I have been lurking for a couple mounths ,I just upgraded boom trucks (I'll be carefull not to call it a crane seems to be a touchy subject ) so I figured its a good time to join in. I'm a building contractor this makes my fourth boom truck, up grading every time. I got my 2006 32105 elliot with a sitty down thing on it ,on the road last week,I'll send picks when I figure out how to reconfigure pictures. A big howdy to all that have entertained and educated me Regards
welcome aboard
Welcome to the Forums Tradesman!:drinkup What kind of building construction do you perform?
small commercial, farm buildings and custom homes. I've done way to much concrete work and my shoulders and knees are showing it.I am a farm boy and have been running equipment from when I had to jump off the seat to hit the clutch, I love running the crane and its one "H" of a lot easier on the bones
I hear ya' on that!:drinkup What little concrete work I do makes me really appreciate the guys that do it everyday, it's tough work and when the mud starts flowing there is no stopping. Mistakes are expensive and one is dealing with a "perishable" product. Concrete guys earn every $ they get.:thumbsup
Welcome Tradesman! I agree with you and CM regarding concrete work. I know just enough about it to know that I don't care to learn anymore!
Welcome Tradesman! The only part I like about concrete, is swinging the bucket Other than that it's pretty much hands off for me.
First time with multiple parts of line I think I figured it out That resizing is a nasty process to figure out (posting a pic). This me setting up a washing plant that I tore down last fall , and yes I'm about an inch into my A2B, I miss judged how much the plant would tip up, But don't worry I was watching it
just home from getting lettered
That should make you some money . All of the company boom trucks are on Sterling chassis's also .
Thats a nice looking rigg Tradesman.I sure like swing cab arrangement on the back for operator comfort.
all the big heads checking a sewage pump for its one year check up a 70 x 140 riding arena I had to set from inside there wasn't a good place to set up outside it took 3 set ups. It was my first full days work with the new ride :drinkup
Yair . . . Tradesman . I was surprised to see those timber trusses, almost unheard of over here . . . anything that size is steel. Cheers.
Common down south as well. Chart that shows some typical spans - http://www.locketruss.com/roofspan.pdf That chart shows an 83' span with special load considerations.
Those long span wood trusses won't be seen very much in southern or central coastal California...seismic issues primarily due to diaphragm rigidity...we have tried a few variants by stiffening the column connections at both the base and the truss connection point and therefore resolve the engineering issues, but the truss company 'only' uses 2x4s and 2x6s therefore they become the next obstacle in the system...here we are: no snow, not much wind and no go. These cranes are appreciated for all those jobs like AC units on roofs, roof materials, inspections in a man basket, residential house trusses, etc etc. Does the crane have an extension piece that is on the other side of the boom and isnt seen in the pics? What thoughts do you have on those 'boom tip looking down' cameras?
They are big trusses but fairly common these trusses are even 4'-0" OC. a few years ago they would have been 32"OC. I have a jib but don't have it installed, I always need more horizontal reach not hight . I just bought a Go Pro camera I thought I would mount it on the boom tip should get some cool picks , the real moniter cameras are some big bucks
Sorry to hijack but what species of wood and from what source do they get it down there? Pines from NZ or is there structural wood grown on the mainland?
70's are fairly common they are at 4 ft. oc. a few years ago they would of been at 32" oc. they are spuce with fir at the heels where the compression is greater,our lumber comes primarily from northern Ontario
nice looking rig, is that the one that Cropac was selling?
Yes bought it over a mounth ago but they haven't taken it off their sight yet, I talked to the salesman he said when they get calls over it they lead them to other machines in there inventory. I think it was your Dad I talked to about challenging the 339C , just filed my papers yesterday with the Ministry. Please thank him for the considerable time he spent on the phone with me.
Nice ride. We have been looking into a swing seat boom truck. The neck breakers kill me. Lol btw those big trusses sure are fun to swing. The biggest I've set were 90' trusses 8' OC. By the time you hang a big enough spreader bar then the truss you've got a little weight out there. On those big trusses we usually set up inside the building.
I thought that was you, good luck on the tests, they are intimidating, but once you get over that they're not really that hard.
Oh-Canada !!
This is a good looking rig Tradesman. I'm sure you will get lots of money with this thing.
I like to fly the flag this way every Canada day weekend. I didn't have nerve to put all the stick out and leave unattended
This is one of our own jobs, very tight quarters not much room to set up or swing. This job is right on the lake we eat our lunch by the water the scenery is great. When I have time I will post some of our own jobs I will have to resize them regards Glen
sorry! but this is how its done. sweet truck and nice work though!
holly crap thats one big ass flag. You got a full load of counter weights on :notworthy
This is our own job, I'll call it threading the needle. We have to put a 24 ft. beam inside the renovated portion of the house to support the ridge beam. In picture two you can see the roof section we picked off shingles and all it wieghed 3,600 #
I got a call yesterday to set some "concrete slabs probably around 3 or 4 thousand pounds " they where 40ft x 4 ft. x 1 ft. hollow core slabs @ 13,000 lbs a peice I got them to level a area as close to building as was safe I put down every piece of cribbing I had, it went really well but I'm Glad it wasn't 5 ft. farther
Thats interesting Tradesman.I like the hollow core slabs,lighter wieght yet still with good load bearing capacity.
You are going to hear CAN YOU REACH THAT in your sleep .
This is my own job, a 60x150 cattle barn it's been - 15 to -28 Celsius the entire time we have worked it . And that's my new bird dog pup.
very nice looking shorthair I have 3 of them they are like tater chips you cant have just 1!!!!! remember that!! lol
All right off topic. What you shooting?? You have some nice guns in that cabinet (nice dog too). My two favorite hobbies,Equipment and Guns, so I naturally need to ask. Back on topic, nice boom truck, I get to run a 15 ton Terex on a regular basis.
He is my second short hair, my five year old fully trained dog gunner was killed by a piece of farm equipment last September best dog I've ever had this new one has a big collar to fill, but he looks like he can do it There is a pre 64 model 94 Winchester,browning t bolt 17 cal. Hmr, browning lever action 308, browning white gold madalion 300 WSM, matched pair of grade 3 browning citori 625 in 20 gage and 12 gage, 1960 browning superposed in 12 gage, browning a bolt 204 ruger, it took a long time to get them but I'm pretty happy with my collection. I hunt deer, turkey, duck, coyote, but my first love is grouse and pheasant with a well trained gun dog. Last fall was hell, no grouse hunting , looking forward to next summer training the new pup and first season next fall
Should have known by the emblem on the gun cabinet that there would be a few 'Brownings' in your collection. Nice. Grouse are something we now target as I started my son out on a few grouse hunts so we take a weekend, travel 300miles to a buddies cabin that is right in the middle of grouse heaven. Good luck this fall and always, always make time to hunt. Cheers Lowbed driver
Nice day at the office. This house had two 53 ft trailer loads of steel in it, my first full day for 2014 hoping for a good summer
This is the house I set the steel on at Christmas and early in the spring they where having no luck with there carpenters so my crew is there fixing mistakes and finishing the framing. Weirdest construction I've ever seen we packed all the I beams and are now putting the joist on hangers in between, then we have to build the slope on top with tapered 2 x, then sheath on top with 3/4" plywood. Looks like this could be the job that goes on and on, look forward to seeing how it turns out. The first and last picture are taken from the same spot looking both ways. The middle picture is of some core slabs I set today the black hats where on it laying block before I had my stabilizes pulled in, I was maxed out 13,000 lbs at 26 ft. Couldn't of went any better
whats the thought on doing the I beams that way??? never saw that before cant b any strength that way cause you are side loading & cant get a fastener very long for the hangers...
That's what happens when you get a half a dozen architects and engineers in the same room The packing is bolted through at two ft. Oc. And resting on the bottom flange. It's looks like it will work but nobody that ever picked up a hammer would ever dream it up.
It's not about the length, it's the girth that matters... Wait, what were we talking about? They usually call out tube steel here. I have the shop weld on studs and we bolt 1-3/4" LVLs to them. Still sucks.
Not a bad day at the office. We started at eight this morning and finished at four thirty, 70 x250
Looking good Tradesman ! I Enjoy working with Amish carpenters . They move fast & know what there doing :thumbsup
Nicely done. Are you setting them one at a time? I'm still working out a way to lift a few at a time and hold them 2' apart. Something like a spreader bar with a chain every 2'.
I have seen what your talking about , an eight ft spreader beam with different hitch points to allow for 16" 24" 32" or 4' spacing I don't think I would use one unless it was stamped by a engineer My own crew has put two small house trusses on with two separate slings, set the first truss then slack the cable enough to set second truss, works well but wouldn't want to do it with anything bigger than 30 ft.
Special equipment As I get busier with my " new ride" I find I need more and more equipment to meet the needs of my customers ie: concrete bucket oversized spreaders multiple chain hoists and the list goes on and on . I bought a a concrete bucket after renting one three times, I plan on charging $50 every time I use it , I also have invested several thousand in different pieces of rigging but there's a limit. My question is, is it appropriate to charge for any equipment you need to rent or do you just either eat it or turn down the work. When I rented the concrete bucket it cost me money because I paid $100 to rent the bucket then I had to drive to pick it up and take it back I did charge my customer $100 but still lost on the deal. On one hand I feel if your gonna be in business cowboy up and get what ya need but I don't think in this business you could ever have all you need and having a job cost you money doesn't last long. Advice please I know everyone loves pictures here's one of my pup that there is a picture of on this thread last winter he's coming along nicely
Yeah Tradesman , buy all means charge for extra services that go with the crane . Crane game is about like the fishing sport . You buy the rod & reel then comes the tackle box, boat & trailer I carry quite a bit of rigging on the crane along with 8' spreader bar & block . Don't really charge extra for these items , it's figured in the hourly rate . Then on many jobs another vehicle go's with the crane, could be service truck for welding , truck & trailer to haul cribbing , ect . I charge extra for those services .
We have a couple 4 ft spreaders with hooks 2ft on center and 16 in. On center. They works great if your trusses are all the same. Takes a good crew and good hook up guy to really make them work. Some crews we work for can do 60ft. Trusses in under 3 min per truss. At that pace there's no reason to send two trusses at a time. We have a bunch of different spreader bars and rigging. We charge extra if we have to have another truck there. But if it fits on the crane we just include it.
our cranes are rented out with an assortment of cable and nylon chokers/straps. if they are damaged on the job they are charged out to the customer. we have concrete, grapple, and clam buckets, demo balls and crosses and several sizes of demo pans. they all have a rental rate and a delivery charge if they can't fit on the crane. rigging and attachments can't be supplied and maintained for nothing if you have to pay for them, maintain them, replace them when worn out, and most importantly be liable for their performance if there is and accident that can be traced to their usage.
I've been setting trusses two at a time, one chain on each truss. My current project has 36' long trusses. Kinda slow but I'm working by myself. Most of what I do is a bid price in construction. If I have to rent something special or drive extra distance I factor that into the bid. I do charge by the day to run on a generator. Until last year I had been renting them for the odd job that didn't have a power pole. I would pass on the cost of the rental and gas. I finally went and bought one but still charge the same as if I rented it. It's payed for itself and then some, plus I don't have to go pick it up and I know it will start when I need it to.
This is a job I did this week for the Mennonites, I showed up on schedule at 9:00 am the poles where in the ground but no strapping or plates on and the vans just pulling in full of men. I set up and started setting door beams, by then they had the plates on one end and I started swinging trusses. We stopped for a half hour for lunch at 11:30 and finished with bill made out and driving down the lane at 1:00 pm . The building is 48 x 104 . It's hard to get any engine off feet up time out of these men!
Sounds fun. One crew gave me a surprise. 60x120 pole barn. Had the side walls up, the end walls were laying one the ground completely assembled gable truss nailed on and everything. Mind you there were four guys there. We stood the end walls up and set them in place(they were heavy). Started at eight and I was wrapped up rolling out at four thirty. They also put all their 2x4's on the roof as they went.
Just a few random shots over the last month
Nice work. My father was a carpenter, I have a bit of wood framing running through my blood. Thanks for the pics.
Now that's the way to set trusses
That's a gable set it gives you a really solid place to start building the rest of the roof. Its a lot easier, faster and safer to do it on the ground.
This an old bridge I loaded on a truck to be relocated as a foot bridge. The bridge was deemed to be of historical significants and for the municipality to get funding they had to save the old bridge. I have to unload it this week at its new home and then set it on its foundation in the spring sorry for the quality of the picture,it was the best the conditions would allow My newest toy its a 1970 Berreta sxs
Nice side by side or double barrel. Beautiful wood on the stock.
I second that!! I love the older beretta shotguns I just bought a 20 gauge OU.. it shoots great
Hi all. I just joined the forum and got my first boom truck a few weeks ago. Its a 97 international. Has a 14 ton manitex on it. 61 foot boom with 24 foot jib. I run a small tree service I'll be using it for as well as renting my services to local construction guys. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on what slings to buy. Weight rating, poly versus nylon, things like that. Any info would be great. Thanks everyone!
Juat wanted to add a picture of the truck. Hope it works. Im new to this forum stuff.
Welcome Cancotree First thing you'll never have enough ! I don't know much about what you would need for tree work specifically but for general work here's some of the items I have that are used regularly. 4 - 6 ft. Wire rope chokers 4 - 16 ft. Two inch double web slings 2- 10 ft one inch web slings 1-four part line bridle. Mine is 3/8" x 16 ft. Longer maybe 20 ft. Would be better 2- tag lines. I have two so I can rotate them, a dry one and a wet frozen one At some point you will wish you had a pair of spreader bars mine are adjustable to 10 ft. Oh! And you will need a bunch of shackles, for a boom truck the weight rating isn't as important as the opening so you can fit them over stuff ,I find 7/8" are very useful. The list goes on and on but the above will let you do a lot of jobs without jerry rigging stuff ( safer and more professional) Good luck
That's a nice looking rig Cancotree , I like it . Looks to be 4 wheel drive , cool !
Thanks for the info Tradesman! I'll look into all that. Can't wait to get it out working! And thanks td25c. But its not 4 wheel drive. I have matts for soft yards so shouldnt really need 4 wheel drive. I've had my bucket truck for about 5 years and only got it stuck once(no 4 wheel drive as well). But that was kind of my own fault. I walked the yard and thought it felt soft. But I let the homeowner convince that "it should be fine". I made it up to the tree and all was well. But the truck rocking back and forth from the boom moving made it sink. Luckily the neighbor had a big ford tractor to pull me out. Howmeowner was cool about it too. Especially since it was his fault. Haha. Definitely lesson learned.
I had to turn that over for ya
that ought to be handy for getting in tight spots with that rear mount. those front outriggers look exciting.
I thought is was 4x4 too. Good looking truck Cancotree and welcome to the Forums!:drinkup
Looks good. I would stick with cables or chains on tree work. Tree bark on a nylon strap will wear one out fairly quickly. On our taxi cranes we carry 4x20ft straps 4x15ft straps 2x6ft straps 20 ft 2 legged chains 15ft 2 legged chain 4x 4ft chains. O and 2 tag lines and 4 3/4 shackles, 4 5/8 shackles and 4 1/2 shackles. If that doesn't cover it we have various cables shackles and spreaders at the shop.
What size two leg chain do you carry I've been looking but they are pretty spendy,I have two top sets of 5/16" for my spreaders but would like to get an all purpose 4 part for general lifting if I'm only getting one set for now 5/16 hardly seems heavy enough. Do you use clutch hooks for shortening. I'm all ears I guess I should ask what size crane you have we could be talking apples and oranges 20,000 lbs is a hell of a pick for my 32 ton boom truck On a last note to Cancotree don't let anyone talk you into using there unrated chain, slings or shackles
We have a terex bt4792, 2 30t truck cranes and just bought an old tms300. So your crane probably does a lot of the same stuff ours do. Our 2 leg chains are 5/16. Honestly about the only time those really get used is on truss jobs. Most picks over 6-7k get straps. I know the straps we use are rated at 6400 lb. We have 2 sets of 1" cables we use for heavy stuff. The 4ft chains are handy as all get out. We use the heck outta those. We bought a small crane company that went from 7 crAnes to one and all the rigging came with that one last crane so we have chains, cables, and rigging stuff out the wazoo.
Thanks tiny for flipping the picture. Couldn't figure out how to do it. Haha. And thanks all for your info. Its greatly appreciated. I got a few jobs lined up alreafy so I opted to grab a few poly straps to get me going. 2, 6 footers rated for 7500 pounds and a 10 foot rated at 19000.(choker ratings). Gonna look into the chains, cables, and shackles. Just gotta get a few jobs done and re-coup some cash. I'm tapped haha. Almost choked when they said 454 dollars for the license plates. Sheesh But i'm sure it'll pay off in the end. Thanks again guys.
One more quick question. When you guys say tag lines you're refering to short ropes attached to the hook to guide the load down. Right?
Excellent advise! Thanks bud
First day on the job with the crane! So awesome! I love it already. I see what you guys mean by needing a few split chains. I had to spider leg a few limbs and it was kinda ackward. We used the 2 6 foot straps but there was no way to adjust them so they swung out a little funky. Definitely need to get the chains. All in all great day! Thanks guys!
That truck will prove to be a handy addition Cancotree . We have an old Ford F 600 4x4 digger derrick truck similar in size . Handy as a shirt pocket . Many times we use it in rough areas where I cant easily move the crane in . Old digger derrick truck .... just jump in the mud & get up close & personal with the job
Heck yeah. It was sweet! I put the jib on and reached over the house. Front yard to backyard. Gonna be great for those fenced in yards and yards that I cant get the bucket truck up to. Now I'm wondering why I didn't buy one sooner! Haha
We should all be ashamed of our selves we have encouraged a brother to become a junkie (crane junkie) his life will never be the same. his wife will be waiting on him to go somewhere and he will be in a dimly lit shop working on the crane. You poor sole, mine has never been since that first hit, I'm now a hundred thousand and debt and still checking my " dealers " web sight for the next bigger fix. May your sole be at peace brother:crying Loving it glen
Haha I believe! But I've got one advantage. My wife goes on the job with me. And she was just as excited as I was. Hell, she even asked to lower a few limbs down after I swung them over the house to the front yard. She was shaking and pale as a ghost but she did it! Just gotta teach her how to do everything with it and I'll sit at home. Mwuahahahaha
Tag line is a rope tied to one end of the load to help navigate. Usually a person on the ground has the tag line. In the case of setting roof trusses you only have control of the center of the load. The guy on the tag line is supposed to keep the load straight and turned the right direction. A good tag line guy came you look like a great operator. An idiot on the tag line is one of the most frustrating things in the world.
and where do these good tag line guys hide?
Usually the older Amish guys that don't want to be up on the walls anymore are pretty good at it. 90 percent of the time it's the new guy or the guy that's to dumb to do anything else so they put him on the tag line.
That's why the cranes have a window that opens in the front. So you can curse at the guy on the tag line.
operator torture
the surgeon general has determined that tag lines are the number one cause of operator hypertension and alcoholism after extensive studies.
One day after the guy on the tag line for me hit the framers trailer the side of the house and finally my Boom ,( and absolutely no reason for it other than he just didn't give a ****) I stopped and told him if he wanted to hit stuff I couldn't stop him but if he hit my boom again we would be having a very serious chat, he never hit anything again that day.
a SERIOUS chat is always good thing
Couple of pictures This is a roof section I did last week, it was almost a boat in the basement they built it under the cable TV line with very little room to swing to the side, took a bit of wiggling but we got it. If you look close you can read the Greer screen This is a vertical auger I took out of a grain drier the old one is on the left the new one on the right I think they got all the good out of it
Nice work Tradesman . Cant quite make out the numbers on the Greer screen but looks like it gives you load , radius , & boom length . That's pretty handy . I would like to at least have a load cell on the line . The one I was looking at was a" Crane smart" brand . They sure did get the good out of the auger on the grain dryer . That looks like an old Toxowick brand dryer . Been parting ours out over the years for other projects . I'm thinking the perforated sheet metal might make good engine guards for a dozer .
the roof section would be a good candidate for a spreader beam. the four cables you have lifting ii are pulling the structure together. truss assemblies don't like lateral loads but are designed for compressive forces in line with the truss. they tend to fold up easily when you push on the weak side of the truss. if you don't use a spreader beam you need to x-brace the hell out of it.
what did that roof section weigh? 3500-4000#?
They put 2x8 under the rafter against the braces it spreads the load out over the length of the roof section, done a lot of them this way for this framer
and keeps the trusses from squeezing together, kool.
The pick was 2680 lbs all in.( Rigging in ) I was good for 4150 lbs.
I've had other lesser framers try the same without the sub framing and like you suggested they just start folding up, then I get to shut down and watch them scramble to support it
You need a load cell. We used to run without one. You won't believe how many times stuff weighs more then you think. It scares me to think how many times I overloaded our old grove because I was told the wrong weight. Hirschman makes a decent system that is half the cost of crane smart. We've had them for a year or two and they are a good system for the money.
Not everyone has a top hand like this to help respool there hoist line
Love it!:drinkup I miss my top hand.
Yes Knepptune , at this point I would be happy with just the load cell . Some loads are easy to judge in weight and others are not . I will sure take a look at the Hirschman system you suggested . I got fooled on a grain dryer we moved this summer . HeavyEquipmentForums
Hello everyone, Please i need anyone to assist me with the access code to PAT Iflex5 LMI, The code is required to help me complete a job on a RT890E grove crane. The pressure transducer requires me to zero both the piston and rod transducer and hence require an access code. I will appreciate any assistance to help me sort this problem.
How about a link to the load cells? I just picked up a crane for myself and have been thinking about adding some safety features.
Sorry about wrecking your thread tradesman. Anyway I buy our wireless systems from cranewarningsystems.net. Talk to randy.
Sorry as well, thanks Knepptune.
Not to worry, just glad to have some crane talk happening
We've been using these for about 5-6 years now with the sling hooks too: http://cantow.ca/proditem_detail.ph...'_Yellow_Round_Sling&product_query=ww2w14w175 When "spider legging" you can adjust them by wrapping the one you want short by wrapping it around the limb multiple times or moving it up or down the limb, the key to having lifts come off smooth is to have the hook right over the center of gravity of the lift and have the slings tight. You should look at picking up a book from the TCIA(Tree Care Industry Association) Crane Best Management Practices, I costs about $100, but it's a real good read. If you havent already you should look at joining the forum www.treebuzz.com/forum/ . Good luck with the new boom, manitex is a good brand.
Wow I am getting my boom truck ready for what looks like a busy year ahead " I hope so " I took it to my crane shop and very Bravely said give her what she needs , they did a NDT. perfect the tec. said its in very good shape, The input shaft has been dripping ( it's a verible displacement piston pump ) $ 4,700 plus labour to R & R and its rebuilt, Plus the pto shaft that caused the trouble, before I bought it it had been repaired and never balanced Full function test Installed a ball valve on the hydraulic suction line ( I removed the handle drilled the top and zip tyed it open ) After all that the first job I was on the boom up was either off or full nuts took it back and it needs the boom control modual replaced for around $1,200 , I always thought it was a little touchy but I blamed myself for not having that perfect touch, but I guess after the pump was rebuilt the extra flow exasperated the condition and made it clear to me something had to be done. I get it home on Tuesday and I am really looking forward to my nearly new ride and I spending some quality time together. The machine is a 2006 I guess the controllers have a life span I did the hoist controler last fall, it failed and wouldn't work at all. Over all I have been very happy with my new ride this is the first real money I've spent on it in three seasons Cheers Tradesman
Got an urgent call today from a regular customer today he built this " tall wall" and couldn't stand it with his zoom boom not much wonder I never measured it but it has to be close to forty feet tall and was over 5 thousand pounds. I really enjoy these problem picks they make you use your head. Tradesman
Hi Tradesman Ive enjoyed seeing your operations on here.Ive always had conventional cranes,but Ive finally picked up a Manitex2592 swing cab rear mounted on a Ford Louisville.Im just going through the licencing process with Icbc,im in British Columbia.Lots of these units out here ,but with our insurance outfit you would think this was the first one on earth.Have you ever considered pull any kind of a trailer behind yours?
I don't have an "A" licence. I had a small float for my old crane that I snuck around with a bit "pretty handy" But I dropped a fare load on this outfit, pounding up and down the road with it just didn't seem like something I wanted to do. Now every time she see's day light some body owes me $120 an hour for a 3 hour minimum. I have insurance with C0-Operators, the truck is under auto Insurance and the crane is under Commercial Liability Not too bad. Truck licence is around $ 1,600 a year up from around $800 a couple years ago they're really sticking it to trucks in Ontario, they may get there wish and all business will move to Mexico and all that is left here will be civil servants, won't the world be perfect then
By the way good looking rig you will enjoy the sitty down thing, the only down side I've found is your out of the loop, your in the cab by yourself and its not usually practical to get out and have a chat with any-one like on a neck breaker you just hop off, help the riggers then hop back on when there ready. But I will never go back to a neck breaker. Regards
tradesman, with your swingcab you can get away with not plating it. if you have no payload(nothing on the deck other than necessary rigging also no towing) then you can classify it as a crane which in Ontario means its an off-road vehicle, doesn't need plates, annual safety, emission check, and you can burn coloured diesel in it which you don't pay road taxes on. Huge money savings over all.
How big of a process is it and where do you start : local licence office or do you start with the ministry of transport ? Thanks
I'm not really sure about the process, when cropac built our 22 ton they said it didn't need plates and it came back without any. I'd call them(IIRC you bought your machine from them), they import a lot of cranes every year into lots of places in Canada so I'm sure they know the process.
I had a bad error in judgement this week I trusted untested riggers ( a truck driver and a Mennonite farmer ) I was lifting a 5 ton hopper bin into place, I rigged it with four 2" double nylon slings 16' long witch gave me well over 60deg. They where shackled on lifting lugs at the tank and shackled into a 1" grade 100 ring at my hook. Looked like a good set up, I lifted a couple feet off the ground and stopped asked the ground crew if the rigging was fouled they said it was ok. The lift went perfect, I was in good shape for when the tank stood up on its own and followed it keeping tension on, ( the best I've ever done ) then pop one of the slings broke it had been fouled around the vent hood. Lesson learned never trust untrained riggers, my fault totally won't make the same mistake again. We re rigged with a new sling and finished the lift. The picture is after it was set of course the gentleman de rigging is tied off
Nice work Tradesman . Don't get to hung up over the mishap . That will happen at times . I provide & do all rigging on my jobs . Damn ...... At my age I get wore down on some jobs crawling in and out of the cab to rig a load . It's good exorcise I reckon . LOL ! Sometimes before a lift I will hop off the rig & walk around looking things over . Customer yell's " hey td , what's wrong "? Nothing wrong , just looking for something wrong . LOL !
its always a good plan to get out and eyeball rigging you can't see even with riggers you trust. everybody sees different things and different outcomes.
