape. I have some pictures if interested.
I got a guy making some stick, and Illinois is a tad to far for this kid to travel for a little bit of stick, but thanks for the reply anyways.
One of my old co-workers came up to my shop this morning and showed me how to flush out the sprag clutch with some kerosene and it INSTANTLY engaged and boomed down as it should. On a side note he said the last time he ran this rig was 26 years ago, and even then it was old.
Not sure if this is correct place for this but I have 5 brand new Bantam excavator buckets. As far as I can tell are off cable mounted excavator. Found pics of similar ones on track and truck mounted excavators. They are new but have been sitting of course. 18 or 20" if I remember right with teeth. Was curious a guess on value of these? Thanks
I have a friend that has a Bantam truck crane with one section of stick between the base and head section. What I was wondering is how many feet of stick can a Bantam handle?
75 and a 15 jib, according to my chart.
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