Lesson learned, and I got off easy.
Well said dbl612 . Hop out & do a "walk around " . From the cribbing to the hook .
I spent a good chunk of last Saturday going over my my boom truck, and I found a wet spot on the bottom of my hydraulic cooler rad , so I tore it apart and it was packed full of salt and sand " nasty" I put a pressure test on it and sure enough the hole bottom of it was badly pitted and one corner was leaking. with great hopes I took it to a repair shop, no luck they said it was too far gone. I called my dealer they got a price from Elliott YIKES!! $2,250.00 and i re-use my own thermostat and fan. I talked to the service manager and he said with a crane my size, unless i was doing heavy duty cycle work i really didn't need it. Today i checked the tank temperature several times it never got above 40 C ( sorry i didn't check it in F ) . I think i'll take some time and find an after market cooler, I really want to keep everything working on it.I have done some checking and have seen quite a few around $600.00 with the same specs as my old one. does any-one have any words of wisdom or caution. Thanks Tradesman
Yikes I got a price from Elliott for a stripped down cooler ( no shroud , fan or couplers ) is $ 2,200.00 insane! I am having one built to the spec of the crane for $600.00. In the mean time I have been running without, and the highest i have seen it was yesterday at 43 degrees C and that was setting hog slats for three hours. It was the first time I've set slatted flooring, I woke up a 4:30 am thinking about it almost made myself sick. It turned out to be a piece of cake I was never over 60 percent capacity we set the trucks up at a nearly perfect radius. The only problem was the hole for half the slats was 1/2" too small so we just set them down and the workers where trimming the ends with a quick cut. Just a note , not one of my jobs just doing the crane work for another contractor
This is the same barn I set the pig slats on last week. I set the trusses today, it's around 150 ft plus long and 52 ft wide, they are 2 ft OC. By the time I set the second vent and put a water tank in the feed room they about 100 ft of roof on one side and moved to the back of the building because I was in there way.
Looking good Tradesman . You can throttle up when working with Amish carpenters . I love it , they have there game together & don't "jack" around . Absolute pleasure working with them :thumbsup:
This was a good crew, a lot of young guys with enough older guys too keep them straight. They would let me set the load down without pulling me way out of vertical, I have had them jump up to grab the sling before I got to them.
The first pic is one of our own jobs this was a 48' wall The second is a lane I backed down today the guys on sight said a couple of the concrete truck driver refused to back down when I was backing around at the bottom all I could see in my passenger side mirror was air no driveway
Looks good Tradesman ! The ground looks dry and tree foliage is similar in my area . Fall is here . Winter just around the corner . Where the hell did the summer go to ?
Been a great September and October so far best weather we've had all year
That's the first time I've used the snatch blocks for lifting a wall, worked really well came up real smooth hardly any sag in the wall at all
Your rigging looked like it worked out great for the job .:thumbsup
A shot of the first lift on top of the walls from my last post.These where terrible to set everything had to be done from man lifts because the flat trusses had no stability till they where completely blocked in place, what I expected to take two to three hours we now only have half up in four hours
Cool Tradesman. Never seen snatch blocks hooked to the spreader bar but I can totally see how it allowed the weight of the wall to be distributed evenly, not allowing the wall to sag if it just had two lift points. How was that wall built in the pic? It's hard to tell but looks like 2x strapping on the outside horizontally and 1x bridging between the studs. I come from a family of framing carpenters, I was pounding 8's and 16's at an early age with an 16oz Plumb.
The wall in the picture is 2x8 with fire blocks at 4'-0" OC. then 2x4 at 24" OC. The wall has to have a two hour fire separation, i have to put two layers of 5/8" fire rated drywall on the out side, so i plan on fastening my steel siding threw the drywall into the blocking thus eliminating an extra layer of strapping
Just curious but what is the boom outreach and lift capacity on your new boom truck?
It is a 32105, 32 ton 105 ft. of stick with a two piece jib I think 44 ft. The jib is on a rack in my shop it doesn't give me any horizontal reach just vertical and the deduction for the stored jib steals capacity on me.
That's the best place for it
We always used running snatch blocks like that for standing up 90' concrete piling. We would put one snatch block on the pile line and the other snatch block on the third line. We could then pick them up off the ground flat and up end them while keeping the weight distributed over the 4 points util it was hanging vertical. If one lifted them with one end on the ground they would break from the side stress.
Takes a bit of time to rig so you need multiple picks or no other good way to do it to make it worthwhile to do
One of our own jobs it's a roofed porch with the service room under it so we used core slabs. That my son giving signals he's a journeyman carpenter, I'm trying to get him to apprentice as a crane operator but he wants some time off from going to school
Just a few pictures. I got these out of order 1- picture of the house we are building this was Dec. 18 2 & 3 are from one of my sons jobs he runs an excavator they had to crane four septic tanks over the roof of this house, they were 20,000 lbs each 4- final roof profile 5 - Not my regular view of my crane, this was the end of a long day and I let my foreman finish the roof and i strapped on the nail bag and went up top
Those are nice looking homes Tradesman ! Love the view on the last picture . I feel better knowing I'm not the only one that has to hop out of the cab to drive a nail & help finish up the job at the end of the day.
Thanks td. I've been extremely lucky in my life my dad gave me the opportunity to learn all I wanted. Firstly I'm master carpenter we do everything from rough framing ( my favourite ) to hanging $800.00 custom hardwood doors and all the elaborate trim work that goes with it.I have to admit my trimming skills are starting to slip a bit my Son and foreman are now noticeably better than me , I just don't do it enough to have that fluid motion that they have, but i see myself doing the same as my dad did for me making sure my kids have the skills and the opportunity to succeed.My dad was always trying something new he bought his first backhoe in the late 70's when interest was 21% not really because we needed one but just because he thought he could make it work and it did and as a bonus my brother and i both learned how to run it which has served me quite well over the years. He bought a set of concrete forms because " you can never get a wall poured when you need it " at the time we had an employee that had worked at it before so now we pour some of our own walls. Anything like the house above I have someone else do, we generally don't have the time for big complex walls. And following in my dads foot steps I bought my first crane around 15 years ago an old 8 ton Pitman and now 3 cranes later I have what i think is a pretty good unit and have built a decent client base, enough for now because our buildings take a lot of my time, my clients want me on sight.My son just finished trade school as a carpenter last winter, so likely next year i hope he will start his apprenticeship as a crane operator, just one more tool in his bag.
Awesome pictures guys. Kind of a good illustration of a saying "hard work pays off". I am wondering though, if you use fabric straps to lift concrete blocks, would not that ruin the straps in short order?
I hear what your saying but I like the way they grab on and don't offer to slide in on the slab. I have used them on likely 50 pcs. over the last year and no significant abrasion yet. I always make sure I am rigged with a long fleet angle.One manufacturer that I have set for puts top hooks in that I can shackle to, thats nice not as much worry and you are able to set them tight against each other, no barring over
Lovely day at the office I like my heated cab more every day.
Heated cab! A dream!!!
ichudov, are you also on the practical machinist website? I recognize the screen name.
Nice work and nice pup. I grew up with Border Collies and I thought I knew all about high energy dogs. Then I got my Shorthair... He's 1-1/2 and has more energy than the next 10 dogs. I've seen him go 16 hours and never stop moving, running most of the time. He spends most of his day at the shop with me. Lots of fun... But, he plays hard and sleeps hard:
yep...
Added these a while ago, but I was walking by today and thought of you guys. I have a neighbor that does truck tarps exc. he made them both for me for under $200. I included a picture of my hydraulic cooler, the one I changed last summer, when I was pulling it apart there was hands full of salt in it. Whats wrong with a manufacturer that would put something like that two feet off the ground behind the driver side tire, if you where trying you could hardly find a spot that gets more road grime:Banghead. I put the cover on last fall and the cooler made it through its first winter rust free and my window has never been cleaner.
Very smart
I had almost a perfect truss set today, it was a 40x80 shop with trusses at 4'0" OC. I was able to set the perfect distance from pile and wall I think the most I had to boom up and down was six feet and close to half the building I didn't have to change my radius at all. And a really good bunch of guys to work with, the guy on the tag line was like a magician he guided the far side of the truss into the plate mans hand then let me put the other end into the other guys hands, I don't think I've ever had it easier. I'll likely pay for it on the next job but for now I'm just going to bask in the glorious memory of today.:drink up
Absolutely Tradesman ! Enjoy & relish that job as they don't all work out that well Bro . Had a few of those myself & really makes it handy when truss pile is in the " sweet spot" and crew has it together . Hell , most of the time they dump the trusses in the way where the crane needs to set up , or even better rite under the power line . HeavyEquipmentForums We deal with it .
Had a nice job today, put the steel rafters up and set the girts up for them on a new concrete plant. Nice little job 10 pics in 4 hours, I got a bit of what Knepptune was talking about - listen to the radio,clean windows, grease main boom pin with boom at 60 deg. Nice to grease it occasionaly when it's not in the boom cradle, greased the swing bearing, organized my rigging box.I really just enjoyed not slugging it out in the heat, sitting in my cab with the fan on me making good money doing nothing.
Making good money doing nothing, this is the holy grail of being in business!
This was the first time I had to do a formal lift plan I didn't mind doing it, I had to go over it with the super, what I liked about it was somebody had thought it out ahead of time instead of me showing up and nowhere to set up, no known weights, well you guys know the story. It made me look good to because I was the only one that really understood what was required in the lift plan. Things all went perfect, near the end a couple guys I know where on break at the ashphalt plant came over for a visit, I mentioned that I had never done a written lift plan before and they told me why it was a new policy. Turns out a short time before someone was lifting a million dollar piece of equipment with a large mobile, with nylon slings with no softeners on sharp edges, the slings broke and down she went with a ground shaking bang,no one was hurt but it was just luck so now there's a few more rules in place.
In Minnesota by OSHA rule any time you are within 85% of chart capacity, to be in compliance you must do a written lift plan that is reviewed as a team, and signed off by all members of the crane crew, rigging crew, and the supervisor. A few years ago this was 95% and has continually gone down. Some of our customers required it at 75%. Its a pretty elaborate electronic spread sheet that we used but it made sure all the bases were covered. I would like to market that software but it is propritary to the company.
Around here it's more job dependent then anything. Some places it's based on percentage of load chart and others its anything over a certain weight requires a lift plan. I don't mind filling them out but I hate filling out 30 different lift plans for basically the same lift with slightly different radius. Either make copies or let me fill one for the longest/biggest pick of the day and let's get to it. Most times they'll let you go that route but every now again you get the new guy that's doesn't know anything about cranes and by golly your gonna have a lift plan for every lift. But hey it all pays the same.
These where my lunch mates today. I was setting trusses for the Mennonites, they have asked me in for lunch before, good food but a bit awkward they speak German and I have no idea what's going on. So I grabbed my lunch and went into the barn out of the heat. I still didn't unerstand what my lunch mates where saying but it wasn't nearly as awkward.
LOL , I love it Tradesman ! Nice looking horses ! My Amish buddy's are the same way . They speak a kind of broken German lingo , some of them mix it up with broken English and the scary part is I understand what they are saying .:lmao Always enjoy working with them and never a boring moment . Now I did have to give the "eyeball " to one of the elders when his tool belt started ringing . Cell phone .
Lol I grew up Amish. Always funny when they're talking to respond in German. Usually get a good reaction once they pick their jaws up off the ground.
My wife speaks some German as well and has done the same. She was sometimes a little surprised by their conversations.
This is what 5 hours can do to a 80'x24' silo. I used a pallet fork to bring down 34 staves at time on wooden skids
Do they scaffold that whole interior?
Also I like their hammer. How much does that chunk of concrete weigh. And how do they get it up to the top. Kinda like a Derrick?
They use a hydraulic jack platform with a full deck . They use the same plat form and deric for putting up the silo as well. For tearing down they used the deric to lower the rings and sections of the centre platform tower. There is no hammer they just undo they bands and give each stave a shake and off they come. This is the first time we have done this, they have always just thrown the stave's down into a pile of sand, they said this saved a lot of time and was much safer.
The picture is telling a lie that looks like a chunk of concrete under the Derrick but that's just part of the silo and the emty deric is behind it.
Well I see. Shows how much I know.
I wasn't being rude, after I read your post I looked at the picture and it does look like a large block of concrete hooked to the derrick. I would never be rude to anyone on this sight I need the help to much
Shoot I didn't think you were being rude at all. Don't worry a bit. It really takes quite a lot to bother me. It sure did look like a big concrete hammer to me. Lol Everytime I've been involved in taking down a silo it's taken a man basket and two guys with sledge hammer knocking it into itself.
I had two jobs today, they where complete opposites,the first one was for three young guys doing a small storage shed. Thier skills where maybe not fully developed yet but they where hard working guys hustling and doing a good job, grabbing the truss and pulling it into place, making my job real easy. The second job was for some older guys all excellent carpenters but made a real long day for me, it was like they where trying to make it hard, sticking 2x4's out six feet, getting me to boom out before I was slewed all the way in then I'd have too boom back up and hold the load with three straps fed throught the truss " ARG", every time we changed trusses and roof sections I would have to get out of the cab and show the guy on the tag line how to feed the truss into the roof line. But any day in the cab of that crane is a good one
Four new 10 ft. red round slings, my everyday 10 ft. Nylon sling are showing their age so I blew the budget and got these I have some water valves to set for the town on Wednesday they should be really nice for that. They are so pretty I don't want to use them
I love new rigging. Hate using it for the first time. Those endless slings are nice. I like those a lot better then regular straps.
Well, strictly speaking not a "new ride", but I got a shiny new Class A CDL with no restrictions last Monday. Now I can legally drive a semi truck! And this is my new ride, a second semi tractor unit for my company http://www.ironplanet.com/jsp/s/item/771149
Nice looking rigging. Just out of curiosity- why red's? 4 of those is kind of overkill for your crane isn't it? 13,000 per strap x4=52,000 (I know your not picking that ). Shoot, even 2 is 26,000, which is probably more than your usually picking isn't it? I'm not trying to be critical, its just I only run a set of 4 greens (5k per leg) in my 2 smaller cranes- all 4 will get me to 20,000. If I have to do a single leg 10k pick, I'll just basket one of them. My next bigger cranes, I only run up to 3/4" cable chokers, 10k per leg, and I regularly pick up to 40,000 with it. I've got some blue's that are good for 20,000 per leg, but they live in my 70 ton's support trailer, once in a great while I'll bring them with the 35 or rt if I have a 2 leg, single spreader bar pick, over 20k, but that's kind of rare. I probably wouldn't keep something that big with you all the time. Leave them at the shop, and only take them if you know you need them. Smaller is cheaper, and they do always seem to get snagged. Otherwise someones borrowing them out of the box, when your not looking, to move the truss pile with their forklift (I've come back from lunch to witness that- they bought some new straps for me- they kept the ones they "borrowed" and snagged up). I do like buying 4 at a time though, that way you have a nice matching set. I do also like roundups when rigging odd shaped items. I also get a bang out of seeing guys trying to figure out how to use them, if they haven't been around roundups before.
I wanted them for this week and my supplier had four of these that I could have yesterday and only two of the yellow that I usually get, they where about 25 percent more, witch didn't turn into a lot of dollars. I also thought of that occasional time when you have a single engineered lift point. ( still likely overkill, but they are red and really purdy.)
Just another day at the office
Snow? It was 80 degrees here today
Guess we're just lucky. Next week it's supposed to be near 20* C ( around 70* F )
Do you get much winter in Missouri?
Man that looks like beautiful countryside. Don't know about Missouri but you would probably laugh at our idea of winter here in Indiana. Usually get one or two decent snowstorms each winter. And 6" of snow will shut everything down. Or if it drops much below 10-15 F not many people work outside. Sound like decent fall weather for you? Lol
Looks like home only without the snow , I love it ! Nice looking endless loop slings Tradesman . We still use wire rope slings & shackles & some nylon slings depending on the lift . Those red endless loop slings would sure be handy at times .
I'm about 5 miles from the arkansas border. A typical january day is 50 deg f days, low 40's upper 30's nights. Coldest I've ever seen it here was like 10 deg f one morning, but it was 30+ that day. I grew up central Iowa and lived in northwest iowa also, there you could count on a two week stretch in january or feb, where the high might be 0 deg f. I personally miss the snow and cold, my wife doesn't. We never really shut down construction here, unlike in iowa when the ground freezes too hard for concrete pouring (without using thawers, blankets etc.). Here a skiff of snow shuts everything down, it might snow once or twice a year, maybe not, sometimes ice. Our roads have no shoulders, steep and curvy, so if there is snow or ice, you just stay home till it melts. Really. Last year I walked about 3 miles home from a job where we left the crane, roads were impassable with a layer of freezing rain. I keep thinking I'm buying a set of chains, but I lived in iowa with snow and packed ice for months at a time- I feel silly for buying them here. But if it does ice or snow, its the only way to get around. I actually don't even wear my cold weather gear here. Hooded sweatshirt, stocking hat and long johns under jeans will get you through most of it. Or insulated bibs with just a sweatshirt. It does have trade off's: No money to be made pushing snow.
Got tired of ripping my shoulders out of thier sockets after a day of climbing up and down my stock vertical ladder had this made the first of this week, tomorrow's my first job since it was done hope it's an improvement. As I get a bit older I'm looking at using my parts a bit better, over the years I haven't given longevity much consideration, my dad was still going to work 5 or 6 days a week in his mid 70's I'd like to do the same
Looks nice.
Good to hear from you Classic ,How's your Elliott working out for you mines not everithing I'd wish for but Ive owned a lot worse equipment
Uh well... I'm not part of the family tree business anymore. Got fed up working for my dad and not receiving what I was promised ownership wise, so I started with a crane rental company in ottawa mid September. Now I'm a union crane operator.
Good move. You will appreciate your pension when you retire. Good Luck.
Great idea on the steps Tradesman ! After age 40 you just don't heal up as fast , additions like that sure make life easier . I like it .:thumbsup
I was talking about upgrading a while back and for a variety of reasons I have decided a boom truck about the size That I have is what I need to service the client base that I have worked hard to develop. Sooo what I'm thinking now is to put some money into my current boom truck : my annual NDT is scheduled for early Feb., have my crane shop go over from end to end, new hoist line, polish all the aluminum, full paint job, in that order. My thoughts are to upgrade much I'm looking at close to $200,000. so my rate would have to go up to cover it, and taking a chance of loosing some of my regulars. And that's a crap load of money for a business that is just starting to make a decent buck, I feel its really important to role into a job with a well maintained good looking piece of equipment, in fact that's where a lot of my business has come from, a couple of my comparators have rough looking equipment and a rough demeanor " as good of operators as myself " but why should you put up with an ass with questionable equipment when you can deal with someone that is obliging and takes pride in their tools. I've already replaced two pilot controls , had the pto. shaft and hydraulic pump rebuilt , a new oil cooler. Frankly its in a lot better condition now than when I bought it. My question to you good folks is at what age and hours do you just not want to own a boom truck any-more. my current unit is a 2006, it has 6800 hours and 84,000 km's ( 52,000 miles ) and write now I'm putting just a bit less than 500 hours a year on and gaining every year I'd like to be doing over 700 within a couple years.
I think it's a smart move to keep the Elliot 30105 . That's a nice size rig for allot of tasks . Heck , the way you maintain & take care of it should last a lifetime as long as you can get parts for the crane unit . Truck could get swapped out when need be or do a " glider kit " in the far future . If I was in your shoes & had some extra cash to spend would probably keep the Elliot boom truck & go looking around at older dedicated truck cranes for heavier lifts assuming it would pay . It won't pay to go bigger my area as we several large crane companies close so I'm best to stay with my 25 ton rigs & take care of customers with what I have . Don't know much about the early Grove AT models but they look cool . http://www.machinerytrader.com/list...ain-hydraulic/manufacturer/grove/model/at700b If a feller wanted to open up the check book around the $ 200,000.00 mark might look at this GMK rig ? http://www.machinerytrader.com/listings/construction-equipment/for-sale/12308045/1997-grove-gmk4080 No , the GMK is to complicated and would need an extra worker hauling counterweight & ruck that go's with it . I better stick with the 25 ton truck rigs .
Age is a little subjective. 6800 hrs isn't much for a crane/boom truck. I do tend to think that 10'000hrs on an engine is starting to get a little high. Don't really know why I feel that way it's just my mindset. If a crane hasn't been overloaded or abused they'll dang near never wear out. Keep things greased and everything tight and the main crane will last a lifetime. If your happy with the size of that crane I really won't even be thinking about replacing it due to age. I'd be a little disappointed if it didn't make to 10,000-13,000hrs. I'd expect to replace some things and the engine may not make it there but those are rebuildable/replaceable.
I've started, I ordered a new hoist line. I got a python compact 35 it catalogs at 22 ton but the one I'm getting has a test at 22.4. I decided that the line might as well be changed now before my annual because it has a couple wows in it I'm thinking it might not pass
I run far older stuff than yours tradesman, but do almost all my own repair work. There's no way I can make a $200,000-$300,000 investment in a newer boom truck pay, with only 500hrs of rental a year. I just can't charge enough in my area to make any $. 500 hrs at $140 /hr is only $70,000. Insurance is 10% (workmans comp +general liability). It's going to cost approx $30/ hr to run it, if your lucky (maintence, tires, fuel, rigging, inspections, repairs,etc). 500hrs x 30/hr for wages (even if you're running it yourself, your time is worth something). 7,000 ins, 15,000 operating costs, 15,000 wages, only leaves $33,000. If you have $150,000 in your current truck, and it costs $200,000 to trade, then you'd have $300,000, wrapped up in your truck. If you borrow the $200,000 to trade, at 6% for 5 years, payments are $46,000/ year. If you have enough of your own work to justify owning it, great. If your trying to make $, I can't make a new boom truck pencil out. If your needing a way to offset your building/construction business income, and need to spend money for tax purposes, its better to spend the money and have something to show for it, than to just give it away in taxes. I don't think I have $300,000 in purchase price for all 5 of my cranes put together. But I've invested a lot in repairs, rigging, trucks, trailers, forklifts, tools, shop building etc, that a one man / crane outfit wouldn't need. As knepptune pointed out, if you don't do structural damage, you can't hardly wear out a truck crane,or rt crane (like my old groves). I will say that most boom trucks are not built as heavy, and show their age earlier. Probably the most overlooked item in maintence is the boom extension/retraction cables, inside the boom. I've seen crane booms ruined from the extension cables breaking. The rest of it is mostly seals and hoses. Boom trucks don't have very big turntable bearings either. My one tms 200 has probably averaged at least 500- 1,000 hrs/year for its life. I still wouldn't be afraid to put it on a jobsite for 3 months. 750hrs x 39 years is just under 30,000 hrs. I would guess its somewhere between 30-40,000 hours and could be a lot more. Cranes are really expensive, compared with dozers/excavators/ backhoes. But they don't have the impact forces applied to them that dirt working equipment does, nor do we get the undercarriage repairs that dozers and trackloaders have. The only people I see with new boom trucks are powerline/ cell tower companies,or a construction company with enough work of its own. And rental company's with 10 plus cranes, where the other cranes are helping pay for the new one. Once in a while a long established small company buys one, but they have most of the money, from several years of profits. A new boom truck can rarely bill enough hours to make its own payments.
I put my new hoist line on today, I needed a little weight to help seat the line.
Looks great, what's that white stuff all over on the ground? It was 63 degrees here yesterday What did you end up getting for cable? I've been buying a rotation resistant, that is also flexible and made to multipart. I had a 5/8" rotation resistant on one of the cranes that was so stiff you could hardly becket it, and I don't like multiparting that style of cable. We ended up replacing it, it was such a pain to work with.
I used Python compact 35- it seems flexible it was easy to becket. I had to rig 3 parts to get it all out, I ran it all out and back in 20 times with 600 pounds on, then hooked the mini hoe on and ran it up and down a couple times. The white stuff is angle dust brought to us by the heavens. We lost a quite a bit on Monday it rained all day and went well above freezing, we're back to the minus side again. I prefer it freezing this time of year it's much dryer for working outside, the best thing is no flies I know that's reaching a bit but you gotta make lemon aid when you get lemons.
Man its like a switch got turned off two weeks ago, before that I was busier than I've ever been, it was starting to cause problems on my building projects, my crew likes me on sight as much as possible they do most of the work and I deal with clients , building inspectors , order material and usually plan the days goals. I've only gotten one call in the last two weeks it was for some roof top units on a local bank for an out of town mechanical company. We had it all set up and they asked how much. I told them my rate and a three hour minimum, it was like I spit in the guys face. he said he would rent a tela-handler instead. I said OK let me know if you need my help and good luck, what I was thinking was REALLY! $ 360 a day rental plus trucking both ways at likely $60 each direction and you have to take a worker off the roof and put him on the ground running the tela-handler and hope he has his papers if the ministry of labour shows up. all that to save giving me $ 360. But all you can do is smile and let them figure it out for next time.
I know what you mean about a switch being turned off, right up to Christmas Eve I was working 40-50 hour weeks and now I've only worked 3 days since. I am really hoping it picks up soon.
I had a real busy first part of January, right up until last week. My only job was lifting some forms out of a hole for some concrete guys. I cut them a deal as I needed to come into town anyway to get groceries, it wasn't good flying whether, and no new snow up at the ski plus it was foggy up there, might as well work a bit. Frankly I felt sorry for them, pouring concrete in the middle of the winter! These were the 1 1/8" plywood forms, well used, and heavy as heck, what a rough way to make a living, for them, not for me. I think we all have outfits who think they can do it cheaper then hire us, and for sure sometimes they can. What rankles me is the guys who end up spending more, or get it done in an unsafe manner. Let's hope the telehandler can't do it, and they end up calling you anyway, it'd serve them right!
Had an oops today it was quite cold here this morning and I had a beam to set for a semi regular customer. The pick went well, then when I was pulling in my stick to put on the boom rest the buzzer went off, I was watching the down hall weight so I knew I wasn't 2 blocked. turns out my internal a2b wire came off the pully and was cut off by the retracting boom . On the inside of the boom it runs through some grease off the boom extension cable, and when it's cold it tacks up enough to stick, I periodically clean it off with some brake cleaner but I guess today was the day. Kinda screwed any profit for that job
Bummer! I sure liked my wireless anti 2 block by Crane Smart, it was simple and reliable, and NO WIRES. I bought it and a wireless load indicator for my Manitex 22101S for about the same as fixing the LMI that came with it. It'd be hard to justify the expense with an otherwise good LMI, just to get around the wire thing. My National also has it inside the boom, so far so good, but i know it's just a matter of time.
Tradesman- there was a guy advertising on ebay with a2b wire pretty cheap, I got my last one from him. Much cheaper than dealer price. $117 for 139' http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-139-LMI...144471?hash=item43deb3f517:g:XXwAAOSwcwhVMSY- The worst thing is if it cuts the cable and back spools your drum too fast and breaks the spring in your reel. That is really $. Just the cable is bad enough, I think a new PAT reel is over $3,000
Yikes that looks like a good price, my crane shop is putting another rig out and fixing mine in the morning so I guess I'm at thier mercy this time, but at that price it would be worth having hanging on the wall. This is the second time in four years. The reel rolled back pretty easy, the tacky grease slowed it down on the tensioning pullies. Thanks for the link
There is a few guys on here that I really admire thier mechanical skills, BUT mine are limited, I'm a master carpenter and a good operator, but if I put that cable on and everithing went well I'd be good but if the recalibrating didn't go exactly right I'd be crying for help and I'm an hour and a half from knowledgable crane help. I've seen mechanics try to hang a house door and ruin the slab then call me to bail them out. I'll take my own advice and let a pro do it.
No problem tradesman. We each have our skill set. I'm just doing the crane rental, so our down time between jobs, means mechanic work. You've got enough on your plate with your construction side, you don't need the hassle of fixing it yourself. I just didn't want you to give the dealer $400 for one, to put it on yourself.
Update time, I got my A2B wire fixed and I got my NDT today. This the 5th NDT since I've owned it and they have never found a crack yet , whoo-hoo. Next on the list, the ministry of labour changed the way they interpret the regulations, the regs state that a crane can be derated by making a physical modification that can not be easily reversed. Now they require the LMI to be recalibrate. I have to serender my old load charts and Elliott will create new charts and provide me with a new chip with the reduced capacities, I'm not going to say what the cost is but suffice to say my wife and I could have a pretty nice holiday with it. I have to say the guy at Elliott head office was great and very helpful leading me through the application for a derate. After all this my planned paint job might get put off for a while.
That's good news on the inspection Tradesman ! I take it by de-rating the machine this gives an advantage in other areas ?
My licence is good for 15 ton so I have the ability to de-rate a larger crane to 15 ton, so I have removed one shiv so i can rig a max. three parts of line for 2,700 lbs.
Yeah Tradesman , think I got it ? Had to stay in compliance with 15 ton license rating so de-rating the machine was another option to keep everyone happy .
you got her. i see I wrote 2,700 lbs. I meant 27,000 lbs
When you derate the crane that only affects the load chart out to 10-15' correct? The only thing I would say is that once a crane has been derated it's pretty hard to have one rated back to its original capacity. Believe we were quoted 10k from grove on one we had. Once the serial is recorded with the manufacture as a derated crane the resale goes down as well. Wouldn't stop me from having one derated just somethings for you to be aware of.
That's what I've seen in the past it just effected the top of the chart. In Ontario it can have the opposite effect cost wise there's a lot of people glad to find one that's already been derated. I'm currently in the process of getting my 339a licence that will let me run large cranes but it is a six thousand hour apprenticeship, or you can challenge it which will likely take me most of this year to accomplish. So this is the only way I can stay compliant till then and in reality it doesn't really effect the usefulness of the boom truck because 16000 is a hell of a lift anyways
Sounds like you made a good move on the de rate given the circumstances Tradesman . Don't sound like it will effect any jobs and will be compliant with your license .
This is the ridge and a start on the rafters on the house with the barn timbers in it that I posted a couple months ago
Here's a couple better pictures. The portion without a ridge will have a glass observation turret sticking out. The stone wall will go up to the underside of the roof it is made out of stone from the original barn on the property.
Oh my- that looks cold. It was 75 degrees here yesterday , supposed to be 70 and 75 friday and saturday. It is about 30 degrees right now, but tomorrow will be 50 or so.
Not bad about -8 really not a bad day for working cold enough to stay dry but not cold enough to freeze your hands. But as you can tell by the water droplets on my window I had the heat on and was very dry and cumfee!
Remember the photo of you first setting the barn beams Tradesman . That home is sure turning in to a work of art ! Looks like you are making use of the red weather covers for the boom truck .
You guys use plywood for sheathing? Nothing but OSB out here. The only CDX plywood I've seen in years (some of the younger framers have NEVER worked with it) is on government buildings, the Mormon church projects, and the Red Robin restaurant chain. Probably 99% of new construction here is OSB. Looks like an interesting project you have going on there!
No we use mostly osb that is actually 3/4 plywood the wall is 18' high so the plywood is for structural strength
To clarify this isn't one of my jobs I'm just doing the crane work. I wish it was my job, all time and material. They have another building similar to do for the pool house and games room likely another year or more
That makes sense. I tore down a grain mill years ago, and ended up building my own home out of the material. I sheathed the entire 3 level ( tall, but not huge) place with 3/4" AC plywood, and it was 4' x 10' sheets! From the mid 60's it was, never seen it 10' sheets before or since. The entire place was overbuilt, but used material. I knew I would be selling it at some point, and I didn't want any static from the buyers home inspector. Like 2 x 12's, 12" OC, spanning 12', you could drive a loaded forklift on it, they did in the mill anyway and I put it back together the same way. Years later, when I did sell (at a huge profit, compared to what I had into it) the buyer's inspector was an old carpenter (thank God, he had some common sense) and he first commented on it all being "pre-owned" material, then went on to say it was the most overbuilt and solid small home he'd ever seen (200' of 12" I beam, 2x8 studs) and signed it off.
I pulled theses two pumps out for servicing for an organic to fertilizer plant today. they where 3,500 each, i had to set them down at 60 ft. over the side of my rig I was well inside my charts but the old arse meter was pinching, I had my son tail them down with our backhoe he did a nice job, the last one i did some one else tailed them with a tela- handler and I couldn't stop him from side loading me. I think he felt he had to help me instead of just holding on and letting me set it down. I picked them out of a building so it was mostly a blind lift, we used my radios and the guy giving me signals was great he never stopped updating me " cable down - slow -3 feet - 2 feet - stop " best I've ever worked with, and I told him so.
I have an update on my de-rating last Tuesday I got my new data plate, charts and new chip, other than the horrible price it was just like Christmas. So I rushed home and put the chip in the first time it didn't work " I had put it in wrong" third time was the charm. I put it outside, put the stick up to 78 degrees keyed in four parts of line and she came up at over 36,000 # oh sh!! it was the same chip that I already had, so on to the phone to Omaha to the head of service for Elliott I read him the code on the chip and yep he confirmed it was the full chart chip. He apologized and sent the correct chip right to my door step by courier I had it in two days, So back to the shop I went and plugged in the new chip "Computer fails to communicate with chip" Oh no so I tried again, no luck so i tried it upside down phew! the hand made label was upside down. So after much anguish and a pile of money I can go anywhere and operate with a clean conscience . I have to give the guys at Cropac " my crane shop" and the service tec. at Elliott a big thumbs up for All their good work and their efforts to get this done as fast as they did, never once did it feel like I was annoying anyone, I find with so many places I deal with its like the end of the world when you ask someone to do their job. Both these businesses are great to deal with.
So do you get to keep your old chart, data plate and chip? When you say a pile of $, are we talking $500, $5,000, or even worse? Have you been down while you're shipping data plates etc. back and forth? I would have been real tempted to keep the old data plates, and ordered a "replacement chip" before the derate (I accidently lost my chip-- honest) and made a real good copy of the plate. I think all this kind of stuff stinks. Its a gov't written rule, that you've basically had to work around, it hasn't made you lift anything different than what you could before, and you had to spend a bunch of $ to do it. Hasn't made anything safer, just spread $ around to different people. I'm all for safety, if it actually makes the job safer, not to appease some gov't bs.
Yep I had to surrender my data plate and charts before they shipped the new ones. But I give credit to the guy in Omaha, he told me to hang on to them till he had everything ready and then he shipped on his end when he got the tracking number from the courier so they would cross paths on the way. On the other hand the Elliott dealer in Toronto wanted me to leave my rig at their shop from day one, screw that they lost my business again. I normally don't have much work for the crane this time of year but in the week and a half I was down I missed out on four good jobs.
A smart ass Carpenter (nail bender ) that has worked for me for almost 20 years now texted this to me a while ago, I almost had to let him go but he's a master carpenter and kinda hard to replace.Oh the abuse I take
LOL Tradesman ! That's a good one .
Honestly those jobs can be the worst. Can't leave the cab but absolutely nothing is going on. I'd rather go all out then make two picks in 12 hrs.
Gets hard to keep the peepers open.
Sunglasses. That way the nail benders can't tell if your napping.
I had some reflective sunglasses that worked that way, and I found myself taking advantage of them....just kind of resting my eyeballs a little. Now I make a point of my job sun glasses letting my eyeballs show pretty much, it helps me keep awake if I know I can get caught out! I think my customers like being able to make eye contact also, darn it. The Sirius sat radio I have in the cab is a godsend, if you can't find something entertaining (as in keep you alert and hopefully awake) to listen to with it you may as well go home. I'm upfront about it too, I tell my customers it keeps me more alert and I make no excuses for having it, though sometimes if caught fooling with it I'll say "just a second, have to reset my load computer." It's on pretty much 100% of the time, got the speakers close to my ears so it's kind of private, news, talk, music, makes the day go by. I am better now then when I started out, there is a knack to entering a zone of total awareness but also relaxing a bit. That's what the guy sawing logs in the above pic probably said also.
I re-installed the sewage pumps that I pulled a while ago. Turned out to be a nice job, we were to be on sight at 8:00 am. When the installers got there the pumps were still on the truck in the parking lot, it took a hour and a half to unload and bring up the hill with a tellehandler. Then when they lifted the lid on the pit there was 4 ft. of water in it down 30 ft. and all they had for a pump was small electric one, it was noon before I hooked onto the first pump. To make it even better my son was there with our backhoe to tail for me. At one point there was four white hats on sight with their hands in their pockets. All I could think of was the picture someone put on here last week. I showed one of the plumbers,I thought he was as going to fall in the hole laughing.
Natman- I wear sun glasses even on cloudy days, I can't stand having to squint and your right nobody can see if your eyes drift closed. When I show up on sight I can't help judging the guys with wrap around sun glasses, I always think this guys an a-hole but then at lunch I get talking to the crew it turns out most times he's a nice guy. And why not he's a carpenter, the salt of the earth
I never complain about someone's job taking too long..... That said, how do you like your rigging chains? I see more and more guys using them, it's just they are so heavy, and so expensive. I have two sets of 12'x 3/8" two leg slings I bought for a job several years ago, but they live in the shop most of the time, I just never end up taking them with me. I think I saw a set in knepptune's pictures a while back setting a hopper bottom stand, and I used a short rigging set with the guys who had the 210 ton, on the ride the other day. I see them in a lot of pictures from europe they seem to be quite popular over there also. For me it's always been a case of a 3/8" chain weighs about what a 3/4" cable does, but only has the capacity of a 3/8" cable, but I guess the new 100 proof chain is actually a little better capacity wise than that. Also they would wear even better than steel cables do.
They are 5/16" grade 100 they match my spreaders for a 5 ton capacity the reason I like them is they fold up into a small plastic container I keep in my top box. I really only use them with the spreaders, I also spray oil on them a couple times a year so they're not a nasty rusty mess.
I used my grade 80 3/8" chain just the other day, first time in a few months. We used them to balance out a pre fab steel stair case at the local university housing complex. They are only 10, maybe 12' long, with grab hooks at both ends. Balancing loads is about all I use them for, rarely at that. With grab hooks at both ends, I keep a roll of electrical tape on board to serve as a substitute for a spring latch. I've heard that is a OSHA approved method, but won't swear to it! I love buying rigging....I never begrudge buying it, even the stuff I don't use much, I think it shows I give a hoot about getting the job done in the best way possible. Good advertising in other words.
Tradesman, it looks like you don't have a adjuster link on your chains. That's one of the few ways I usually use chains. My set didn't have a adjuster leg when I bought it either, I split up a 4-leg chain group (4-12' legs on one ring), into 2- 2 leg spreaders (each is one ring, 2 12' chain legs, 2- 6" adjusters). You can shorten the long legs with the short hook, or wrap all the way around something with the long leg and make a basket to the short hook with them. Adds a lot of possibilities. All you would need is a few hammer-links and few hooks. And yes, mine have not been sprayed with oil and don't look as nice as yours .
This a good example of why we have data plates on rigging I got wondering if I was correct about the size of my chain slings and I was wrong they are 9/32 good for 6 k at 60 degrees I've often thought bout adding grab hooks or clutch hooks but I keep buying other stuff instead.
The end of last week I was finishing up the second of two sub division houses that where side by side when on about the last three picks it started squealing, I run winter grade Grease in it all winter so I figured it had melted out on what was a warm day. When I got home I stood it up at eighty degrees and started filling it up with fresh summer grade grease, No problem right. I reached in the window to lower the boom a bit to put more grease in when I saw the boom rock at the heal pin " oh no". My boom pin has tapered wedges on each end and one of them was out of round and letting the pin rock, by the look of the pin it been doing it for quite a while but I guess I've kept enough grease in it that it hasn't been making any noise. Yikes shame on me for not picking it up sooner, but we pulled the pin today and are replacing the pin, two brass bushings and both tapered wedges. Looking back and knowing what I know now there where signs, I'm just glad I found it with no further damage or an accident
Good catch. I find most problems like that also- when greasing. I don't usually find anything when doing a " inspection",i.e. just looking at it. Frequent greasing helps find issues like that. I had a boom hoist cylinder pin walk 3/4 of its way out of the brackets after the holding bolt/washer vibrated out (3hr drive to jobsite), I caught it when booming up after putting block in, getting ready to lift a crusher. Sometimes your guardian angel has to work overtime.
Wow! I'll give mine a closer look tomorrow. Very good catch. One thing about crane cranes and airplanes: the more reliable and trouble free they are, the easier it is to get complacent. I've had things happen in both due to "too" much reliability. We had a concrete products company (septic tanks etc.) a few years ago here who did a little work on the side with their 22 ton Manitex BTC boom truck. One day, without (hard to believe that part) any warning at all, the boom FELL OFF! The turret base bolts had been loose for a long time it turned out, the thing never had an annual, but luckily no one got hurt. 15 years ago, on my Terex 3470 I had at the time, at the end of a long day, I had one more pick: a couple of steel beams on a hill side. Not too heavy and not too far, but a steep setup area. I got lazy and in a hurry ( I only had about 4,000 hours of running boom trucks then, another flying comparison.... once past the initial learning stage you think you have it all figured out, not so of course), and after getting level as I could, made the pick. Then it turned out the beams went further out then I thought... so I went ahead and boomed out some more.....and got 'er done. Two weeks later, setting trusses, I noticed a squealing sound, that grease didn't help. Long story short, I had tweaked the turret base, I had found out side loads are a bad thing, the hard way. 6.5 K $ later and a couple weeks of down time, I was back in business, with a greater appreciation of what the bubble was telling me when setting up. I use that story when pressured by a customer as I'm setting up on a slope nowadays, who tries to hurry me.
Well she's all back together. I don't think I'll go to the mail box for a week or so. And back to work tomorrow maybe!! there was no snow yesterday and sunny and warm, it just turned dirty about a hour ago and they're talking about the same tomorrow
Finally got an interesting job today. This guy got his telahandler stuck yesterday, I guess he didn't think it was bad enough so he picked it up with a big loader and it rolled back so that the fire hydrant was between the axel and the hydraulic tank. It was supposed to weigh 21,000 lbs. so I ran 3 parts and rigged the back end and lifted it out of the mud I had 16,500# on the lmi to get it clear of the mud, we cleaned the tires off and dropped the forks, it was now less than 13,000#. With it clear of the ground we filled in the ruts and put my ground matts under the rear tires, set it down, rigged all four corners and picked it up swung it onto the pavement and set it down, mission accomplished. Oh I had 26,000# on the hook, with my pre-warning buzzer going off. It felt solid as a rock.
Couple More pictures. Nice slings, don't know how he didn't peel off that hydrant. Great bunch of guys, they seemed very appreciative to have it moved before more people saw it.
Nice work Tradesman getting the loader out of harms way ! Give them guys a business card , they will probably need you again in the future .
When I first got there I was thinking the same. But as I got the whole story I softened up a bit the guy was working on the weekend when I was loafing around home, got in a bad spot and had the good sense (and a bunch of good luck) to stop before something got broken and best of all called me. Ps. I gave them my card quite a while ago
I'd say those guys have some sense. There's definitely an art to knowing when your just gonna make things worse. Just leave it alone and call a crane in. Good call.
Had a bit of fun today I moved 4 grain bins around all the way from this one at 1500 lbs. too one at 4000. There wasn't any lifting lugs on them so I dropped two 1/2" slings down the hole in the top and we hooked onto a 4x4 square tube. Worked really well and nobody had to climb up top to unhook.
Nice. I've moved a different type, and the slick way the farmer came up with was a big old mounted truck tire that he rigged to, that was bigger around then the small hole up top of course, worked great. As an aside, I was at the dentist getting my teeth cleaned the other day, then a small cavity fixed. While the dentist was working away, for some reason I kept thinking "my job is a LOT more fun then yours!" We are lucky.
Well it took me long enough but I finally took three links out of my A2B chain so that it doesn't hang in the grease from the ball swivell and I zip tied the tail end of my hoist line so the A2B weight doesn't get fouled on it. I can't see it causing any trouble because it won't be tight enough to act like a cable clamp attaching the live line to the tail end. Please let me know if you think I'm wrong Ps. As you can see I have the much talked about terminator wedge, love it.
That's the same type I have, good to hear it's the one to have.
Your words have come home to haunt me,I cut my 2" nylon slings into two pieces today, they where showing too much wear. So I had to put two of my purdy red roundies in the box so I have something thats ten feet " i use them a lot for balancing uneven loads " it broke my heart, as soon as I get new ten footers they will be back in the shop, only to come out on special occasions (I use them quite a bit,but i'd hate to see them up against a truss plate ). I was thinking of getting a light set of roundies or maybe just stick with the 2" nylon. Will they stand up to lifting piles of trusses, beams ....?
Cables or chains for trusses, beams etc. A set of 9/32 chains will lift a full bunk of plywood. Get some with adjustable legs and you'll never have to buy another set. If I'm on a truss job the nylons aren't coming out of the rigging box unless they're going on top of a spreader bar. (Or I trust the guys I'm working for not to tear them up).You get a nylon up against one truss plate and it's ruined. Chains are usually heavier but I'd rather use chains then any other type of rigging. Infinitely adjustable. If you don't overload them, they'll never wear out. The only thing they're not really good for is if you have to choke a metal pipe or something of that sort. We keep 2 sets of 2 legged chains in each crane. A 15' and 20' set. We've replaced all the straps several times but we've never had to replace a single chain.
Never use nylons on a truss, bundles or otherwise. I'm a cable guy myself, I have 2 sets of 12' long, 2 leg or as single legs, x 1/2" cable spreaders (eye one end, hook with latch on the other end). Then I hang 8'x 1/2" eye to eye cables in a basket for trusses (or choke for more length, or choke one end and basket the other for one way pitch trusses). Essentially I can end up like knepptune with 15' or 20', but then I can combine my 2- 12' sets into a 4 point pick for units or square items/ spreader bar etc. , with 20k of capacity. The 1/2" cables are in my 25 ton's, my 35 and rt have a similar set up only in 5/8" cable spreaders (my 35 also has a little longer set in 3/4"). Most of my sets are individual leg sets, not two legged. Makes it nice if they are individual, because you can hang one from each end of two spreader bars on a 4 point pick. You can see how I'm using them in a 4 point pick on the bottom of the spreader bars on this crusher (3/4" set). I hung my 1/2" x 8' on the bottom in a basket to take care of the bending coming around the crusher legs from the picking eyes, I try to be hard on the 8' cables, and save my spreader cables. I probably replace my 1/2" every year or two, usually from having a broken wire or two, quarry work is hard on them, this particular pick would have been great for a set of chains on the bottom instead of my cables, but I can't carry everything. :
I like the idea of using chains, what do you use for hooks? for bundles of trusses or lifts of plywood it would be nice to hook back into the chain
Around here it's chains all the way, very rare to see wires for any general purpose lifting. On mine I have a set of 10mm (4000kg capacity) and 13mm (6700kg capacity), a 2 leg and 2 single legs of each in a 6m length. With those and a full assortment of synthetics, I'm prepared for 99% of the jobs I do. All those have Kuplex latching hooks fitted.
I had an interesting job today I pulled two municipal water distribution pumps, waited while they swapped out the Motors and mounting brackets then they sprayed them down with Chlorine then installed the new pumps. Six picks in 3 1/2 hours. It was interesting I went into the building and got the lowdown on how things work
I like chain bridles,i keep 2 5/16"x 12' 2leg bridles and 2 1 ft s with a grab hook on each end for shorteners to balance loads.The bridles with the adjusting hooks on the ring seemed like a good idea until you have lowered the ring a few times and tangled the bridle chain on whatever sticks out of the lift. The only thing with the chains is having to keep up the inspection yearly on them.the rigging shop does it for very reasonably so its not a huge deal.
I set a few residential well pumps a year, an additional way to make money with the 30 ton. I set them quicker and cheaper then the guys with the little trucks, often 100' of pipe at a time! Plus I don't have to back up directly over the well, a huge advantage. See what your local pump guys charge per hour, you may find, like I did, they charge as much as I do per hour, while having a fraction of the amount of money tied up in equipment. It's not rocket science, pretty straightforward work, I learned it when hired by one of them to reach over a garage that had been built since the well was drilled. Plus I had earlier set a couple dozen solar powered water pumps, since then I've been involved with about 50 or 60 well pump jobs, always coming in cheaper then the "real" pump setters by quite a bit, while charging my usual rates. I am NOT popular among them, so I keep it somewhat under the table, I let the homeowner make the decision who to use, and usually have him do the wrenching, assuming he is into that, here in my rural area most are handy.
I have short little chains with grab hooks each end too, they're so much more user friendly!
How many times have youlowered a nice 20 ft bridle chain down to reach those ring hooks and had to watch the rigger trying to untangle it from everthing sticking out of your load, really fun with 1/2" chain.
In my ongoing (and successful) battle with the port of entry in keeping my weight on the tandems down, I realized I can leave my chain and bridles etc. in the shop and save another 100 lbs or so. I will only pack them when getting call like "we have some equipment to unload off a truck," or similar. Today I'm setting trusses, not needed for that. I built a new chain rack on the wall right near the rigging box they go in, so quick and easy to load when needed. I'm now looking at my crane like I do my airplane! Weight wise that is, if it ain't needed that day it doesn't go.
Back at my favourite job yesterday pouring a silo top, this was a big one 70 x 20 I had 100 feet of stick out and making 2600# picks it was around a 7 cubic meter pour, these are sealed silos with bottom unloading augers. The guy I do them for made his own plant this winter and is producing his own silo staves. They go in a press wet and are compressed, most of water comes out and they are stacked to dry. He said they are testing at 72 mpa. Sorry to my cousins south of the border I don't know what that is in psi. But a concrete foundation is poured with 20 or 25 mpa. Concrete. He said he can produce enough for the silo in the picture in three days. The whole deal just impresses the hell out of me.
Yeah it's fun for us watching neat stuff like that go together, while getting paid doing it!
72 Mpa is 10442.7 psi. That's some stout concrete.
Interesting project Tradesman.
New one today I unloaded a trailer load of windows that had a long trip from Europe to Montreal on a container ship then by train to Toronto then truck to here. The shipping crates varied from 1600 lbs to 3100 lbs. it doesn't show in the pictures but my rear tires are three feet off the ground, everything thing was on a slope, even my hoist line looked like it was hanging 3 feet out of plumb.
That's pretty cool Tradesman ! Filling silos with chopped hay ? We used to fill an upright silo with Corn silage years ago . Gave up on the upright and dug out an in ground "bunker silo " . It was a lot easier to deal with filling and unloading . We have a bid job coming up demoing couple 24 ' x 70' upright silos .
You guys go up in a manbasket with sledgehammers on your silo demo td? We've done a couple like that. Usually they're right up against a building they want saved so your limited on options taking them down. Your silage pictures brought back some memories. Last time I was around harvesting silage "real horsepower" was used. Amazing how I can still smell that stuff.
That's pretty cool Tradesman ! Filling silos with chopped hay ? We used to fill an upright silo with Corn silage years ago . Gave up on the upright and dug out an in ground "bunker silo " . It was a lot easier to deal with filling and unloading . Likely be high moisture corn, with the poured concrete top and bottom unloaded it makes these silos more expensive, kinda like the blue " Harvestor" silos. Although I never asked, usually it's high moisture shell corn or cob meal that goes in a sealed silo, because there is no fresh air in them it reduces spoilage. Your right Knepptune although I live on our family farm and still feed cattle, I don't think anything takes you back to your childhood like smells.
Yeah Knepp , still debating it ? There is room to " Drop " both silos but it would be a shame to just demo them . Would like to find someone that wants them to rebuild on another site .
No doubt Kepp . I always enjoyed cutting silage . Now you can still see those silage wagons & chopper from my pictures pulled with " real horsepower" as we sold them to one of your neighbors . He pulls a half tractor / power unit with horses with the chopper behind it . I'm sure you know him , he farms some , contracts & has a window factory .
I live near the Eagle silo company, which has made concrete stave silos since forever. Now it is all bunks. I've taken down three. Sledgehammer and a cable.
Same way in my area FarmWrench . The bunker silo was more cost effective for our needs at the time .
The silos I've been working on are for the Mennonites. They can feed their cattle without tractors or tmr. trucks with the upright silos all they need is a generator the run the unloading equipment. Most of the dairy guys have uprights as well for high moisture corn.
I have wasted a couple hours of my life watching various concrete stave silo demos on you tube. The best which I can't find any more is two Amish with sledgehammers only, they seemed in no hurry and no worry, just banged it out one chunk at a time and it seemed to fall right where they wanted it.
This was an oh **** moment for the builder, we only had four trusses left when someone noticed that the last 9 trusses where backwards. I went up and helped brace so we could lift the whole section up, I intended to just pick it clear of the plate and spin it but it wouldn't fit between the other trusses and the house next door so we put two ropes on and up she went. As you can see I had to get creative to block the sun, it was so bright even with sun glasses on and the peak of my hard hat pulled down it was blurring my vision.
I got off too cheep last year I hardly spent anything on my boom truck. This is the year that just keeps giving, there was the work on the crane I did earlier, this week was the truck. I had it in for its annual. New smoke stack from the muffler up, pins,bushings and shackles on the front suspension, two new brake pots, one new drive tire and the thingy on the rear axle that splits the air to the different brakes and makes the cool pffst sound when you set the parking brakes (sorry for going all technical on ya but sometimes I need to use big word to show how smart I am ) not really complaining this truck has been rock solid since I got it.
Two new front tires next week, along with front shocks, (we'll see what difference they make on the local potholes) for my Mack. And, just got done (paying for, hired it out) a length of "Twin-hose" (two hoses made as a pair, bonded together) and labor for the front right outrigger extension. About average if that is it for the year?
Whoo hoo- education time. This is going to be fun- Tradesman- the sun is always in the crane operators eyes, framers only leave you the spot looking into the sun, to set up the crane. They want to get back at you for having the best job, so they plan it that way. They then leave you sit there, staring into the sun for hours..., After all you can see is white spots, they stand directly into the sun from you, and give you hand signals with their little stubby fingers, wiggling like they have lice or some skin rash, that they don't want to itch in public. You can barely see their body outline, let alone their furtive nose-picking like hand signals. Mostly then I just guess and put whatever it is I'm lifting where I think it should go- Ignore all signals,. they don't know what they want anyways. But, in spite of their best efforts to make us uncomfortable- us crane operators have a solution- a secret weapon so to speak. These wood weilders occasionally leave remnants lying around the jobsite, leftovers of their wood destruction. You will turn this to your own advantage. Some carpenter would need a square, stringline, laser. scribe. angle finder,table saw, joiner, and one of those funny fat pencils they all have. But you aren't one of those backward mortals anymore.......... You are now A crane operator (actually only a boom truck in your case, but we make exceptions ) So- grabbing one of their castoffs, and using only a stolen wood butcher and your laser vision (only operators have it- framers use all those other straight line maker thingies), you are going to make the defender of operators everywhere- your first real sunshade: That's right, get back at those framers, make yourself a block about this by this (I'm using my hands- operators tell every length and distance just by looking and using their hands- framers use those measure distancer doohickys). It should be a nice width to shade your nose and eyes, and not too big to block your vision. Also be sure not to make it too wide, or when you boom down it will pinch between the boom and the cab, making a big noise and occasionally flopping it back into the cab banging you in the head and making you look like a fool in front of the framers. We operators try not to do that, so smile, like you meant to do that, when it happens. They won't be sharp enough to tell the difference. Also make sure to mess up 1/2 way into your cut- that way no one tries to steal your board, they know its to crooked for them to cut back into something straight. (see 2nd picture for a example of a proper jagged edge) Now--- Install behind seat, and when those lousy karpenters next sit you in the sun, flop that baby on the roof, kick on the 12v fan and some tunes, and live large.....
Ah great master, grass hopper is starting to see the ways of the evil nail bender, only when I can snatch the pencil from behind thier ear will I be truly enlightened.
I keep some 90% shade cloth in the cab, plus some magnets and spring clamps, for putting it where it's needed. It makes a big difference. The National has a roller shade for the "roof", more shade cloth there. My home made cab on my Manitex 101S had a opening cab roof, my National does not. This is the "deluxe" cab, but no opening roof, what the heck were they thinking? I miss being able to stand up and yell at people.
Maybe the delux cab was meant to have an ac unit.
You can fix that natman. My rt grove came with a slide front to back top window. They were known to break- the window just hung out in the air off the back of the cab. I've broken one myself in a tms version. When I got the crane it just had a piece of laminated glass glued down to the lid. I'm sure the former owner got sick of buying new glass for it. It was a hot sob, with no air. We built a frame and made a tip up window like all the old crane's have. It probably won't win any beauty contests, but it sure works nice.
My top glass has a nifty and expensive looking curve, as it turns the corner to join the windshield. I could still build a flat opening frame but it would for sure really not look right as i couldn't replicate that curve. I've pretty much convinced myself the heat difference isn't as bad as I thought it would be, using the shade cloth of course helps a lot, plus it has two fans. If I ever break that top, (I'm sure it's real expensive...) I'll re do it with a opener for sure. Being unable to stand up and stick my head out is what I miss the most, I don't miss having to remember to close it before heading on the freeway. The cab does have a air con entrance on the rear, even a labeled switch on the console, but was never fitted with one. I have thought of rigging the smallest residential AC unit along with a 1000 watt Honda generator, (which would be more then enough juice to run it), all mounted on my turret of course. I have it all figured out.....just have yet to feel the need enough, doesn't get that hot that long up here at 4500 to 6000' above sea level.
I didn't realize they had that curved glass in yours. I never liked the curved glass. In the linkbelt, and terex's I've run with curved glass, I always felt it distorted what you were looking at, and I wished it was just flat glass. It really stinks when you break it, because like you said, it's expensive as all get out, and only factory available. I always just take my glass to my local guy and he cuts me new laminated. My small window A/C units use a 3000 watt lp generator (I like not messing with gas cans, and the fuel doesn't go bad). I tried a 2000 watt and when the compressor would kick on, it would kill the engine. If you manually held the engine wide open, it could pull it.
Well, you did it to me. Nose coffee all over my shirt. Made my day.
I had another new experience today, I had my inside front roadside duel blow out, it went off like a bomb. So I limped it another 10 miles set up and called for a mobile repair. It couldn't of worked out better, the framers where painfully slow and about the time the tire truck showed up the framers had to stop and put hangers on a girder by the time they where done the new tire was on.
Glad to help you out- we all sometimes need to laugh a little, life usually has enough difficulties........
I know a guy who runs rubber tire backhoes who also says curved glass distorts his vision. They try to make these machines all modern and fancy but they're actually going backwards as far as functionality. A bunch of skid steers have curved glass as well. It doesn't make the machine work any better but sure costs a lot more if you have to replace it and usually only available from the dealer.
Well, I think they got it right on my National, at least for the distortion thing, ain't none. Not that I've ever noticed anyway, for sure not any to effect operating. I totally agree with the more expense thing though, but hope I never need to buy one! Just yesterday I had to give The Speech to the tag line dummy when setting a sheeted gable just a few feet away. He had 30' of slack in the rope, and I made him choke up on it for better control plus I told him the glass costs 1 K to replace. Just a guess there. It does offer a little smoother air flow and less drag going down the road (this is the pilot and Prius car driver in me talking), and probably increases my MPG some totally infinitesimal amount, too small to measure of course but at least it LOOKS cool!
I used your idea today crane op only not for sun but a torrential downpour. It was a hot day and then came the downpour and my top glass fogged up, my fan wouldn't keep it clear, so I thought to myself what would they guys on HEF. Do " a board " so I got the tag guy to break of a piece of osb. And what do you know it worked great.
Multi use, HEF won't lead you wrong.
I can't believe you got a tag line man to do anything...... usually they're just ornamental.
Well I sure as hell wasnt getting it myself it was raining out there. As it was I got my arm wet when I opened the door to yell at him
Ya'll are obviously trained professionals
From a man who spends his days with his hands full of nuts. Doing nothing but scr*wing, reaming out holes, and flopping around sheets. (one old grain - bin builder to another ).
Did you ever tear down your silos. If so how did you do it?
Nothing yet Tradesman. Tossed out some $ numbers , customer still debating what to do .
My wife and took a few days off to go to our favourite inn in northern Ontario. And the dear sole spotted this on the side of the road needless to say she regretted it because I went down to talk to them and we stayed there while they rigged the pick and set the pick down. Great guys they where all operators and this was there building I didn't ask but it looked like a hunt shack
It was a holiday hear today, but I was out on the backhoe when I drove past this big boy set up for tomorrow.
Nice looking liebherr
I wonder if I drop around tomorrow if they'll give me some seat time?
I was setting trusses in a sub division today, no big deal I've set the trusses on this same model maybe 10 times and built it myself one. What was interesting was they were next door pulling the loaded form cages out of the foundation, man could that guy put that knuckle boom to work. As I watched him it occurred to me it was more like running an excavator than a crane, there was no feathering into the swing it was full nuts then stop NOW! and the basket would keep swinging ( not wildly) but kinda controlled, then he was setting them on the street in front of the truck and as he was reaching hit full cycle I could see the rear of the truck rising likely 6 " every cycle. If you treated a stick boom like that I doubt it would last long.
I had I guy ask me today when I was going to get rid of that "old p!$$ pot " and get a new helmet, poor fool didn't know what he was talking about so I took him aside and showed him what a good lid felt like. I love this hat, it's not as hot,far lighter and stays on your head when you bend over.
I like the full brim, keeps the rain off the glasses and from running down the back of the neck. Cam
Couple random shots. Nice wall eh. It's in a sub division, if I left work like that in custom houses I'd be out of business. Second shot is a big glob of grease on my window not bad unless you need to turn your wipers on
I have been moving form cages from one foundation to the next in a new subdivision and set the first set of trusses on the first house yesterday the big boss came along before I was finished and said he wanted me to do all the beams and trusses for 65 homes. He tried to get me down in price but I know my rate is good and I only have 5 minutes road time, so in the end I'm getting my rate. They're a little unorganized but I think I can gently educate them always being careful not to look like a smart ***. I learned my lesson a few years ago , I had done three houses for this guy he was really happy. Then on the last house I noticed one truss about a 1/2" out of line and the crew was already on the back of the roof starting to sheath, so I politely told him about it, he kinda grumped back at me it would be ok, I've never set trusses for him again and I've never critiqued anyone's work since either. I think it intimidates some people that I know their job better than them, so mums the word.
Sorry I sound like an *** what I meant was most of the guys I set for know I've been in the trade for close to 40 years ( yiks ) so they know I see when they're making mistakes. just like I'm nervous like a little school girl when I'm working around an old hand on a crane, I know they can see the small mistakes that I make that others don't see
Ha ha.... yeah most guys on jobs I'm on don't have a clue I have built more houses then they have, and I also had to learn to keep my mouth shut when seeing screwed up work! On the other hand, they guys that do know my past experience, appreciate a little heads up sometimes. One thing I learned fairly recently, after seeing many trusses with a lean due to their layout getting off, you are "officially" allowed 2" in 10' vertical out of plumb without weakening the roof (forget the hassles when you sheet it.) It's pretty amazing how bad work can still turn out pretty much OK, modern balloon framing is pretty forgiving, but it sure is nice to see it done right as it doesn't take any longer.
I had a really nice job yesterday. It was only 60 x90 but I billed out 10 hours I was 11 but we had a 1/2 hour lunch and I shut down for close to a hour while they strapped the low part so they could brace the high part to it. Then they pretty well kept the strapping coming as we went. It was out in the open without any trees and strong wind was in the forecast. I was able to kick the boots off and just sit back in the seat and operate. Once in a while I'd get out and walk around just to give my *** a rest. PS. Only selfie you'll ever see of my, I'm kinda camera shy.
I don't have a foot rest in the National's cab, but you've given me an idea......
I have a hard and fast rule no boots up there but socks are allowed.
Just curious. Do the Kevlar hardhats have the same OSHA 5 year lifespan in the sun as a plastic one or are they exempt as they don't appear to weather? Question 2. Where can you get matching socks? I don't think I have any.
Ow - Ow - double ow- my eyes- is that the sun or the white of your legs?
I don't know about the socks my wife dresses me I will check the hard hat hat, never checked.
Nice eh! My wife says they're sexy ( she's kinda twisted) I'm not a big fan of shorts at work, and I work most of the time so that doesn't lend its self to tanning on the beach.
I checked,it has a sticker on the inside that reads DO NOT exceed maximum useful life. There is no date of manufacture on it but there is a stamp embossed into it, I suspect that would date it. I'll be using it till it's broken or lost or I'm broken or lost.
Sounds like the same sticker as the other hats. Another one of the ambiguous OSHA rules where they don't go by the date of manufacture but by when it was put into service. The answer to the inspectors question, "When did you get the hardhat son" should always be "Just May of last year". A couple of years ago at the MN yearly OSHA summit they tried to get a date of manufacture as the start of service with a 5 year lifespan. It was proven after much contractor testimony that there was no deterioration when still in the box, so it got shut down. Then they tried to get a "record of start" paperwork requirement administrated by the contractors but that got voted down also. Always some new crap by the upper managers to try to show they are valuable.
Wow I had another 11 hour day on a 3500 sqr ft. house with a three car garage. it was kinda rainy and miserable, good news is I never got wet The framers kept apologizing for it taking so long, What I said : no problem its a big house and you guys are doing a great job. What I was thinking: No problem, screw in as much time as you want the clock is running and I've got no where else to be, its Saturday. Ps. to show I've got a heart I only billed them for 10, 1/2 an hour while they had lunch and another half when I was shut down for over an hour while they straightened and tied down the garage.
The only thing I like better than pouring them is tearing them down
First picture is of the hydraulic jack platform, they had built it inside the big silo and when we got to the ground with it I picked it out and set it beside the small silo. Then they hooked me to the dome on the small silo, I picked it off an dropped the platform inside, it saved them from having to disassemble and reassemble it. The skid steer blew a hydraulic line so I had to load the truck. Dam now I had to change my radius with every pick. Oops the pictures are reversed! Ps. The skiddy isn't under the load!
I had to put the boom down while a thunder head rolled through. So I did some snooping around in the old buildings, apparently the messiah is coming, I wonder if that's what the thunder and lightning was about?
I wish I could just STOP IT but I can't. Has anyone on here ever added wireless remote for your outriggers, mine are electric over hydraulic controls all ready so in my simple way of thinking adding a remote should be fairly simple ( relatively speaking ).
Elliott will sell you one (maybe through cropac) which plugs into the outrigger wiring harness without any modification I do believe
thanks Ill give them a call. maybe scary what it will cost.
The wrecker companies have all got remotes now on their controls. There are even "aftermarket" kits for converting a old set up. Probably finding out who actually makes your control valves would be the first step I would take. They may have a radio control alternative, or add on. Elliot isn't making the valves themselves, they're having someone (parker, griesen, etc) make it for them. That said, its all a frequency thing, I know all the radio crane scales, and a2b systems use specific frequency codes, some old ones used rolling codes. The danger is that someones garage door opener is unfortunately set up to the same frequency, across the street from where you're working. They come home for lunch, and let down your outrigger when they open their garage door. I know Altec offered a complete remote for all crane functions, you wear it on your waist like a concrete pump truck controller. I don't think it controlled outriggers though, just crane functions. So they evidently aren't worried about interference.
Elliott uses electric/hydraulic controls for their outriggers, their valves are right at each outrigger beam so I don't know that an aftermarket system would be cheaper or easier. Better maybe though.
Yikes phoned today $4,000 plus installation. It's not plug and play, I didn't ask what was involved in installing it, that's too much to spend just because it would be nice to have.
Here you go tradesman- $369.00, for the extra $3631, I'll come mount it and hook it up. They have a couple options, but this is basically 8 momentary functions, which would be each jack up and down, you wouldn't be able to do beams, but I don't think you want that. Just wire into each electric valve. https://www.controlallwireless.com/...-button-remote-system-extended-range-antenna/
I'll take check, credit card, or cash........
Would they have to have a dedicated line to each controller or could they tie in at the fuse box
Looks like the controller is available as 12v or 24v, your elliot is probably 12v. You would just need to wire it in anywhere that would need a 12v activation signal, to control that function. If you can control both sides jacks from only one box, you could mount it right beside that box and wire it in. If the only place to control them all is upstairs, I would put the box up there and wire into that switch assembly. Or you can run individual wires to each solenoid. If each side box only controls one side of the crane, you could still mount the box downstairs if you want, and just run wires into each side box. If you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself, any competent heavy equipment, tractor, or even a good automotive mechanic could figure it out in short order. Heavy equipment or tractor mechanic would be more familiar with the hydraulic control element, but its not that complicated. It mostly depends on what the boxes are like/ sealed/ weatherproofed. Pick the one that's easiest to wire into. You'll also need to bring a fused 12v input and ground probably to the unit. Am I on the clock yet? I'll need to know when to start my installation time........
Now that I think about it, I really need to put this on my rt crane, its the biggest pain to climb in and out of that one, to run the jacks. It would be much cheaper than putting on side control boxes. Does the elliot have a directional control, and then the function? That's the way the groves are, and you could actually do that with just 6 functions. Left front, left rear, right front, right rear, extend, retract. Or you could be fancy and do the extend retract with wiring so you only hit one button on the remote at a time for each jack, and do the retract/extend in your wiring box, using all 8 buttons on the remote.
I have a mobile guy that does repairs on my other equipment I might see if he will do it for me. I break into a cold sweat just thinking about it.
It will make a difference if the controller is capable of sending/receiving two signals at the same time or not. If you can signal both left front and extend at the same time, you could set it up as a two button function control, using 6. Then to do left front retract, you would hit the left front button, and the retract at the same time, sending two signals to the control from the remote. If it won't send two at the same time, you would have to use it as a 8 function, meaning you'll have to do a little wiring work around. When you send a single control, left front - retract, it would have to activate both the left front solenoid, and the retract on the directional. If you can get it to function as a 6 button, you could use the last two buttons for cable up and down, enabling you to hook, and unhook from the bumper from the remote- if you're electric over hydro on your winch also. The elliot is electric joysticks?
I always wanted to just hardwire the controls to a cord. Like the newer Groves have, only with 15' instead of 3'. I think that'd be pretty simple to hook up. I just hated climbing up and down when setting up. If you already have ground controls your spoiled anyway. Lol
My National has a little compartment with a door in the rear, I flip the door up and pull the outrigger control box out, on it's 6' tethered cord. I really like it, I can walk around and eyeball all I need to while there coming down, simple. One thing the past owner cautioned me about: make SURE the compartment door is latched, otherwise you may get to a job site and find it fell out and now all you have is a frayed corded with bare wires hanging out! Not a big deal, I make sure it's latched, plus the way the tether is jammed in there I don't think it would move anyway. I put a full function wire remote on my 17 Terex boom truck years ago, it cost 14K but it really set me apart from my competitors, nothing like standing on the roof top right next to the HVAC guy when setting the unit down! But then I discovered the joys of a sit down cab, and the remote concept went out the window.
I had an interesting job today, a fairly large crane company from a couple hours away called me to put building materials on the roof of a school 10 minutes from me. I was less than two hours till I was back at my shop with a 4 hour minimum fuel surcharge and 28$ more an hour than I normally charge. ( I gave them 10% before tax) I lifted wheel barrels, 2x4's, hand tools and the last thing was a water jug. Couple jobs like that a day I could quit bending nails!
4 hr. min.? Good for you, here, I am gradually working up from 2.5 to a full 3 min. charge, while not losing any customers. Still, doing 3 or 4 of those in one day, taking an hour or so for each one, can make for a very good day. My record is 3, all HVAC, I was done by 3:00, started at 10, after billing for 7.5 hrs., with about 40 minutes of actually doing picks.
I did a set of trusses on a shop roof for the Mennonites yesterday, this is just a short list of what I deal with on every one of there jobs. I think if I am becoming a better operator it is these jobs that are doing it. - 20 foot block side wall working in the blind with only very vague intermittent direction - truss pile is rarely anywhere that makes sense usually in the blind as well - within 50 ft. of me I had a tellahandler putting strapping up on the trusses already in place, another one with two men in it putting steel girts on the block wall, a man lift and two guys spray foaming, a fork lift running around I have no idea what he was doing , a skid steer moving material , a guy cutting steel girts with a quick cut 8 ft. from me, four guys framing the office using a saw and air gun , a small gas compressor for the air guns, a large generator at full throttle, two scissor lifts running at full throttle most of the time, oh and the man lift was working out of level so the warning beeper was continuous the whole job, there was two guys on each plate bolting down the plates just ahead of the trusses so I had to come in high and lower the trusses just before I set them down and even the guys setting the trusses rarely pay attention as I'm swinging the trusses into them so I have to be very very carful as I'm swinging in to them. I guess you call that distractions. Having said all that I do genuinely do enjoy working for them its awesome to see what a group of good men, not snivelling whiners can accomplish.
See all you need is a two stroke detroit--- 6-71 or 6v92 in your crane- then no one wants to work by one of those noisy, loud SOB, and everyone ends up working on the other side of the jobsite.......
Your like a genius.
HA HA- more like a legend in my own mind. If you had a screaming demon detroit, that beeper going on a manlift wouldn't bother you at all, it would be like lullaby music.
Heres a decent pick 3,400. all in, this was for one of my regulars, at top carpenter it just set down and in ten minutes we went on to the next set. On the other hand I did one half the size for an " expert " Wednesday and it fell apart, before I picked it up I suggested a couple more braces and promptly got told to just run the crane. OK! But before I lifted it I told them nobody under it and sure enough it fell apart, nobody said a word they just put it back together, with more braces this time.
Full picture
Yeah those are fun for us to set, but I see some crews who get all caught up in doing that pre fab thing, speaking as an old carpenter, and I question how cost effective it is for them. Plus they are usually a chore to rig so still some crane time there, at the end of the day most of the time I do those they crew didn't save any money, at least if they count all their time previous getting the pick ready. And if things are a bit out of square......that pic there is one of the more impressive ones I've seen, I like the out of balance factor, just to make it interesting!
The way I understand it is that it's not about saving money so much as being safer since they are being built on the ground rather than in the air on a wall.
Particularly for gable and hip sections much faster this is one of my own jobs. This piece is 3/4 sheathed, facia's on and gable sheathed. Two guys got this ready in half the time that four would have 16 ft. up, no ladders no man lift just easy peasy and yes much safer. BUT! Your skill level has to be much higher or that roof sheating is coming off and that won't save time.
It picked really well I bet it wasn't 6" out of level, that gentleman is one of the best framers I've ever met, every time I set for him I watch and learn.
Sadly a framer gets no respect or disrespect until their gone from the job. Neighboor had a 30x40 garage built...framed & sheeted in 3 days. Helped drywall it.....figured it would be a nightmare, being done so fast. Wrong, wrong, wrong.....only 1 sheet in the entire garage had to be cut on a slight angle. Damn glad I own it now, lol. Just wish the cement guys were as good. Ed
The first picture is a generator I set for the Mennonites it was tagged at 18,000 lbs. but was full of fuel, lmi read 21,800. The second picture is of a little concrete we poured this morning, 90 cubic meters before 10:30 it was a bunker silo floor so no grade had to be set, just poured it and kept the correct depth and screeded it off. The last picture is what I was set up beside this afternoon,"crane opp"I could have used your Detroit. Some pictures from the last week
Shoot, that's a bucyrus erie, that's old school drilling, all frictions and cable. Thats what will still be running, when the sun solar flares shut down the electrical system, and fries every electrical circuit board on the planet. Good to see you busy, bet you had your hands full on the genset. I have a 6' wide spreader bar that I use just for those cabinet gensets so I'm not squeezing on the top of the cabinet. The other bad thing on some gensets, is that some have a really sharp flange/bent edge just above the shackle lug pick point. It's where they have the bent edge coming down on the top of the fuel tank, between the fuel tank and the cabinet. The edge where they sheared the steel is sharp, especially on the new ones. It's real easy for it to pinch your nylon's on that flange, between the shackle and the cabinet - cutting them. I'll often use two shackles on each lug- to get the nylon's above that flange, or use a softener between the nylon and the cabinet. It looks like yours was the older style where the lug and the shackle gets the nylon above that joint, and the sharp edge. I just remembered this article when I saw your pictures, and I had just done some generators before this incident happened in new jersey. So the sharp edges were fresh in my mind- when this accident happened, and I knew what happened from the pictures. http://www.vertikal.net/en/news/story/24893/ These guys were using pretty new looking rigging, (they mention rigging failure in the article), and I know that the sharp flange cut the nylon's. You can see all the rest of the straps that got cut tangled up on the ball, so the straps got cut right at the bottom. Its not too heavy of a generator for the rigging (overload), because the crane doesn't even have block in- so its under 10,000lbs, and those look like at least 3" wide straps. It's just poor lug placement by the engineer on his computer designing the pick points. He's never rigged anything, and could save the company $1.87 per generator by making the lugs 1" shorter. Never mind that they then put them in exactly the right spot to cut the nylons, between the shackle and the cabinet.
There was a diagram on the cabinet that showed acceptable rigging and my 20 ft. Roundies where longer than the minimum recommended. And yes I had all I wanted I had to set it down two feet farther than I measured out and the bells and whistles started going off, I was able to cable straight down, but I had to hold on to it for a few minutes. I got to talk to the old guy running the drill rig. I have never been around one before it's quite a process.
That green tarp likely means something real bad. A lot of the guys that I work around call me an old woman I'm so carful, but I never stop thinking of what can go wrong.
Do any of you guys just have a bad day, maybe too much on the mind and make many small mistakes, not anything that the guys you're working for notice but just small stuff that on a normal day doesn't happen. Not so smooth transitions from one function to another, coming closer to to the wall with a truss as your hoisting up and slewing over than you intended to. Most days when I'm done a job I feel very satisfied and feel myself developing as an operator, then I have a day like last Friday and wonder if I'll ever get there.
One guy didn't get to come home, and another one went to the hospital when they lost that genset. Some of the gensets have sharp edges, some don't, I'm not trying to step on toes, I just wouldn't feel right without mentioning it. Bad days happen, and bad picks happen. My worst is when everyone is trying to call or text me about something next week, when I'm trying to set trusses. Leave me alone- I'm trying to work. It's hard when you've got all the stick out, cruising along with a truss- because you know where you're going with it, and then someone starts waving their arms trying to signal you, into the place you were already headed for. Or playing tug of war with a tag line. I had one the other day and I just took the tag line off, I was tired of the truss see sawing around with him yanking on it. As far as it getting easier- yes it does. Probably one of the biggest things for me, is which crane I'm in. I've got two cranes that I can about run in my sleep- my tms 300, and one of the tms250's. I don't like my other tms250 near as well, and my 70 ton keeps you on your toes because the boom is so fast. The rt is okay, but its also got boom control issues, its not as smooth coming in and out of the boom, you have to work/concentrate at it. When someone comments on a smooth job, I give the praise to the old Grove's, because being dialed in with them is what makes it easy. Don't always assume the problem is you, sometimes its with the crane, I've modified a lot of things to make the cranes run better and be more user friendly.
I pack some old fire hose, 12" lengths, plus some conveyor belting, to use as softeners for my slings. But I would also use, in a case like that gen set that got dropped, some scrap lumber to keep away from that flange. Better yet, a spreader bar, but then you better have the CG figured. I was picking a 12 K CAT gen set for the city a few years back, and the CG on the thing was unknown and NOT where we thought (no rigging info). We (the city boys and I, mostly them, and I made it clear it was their call) figured best we could and I picked it 6" above the ground, and stopped. They all looked at me and I said "let's give it a moment or so...", I only had to go over a 6' wall with it. I used the wait time to ask them exactly where they wanted it, just killing time really. About 45 seconds later, without anything moving, the generator shifted out of the rigging, not hurting it or anything. If memory serves me. I think the thing had the fuel tank on top, with fuel in it, or something weird like that, I've picked them before and after and never came across one like it since. Since then, I've used that "wait a minute" thing a few times whenever things are getting a little strange. The worst thing about getting totally dialed into any activity, is complacency. I fight that all the time flying, and now craning. The better and more experienced you get, the bigger danger complacency is, and it never goes away! I constantly tell myself "you're getting paid by the hour" that seems to help me in doing it safe as possible.
Life has a way of putting you in your place. I had a two day truss set for a new customer it went really well, they told me that I did a really smooth job and they where impressed by my rigs capacity. Today I did large shed for the Mennonites, they thanked me for the good job, then I set some large roof packages on a new shop for some guys that work for a large construction that does bridges and over passes they where very technical lifts and they went very smooth. They wanted to pay cash so I said what to heck it's Saturday I'll make an exception the guy handed me the envelope and it was three times what it asked him for, when I brought it to his attention he said just take it, and said anytime i want they could use me moving forms and doing sight work for them. SO! I'm feeling like a rock star about then and head for home as I'm going out the driveway watching in my mirror for tree branches I see what I though was the last one clear the cab and turn to head for home " Bang" I hit the side of a tree that is leaning into the driveway and almost tear the cab right off broke 6 of 8 pieces of glass and tore the cab 3/4 off the base plate. I'm a rock star alright, came down off my high pretty quick. Quess I'll find out on Monday what it cost me.
Ouch. Local transmission shop's is slogan is shift happens, about all i got atm.
That sucks. But, if you've never messed anything up, you've probably never done anything.
Ouch. Only thing that'd hurt worse is the customer refused to pay.
Don't feel bad. I did a amusement park job last week, inches away from everything all the way in and out. Got done with the job, the signal/guide man went back to get his gator, and all I had to do was get away from the buildings and back to where the lowboy was. I flipped up the glass top lid to stand up and see around a corner of the building, and there was a oak branch that caught the top 1" of the glass. Yep, ripped it right back flat as I was driving ahead,so- new glass and a little welding. Come on though- we need to see pictures of the carnage so we can remote suggest how to fix it. I am sorry though- it happens.
It must be going around as I busted two windows out on the excavator this season
I knew you guys would want pictures, but I didn't have the heart to take any yesterday. I'm going to the shop later today so I'll take a couple. Tomorrow is our thanks giving it's not a holiday for you is it? I was going to phone Elliott and get the ball rolling on a new cab a day early. She's bent pretty good and I don't want it cobbled up.
http://www.lakesuperiorcabs.com/truck_cab.php http://www.htfab.com/products/crane-operator-cabs/ Just in case elliot scares you to death with their quote. I've rebuilt a cab for a guy I worked for (gmk grove- aluminum, lots of aluminum welding and grinding), remember yours is just steel welded up, its certainly something that any adequete fab shop can make. Don't accept a huge quote for a new cab from elliot. There are options. They aren't like a dozer or backhoe with roll over protection, its just a steel shell. If there's enough left of the old one, you can dismantle it to get patterns for a plasma table to cut the panels, and weld one up, or have it welded locally. I saw somewhere recently on a quote for a cab from grove for a lower cab, it was just under $20,000. There are guys that do great body work and fab work everywhere, you may just have to look. Our thanksgiving is third thursday in November. Enjoy your day off.
Thanks man, I'll contact both tomorrow morning. The Elliot cab I can't buy direct so there's another 20% but if I can get insurance to pay for it ( and they should ) it will be the first one that I can have on and working. I'm not sure if I have a rental Claus in my insurance, I'd hate to be down for two or three weeks, this is usually my busiest time of year.
If you don't want to/ can't fix it for a while, take a grinder and a cut off wheel to the cab, make it a open station for a few weeks until the new cab is in. I don't think elliot has one setting on the shelf for you, most of the manufacture's have a 6-8 week lead time for something like that. Maybe you can just pop out the glass, straighten out and fix the worst of it and leave the door off until the new cab is ready too. I personally wouldn't turn something like that in for a insurance claim, because I feel like they just raise your rates, and you end up paying it yourself anyways, and they don't have the excuse to drop you. Prior claims count against you when applying to a different company, and its really hard if you've been dropped to get someone else to take you. In the US anyways. You could find one here (boom truck) in the US to bare rent, but it better be pretty busy to afford the bare rental fee and make any $. If I had the Mack up and running, I'd send it up to you, but it's getting a injector pump rebuild, and probably a swivel rebuild too. Probably the exchange rate hurts pretty bad, when getting parts from the us right now also.
To be honest I don't know what I'm going to do. I'll make some calls tomorrow and based on the answers I get I'll make the call. I am pretty vain about the condition I keep it in maybe even past what makes good sense $$$
I built my own cab for my old Manitex 101S, after pricing out what they wanted for a factory built one! 8 or 9 grand I believe it was, PLUS shipping, not installed. I used 10 gauge steel, tinted safety plate glass, and including the heater ($1500.00, worth every penny of course) it was a bit over 3K. It looked good, not homebuilt anyway, but I do like my factory built "deluxe" (their term for it) National cab a lot better, it seals up tight, like a car, and is a lot bigger. I'd also lease your insurance company out of it, know anyone who does car body work? It'd be pretty easy for a good body man to fix, maybe one who needs crane work from time to time? 2 weeks ago I had a late job, near the local Flying J truck stop, as my morning job was even further in the same direction away from my crane yard, to save 30 miles of driving plus going through the Port of Entry twice, I parked it at the J where all the semi's park and locked it up. Next morning before sun up, I drive 2 hours to my job, 10 miles of it down a gravel road, get there and then see the lowered tempered glass section in front below the main window on the op cab was broken. Could have happened from the gravel (unlikely, but possible I guess) or from a random bit of badness from someone. I replaced it with a piece of aluminum deck plate and stainless rivets, as I always felt it was worthless anyway, being down so low, and I already have a deck plate piece I always cover up the main window with for transport, so it at least looks factory. I never even priced out a new piece of glass. The first day I'm using it I realized I can now install a adjustable footrest on the back side of the deck plate, for down times, I've felt the need before but couldn't figure out how to do it when the glass was there, problem solved!
I can't say enough good about the people at Elliott Crane. They had a new cab that had been damaged in shipping, a cracked glass and small scratch, they offered to have it repaired and to me next week so I asked if they would let me do the repairs, yep and they discounted it substantially. As well he set me up with a dealer Stateside that I could purchase it from, saving me both time and money. This gentleman phoned me three times since yesterday struck a deal for me with his boss had the cab that had been taken out of inventory put back into inventory called the dealership in Chicago and set up the deal on my behalf. I'm sure it isn't only him but a company culture. They have earned a boatload of my loyalty.
Good news, really nice that you won't be down for very long either.
Yehaw! It's hear two broken pieces of glass and the front handle bent both easy fixes should have it together by the end of the day. Pictures to come. Bonus its the new paint scheme, has both windshield wipers, both front and rear fan and dome light it's also pre wired for the speakers. Other than being two days late I'm a happy camper
First order of business
I came to the house for some super, I likely have another 1 1/2 to finish it up, tie up the wire harness, a couple ignorant bolts left to mount the cab down and tidy up my shop. Then off to my first post crash job tomorrow morning ar 6:30. Wow what a weight off. This is the shipping crate there is a $1,000 deposit on it but I have to get it back to Omaha.
Looks great. Glad they could get it to you so quickly. At $1,000 core, you'd like to send it back, but it will probably cost you $500 to ship it?
Yep I saw the shipping tag and it was $535 US. to get it here. Done I got everithing done except my Sirius radio, it's gonna have to wait.
Just the pallet as pictured or the busted cab too ? Pallet looks like something Uship.com would do very well.
If you have fastenal (bolt and hardware store) near you, I hear they do a store to store shipping that is fairly reasonable. You may save yourself a little. Maybe $300 instead of 500.
Just the pallet I knew the cab had small damage. I saved $2000 and got it shipped the next day instead of 8 weeks. My quess is it's a pain in the you know what to constantly build new ones so a big deposit gets them back
Members of a Kubota tractor forum I'm on rave about the Fastenal mode of shipping. I just sold a guy in Georgia a backhoe bucket and will try them out for the first time, as a shipper, been getting hardware there for years.
I moved this refrigeration unit today I loaded it on a trailer the followed the trailer about an hour then unloaded it. We got about an inch of rain last night, I was glad for my four way lockers and floatations tires. I lined it up pretty good cause I was only getting one shot at it. The guy told me it would be 2700 lbs. so naturally I assumed it would be twice that, not far off 4700 lbs. rigging in
I've heard a rumor of where that "new" cab came from..... just pulling your chain. The pictures came up in the safety section
I was thinking about it but couldn't come up with an appropriate smart a&& comment. I think your comment was right he had his block on so he was expecting a bit of a load. The way he was set up makes my arse pucker, straight off the side on that boom truck can be 50% capacity and still set your arse meter off. I wouldn't be tying myself to an unknown load sitting up on that hill working straight off the side with that boomtruck.
I had a nice little Sunday morning job for a neighbor, he lost his barn to a fire, just a hobby guy so he didn't need much of a barn so he is doing this it's two 40 ft. sea cans with a tarp building on top of it. If he finishes it properly it should be pretty useful.
Set trusses for some Mennonite guys today this poor kid likely 13 or 14 was my tag man, as you can see it was a little sloppy and the wind was pretty good to. I was holding the truss as low as possible as long as I could but as soon as it broke over the top plate it would drag this little man all over but he never gave up, by the time we where done I bet the rope weighed as much as him and he was mud right to the chest.
Yesterday and today I set these steel hoops on a 65 x 200 building yesterday was a beautiful day but their scissor lift wouldn't work properly, from 7:30 to 4:45 we had three trusses set then the man lifts showed up and we put three more up in the next 45 minutes. I couldn't be there till 10:00 this morning, by noon it was 25 to 30 k winds and half rain half snow, by three it was snowing heavy the only good thing was the wind slowed down. It was a young farm couple I was working for there barn burned down in the spring and they have been waiting ever since for there builder to do this and last week they finally decided to tackle it them selves. As you can see I'm loving the Sirius radio my son got me.
Keep up the good work Tradesman !
Yesterday I was working about 15' from a generator running full tilt, with an air compressor right next to it also running almost continuously. Then my rig's noise on top of all that. Once that door closes on the National's operator cab, it's a whole different world, it really blocks out noise great, then the sat radio goes on and I am a happy camper. News, talk, music of course, it keeps me alert (and awake) and in a much better mood then if I was standing outside like I did in 3 different boom trucks for almost 5,000 hours. An enclosed tight cab with sat radio, heat and air, a cup holder, and a coat hook to hang my jacket up so I can work in my shirtsleeves, I almost feel guilty watching the carpenters outside but hey I did my time, and starting back before nail guns so i don't feel too guilty!
I set the trusses on a six plex today it had five double trusses with three ply of 5/8" drywall on it, the one in the picture was 4650 lbs. on my lmi, rigging in So tare would have been around 4200 lbs. this was the top one on the pile of five and it weighed around 400 lbs more than the rest only thing it could have been was the water / wet snow it absorbed.
I guess everyone is in a rush now before the snow balls hit them in the back side, here where I live everyone wants concrete right now if not yesterday.
No to rub it in, but we've been in shirtsleeves this week...... Next week highs 60's lows might dip into the 30's, but probably not freezing. Buddy working up in minnesota says they've had 4 or so good snows already.
On a positive note haven't seen a fly or bug of any type for a month
It's official ...We're in a La Nina cycle... Extra Cold in the northern states, mild & dry in the southeastern states.
This was my first no charge job. My two sons and a friend of theirs, put the trusses on and sheathed the roof in yesterday on my sons new garage. I always claimed that I would charge my own mother a three hour minimum, I guess I'm not as hard as I let on.
Gran Kids make one change your mind fast, A & W Grampa burgers soon.
Keeping all altruistic reasons aside, it can be very good free PR, the kind that shows up when someone Google's "crane service", to offer to do something for free. Like church steeples, a disabled veteran house trusses, an equipment shed for a youth hockey team, a fuel tank at an airport for a group of private fliers, a roof over a city park picnic area built in honor of a local WW2 vet and businessman, Habitat for Humanity homes, flag poles at a Vietnam veterans memorial, to name a few I've done gratis. If there is travel outside the city I tell them "I'll do it for free, but you need to catch my diesel." I keep an eye out for ways I can offer my work for free, it's simply good business and can pay off, it has for me, in good public relations and word of mouth. NOT BRAGGING, but it has turned into a win/win, good for who ever gets me free, good for me in good PR, and lastly, sure it make me feel good to be such a good guy, but mostly it's the first two reasons!
This is a little rubber boot that covers the end of my pilot controls, they where getting nasty looking so I phoned the dealer, they where over $150.00 for four of them at thier shop. I said no thanks and dug out an old handle that I replaced a year ago, got the manufacturers name off it and called them. A week later they where in my mail box for $35.15. While I had them on the phone I asked if I could buy the controller off them, no luck they are made for Elliott only and can not be sold directly. That sucks because I've done two now and will likely be doing two more at over $ 1,200 a piece.
Who makes that controller? Hindley electronics sells aftermarket controllers for manlifts. Can't imagine yours are much different then a manlift. $1200 for a controller seems really steep.
OEM in Connecticut
Oem is the manufacture? Whenever I see oem I think original equipment manufacturer. That's interesting. Do those controllers work off 5v signal or 12.
That's the company name they were very helpful and a bit apologetic that they can't sell me the controller, but I understand why. I might phone the company you suggested and see if they have built my controller. But if they are specific to Elliott and the small numbers of my crane out there it's a pretty poor bet. I don't know about the voltage I will look it up tonight.
Front row seats. I usually have an audience when I set for the Mennonites.
I had an interesting pick today this is a boiler to produce heat for a 19,000 bird broiler barn. They are going to burn chicken manure and wood chips to produce steam ( hot water) to heat the barn.
Burn the chicken manure ? What a waste ! (Pun intended) Better to use the manure on a crop (nitrogen fertilizer) Chicken farmer I know said the broiler house floor before clean-out was money in the bank.
It is as good as money in the bank, this is to off set the cost of propane to heat the barn. Based on your location heating the barn isn't much concern.
yup... Heating the barn isn't quite the expense as up North. But, in the Summer losing power to the fans is just as deadly to the birds.
Hosspuller as in pulling horses? I've had draft horses most of my life, I've never pulled but I've shown and worked in the bush with them.
Now there's a subject I can get interested in. My uncle was big into Belgian horses when I was a kid. My friends dad had pulling horses. Still makes me smile when I think of those big horses drinking mountain dew outta 5 gallon buckets to get them properly energized for the pull.
Hosspuller as in me driving the truck that pulls the hoss trailer ...
Well that's cool to !
I had another first today, I put up two internet towers that are fastened to silos, and have at least one more to do. We are doing them on Saturday because the guys climber works else where through the week
I set these trusses today on a little commercial building 8 1/2 hours including about 45 minutes each way travel time. These are really good builders. They weren't ready when I got there, but they took there time marked out the plates with a long tape rather then one truss at a time, I know from experience it's not hard to be out by an inch or two on a long building if you mark one truss at a time, put string lines up on each wall straightened the walls and braced them, marked the trusses on the ground for the strapping spacing. When we got setting trusses every sixteen feet they stopped and tied in and angle braced the truss back to the top plates. They generally did it the way I was taught, my dad always said a couple hundred bucks for the crane is cheap if the trusses are up write and nobody gets hurt. Only thing they did wrong was put the truss pile where I should of been sitting, couldn't get back far enough to see the peak and had to swing in by guess and by golly.
Yeah, when I see guys laying out the plate one truss at a time.....I'm always tempted to jump up there and hook over that first one and show them how far off layout they have gotten, 1/16 here, 1/16 there, it adds up. Then I remember I'm not a carpenter anymore! Your crew sounds like the know what they're doing. I bet they even pay on time. The better builders do, it seems.
View attachment 175919 This is my new ride, a mechanical gooseneck trailer. It was actually very well maintained and needs seemingly nothing. https://www.machinerymoverschicago.com/blog/Mechanical-Gooseneck-Trailer/ This is a picture of its first use by me. I love it because it is so light for its size. Lets me haul more stuff per load. I need to learn how to stay out of trouble with its low deck. I saw some railroad crossings where this trailer would hang up. Also, we worked on the truck, thanks mostly to our mechanic the doors no longer blow air through them and also the heater works properly. It is really comfortable for long rides in cold weather. It used to be way too hot.
Yes you are to close for me, might get a job up here gradeing roads in winter in town. You have 25 ft or more of deck there??
29 ft of deck space
Just a few pictures of some picks over the last couple weeks, and a cool picture of a bullet supposedly found during one of the world wars
This one of our own buildings we put the piece on the roof up in one piece in the first post with the two guys on the roof it started freezing rain if was me on the roof I'd of quit. The big trusses are 80's I just set the end set so they could tie it in and get ready for the next day my spreaders aren't big enough for 80's. the picture of the boom over the house just looked cool
bullet through another bullet?
Let us know how those 80' trusses fly. Looks like a pretty shallow pitch, they will be noodles. The last (and only) time I set some 85' 3/12 (!) trusses, we burned up a couple hours trying every combination of spreader bars and rigging me and the nail benders could come up with. We finally resorted to me welding up a 3" channel iron rectangle, C clamped to each truss, a lifting frame in effect. It worked great but of course was a bit slower. I fabbed it for free, they paid for the material, and I got to take it home at the end of the job, where I cut it up for misc. shop projects.
I didn't set them thier regular crane guy was coming the next day and he had a 25 ft. Spreader. I'm not really interested in doing anything over sixty, I bet I've done over 1,000 60's over the years and I've done a couple buildings with 70's but they are also usually maybe 200 or more feet long and really should be done by mobile crane. As a contractor I wouldn't even do 80's for myself, in fact I start a large horse barn next week that is 135 x 115 wide with a beam line down the centre so its two large mono trusses and I'm having a competitor come in with his terex 8,000 cross over to set them,to do it right the crane will need to work at over eighty feet for most of the building, I'm going to have 9 men working on it and I don't want to screw around setting up the crane multiple time just so I can use my own. And I'm looking forward to getting up in the trusses myself, Ive always loved working in a big set of trusses. I will be using my own crane to finish the beam work and we will be building the gable sets on the ground and setting them the day before we start the main roof. Pictures to come.
I've set several 80' trusses on pole buildings. I simply tied a long 6x6 post to the truss with ropes. After it is set in place and anchored I simply remove the post to the next truss.
I have had to also resort to different types of temp/removable stiffbacks, it seems no matter how big a span the spreader bar is, some trusses just need it. Too big a spreader, and the centers bow, too small and the tips do. Usually, about 1/3 of the vert height up from the bottom chord, works better then directly on the bottom, or top. The 60'er's with 2x4 top and bottom chords AND a 3/12 or so pitch are the worse. I've had the nail benders make up a stiff back on site, often just 16' long is enough to take the wiggle out, and a couple long reach Vice Grips or large C clamps really stiffen things up and only add very little time. Right now, around here anyway, the "trend" in the high dollar homes is super steep roofs, which is good for me as they hang a lot better! I'd hate to be a roofer or a drywaller these days, as needlessly complicated as the roof/ceiling lines are now, trusses hanging on girders, hanging on other girders, whatever happened to the concept of direct bearing?!
I had a bit of bad luck today, I was backing in a driveway today and I got to close to the edge and I slid sideways about a foot and a half off the driveway. I never spun a wheel I just phone the heavy tow truck and had it out in less than an hour. There was no way I was screwing around and lay it on it's side. I'm hoping for a better day tomorrow when I go back to set the guys beams.
Its nice when it works out. And yes a wrecker is expensive, but much cheaper than the possible alternatives. So many guys get in a hurry, and try to get out, and it can get ugly. Its just unhandy when you get stuck. So was it a really bad spot? or was it just one of those things that happen that you really can't blame on the site? (I'm trying to say you just messed up, without saying you messed up ) The reason I'm asking is because if I go look at a jobsite that's really steep or muddy, I tell the contractor beforehand, " If I get stuck there, I'm not paying the wrecker bill". I can usually tell if I'm going to have trouble, so I just point it out early, before I'm stuck. A lot of them will either add some rock or wait till it dries out. I always figure I'm not spending $400 on a wrecker bill to make $800 on a truss job, I don't need jobs like that. Just wondering what everyone else does.
Good call on getting assistance to free the boom truck Tradesman . Good operator knows when to stop instead of going in deeper . Do you keep a set of tire chains for the truck in bad road conditions ?
A good wrecker aint expensive ........ It's priceless http://www.heavytruckforums.com/showthread.php?263-Some-Holmes-750-action&p=4024&viewfull=1#post4024
I only own tire chains for the pickup. We don't get that much ice/snow, and if we do, it disappears fast enough, I just stay home until it goes away. We've used my old winch truck a few times to get out of a bad spot, I've got a hydraulic no-mar wrecker in the back yard that's a copy of a 750, without the mechanical winches. I just haven't gotten it mounted on anything yet. I've always thought that was a nice looking truck of yours td25c.
CAN YOU SAY OPERATOR ERROR!! The driveway was ice and snow covered and I misjudged where the edge of the driveway was, I never really drove off the driveway I got to close and it slid over and dropped down about a foot. Yikes I tore a chunk out of the seat clenching my arse,but all is good I'm back on the job in the morning.
Yeah crane op , the no-mar hydro bed project sounds interesting . Wonder if there is room behind the Western Star cab to just mount winch mast without the booms ? Could still pull the detach trailer & have another winch puller at the same time . I really like the old Ford winch truck ! Rig built for all situations .
I returned to the seen of the crime today
Looks like everything it frozen solid ..... I got a chill just looking at the pictures No tire chains Tradesman ?
No chains, I've never had a set for a truck. When all I had was two wheel drive tractors I kept a set on my loader tractor but I haven't had them on in twenty years. Our back roads are usually capped with frozen snow I like to travel them in the winter because you don't get covered in salt and sand. The paved roads are salted and sanded and within a couple days of a heavy snow are bare but nasty anything your driving will be white with sand and salt residue. I wash my crane almost every time it goes out, which is a real treat in sub 0 temps I only have a cold water washer and as I'm blowing the sand off it's getting capped with ice.
In that environment I would invest in some single chains you could throw on when needed . Keep a set on the truck . Don't take that long to drop them on when ya got to go in to a bad area . You can crawl over & through some pretty bad road conditions with tire chains ......
We use this cam style type singles . http://www.peerlesschain.com/tire-chain-finder/traction/tirechains/434
I think I spent 1/4 of my time with chains on doing propane delivery. We always just used single chains on the outside duals. Very steep here. Very easy to go out of control without chains. Wore out more sets than I could count. I had been stuck off the road such a number of times, just the thought of all the hassle involved and wasted hours would motivate me to get out and put them on before anything bad happened. Big knobby mud tires, the type with only 3 rows of cleats the size of your fist, also help a whole lot.
I don't think chains would have got you out of that spot tradesman, especially because of how top heavy that boom truck is. You really chance letting it go on over. Don't you have cross locks also, in addition to your diff. lock? That would probably help out in mud or a slick spot, but it can also plow you and not let the front end come around if you're trying to come around a corner. If you're on the snow like that all the time, chains would be a big help, we just don't have conditions like that here. One thing nice about a crane, its not real hard to put them on, you can just jack up the crane and wrap them up. One thing I might have tried in that situation tradesman- You could have kicked in the pumps. Jacked up the front drivers jack, and maybe the rear one too. Put your dunnage under the in the ditch tires, and make a path of blocks to get out. The blocks might have wanted to slide around on the snow, but if you could have removed the tipping factor, you might have got the cross locks in, and walked out of there. I probably would have done that anyway, even if I was pulling it out, just to eliminate the chance of it tipping over as it was coming out.
One time about 20 years ago, I was coming down the mountain I live on in my first piece of equipment, a 10 ton JLG boom truck. As soon as I exited my driveway onto the county road, I eyeballed it as to it's condition. Looked real slick, touched the brakes to confirm, OH YEAH... figured I'd put the chains on before getting to the 12% grade section in the 1600' vertical drive to the valley below. I eased it over to the shoulder, which had enough gravel to roughen at least the right side tires up enough to come to a stop. Then I laid out the left side chains in front of the rear single axle, then the right side, and when I walked back around to the left side prior to getting back in the cab and pulling ahead a few feet (putting the rear outriggers down to lift the rear axle up would have turned it into a big snowboard) my previously laid out left side tire chains were missing. They were sliding down the road, by the time I caught up with them they were 20' ahead of the truck. Once chained up, I drove the 1/2 mile to the scary part, the 12% down grade straightaway for about a half mile. Even chained up, I stayed over on the right shoulder to use the roughness there, too much at one point, and got sucked into the ditch, at about 4 MPH. Long story short, I uncaged the 55' boom, swung it a bit to the uphill side (sucked in of course), enough to get some dunnage under the tires in the ditch, and managed to extricate myself. Calling a tow truck was not an option, maybe the next day but not that day. Even back then I didn't keep my rig on the mountain, but in town, but I just happened to have it up there when the ice storm hit.
Tire chains getter done ! Ya drop them on before you slide off the road ....... Judgment call for the driver at the time & place .... ]
chains on the steer axle? Hows that work?
It work great in a case with the tow truck all chained up on the back with a tow or going up a hill or down you some times can not steer so the chains up front lets you stay on the road. On the highway one might never chain up the steering axle but off highway it is different. I was hauling water for some diamond drillers 5 miles from creek in Dec a few years ago and had every wheel chained up with lockers on the drive axles the truck wants to go straight. Makes for pucker power on some of the switch backs.
I knew my boss to do it sometimes to get a truck out of a terrible situation some gung ho driver should have never gotten it into, but never felt the need to do it myself. I have run some pretty nasty stuff but discretion is the better part of valor I felt and leave that work for another day. If the customer does not want to take care of the road (plow it), or worse yet drives all over it with a 4wd packing it down into a bobsled track, then they can jolly well wait I say. I once had a guy who wanted me in a certain place, snow all over had not been touched, a little Kubota tractor sitting nearby. I said clear out this snow with the tractor so I can get in there and I will do it. He said well it's just a little tractor. Well take a lot of little scoops then but don't call me out here in the worst conditions of the year and expect me to be the hero, no way a heavy tow truck could fit in there to rescue if I got in trouble, we'd be waiting for spring to get the truck out.
Works great when your operating on top of 1/2 inch ice coating on the road ..... Chains on the rear are for pullin & chain the starboard side steering tire for navigating . They getter done
I had a nice job today, this little building is 40x40 with a 16' side wall we set the walls and put the trusses on it in 3 hours. It was one of those days when you look like a genius, I better have my feet braced cause I've got a kick in the azz coming
That's one sad dog, my wife and I went away for the weekend and left him at a boarding kennel, the lady that runs the kennel left him outside over night and he jumped the fence and my son's found him about 5 miles away at 2:00 pm the next day. All she did was phone me at 11:00am Sunday morning telling he was missing. The picture is of him on his way home.
That looks like one of those jobs where you were glad to be down in the trees to keep the wind off those sheeted panels. And look at all that pretty rigging.....
I set for this crew a quite a bit, I think they where a little sceptical when I started pulling it all out, but they had faith. It couldn't have went any better the panels didn't bend or twist at all. I'm glad it went so well because two weeks ago when I set the trusses on the house I told them how to build the walls and how to lay them out, so if went bad I know who was taking the blame. I have a bit of a sickness for rigging and I whip it out every chance I get.
Nice looking dog. I had a chocolate Lab for 17 years. I cried like a baby when I had to put him down.
Did you hunt him? This is a German short haired pointer, trained to hunt grouse and mooch at my meal time.
I've owned two german short haired pointers, both were wound for sound, bird hunting dogs (pheasant). One was the best dog I've ever hunted with, the other not so much. Neither one were good pets, only wanted to hunt birds. Owned one chocolate lab, he could put his paws on my shoulders and look me in the eye (I'm 6'6"), and he could eat you out of house and home. He'd eat anything, if you threw dirt clods in his direction he'd gobble them up. He was a great companion, useless hunting dog. If a bird flew up- he was just as suprised as you were, and when he got tired would tend to just follow you in the field and let you bust brush for him. Glad you found him back.
Ye haw!!! Five years straight I got a clean annual NDT. on my boom truck. I was a little concerned about my driver side outrigger. I was setting core slabs before Christmas and the truck I was picking off was on a slope so when the came off they wanted to drift towards me so I told the guys to have two men on the tag line so they didn't hit me, well the first three went perfect the fourth one somebody went to sleep and it drifted over and smacked my outrigger, not hard but hard enough that it chipped the corner of the slab. Man was I ----- ( insert appropriate phrase) , all I'll say is the last two didn't hit me. I actually told the inspector and he spent some extra time on it checking the whole beam not just the welds.
I hear you about short hair wanting to hunt. During dear season or turkey season I have to keep my hunting clothes and gun or rifle at my shop and leave the house in the morning with my work clothes on or the dog goes ape ****. And my wife is in let's say a foul mood when I get back. My last pointer I tried putting him out side while I got ready then went to the back door, when my wife let him in the front I went out the back " good plan eh " didn't work he came in and sat in front of my gun cabinet looking at it and started kind of a whining howl, and shaking. I think you have to have a hunting dog to know what the sound is like.
I was sitting on the correct side of the glass today
You got that right! I like to take my jacket off and hang it up on the coat hook I installed, but I wait until the carpenters ain't looking.
We always had Labs.....you could handle a gun, no problem. Touch your hunting coat and it was game on. Ed
This is one of our own jobs. That beam weighs a bit over 8,000 lbs I was set up for the beam beside it at 23 ft radius but the iron workers had to fix a post so we did this one first I was 37 ft off the side, I was still in chart but she was a little light on the off side out riggers. The second picture is of a 50 foot mono truss. I got to whip out my rigging again, it's mate is 65 ft. I pulled three out of each pile to build two gable sets. Next week I am bringing in a larger crane to set the rest of the trusses they have to be set at a 85 ft radius.
Cattle barn? Supposed to be 53 degrees (F) tomorrow here, 66 and 67 here wednesday and thursday. Just saying . I don't know what that is in celsius, but it isn't a 6" of snow to work in........
-5 c yesterday and sunny it was quite a pleasant day for working. ( no flies no mud) The building is a loafing shed for race horses, so on dirty days they can be outside but under roof.
Just because I'm going to ask- if you got the crane in the building to set the I-beam, why didn't you just set in there to set the trusses? Put the trusses just outside the wall, set beside the I beam and reach both halves? Walk the crane ahead once or twice and then outside the building to finish? Probably didn't have room? Not being critical- just curious (rather than bringing in a bigger crane).
All good questions, with multiple answers. They are very large shallow trusses and hard to handle so moving them would be a big time consuming job, the first truss to set to the centre of the pile is 180 ft. ( I'm the guy to finish a job someone else started, the trusses where dropped previous to my involvement) I don't have a large enough spreader bar, and I want the best climber I know on the roof on this one to move things along, and he usually runs my crane
I figured it was the truss pile in the wrong spot. I don't know how many semi loads of trusses I've moved 3-4 at a time to get them from where they were dropped to where I needed them to be to set them. It's time consuming, and really flat trusses like those are so flimsy that they're hard to move. Its never fun moving the whole pile closer, or the best is when they ship them with the 3rd truss you need to set, on the bottom of the stack. Its great because its always on the jobsite where you don't have anywhere to lay them at.
Taking a tour of a truss plant once was real educational for me. Turns out, they stack them based on how they produce them, and they produce them in the order that is easiest for them. There was a lot of hand labor, many people man handling them. Anyway, they claimed they didn't stack them back asswards just to annoy the carpenters! It sure gives us a lot of extra work though. One of the things I enjoy most about running the 30 ton now, as compared to the previous 10 ton, the two 17's, and the 22 ton, is the increased capability to move entire stacks around, no surprise there I guess.
Back when I was a nail bender we exclusively used the smaller more "boutique" truss builder. The guy had himself and one helper and he drove his own boom truck to job sites to deliver on top of the plates. Well he always had them stacked in the right order. He also always showed up within about 5 minutes of the scheduled time and would go through mud and whatever it took to get the job done. He also used #1 and better dry lumber instead of #2 green like the "big" truss builder. Guess what, when the recession hit, the big one went under, the little guy kept plugging along and he looks busier than ever today.
I'd like to build or have built a new rigging box for the deck of my boom truck, my old Green Lee box has some pretty bad rust. So I was hoping to build something a bit taller so slings could be hung up instead of all piled on top of each other, with the set I want on the bottom most of the time. I thought I would divide it 2/3 - 1/3 with shelves on the 1/3 side for shackles chain fall edge protection .... and the other side my long slings and line bridles, I keep my every day 2" slings and 3/8" chokers and tag line in the belly boxes for easy access ( and most of my regular customers know where they are and get them out and put them away, I just check to confirm ) The proposed new box would be for rigging I use occasionally. I started doodling and I really don't know where to start , if I put hooks in will the rigging stay hung up or should I do the whole thing in shelves with compartments for each different product. is it practical to make it very tall or would it cause trouble catching the wind. If anyone has something like I'm describing could you give me some ideas please
Hooks for the soft rigging, shelves for the shackles etc. If you hang the shackles on hooks the pins will unscrew while you’re driving and your toolbox floor will be covered in pins.
Know what's funny, I'm exactly the opposite. I put my shackles on pins/rods/hooks, and soft rigging on shelves or in clean plastic bucket. Round ups go nice in a bucket, flat straps roll up and set on a shelf. I know what your saying about the pins walking out, but I usually put 4 shackles together, and hang the group on a pin, and then you don't have as many with a loose pin. But I have had them walk out. I just find with shackles on a shelf they are all piled up on each other, on pins keeps them separate. If a gang box fits nice on your deck, you can't build anything for as cheap as you can buy a new gang box. If you want to get at the rigging from the ground, and don't haul anything else on the deck, you could buy a barn door style box like the spread axle semi trailers use, and then mount it on top of your deck. Then have the doors to the side of the crane. Mount a flat bar with rods sticking out to the back wall or sides of the box for your shackles. You could also put in a shelf and/or divider if you wanted. Something like this:
Don't know how much room you have between boom rest and the cab, and if you have any frame exposed. If you really want to hang straps etc, you may have room for a semi headache rack like this, that still has the window. If you don't have any frame, you could still mount it to the bed.
Up here with road salt and everything I find the steel slings tend to rust on shelves, or mainly on the bottom of the toolbox, and synthetics are better to hang up to dry some. But flat straps are easier to keep track of when they’re wound up the proper way(with the tag facing out for easy I.D.) I’ll have to get a picture of one of the toolboxes at work next time I’m there, one of the guys decided to organize it last summer and has all of the shackles all lined up neatly on the shelf so you barely have to look at them to grab 4 or 6 or however many you need of a certain size.
Just went back and looked at the pictures of your crane. Looks like your hydro tank is right behind the cab, so no room for a headache rack style. I'd do one just like the first one I pictured, on top of the deck. I'd put it right above the one below your deck on the drivers side. Stand in one place and grab what you want. I have put a board in the front of the box like that, 3-4" tall, standing vertical, to keep things from falling out. Makes it easier to stack things up.
I was kinda thinking something like the first headache rack with the legs off it and my spreaders mounted on the back of it with room to walk between it and the hydraulic tank
This is my top box now I know exactly what's in there and where it is but it takes a while to get to it sometimes.i might see if I cane get some detailed pictures of that head ache rack and see if I can have one fabricated.
Looks like your hyd. tank blocks most of the view out your back window anyways, so you could go with a full door version. The over the road semi trucks with sleepers use them. I would find one from a junkyard or someone getting rid of a leased truck that they had their own rack on. New they are 2,500-3,500. I see them used around $1,000 or so. Sometimes less. The full width door like the bottom one would be kind of nice if you were hanging cable spreaders in a loop. Or even if you just hung up one end and let the rest set in the bottom.
To see a bunch of pictures just google "aluminum semi headache rack", and pick "images". Any big truck aftermarket place usually has different styles on display. Most of the time you can't build one for what you can buy one for, especially used.
I like the way you think there is a truck wrecker about 40 km from me I might give a call. Thanks
Here you go, $2,500 kind of high, but it does have that nice one piece door. That is a really big box, you could get a lot of rigging in there. Offer him $1,500 and see what happens? All you would have to do is cut off the legs and make a cradle/ support. https://www.kijiji.ca/v-other-auto-...ck/1332083348?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
I was just on kijiji and didn't see that one I may call and see if the price is negotiable
I got a little air under my front tires on Monday. I had to reach over the front to pick up a couple packages. The piece of wood is a 2x4 I found in the wall of an old house we are renovating there had been a pipe going through the wall encased in brick the wood was 3" from the pipe. I'd say they nearly lost their house likely many years ago there hasn't been a stove hooked up for more than 50 years.
My son sent these pictures to me today he is doing the dirt work on sight and knows I have kinda a sickness for cranes.
That's some old school ironworkers there, they've got their shackle above the ball for one end of the choker, and probably taping open the latch so they can self unhook when setting the bar joists. TMS 300, with the triangle jib. Doesn't have dead stick out though, and didn't bother putting down the front jack, I'm kind of jealous because I don't even have a front jack.....
Sorry for just randomly throwing my reduced charts on here a fellow Ontario operator wanted to see them.
That’s what I was thinking, only affects the 10’ and shorter radii.
In reality it really doesn't effect the usefulness at all. I've had 27,000 on before and was glad to get it set down, I was never out of chart but had to listen to the pre warning longer than I like
How do you pull the dead stick out ?
Start with identifiers for the sections, call them base, 1st, 2nd, 3rd (dead) sections, from biggest to smallest. Telescope 1st section about 3' Telescope 2nd and 3'rd (they are pinned together to start) to full extension, at 0 degrees, or negative, so you can reach the boom from the ground. There's a little screw jack , accessed through a hole in 1st section (that's why it got telescoped 3'- to expose that hole and jack). You insert a little handle with a socket welded to it, and crank that jack up, locking the 3rd (dead) section to the 1st section. Then walk out to the end of the boom, and pull the 3" pin that's holding 2nd and 3rd sections together. It comes up from the bottom side of the boom, held in by a keeper pin. Now you have 1 and 3 locked together with the little jack, and 2 is disconnected from 3 because you pulled the big pin on the end. Retract #2 all the way. Reinstall the 3" pin, from the bottom of the boom, locking 2 and 3 together, only now 3 is stuck all the way out. Now that 2 and 3 are attached together, you use the little handle and socket to retract the jack pin, unlocking section 1 and 3 from each other. Now you can boom up, 3 is stuck all the way out and pinned there. 1 and 2 will extend normally - each with their own cylinder. Uninstall dead section is the reverse. Most guys get hung up when installing or removing dead section, when they try to crank the little jack with boom telescope cylinder "wedging" the pin locked. You have to bump the boom section just a bit back out after retracting all the way when installing the dead section. That releases the tension on the pin, and you can crank the little jack easily. The same when removing it, you have to telescope all the way out, then just bump the lever enough back (retract) to release the tension on the jack. You can hear the boom "bump" itself free off the pin from the cab, if you're totally out of the throttle and just bumping the lever. If you do it all revved up, you'll go past the sweet spot. Once you've done it a couple hundred times, you get the hang of it. Actually the most important thing is having someone that's done one before, show you how to do it, that's the fastest learning curve. If you really want a mess, have someone retract or telescope without remembering to uncrank the little jack, and shearing something off inside, when you have the dead stick out. Then its torch time, if its wedged, because there's no way to get at it. In this picture I've got the boom laid down to pull dead section back in, before swinging my jib back around, after my job. 1 is out the 3', you can see the little hole in the side of the boom, it's right by the passenger mirror of the crane in that picture. 2 is out all the way, pinned to 3. I've retracted the jack pin , and I'm ready to climb back in the cab, boom up to 30-40 deg or so, and retract both sections all the way so I can uninstall the jib.
Yikes that's a bit of work. I can see that you would want an old hand to show you how. Thanks for the explanation. Was this process common on cranes of this vintage
Some of the later groves are "remote power pin". They use the same system only control everything from the cab, instead of getting out. Similar system on my 70 ton. Its really not as bad to install as it sounds, and its simple, no extension and retraction cables to go bad, not a lot of extra weight. No different in a lot of ways from the locking pin/latching booms used today on the big cranes. There's nothing new under the sun you know. I actually think dead stick is a more durable /simpler better system than all the cables on a boom truck.
This the house I worked on over a year ago
This bit of stone fence cost $120,000 the second picture is the master bedroom looking out over the roof in my previous post. Today I set the steel for the " tower "
There’s a bit of money going into that place eh?
Last November they broke over two million
The Forman told me everything in the house has to be custom built because off the shelf stuff just won't work, something that would normally take a half a day can maybe take a week because he has to source material then modify it and hand built.
My most high dollar "cabin" I've worked on, took two days of my time JUST to set the windows, using a purpose designed suction cup device. And other bunch of hours setting big custom log trusses, and about 15 semi loads of strutural steel. between the barn (with 6 guest suites above) and the house, I heard it was about 16 mil, by far the most expensive in my county. It's nice to have the rich guys share with us crane operators a little, it was my second highest billing ever!
Finally Got at those big trusses today, the truss on theft is a 65' the one on the right is 50' we sent the crane home at 3:30 and finished strapping and bracing, ready for another go at her in the morning.
Sent the crane home? Looks like a boom truck to me. Lol had to throw that out there. Manitex 40124 or so?
Yes it's a 40124. The operator was a 21 year old, pretty good we were out 100 ft. On the first truss on the back wall and he was in the blind with the wind blowing the trusses towards us.
Yeah, a boom truck, so the operator drove home at 70 mph instead of 45! I was talking with a buddy the other day in a nearby western state, who has expanded his business recently from a single boom truck (a 26 ton National, BTC, but on a all wheel drive chassis, pretty cool) I see Manitex offers that 40 ton'r with a 142' stick now also. He now has a Manitex 40124, plus a 90 ton LinkBelt, and he was raving about how much it could do compared to any boom truck he's operated, BUT, at the end of the day 45 mph back to the barn, was tough to get used to after boom truck speeds. We all need one of each, just like airplanes, no one machine does it all. Every single time I call my 30 ton rider boom truck, a CRANE, which is almost always, I hope no one on this site hears about it, ha ha. Tradesman: your load chart is about identical to mine. If all a guy did was set residential trusses 100% of the time, the Manitex 101S is hard to beat, I could and did set a lot of trusses out 95' with my old one, and I can't quite do that with the 30 ton National. I see why you had that 40 ton do the craning on your job, plus it's always fun to see how another operator gets it done.
We drove a few spikes!
What's up with this nailer? Let the homeowner lay one out? That and I counted 3 bent over nails in the roof, but I didn't mark them- everyone else can find them on their own. Seriously though, that looks nice, and like a bunch of work.
Don’t know if I should start a new, new ride thread or not but, I splashed a little paint and some new stickers on the old Elliott ( or maybe not )
Looks nice, will you have to derate it like the elliot?
No it was built for me with 15 ton charts and computer chip. More pictures to come.
Congratulations man. Expanding to two rigs or replacing the Elliott? Eitherway it's great that your in position to make that step. Got a big 500hp Detroit in that western star.?
No as far as the crane goes I'm a one man show, the Elliot had to go to help finance the Manitex. The Engine is a 9 liter Cummins.
The only other 30 ton boom truck I know of, besides my 1300 series National, with a counterweight. Very interesting, good choice. It's got a nice short rear overhang, should be about as good as the 22101's for "off road".
I just had to throw these in since you guys are talking about Manitex s. Mine dosent work as much as id like so i keep falling back on my old conventionals . the last picture is gardening at home with the excavator
Congrats, it’s a nice looking machine.
I didn’t know they made engines without dirt and grime on them. This is the counter weight system it has room for two more rocks at 750 pounds each. It doesn’t add to the charts just the stability, I’ll live with it for a while and see how it acts the rock in it is 1000 pounds The dash is so pretty and so many 0’s on the odometer
It’s not the most luxurious cab I’ve been in, it’s about another 25 k for the upgraded tilt cab. Once I was in this one it felt nice with everything in the right place and really good visibility. They spec a Braden winch the salesman said they where better but I don’t remember why. I like they way the truck has some little extras not just a tin can like I’ve been used to. I’m thinking of iner fenders to help reduce the damage from salt and road gravel. Any thoughts good or bad?
This is a before and after of a Reno we are doing in a church, to get them a emergency exit at the front. We opened up the window and put a exit only door in. Ps. That’s not me it’s my Forman he’s one of the best carpenters I’ve ever worked with.
I see no jib, I imagine the 112' will get you everything you need, and it probably wouldn't get you any radius. I think I'd buy the weights while they are still available, unless it puts you overweight on your rear axles. Then at least you would have them if they change styles etc. Although they don't look like anything special that a fab shop couldn't make you some. Two stage outriggers? 24' wide? Pilot hydraulic joysticks or electric over hydraulic? Have to dump air on the bags before setting up? Also no front jack/ 360 without it because of the counterweight? Also, why in the world would they hang a boom angle indicator, right in front of the winch on the opposite side of the boom from the cab? What good does it do there? Just so they can charge a extra $750.00 for it? Western star is really getting popular in the vocational market by me. Concrete trucks, Dump trucks, etc. They do make a nice cab. What's with the circular yellow lights on the cab, some kind of ontario rule, or is it just the way the dealer specs them out? You're going to have to go back to the yard and drag some chains and steel chokers across the deck, just so you get the first scratches over with.
The job was mostly about $ for something I haven’t needed for the past 10 years, my last two jobs got put on a lumber rack in my yard the day they came home to gain the extra capacity. The salesman actually suggested getting the counter weight built said it would be a lot cheaper. Single stage outriggers 19’6” spread ( I think don’t have the book in front of me. Hydraulic pilots, that worth the price right there. Yep you have to dump the air, someone told me it lifts the wheels and you don’t need as much jack height ?? It has 360 charts, there is a angle indicator on the cab side too it’s placed a lot nicer than the Elliotts really easy to view from the seat. The beacon light are just something Cropac does they spec a nice truck. They where in the crane news this year they are manitex largest North America dealer, they ordered 42 straight mast boom trucks for over 6.3 million $ I might have to do like the long haul drivers do and get a set of slippers and soft white gloves Thanks for your interest
Yes, dumping the air would drop the chassis helping set up, just don't forget to dump the air, you can rip the airbags because there's nothing keeping them from over extending when you go up on jacks. Some guys add chains in the suspension so if you forget to dump the air, the chains hold it from overextending. I have also seen guys wire the pto into the dump valve, so when the pto engages, the bags automatically dump . Would keep you from forgetting. The grain haulers fight the over extending air bags also, the weight disappears so fast when they dump, the leveling bags can't let the air out fast enough, they usually add chains to the trailers. The 360 with no front jack will be nice. I'm assuming you got full lockers for the rear also? Kinda surprised to see a non bearing swivel on the ball. If your other ball on your trade in is bearing swivel, I'd swap. Tell them the other one has sentimental value.
I'd get all the weights back there you can, the difference in stability, the pucker factor, makes them worth hauling around. I like their system though for choosing how much you can add, mine is just one big chunk of iron, 1400 lbs. It will make it a little more awkward to walk around behind the cab at times, doesn't matter, it's well worth it. With 110' of main boom, the only time I've used my jib in the last couple years, has been on grain elevator work. But, the outfit that uses me for that work is so slow and erratic in paying that I am about ready to cut them loose, and then leave the jib in the yard. Going across the port scales at 33,980 lbs on the rears as I do, (but only after leaving the boom extended 5' further forward then normal, plus removing all my rear dunnage), losing the jib weight would allow me to leave the dunnage in place. The 101's are known for having pretty good stabilty over the front with no fron stabilizer, mine did anyway. Once the front tires are 3' in the air it's a slightly different story, now that I do have a front stab, I'd be loath to give it up. Like the counterweight, it just feels better, load chart be damned. My 101 came with the tool box on the side like that, mounted real low, for the life of me I can't see why they put it there, before I tore it up I raised it up higher, to the bed bottom. My rig came with "fenders", plastic (tough though), and it for sure keeps the grime off the bed bottom, but if you have to chain up they can be a pain. One winter I removed them just to make chaining easier, this winter I left them on, and luckily didn't need to chain up anyway. What's your all up weight?
I have the same ones on the elliott and get a lot of use out of them, and they haven’t suffered any damage, they even block some of the salt and sand from the frame
I picked up a new commercial framer client this week they do condominiums and multi plex apartments. The first day I stood some prefab wall panels up that they couldn't do with the tela-handler then the next day I put bundles of trusses up, it's two mono trusses some of my picks were out at eighty feet. He said he looked forward to working with me this summer they have 10 10 plex apartments this year. NICE I've got some bills to pay. Just a note I wasn't working at half span on my out riggers, someone came along to talk to me when I was tearing down. Nasty!! But I'm determined she's going to her new home just like I've kept it for the last 5 years.
Found this picture on the internet. ITS NOT MY JOB this is what can happen when you don’t give big trusses enough respect. Avoiding this is what the “ nail benders “ are doing when you’re sleeping in the cab .
I finished up the condominium I was working on today my last picks where putting two skids of 5/8" t&g spruce plywood on top of the elevator shaft. They are a really good bunch of guys but not one of them could give hand signals, I was working in the blind most of the time and all I got for signals where kinda vague finger points in the general direction they wanted it, so being really patient like I am I would just go really slow in the direction they where pointing until the signal changed. Some of these guys have been in the trade for 10-15 years how can you not have any idea! The last time I was there I even gave a couple of the guys signal cards and a brief explanation ( being real carful not to be critical)
I'm going to keep this picture in my favourites to whip out when someone asks me to do something stupid.
Those guys at vertikal never know what they're talking about. You would think that being a "crane" magazine, they would do better, but they don't. He actually wasn't probably running short outriggers on the side he went over on. What happens in a overload condition, is that the crane starts to get up on its outriggers, and then the weight isn't pushing down on the outriggers, but the whole crane is pushing on the cylinders that telescope the beams out. The whole rig gets "up on its toes", the telescope cylinders on the beams don't have holding valves on them, and it just slams the beams in as it comes over. The big all terrains actually have lock pins on the outrigger beams that you install, locking the beams in the out position, so they can't slide in. None of the smaller boom trucks or truck cranes have them, and its not a problem until you get overloaded over the side and the rig climbs up. I think the oil then just bypasses in the control valve, or the cylinder itself, because the beam telescope cylinder system isn't made to handle that kind of load pushing on them to retract. Then the guys at the magazine look at the pictures: " Hey- he's a big dummy and is picking over the side with the retracted outriggers". If they were actual "crane" people, instead of "magazine" people, they would know better. This isn't to say I haven't seen pictures of cranes that went over on short outriggers, usually a RT setting jersey barriers on a highway project, or AT's getting out of the boom dolly. But when you see the outrigger beams on the other side standing clear up in the air, you know the other side was out too, and the weight of the crane slams them in. There's no way he even gets that much boom shot out over the side with the riggers retracted. So why don't the boom trucks and smaller truck cranes have bigger cylinders or holding valves and lock pins on all the beams? Because they will do chart without them. That would cost more $ to build them that way. And the operators probably wouldn't use them anyways. I've run into outfits that never lock them on their AT's, because it "takes too long", or that they actually don't know what they are for, so never use them. All that said, its just a good thing no one got hurt. I hate seeing iron laying on its side.
Manitex, at least the 22101S series, has pins to lock in the position of the outrigger beams, at least in the middle position. I can't recall if they also had them when fully extended. I do know we never used them, and got away with it. Unless you had help, they were a pain to line up just right. We also didn't go past the chart. Good explanation of the post accident outrigger position!
I had a bit of good luck today. I had a customer buy this for me so I could put him up to service his internet towers that he has on the side of silos. NICE!
Tradesman ... Does the basket attach to the end of the boom ? Does the boom fit into the center well. ?
The pin goes through a hole in the boom head and pins in place allowing for a manual brake to be set once your in place
Nice!
My very first pick with my new boom truck The really sad part is I had to drive 3 1/2 kilometers on wet gravel, so sad
Are your rear tandems over 34 K lbs.? I go across the scales at the port of entry at 34,300 lbs normally, this subjects me to fines and/or paying 16 cents a mile and that adds up quick. If I leave my rear rack pads/dunnage in the shop, and run the boom out 3' or so, I go across at 33,800. Only since I installed the 1400 lb. counterweight has it been this tight, just wondering how that 30112S weighs in.
I was just looking at this picture, I don't think I've ever run one with the boom control lever all the way to the right, and the winch closer to me. Usually the winch lever is all the way to the right (or maybe on just the ones I've run). If it was me I'd have to be swapping levers or hoses around. Glad you got out on a job with the new rig. Did you spend a couple hours in the yard getting used to it, or did you just wing it?
I just got It home late yesterday, then had to be on one of our jobs till 11:00 today and had to put all my rigging on it, I only got about 15 minutes on it before I went to my first job. The boom control and winch are like a dream compared to my Elliott " smooth as glass" and the winch control has a thumper in it, today is the first time I've ran anything with a drum speed indicator in it " nice". I'm not entirely happy with the swing control I think it's something in the pilot circuit, I talked to the mechanic at 5:30 today and my salesman phoned me from home after hours and said they'll send a service truck and make it wright. That's the number one reason I bought off them there service is great. Oh you asked about the new down haul weight, it has a grease-able swivel bearing. It doesn't look like it but there is a grease nipple on it and give her a twist and its spins like a top. The way the winch and boom are layed out is the only way I've ever been used to.
If you've never had rotation indicator (thumper) on your winch, you've really been missing out. You can run in the blind, and kind of without even looking at it. Is it free swing or friction swing?
I'm not sure about the split on the weight, but I think it weighs 48,000 and change. 20,000 fronts and 40,000 rears with 46,000 rear suspension. I'm not a truck guy but that's what I understand from reading the specs. I'm pretty lucky I've never had to cross a set of ministry scales.
Friction Between the better controls and the thumper now I don't live in fear of someone asking for a 1/2" on the winch.
In the picture you can see the short line with a hook on it I use it on trusses a lot it keeps the ball out of the guys face on the peak. Oh and the counter weight that's nice too. In one of the pictures I was picking up a 2,000 lb. gable set at well over 60 ft. (can't remember for sure and don't want to lie) off the side and NO ARSE PUCKER it was solid as a rock. Crane op once told me don't always blame yourself and after today Im starting to see what you meant, I'm still a long way from a star but this is nice
I’m not 100% sure but I think that the ASME standard says this is the proper control layout, Grove keeps building them with the winch on the far right though. Throws me off every time I jump into one, every now and then I go to boom down and hold the load to find I’m booming up and holding it.
I live in the dark ages.
Operating near two major interstates and near state borders like I do, the Port of Entry is a major deal, or can be if I'm not up on my game. Thus my questions about the weight thing, count your blessings! As in being told once my mud flaps were 2" too high and I'd better fix them before crossing through again. I did, and about 3 days later tore one off while backing up a hill. They give us local guys absolutely no slack at all. Sounds like you're going through what I did with your new rig when I changed over from the stone age 22101S to the National 1300. The winch thumper is for sure great, besides everything else just being easier to operate smoother. A couple days ago I had a guy in the manbasket 105' up, and when asked to swing about 1' left, I didn't even have to tell him to hang on. Good smooth controls sure make us look good.
I changed out the new tank for a new one on this septic truck this morning, a new customer, I unloaded the tank off a trailer for him a month ago.
Unless you want to loose all that chrome on the front bumper, you better invest in a roundup. Those steel chokers are going to sit there and vibrate and scratch that pretty truck all up. Looks nice though, like that air ride?
Yep they’re outa here I don’t really have anything short enough to replace it yet
if you had a green 6'-8' you could run from one lug through to the other, then put both outer ends on the hook. No shackles, no steel on chrome.
One other question. Do you have to disconnect the ball on the bumper and boom up out of the way to check the oil? Western Star makes a hood that instead of a front flip is a side panel like wing doors. I always wonder why they didn't use those on cranes instead of front flip hoods. Probably more expensive. I do like your really short hood though, I bet visibility is great.
I put a 4" belt winder on with an anchor hook for the belt d ring on my front bumper.It saves that extra trip from the cab if no ones around to hook you up.
I've been trying to come with something like that but the couple ideas I've come up with would look pretty bad and for now I'd like it to be purdy If your near it could you post a picture sometime. Thanks
I don't think they have the 34,000 rule in the Land of Moose and Beaver.
Our mobiles have that setup. They have a single towing point in the middle of the bumper, so have the winch mounted on a bit of 3in wide plate, with a hole in the end for the tow pin.
Problem solved, I couldn't get any roundies locally. I think this should be a good answer it can be hooked up with one hand and when you drop it it doesn't hit the chrome or the ground. I call that a win. I'm also getting my Canadian flag painted on, we people in the land of moose and beavers are a proud bunch.What was that saying about California??? Oh I remember the land of Fruits & Nuts
It took me going through 2 or 3 Crane Smart ATB switches on my Manitex 101S, before realizing I needed to make sure the headache ball while in transit better be high enough to preclude the ATB line weight from shock loading the switch with every bump in the road! This is probably common knowledge but I had to figure it out on my own.
My National came set up with a 2" strap winch on the front, so when pulling up to a job the first thing I do is uncrank the winch (using a large wrench that I then hang on a hook off the front stabilizer) and unhook the ball. Then the last thing I do on tear down, after pulling in the outriggers, is jump back in the cab and winch up until I hit the ATB buzzer, then I hold the defeat button and winch up a few more inches (remaining well short of the dead head point on the boom sheave), to get the ATB switch unloaded by it's weight, then I secure the cab and then crank the winch tight. The only problem with this setup, is when some one, trying to be helpful, hooks me up while I am distracted putting the outriggers and pads away, and THEN I winch up that last little bit, and bust my 2" strap! I need to make up a placard (in both English and Spanish) on the front stab, saying NOT to hook me up.
First time out with the basket
How did it go pinning it on? Most guys I know with one, pick it up and set it on the ground 35' away or so, then scope the boom out into it. It makes a big difference how far your rig booms down. And how level the basket is sitting on the ground. Are there test weights with the basket? or do you not have to do that, like you do with a hanging basket?
No test weights with that type, a buddy with one tells me. Less weight to haul down the road, that's nice. Most of the grainmill work I do requires a cable hung one to access/drop through the spider web of stuff in the way. I have had customers wanting me to get a boom tip type, thinking they'd be swinging around too much, but after using the cable hung one they found it didn't as much as they feared. the trick is to use as little line out as possible, almost two blocked. I do have a one man tip type, home made by me, copied off a Guffire Bros. one, but I only use it for my personal use, not on jobs, ain't certified.
Pinned not too bad, I had to scope out 46 ft. We're not allowed to use a hanging basket without submitting a plan to the ministry of labour and explain why it is safer than any other method, and for that we would need test weight. It worked really well, my client liked it better than the man lift and it was a whole lot cheaper I charged them $500 and they usually pay around $2,000 with trucking for a large man lift. “WIN” I have another on for them on Saturday.
I'd like to have both, what you have and my cable hung.......
My son with his friend Tom
Heres the tiedown i put on my front bumper.Its the first thing i undo and the last to do up when i leave the job. It works well to check oil as well.
Tugger looks great great thoughts went into it.
Well I bet nobody has done what I got a call for this morning. I had to rescue a young raven from this silo his foot was tangled up in a piece of baler twine and was hanging upside down.
While I'm here, here is a glamour shot of the new rig, just after I had it lettered
Looks real good, nice and clean no junk hanging off it.
This is not directly crane-related, but this is my new ride, a 60,000-80,000 lbs capacity forklift with boom. https://www.machinerymoverschicago.com/blog/60-80k-Rigger-Lift/
That's a great looking new forklift for your business. Can you scale it/haul it legally on your lowboy? The riggers mast is really nice to have too. It looks like a modified taylor truck?
No, I have to get a permit every time I transport it, even without forks. My gross weight is 88,000 lbs. The good news is that permits are very easy to get. They are not even very expensive.
Your rig looks really nice. An aluminum rigging box on the deck behind the cab built to fit with the cab shape would be nice. Make it cabinent style so you could hang your rigging,maybe even heated to keep all your synthetic rigging dry. Ive thought of it on mine,but the job box does the trick.
I’ve thought about almost exactly that but I’ve kinda ran out of cash. Might take a couple years.
Hey i know the feeling. If we took money out of the equation all this stuff we do would really be fun.
I very well agree! That forklift is great for business.
I did my first pool lift today. It turns out I set the trusses on the house three years ago. Every time I use this new rig it impresses the heck out of me.
The rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated, I’ve just been super busy and kinda lazy when I get home. The first picture is of a job I did for the Mennonites today. 65 x150 the first 50 ft. I set the timbers for and the rest of the roof we set the trusses. I was in the air less than 3 hours. The second picture is of one of our own jobs we are building a new garage and house and the garage trusses came a day early and I had to have them dumped on the the other side of this row of trees and I had to lift them over, I had to set mid span on my off side but was able to stay in mid span charts. I had 110 ft. Of stick out, I had a pretty good grip on my seat cushion but all went well. I did my first silo pour with my new outfit last week, the guys up top said they like the new crane it’s a lot smoother. Place smiley face here.
Saw this old gem on a crane job today all I could think about was Peter Fonda in easy rider, I thought he rode a triumph or a bsa, no! An old hard tail Harley. During some down time I googled the movie to find out what year it was made ( 69) the young guys on sight thought I was crazy when describing the movie.
Does anyone know what happens when you hit your finger with a preasure washer? “ I do” it instantly blows up to twice it’s size, turns white and hurts like h&ll. As my wife was getting ready to take me to the vet I was milking the water out and telling her “ I got this, it’s ok, don’t need the doctor” I soaked it in peroxide and wrapped it up and it’s good as new.
https://www.mdedge.com/emed-journal/article/100650/case-report-high-pressure-injection-hand-injury looks like the big danger is infection, because you don't bleed, there's no way for the body to get rid of any thing by bleeding. Looks like antibiotics . Water is Far better than high pressure hyd oil. That shows a 30-40% amputation rate. Be careful. As a aside, it must be the week for it, I got a couple stitches in my shin thursday. Fell and didn't think much of it until about three hours later when I went to shower and my sock and boot were squishy. Finger disappeared to my first knuckle in the hole, so off to the ER to get it sewed up and a tetnus shot.
Hospital for the pressure washer to the finger. Cheaper and less painful than loosing the finger. Cam
Especially north of the border.
Gota love it when guys do this it wasn’t bad at the other end of the House I would just set it on the plate and drag it under the straps “ a pain but I’m getting well paid to do things the way they like” But at this end they where raised bottom cord trusses and there was steel clips every 2 ft. that I couldn’t drag them over so they had to mess with them. I give them credit they stuck with it and kept sticking their strapping over 8 feet at a time.
Makes ya miss working for an Amish crew don't it old buddy
Yep. They work the crap out of you though, I did a 250’ hog barn the other day in about 3 1/2 hours boom time with one move.
Isn't it nice when they stick those nailers out there? the nicest is when they're out there like 16' I've got most of my framers trained to just cut individual boards, but some guys you just can't teach.
I generally start out the conversation like this ….. " Good lord ! Is this your first job " LOL!
I’m getting there I spent five years getting my old boom truck the way I wanted it. So now I’m starting over, but I’m a little more fussy with this one, starting fresh and all. Latest additions Home built radio fixture c/w Sirius radio Covers to keep mud and salt off sensitive parts Foot rest, I can’t help putting my feet on the glass and it bothers me Oh a big one, checker plate fender covers Front glass cover Chrome hub caps
I’m posting these pictures, first cause I know you all like purdy pictures but all of these ideas I have stolen from someone else so it’s my turn to pass them on. Except the custom wooden radio mount that’s mine, born out of a lack of something commercially available, and it’s easier for a carpenter to build cabinetry than steel fabbing something.
That's what I'm thinking, but I'm very carful. Not everyone takes constructive criticism well and I need every customer that comes along. So for the most part unless they ask me or they're doing something dangerous I just mumble under my breath.
Glad to see you out working it. Just because I'm curious, how is manitex getting their boom length on your crane? I see they have a box on the side, but no reel, so I'm guessing that that just has the angle indicator/sender in it. I'm guessing its getting length from a small reel at the base of the boom, with the wire attached to the end of the tip section. That's the way some of the new link belt locking booms work. Altec also had that, but with a standard reel on the side and pulley's. Its nice not to have the reel on the side when you're working in the trees. It's not so nice, when it gets a big ball of grease stuck to it from being inside the boom. Trade offs for everything. But I also see that box has a radio antenna on it, and the only thing I could figure was radio receiver for your A2B.
Also- does it have basket controls too, that is- can they run the whole crane from in the basket?
There is a reel under the winch with a small cable attached to the first section and it calculates the length of the boom, and unlike my old boom it doesn’t drag through any grease. The a2b is wireless, it works really nice but I’ve been warned to keep fresh batteries with me in the winter because the cold is hard on them. No I didn’t get the remote controls for the basket.
Nice work Tradesman ! That salt sure don't mix well with electronics .
Welcome!
I know what you mean with external reel around trees,ive caught mine a few times. I just had to send my a2b2 for repairs, years of driving around with the weight hanging on the sender caught up with me. I snap a bungy on it now, do you guys do anything to protect the sender? 400+ $ in repairs taught me to pay attention to that detail.
My ball goes high enough to take the weight of the a2b weight.
Mine go's all the way . LOL !
Out of the gutter! My down haul weight!
I had a nice job today, we had to deconstruct the second story of this house it had spray foam insulation so they cut it into manageable pieces and I craned them down, then lifted the preassembled wall sections into place and finally set the roof section. It was for a really good custom home builder, we where all day but he was very happy, the job was done, no one was hurt, and no damage was done to the remaining house from a piece falling badly.
OH CANADA ! Same great flag, different flag pole. Happy Canada day to all my fellow Canadians As well, happy 4 Th. Of July to all my good neighbors to the south.
Back at you, happy canada day and 4th!
Looking good Tradesman, those fenders will keep your access ladder un crudded in the winter time. Mine got so full of gunk on the 22101S it was a struggle to extend sometimes. I got my radio from a farm supply catalog, meant for tractors I guess, dual speakers all installed and easy to mount. If my radio and Sirius ain't working, I'm not a happy camper, it helps a lot with me keeping a proper attitude. When caught fiddling with it, I pretend I'm messing with the LMI, "resetting the load computer", no one is the wiser. You got air in that cab? My cheap little WalMart 5,000 BTU one is working great, as it the Yamaha generator that runs it. I think I posted about my lower window getting broken, while parked over nite at a Flying J truck stop (8 miles from my home no less), and how I replaced it with aluminum deck plate, as I don't often (never) need to look that direction I figured. THEN, I remembered your footrest idea and stole it, more deckplate brake formed just right, it's so comfortable I feel guilty, I only use it when no one's watching.
I had a different type of job for myself yesterday, I put the roof decking up for a new school. The bundles ranged from 1,700 pounds to 3,300 pounds. The iron workers where all young guys and a pleasure to work for. The batteries where dead in their radios and I didn’t have mine, so for any of the long reaches, the guy on the roof would get the bundle close to where he wanted it, then phone me, a couple times he phoned me while he was looking down at me, man was that freaky to see the delay. I’m always a little intimidated working for iron workers, but it went really well, they thanked me for a good job and asked me for a business card “ win “ .
Nice work Tradesman ! We put a " spotter " on the edge of the roof when in the blind . Let them tell me what to do . Any confusion rig gets shut down & yell out the winder " what's going on fellers ? "
That would have been better but there was only two of them, one was on the truck hooking and the other was up top placing the bundles. Their only job for the day was to put the bundles up, then hello weekend.
I actually prefer the phone over radio's. It seems like you can't get good two way radio's anymore, unless you spend a outrageous fortune. And then the batteries are always dead when you need them. I've been buying the "hunting" type GMRS radio's from bass pro, and they aren't exactly cheap. but it seems like I only get a year or two out of them and they don't work. And I don't use them very often. Everyone's phone seems to work when they need it. Two way conversation with no delay is nice. It seems like my phone has better volume than the two way radio's do also. I can't hear the radio's over 2 stroke noise.
The traffic was hell on the way to my job on Saturday.When I got home from my crane job I had to go out on the backhoe, the picture is of me on the way home at 8:00 pm.
This is what happens when there is an extra retaining pin on the underside of your new line block you forgot about and didn’t notice till you run 30 ft. of line over it. And as per my normal operating procedure I rigg the block and then lift it off the ground, get out and inspect it hanging before I proceed, but I missed it until I got hooked to the load and noticed something didn’t look correct. I looked it all over and didn’t see any broken wires so I proceeded with the lift, but shortened the rope as soon as I got home. “ some days a diamond, some days a stone “ Ps. The pik was a 20 ft. Container and any of the containers I’ve lifted in the past where all around 10 thousand but this was only 6200 pounds. I could have done it with a single part of line.
What was ya up to in the hay field Tradesman ? Love the pictures , amazed how close they resemble my area .
Yes I’ve noticed that, I imagine not so much in January though! I was lifting a sea can that houses the owners maple sap vacuum system, he is going to pour a concrete base with a large sap storage under it, so I’ll have to go back in a few weeks and put the container back on it’s new base
You fellers have quite a bit colder winter than we would be used to . I would have to mount a wood stove in the cab if operating in your neck of the woods past November .
That stinks on the cable. Just wondering how your getting along with the new crane, now that you've had it a while. On the conex, I would put the block in even with 6200lbs. I always find its easier if you just slow down the line speed. The only ones I'd do the 6,200 in would be my 35/rt, or my 70 ton. They have bigger winches running 3/4" cable. Anything running 5/8" or smaller cable I would have had block in.
Just love it the pilot controls have such a nice feel to them, now instead of clenching my teeth on something tikle-ish I can just ease into it like a pro, the counter weight makes it so much more stable, I’m looking into having another one made there is a slot for two more. The winch is faster, the boom is smoother, it extends and retracts faster, the only thing I’m not as impressed with is the rotation, it is strong, fast and feathers well but just doesn’t have as nice a feel to it as the old one, it might even be the fact that the swing mother is external ( witch I like for service and inspection ) but I can hear it and it makes me think it is “ notchy “ it lets me know if I’m out of level. In short I love it. I know what your saying about two parts, if I know I’m going to be picking more than 5 k I run two parts just makes everything smoother.
The Star Car almost got a bruise today, I was coming up a hill on one of my favourite tree lined paved roads when not fifty feet in front of me a small tree fell across the road. Thank goodness I was going up a steep part of the road and was geared down going pretty slow and was able to steer around the biggest part of it, no damage done. I live in constant fear of that first bruise. I’ve been pretty busy with it, but not much picture worthy, did have a customer of mine give me a giant flag, he said the one I fly on my crane on long weekends is just too small
That is going to put a pretty good wind load on the boom.
I have a question for some of the old hands on a crane. Does every crane have a best lenght of boom to work with? I never really thought about it until I was on the roof while a more experienced operator than myself was running a manitex 38124s and he said it worked really nice at 100 ft. I really didn’t know what he was talking about but I’m starting to see it. Tell me if I’m dreaming but I used to run with as short of a stick as possible, but I’ve started using usually about 75 ft. whether I need or not, It’s short enough that it doesn’t have any bounce, but long enough that at the higher boom angle it is quicker to change radius.
I don't know about the official technical answer, but I've found every rig I've had to have a sweet spot, based on stability, structural strength (goes without saying) and a little harder to pin down, hydraulic behavior. My Manitex 101S had a funky thing it would do when booming down, it would start pulsing, NOT a smooth boom down, but it would only do this at a certain boom length. One of my 2 17 ton Terex's did the same but less so. I learned to just avoid that length, as it was pretty short, easy enough to do. Setting trusses, I'll just use the boom needed, and a bit more. Heavy stuff, I look at the chart, and it often tells me to run out a lot more boom then needed just to reach the load, but now I have a steeper boom angle so more capacity. When in doubt, go with the chart. If I near the end of a job, I'll "short stick" it, just so I can tear down and get outa there sooner! Most house jobs, my sweet spot is around 85' of sticK. My favorite jobs, are ones that call for a lot of stick to start, then nearing completion, very little, and I've learned to communicate with the nail benders, "hey, if you want to set that lay in, let's do it NOW, while I have all this stick out, don't ask me to do it after I get it all sucked in." I've told them it's like them having to get all their air hose out, again, just to nail something far away, when they were there earlier. A PITA.
I think the lighter a boom is, the more sensitive to length it is. The more boom you keep in, the less side to side movement you will get in it, more overlap between sections. It also helps the boom deflection, the more overlap the sections have, making it less "whippy". The National we have now is not real happy out at the full 95', its much better behaved at 85-90'. Our Rt is similar- it has 110' main, and setting trusses its better behaved at 100-105'. I don't have this problem in my tms 300, if I put it all out, main at 105' or with jib at 136', I'll just run it there for the whole job (trusses/ cycle work). I don't think I ever run it with a little telescoped back in. Same with my 25 ton groves. If I put jib in at 106' I can set trusses there until I have to telescope in a little to set the close ones. But those booms are really rigid, and that's the difference. And they are fairly slow on the boom, so it doesn't tend to get away from you booming down. More stick out, speeds it all up when your changing a lot of radius (setting trusses), and they are slow enough to begin with, the extra length just helps. My 70 ton would be a great crane if you only ever ran it on main boom. If you put all the jib in and dead stick out, (188') its just too fast to be smooth and easy. It runs best with either just jib and no dead stick out (130-160 depending if you have the stinger out on the jib) or just dead stick (127'). The power pin/ dead stick gives a lot of deflection with the jib installed. It actually acts better with just jib on with no power pin, (100' main + 30' jib) than it does with power pin out on main (127'). The jib is more rigid than the power pin section. If I'm setting heavy stuff with my 70, 35, or Rt, I like to run out only what I need for boom, the charts are better, and every hydraulic input movement, means less movement at the boom tip. Its so much easier to be precise the slower that everything happens. If you really get into reading charts and studying them, there's quite often instances where more boom gets you more chart at radius, and some cranes have a "super strong" place. Some cranes with say 150' of main may have a 111' boom chart that is 1,000lbs better than any other boom length chart. I've been studying a lot of all terrain charts recently, and I notice it in them. Link belt uses a A mode and B mode on some of their truck cranes. A mode in those, gets you a much better heavy picking chart, by only extending the bigger section of boom. 35' - 60' of boom out. It makes a big difference in their up close lifting charts. B mode is for the longer boom lengths. The Grove tms 870 I used to run had a A and B mode too, but the A mode in it, sent out the lighter sections, only helping if you were running without counterweights. Any counterweight installed, B mode was always better charts in the grove. I always had counterweight on, so the only time I used A mode was if I needed all the boom out, it was faster to telescope it all out in that mode. Other than that, A mode was useless.
That's the other interesting thing, how more boom out can often mean cycling trusses faster. I play with this all the time to keep things interesting....varous combinations, some involving more winching, or some less winching, my favorite are when I can do the job with little winching, just booming. When I pick a bundle of trusses that are awkwardly positioned, before setting them down and commencing to place them, I'll eyeball where they will be going, and will try to put them where I can reach them when cycling by mostly booming with just a little winch work, that works fastest with my rig. I'm not sure what my winch speed is, faster would be nice, and I do see the bigger machines have faster line speeds.
Our latest Liebherr AT has a nice function. Every function, swing, boom and winch, starts slow, gradually gets faster until it is full speed. If you quickly just let go of the lever, it creeps to a stop, not suddenly stop. Makes an operator seem like a pro. Couple that with 0-100% speed control settings, and an operator can easily just pinch off a little...smoothly
With what they cost- they should be like a good bird dog. You should be able to whistle and point at what you want picked up, and point where you want it to go, and the crane should take care of the rest.
Maybe they already have this feature? But with the electronics nowadays, I envision a button you could push, so when rotating back to the same place over and over (like a pile of trusses you can't see) you'd smoothly come to a stop right where you engaged the button. Seems like it'd be simple enough, like engaging a cruise control, but using a sensor on the turntable instead of the driveshaft.
they do have rotation sensors 0-360 degrees. And winch sensors. You can come back to same spot while in the blind
Be careful with that new manitex: this one was a 2019
Not a good day for several people I bet.
I know how the guy feels, that first scratch really hurts. Hope nobody was hurt, are there any details on what happened?
No details, its just up for sale like it is, I see probably one a month or so like this. The rigs are top heavy, air ride, and they will do 70 mph. One little twitch or you try to hang a corner too fast and over they go.
Yep I’m pretty careful in corners with mine, I’m lucky I’ve got two things to keep me dirty side down I make the payments and I’ve got a highly sensitive arsometer. You not in the seat today or just a slow job like mine with lots of time to play with your phone
Oh that will just buff out.............. Not! Rick
Somebody made a heck of a job of chaining that ex. down
I had an interesting day I was on sight for the job in the first picture before 7 am it was a set of small trusses for a horse barn. The interesting part was it was on the edge of the Bruce trail, an around 900 km. walking trail that follows an escarpment from Niagara Falls to the tip of the Bruce peninsula. Then after lunch I set a pool house on a slab over the plumbing and electrical, this was also on the edge of the Bruce trail but 80 km. north, same escarpment but very different topography.
Beautiful country
One thing I sometimes bring up to my customers when I tack on my travel time, is how me and my machine are at much greater risk driving down the highway then when set up at the job site. Look at that recent truck/Greyhound bus crash in N.M, caused by a blown tire on the truck they say. My single rear axle 17 ton Terex was a rolling deathtrap on the highway and on curves, my Manitex 101 tandem was a sports car in comparision, I could take posted curves FASTER then the speed listed, easily. The Terex, I took them SLOWER. I took my jib off (1400 lbs?) the National as I only need it once or twice a year, and don't need that extra weight 11' off the ground when going down a twisty dirt road. I can imagine that 40 ton Manitex being a real handful. I just noticed the Maple Leaf on your headache ball, cool!
Look at my avitar, I get lots of compliments on it, but as with any flag it should be kept in good condition and it needs a sanding and fresh paint, it gets scratched up when changing to my line block or taking it off to use the man basket.
The things you see in horse and buggy country. It’s new road lines painted over a road muffin.
Lmao....good one. Ed
I worked off the side today for the first time since I put the second counter weight on. Quite a difference, I was out 67 ft. And picked up a 1700# gable section it was solid as a rock. So now I have 1700# of counter weight with room for one more rock at 700#
If you can scale the crane legally on the road with it back there, I'd sure hang it.
I could say something nasty like "boom trucks need all the help they can get" or comment how I just did more than that with my old 25 Grove this week setting trusses, and didn't even think twice about doing it. I did have to get out of the cab and swing jib on the old grove though-all that main power boom will make you fat and lazy- although that does add counterweight (see comment above about the needs of boom trucks). Or I could moan and whine about how pathetic my national feels over the side with a load on it compared to my old truck crane. Or how much daylight my national gets under the other side, at any thought of a load past 70'. But you guys might think I don't like boom trucks, and I own one........(for now).
But you wouldn’t do that so thanks. I’m still healing up from buying it, putting on the fenders,lettering it, radio,covers, new rigging box, seat covers up and down, so the other weight will likely have to wait till spring.
I know you’re just poking, and I’ve never ran a mobile crane and my license makes one not an option, but I don’t need to apologize for this machine, the longer I run it the better I like it and the second counter weight just completely changes the feel. I might be imagining it but I think it even slews smoother, if it does I attribute it to the added weight on the back eliminating some of the stress on the bearing. Feel free to tell me I’m crazy, I’m learning every day ( teaching myself) I really wish I could of had the benefit of learning from an old hand.
Most of the time the old hands are really just old a holes. Lol Some of us got thrown to the wolves and had to learn fast. I wouldn't apologize for that boom truck either. Every time you climb a hill and don't have to drop 5 gears and lose 30 mph think of crane op and smile. Or when you hit the cruise control and turn on the radio(that you can actually hear in the cab). The only time your at a disadvantage is when you try to compare your boom truck to an actual crane of the same tonnage. And it does seem that boom trucks don't handle hard cycle times for extended periods of time as well as cranes.
Closest rig I have to a boom truck is Ford digger derrick rig . It's pretty handy at times as we back rite up close & personal to the pick . A lot of places the truck cranes would do more damage to the yard or concrete sidewalk then it's worth . Or become part of the yard sunk to the axils . Use the KW Holmes rig once in awhile for the same reason . Everything has it's place .
I'm getting closer to that stage Knepp . Was trained buy the Old A- Holes LOL ! How's work the Tower Cranes going ?
Sorry, I didn't mean anything bad about your rig tradesman, its a really nice rig. I'm more whining about my national, the last couple jobs I've gone and done with my 25, I wouldn't have got with the national, and it has some more problems we need to sort out. One of my guys just loves running it (he hates driving my old 25), and it has gone and done some jobs that I couldn't have done with my 25, specifically when there's no room to swing jib. And it does get down the road pretty good. Its just the little things that kind of bug me, like the fact that it won't pick itself back off the ground with all the boom out when you're greasing. You've got to scope it back in before it will come off the ground. I've got a buddy with the same rig, and his is the same way. He says I've just got to learn to live with its limitations. I really just want it all. I want something that picks like my old 35, and sets up in that same footprint, with outrigger jacks like a Rt, but no frame flex. I want it to get up and down the road like my lowboy tractor bobtailing. Has pilot joysticks that are like butter, and all the impressive bells and whistles, but stone simple to work on and so reliable that I never have to work on it. Tons of power, but not use any fuel. A whole pile of live main boom, but rigid and heavy like a old school short boom. Is that too much to ask?
I took no offence, I’ve always been a little apologetic for having a boom truck, but this new rig has changed that, as I settle in with it I’m seeing what a well designed boom truck can do. But I’m the first to admit it’s not a crane and would never stand up to heavy cycle work like feeding iron workers or setting even relatively light precast. For me it’s perfect PS. That’s seems like a reasonable list of expectations!
One more thing, it needs to be really cheap too.
@crane operator when you find that crane let me know.... ill buy one to
I usually drive right at 60 mph (interstate) on the way to a job, it makes the math easy on my travel time charges! But today, I was running late and bumped it up to 70, no problemo, it sure is nice having that capability with our boom trucks. I also can get in and out of the local convinence stores, that also have the best diesel prices and the best coffee, though I'm probably about at the limit when they get crowded, at the limit of someone telling me to go to a truck stop, but that has never happened. If I had a truck crane, I don't think I could fit in without teeing people off? I looked into a bulk fuel tank years ago, had one actually, the price I was quoted for the fuel plus delivery was higher then I can buy it at the mini mart.
Heck I'll buy two. Idk maybe we just oughta start making our own.
I set the trusses on a 40 x 100 barn today in 1 - 1/4 hours. then it was an other hour while they got ready to set the chimneys. By the time I was driving out there was 50 feet of the wall covered with barn boards and 75 feet of steel on the roof
100' trusses 4' on center. 75 minutes. Comes to around 3 minutes per truss. Thats cruising.
Full disclosure, they had three up and braced with the telahandler when I got there.
Noticed the Mennonite crew had the hard hats on . Slow down man ! Nice work Tradesman !
I was on the same job as my son that runs equipment, he was digging trenches for geo-thermal and I was setting a beam. I phoned him last night for directions to the job, which he gave me. I asked him if there was a good spot to set up he said not really but I’ll look after it. When I showed up he had a spot 50 ft. Square levelled off and had tracked over it to pack it, wow what a treat compared to driving into a sight that looks like a bomb went off. His mother did a heck of a job raising that boy.
Have you got a fuel tank on each side of the crane? or is one a DEF tank. I just saw the one under the drivers door, then the one back by the tandems on the passenger side, and then I'm assuming the black tank is your hyd.
I have two fuel tanks a def tank and your correct the black tank is the hydraulic tank. Since you mentioned it how does the fuel get from the rear tank to the front tank? The front tank feeds the engine and the gage is also in the front tank and unlike my old truck there isn’t a gravity line joining the two.
around here we would set a small beam like that with the excavator since he's already on the job. Just curious how things are done differently in different regions. Is it a safety thing since excavators are not rated for lifting?
A lot of times they do set with excavator, to be honest that’s what happens most of the time and my son didn’t really know, the only thing we could think of was it was a 50 ft. beam and a built up lot with only an apron of backfill around it, the general contractor made the call for safety reasons. Good for me I got a three hour minimum for 30 minutes work and 15 minutes road time.
On my way to the office on Monday, the job was beams on a big house right on the waters edge but I got busy and didn’t get any pictures. This is a panelized house, I was setting the main support beams. I had some luck I hit the off set on the slings dead on the first time, the top hit the beam pocket about six inches before the bottom, the carpenters where amazed but I didn’t let on it was a lot of luck. This is a dust collector at a Mennonite shop we had to disassemble it and set it on the ground, they are reconfiguring it and I am putting it back up on the next farm next week.
We got the dust collector back up today. I know for a fact when the cows come home, according to the time stamp on the picture it’s 2:51. They where pizzed off too, the gate was closed and they couldn’t get to the barn. Because we where working in the barn yard.
I picked this gable set up at 75 ft. This morning. Not many houses like this any more, gable to gable including the garage. I reset the sea can on top of the under ground concrete maple sap tank. I posted a picture on this thread a few months back when I lifted it off. It took longer to put the outriggers down than to make the pick.
Yeah, a roof structure designed to just keep the water off IS rare these days, most seem to be a way for the architect and truss engineers to show off! Girders hanging off of other girders, so needlessly complicated and it makes me wonder in 100 years how many will still be standing. Of course for us, it's more billable time.
I’ve been quite busy so I haven’t posted any pictures lately. The first picture is of a tower I took down on a quiet back street, I had to block traffic and reach over the house the lay it down in the back yard. This picture is of a gable set at 83 ft. Radius I put a man up in the basket at 72 ft. Radius to put bird screening on the gable vent and a chimney cap on a large church. I was within a couple feet of maxing out.
This was the first time I used all 112 ft. of stick
My wife and I where doing some shopping for our first grandchild.
My mechanic is still upset with me. When I bought my RT I bought it by pictures. I had it delivered to a jobsite, and wanted to do a quick inspection of my own before I went to work with it. I drove it off the trailer, put on the outrigger pads, set it up and shot out 110' of main, and boomed it down flat over the side. Jim said the pads on the other side were floating a little, but- its designed to do it. I told him "I'd rather find out now if it will do it, than when I really need to do it on a job". Congrats also on the "grand" news.
And isn't it nice to be able to say that, "first time I used all 112"?! Compared to when I was ALWAYS needing ALL the stick I had when running 2 different 17 ton/70' stick boom trucks, my 110' the National has is also rarely used, but man is it nice to know it's there!
This is a Mennonite shop I did a week ago. When I showed up the trusses weren’t even there yet, so I set up and waited. When they arrived about twenty men put a three truss section together and away we went two hours later I was driving out the lane. This is the view I had today while I put this swim spa into the back yard
These are some preformed standing seam sheets I put up on a library
This is a couple of my own projects that we have going now. One of my employees sent me this. The guys that work for me usually keep an extra pencil for me in there apron. In my defense I am usually doing 10 things at a time while talking to customers or suppliers on the phone
The lake side of the house above.
Looks like a nice house
Heart breaking !!
This is the vertical auger tube out of thr grain drier I worked on a couple years ago. Pretty well used.
The abrasiveness of grain on elevator components is something I am thankful for.... (4 hours today, a different grain wear related job tomorrow) though I remember when I first heard about it I couldn't imagine it eating through steel! Good work too, usually on pavement, level pavement, less wear on the equipment then setting trusses also.
I'm smiling on the outside, but I'm laughing on the inside.... We were about two hours south of a pretty good snowstorm sunday, it was like 65 degrees here saturday. (I have no idea what that is in Canadian: 57, 109 who knows? It was no coat and no white stuff weather.) The mess on the new rig stinks, but I'm not sure there's a thing you can do about it, aside from a indoor wash bay. Time to add onto the shop.
Hey, dammit, no laughing. Saturday was great here, but Sunday was miserable. Miserable is when the wind speed is above the temperature, Sunday gusts were double miserable. Temp of 24, wind gusts of 53. The ground was warm, so melting from the bottom up in most spots. No serious drifts a blade and vee plow couldn't open on rural roads.
I have used the same 4” polyester slings for a number of years on core slabs and they’re starting to show some wear I was thinking about getting some 5/8” wire rope slings 16 ft. long 1/2” would do for the slabs I lift, but slabs can be pretty abrasive, so I’m looking for good safety margin. What do you guys use for core slabs ?
I use my 8'x 1/2" steel around the core, to my 4-1/2" x12' steel with hooks on them. No need to drag 16' through and around. 8' cheaper to replace when they go bad. The bigger slabs in the bigger cranes I still use the 1/2" around the core, but my 5/8" or 3/4" spreaders with hooks instead because I don't have the smaller hook spreaders on those cranes. I've never used poly/nylon on core slabs. I suppose you could use those plastic corner protectors or softners (belting or firehose) to protect the straps, but that takes a lot of time.
Thanks. I have some 1/2” x 10’ that I use on steel I guess I could use them and save a few bucks because first time I use those new 5/8” they would be kinked up. The steel would likely bight in pretty good too. The reason I was thinking 16’ was so that they are long enough that I only need to use two spreaders ( 20 ft roundies) I have told the guys I set for NO MORE 40 footers. I’m in chart but I have to set up so close there isn’t much room for error and last time I did the 40’ footers they let one drift into my out rigger. I used four spreaders for the bigger slabs
40' precast would be tough with your rig. Its okay with just a couple slabs to set if you can be close, but if you had a bunch to do, its just not enough. I've set a couple condo buildings with my 70 ton, and one building with the customers 90 ton. I did part of one building with my RT, but the solid slabs on the porches/decks are a real handful with it.
Oh ya the fourties are plenty, there’s usually only six pieces to make a 24’ loft in one end of the shop I’ve done 4 buildings with 40’s and three with smaller pieces. The building I did last week was 24’ slabs for a fifty ft. Building easy peasy. The guys barred on my 4” polyester slings a couple time and put two tears in them, so it’s wire rope time. I ordered two 16’ x 1/2” today $ 32.00 a piece didn’t think that was too bad. Thanks for the words of wisdom.
How heavy is a forty foot plank? Iv never lifted fortys.
Just short of 13,000 lbs.
I moved this rebuilt bin onto a hopper bottom and hoisted the transfer auger into place today. This was my first time working for a feed system business. Most of the guys around here have their own boom truck and get the large cranes to do the big lifts. I did this job for a local crane company with several larger cranes. It’s nice see that my name is getting out there it’s been a long process.
Looks like winter is there big time. Your cab is worth every penny now.
Love those pictures, that's the kind of work I grew up doing. Bins, augers mostly on farm storage, not much commercial. Looks a little chilly out though- heater work good?
That’s my biggest problem these days, finding the right setting for the heater it doesn’t have a proper thermostat just a dial with about 10 notches so I have to keep fiddling with it. THE HARDSHIP!!
Not terrible, this time of year snow and just around freezing is the best, you can work every day and stay dry.
When it gets into the teens here, I'll turn the heater on when I pull out of the shed, no use screwing around! Just in the 20's or 30's, I'll turn it on when letting out the winch to unhook, by the time I get my outriggers out and set up, it's toasty. The Espar uses so little fuel, why not? I have learned to overcome my feelings of guilt, watching the carpenters out in the cold wind, but I do try and not giggle out loud, they don't like that. Frankly, I am surprised not to get more static about how cushy I have it when on the jobsite, then again I'm usually double their age, at least, so they probably just feel sorry for me.
That is a lot of new tin on an old bin. I know bins are expensive, but I'm not sure that was a good investment on the customer's part.
Its kind of funny, but I tend to have better luck regulating temp with the window than with the heater settings. Of course with the old hunter heaters you usually have all those settings of 2, high and low. And on low they sometimes don't like to keep cycling, so HI is usually the go to setting. Just move the window or door to the desired cool breeze mixture. And on another note, be careful out there. The first one is a 2019 and didn't have 1,000 miles on it. Looks like they tried to hang a corner a little too hard and put it on its side. New rig and probably not quite used to it, with 450 hp. The second one is a 2014 so pretty new too. It they dumped over the rear onto something, and had to cut the boom up, it was bent around pretty good. They are both 40124's.
Crane op. Those s pictures are heart breaking especially if it’s an owner operator, I know how I feel about mine! I knew a guy that bought a brand knew best in class combine and the first year he used it they buried it in the mud and progressively put larger machines on it to get it out until they pulled the front axel out from under it. The reports are he never said a word to anybody he just walked to the house and shot himself, a tragic story. It was back in the early eighties when guys where going broke every day,he was a pretty progressive guy and went deep in debt for this combine.
On a lighter note here is a picture of precious get a hot bath yesterday ( my son mockingly calls it precious) Today I will under coat it to help fight off the rust, I enjoy winter but road salt is heck on equipment.
That's the best wash- when someone else is doing it. This is going to sound a little personal, but how big of a guy are you? I'm 6'6" and I'm not fat, but I'm not "slender" either, and I have a hard time getting in and out of the cab on our national. Its like the door is too far ahead, and into the control station- ours has levers (simple is better you know) and I end up getting hung up on the levers getting in and out of the cab. My old groves are okay, and the rt is fine, the 70 ton is huge inside, but its a 10' wide carrier. I was wondering how your cab was on the new manitex, the pilot controls would help a lot for room in the cab, but I was wondering about the rest. It looks like yours has the smaller cab than the 40 and 50 ton's do. I ran a altec a little bit, and it was really crowded, and had a front opening door, rather than a side door, it was like falling into a skid steer. It tended to cook you a little because it didn't have much cross flow windows either. Most of the truck cranes, the door doesn't go to the front of the cab, giving room for the controls and the dash, and it not interfering with getting in and out of the door.
6'-0" 220 lbs. "no big belly " The cab isn't what you'd call roomie but if it had long sticks at the front it would be miserable to get into, but its not like a skid steer you don't have to just point yourself at it and fall in. Once your in the seat its very comfy I put a foot rest in to keep my feet off the glass. The cabs on the pictures you posted are the newer more expensive cabs, I think around 20K more and you get electric over hydraulic pilots and a bunch of nice extras. I really wanted hydraulic pilots and 20 k was a factor as well, my cab is still available just not as common.
Electric over hydraulic pilots are not a upgrade from hydraulic pilots- in my opinion, there's a lot more feedback from hyd. pilots. The only nice things about electric controls is if you lose a hose, you don't have a cab full of oil, and when its hot, you aren't surrounded by 240 degree hoses - they can make it kind of warm. I would imagine the electric pilots would make it easier to do the electric adjustments from the console for response and speed. I know the electric pilots are much cheaper for the manufacturers. Run wires instead of hoses.
House trusses today and a shop yesterday. That’s a 52 ft wall I’m hooked to this is the third one I’ve done like this set the walls then the trusses all in the same day
I like the equealizer blocks rigging setup. I did a big shop today, 40' by 80', stood the walls up in 16' sections, and then drank coffee while they sheeted them. That's the way that crew likes to do it, and don't mind paying me to do nothing for an hour or so. If I was still a carpenter, I'd have them all sheeted and ready to go up, your crew got max bang for their crane buck. How long were those wire ropes? 3/8" dia. ?
The wire ropes are 1/2” x 20’ They asked me how to build the sections, how to lay them out and where to build them a year ago and this is the third one since. They’re hooked but the last one was 60’ it was almost the max, it went up well but there has to be a limit.
Finally something interesting. This is for a semi regular customer of mine, he has his own telahandler, so I get the call when it’s too high or too far or too heavy.
Looks like santa brought you snow for christmas? Lucky you. They going to shingle the dome?
Yes they get shingled these are high end condos about 100 yards behind me is Georgian Bay at Wasaga Beach it has the worlds longest fresh water beach. Not really much snow we should have over two feet of the white stuff but we don’t even have enough to go snowmobiling
I'm sorry about the snow comments, I paid for it this morning, and now I've said I'm sorry , so you can make it stop now. I've got work to do this week, I don't have time for this nonsense.
These are pictures of a renovation we are doing on a cottage, we saved the existing footprint so that it could remain in the same spot rather than move to 100 ft. From the water. Obviously the pictures are out of order. It’s being built like a commercial building with a flat roof and parapipits, the owner is an architect that does high end commercial prodjects ie: university’s , libraries.... it’s been a Learning experience, getting the layering correct, the blue skin is continuous and provides an air barrier and vapour barrier with the insulation on the outside of the house. Like my dad always said you’ll never learn any younger.
I picked up this job over a competitor of mine today, he won’t work on the weekend. It’s two units of a town house, I’m setting the party wall in the first picture 2,800 pounds. I was extra accommodating and left a couple bussiness cards. Today was the first time I asked anyone to take their slings off and use mine they had them on the party wall when I showed up. The one loop had a cut about a third through, I hate taking a chance of looking like a jerk But I just wasn’t willing to risk a failure. The second picture is across the road from where I was today, I set part of the structural steel for this condominium for a friend of mine that has a steel erection company. His crane was booked on another job for the day so I helped him out. We set the steel early in September.
Looking like a jerk? Hardly, I do that also, and I AM a jerk, but my customers still appreciate that I have the proper rigging, in perfect shape, unlike the tow strap or ACE Hardware chain they were planning on using.
Who doesn't work on the weekend? I guess obviously someone who doesn't need the work.
Hopefully I can help him with that, I’ve gotten several of his customers over the years because I’m just generally more obliging. He has a terrific customer base and is said to be a very good operator but kinda miserable.
Wait? You're moving to sw missouri and competing with me? You've only got it partly right, I can be worse than "kinda", and the "very good" doesn't really apply either. "is said to be a operator but miserable"- there- I fixed it for you.
I’ll do it long form. It is said by those that know him that he is a good operator but has a miserable personality. I saw you type out a grammatical atrocity recently, I was even going to PM you but decided to take the high road. Just laziness on my part. How bout you ? Thanks for keeping me on my game.
I blame it on not having to learn french by law. So they do know me. I'm famous- a legend in my own mind. (which is a small pond to perform in) And things are great here- 66 degrees here- in F. That's like 167 degrees or something in metric. No snow in other words.
So are we about to 1 year anniversary for the new rig? Aside from the obvious severe discomfort with the fogging windows )), are you happy with it? From your posts you seem to like it much better than your elliot. I keep taking out my mack hoping to have it grow on me, but it hasn't yet. It runs great up and down the road, a really stable carrier, long jacks, narrow footprint, good power. But I feel like a rookie running it. All tensed up on the controls, and I sure can't put things where I'd like too. I don't get to run it much because one of my guys has adopted it and loves it. He was crying the blues while it was down with the pump out, he hates driving around the old truck cranes. I think my biggest problem with mine, is I want to run it like my truck cranes, wide open on the throttle and off we go. The winch on it is just way to touchy when you're into the throttle. And so is the boom. And I don't like the swing much either. I know that just about covers all its problems, my other guy just makes fun of me and trying to run it. Me and it just can't get on the same page, and I don't think its going to change, so I'm trying to learn. I did a lot better with it the other day than I have in the past, so maybe we're seeing progress. I don't mind it to run out and make a lift, but if I had to go set trusses all day, I'd rather take the time to put jib on my 25, than run it all day.
I am really enjoying it, this boom truck/ crane is head and shoulders above my Elliott or anything else I’ve owned and I have never ran anything I didn’t own. I finally feel like a crane operator, in part by improving with the seat time but in a large part because of the fact that the Manitex is a superior machine with very nice controls, I find myself leaning back in my seat enjoying the job, not leaning ahead cringing hoping the boom doesn’t jump. As long as my setup is good I feel very comfortable working anywhere inside the charts. On the down side there’s the fogging side window in the truck ( I think it’s my hot personality steaming it up ) The counter weight needs repainted, dealer said get it painted locally and Manitex will pick up the tab. Sometimes the snow covers my Sirius radio antenna and I have get out and wipe the snow off. Thanks for the interest, the help and advice I get on this sight have been a great help.
Boo hoo, your SAT radio antenna get's snow covered! No one said life would be easy, man up! Just kidding, what we do is so easy compared to what we USED to do, we have to find something to complain about just to not feel guilty, speaking for myself anyway. Your Elliott sounds like my old (pre pilot controls) Manitex 22101S, it was a real struggle to operate it in a way to make up for it's "quirks". In comparison, my National is so easy to run it makes me look good even when I'm not trying, thus my workload is much less, with the 22101 I was always working hard just to be halfway smooth.
Saturday morning truss job. It’s like a holiday don’t have to think about my crew working on a new house. And the view ain’t bad either
The good thing is if it was a new bin it’s not likely that I would have gotten any work out of it.
tradesman , is that spearder bar homemade or bought , ? looking to make one..
One was purchased the other was shop built in a certified welding shop and both get an annual ndt the shop built one was half the cost.
we have an 16' , we carry on deck of crane; dam thing is heavy and awkward to take off. looking to build one 8' and adjustable . what the weight of the one in pic ?
75 pounds, they are only ten feet long I have an eng. working on 1 for me that is made up of components that you assemble to different lengths with a centre attachment point for long trusses to get 3 points of attachment. I’ll dig out the sketches post them.
I did a hvac replacement last week it was on an unfinished building the one hanging on my hook in the picture below was number one it was mistakenly ordered as a three phase and had to be swapped out. I had a hour and a half down time waiting on the delivery truck, I was going to sit on the bench and reflect on my actions but decided I could do it more comfortably in the cab of my truck. I would like to get more hvac work but there just isn’t much to go around in a rural area.
She’s got a full rack now, I saved up my pennies and bought the last one. I also had several pieces of tin work repainted on manitex’s nickel, I felt when I had it tore apart was the time to add the weight.
This job started with the truss pile at 24 ft. and setting at 75 ft. in the blind with 2x4’s sticking out 6 ft. It used to bother me, but now oh well just more money in my pocket while they fool around dragging the trusses under their sagging 2x4 . The added counter weight has added a lot of stability, NICE !
The extra counterweight doesn't get you any chart, just stability if I remember right?
Correct. I now run more by the charts than my arsometer
My wife dropped by my sight yesterday and took this picture, I was half done at this point and had pulled in a bunch of stick so I could get to the pile a bit easier.
Tradesman , would still be interested in sketch if you can post or send to my E-Mail .
Before I put the 1400 lb counter weight on my National, my arse meter was telling me NO MORE, while the LMI was telling me go further. Now, it's the other way around, still feeling stable with the LMI buzzing..... best $3400.00 I ever spent, though a lot for what amounts to a big chunk of iron. I had a job 2 days ago, reaching out 77' to the stack, and then setting them right in my face, 20' away. With a good crew, I'll take a second to explain how I need all the stick out to reach the stack, but now with the boom at 75 degrees and working so close, it's a bit touchy so bear with me. In other words working real close is harder then further away, obvious to us but not to the nail benders sometimes. One thing I don't do is constantly retract/extend, and I always try to get the furthest work out of the way first and hopefully when the last truss is set the boom is almost sucked in and I'm ready to hit the road!
I got my windows tinted today, I did everything but the front glass, when I’m in a hole working with an excavator or on a roof working with a crane I want to see the guy at the controls. I used 35%, dark enough to give me some relief from the sun but not so dark that I feel like I’m in a tunnel, and it looks cool too.
I love it ! Nice rig Tradesman
Thanks, my banker thinks so too. I haven’t seen you post any crane pics in years. Your letting us down man.
I hate it as well Bro ! Due to national security reasons we can't show it all . Had to jump through some hoops but finally got them to declassify the Insley K-12 on dragline operation . LOL
Well if it’s for national security, I guess we’ll have to wait.is that a missile silo in the back ground?
No, they don't do silos anymore . Redacted version . It's actually a top secret XXXX ,XX installed in XXXX to help provide XXXXX from XXXXXXX and return XXXXXX back 10 fold . And it's all disguised as a small rural water tower . LOL! We did set a 30,000 gallon nitrogen tank for a customer couple weeks ago . Went well & used two machines to offload from the trailer & stand it up . I even ran both machines . LOL ! Pretty nice tank . What I liked about it is it had hook points on the bottom for the tail crane . Came from D&K tanks . http://www.dktanks.com/categories/new_carbon_steel_tanks.html
Bluetooth remote is so nice.
We just use an AM radio tuned in to WHAS 840 out of Louisville ,Kentucky . https://whas.iheart.com/featured/rush-limbaugh/ LOL !
Tradesman , forgot to mention the lead crane on the tank set came from your neck of the woods . It's and old Venetor rig that ended up at our place . http://defaveri.ca/portfolio_item/venetor-rental/ Can still see the name on the boom .
Looks like they’re about 2 hours from me
I got a call to do this internet tower at 2:00 pm today, it got rained out on Friday and winded out on Saturday. It’s 110 ft. I’m going back on Tuesday with the man basket to instal the equipment on it. This is the fourth one I’ve done for the same company.
This a beaver trap at a municipal culvert, last Thursday I cleaned out the culvert and set this trap in place. I drove by today to have a look, I think I could hear the beaver laughing at me, the trap was jammed right full of grass and twigs and the flow was all but stopped again.
Local town just approved a cell tower of 195 feet plus a four foot lightening arrester for 199 feet. Seems 199 is below the 200 foot FAA threshold to be lighted for aircraft.
I unloaded a truck load of re-bar for a new municipal water tank then a day later I was back and moved some of it out of the way so they could finish the floor mat and put the bent rod in the hole for them. I was back to the internet tower to do some basket work so they could install the transmitters and wiring. The last one I did for them the climber carried it all up by himself, he said never again. This is a tall wall for one of my regulars, 3,000 lbs. at 44 ft. Nothing to it. The general contractor wanted to use the concrete truck, he is a mid mount k boom so he would have been close to 60 ft. The framer said no and called me.
Always interesting working on tower sites with the crew . Last one I was on they set the lower section with a small boom truck and got it guyed off then used a " winch mule " & jib to finish the tower . Limiting factor is cable on the drum . Those cat's build some tall towers . Was sure interesting to meet them & swap a few stories .
I set column cages this morning and am sitting waiting on the forms to show up that I will off load and place for the concrete crew. Got to love sitting but it gets pretty boring fast, and hard on the cell data.
Yeah I had to get used to not feeling guilty just sitting there! Something that as a carpenter just didn't happen, it was always "all asses and elbows," as we say out here. Now, I relax, (your idea of the footrest in the cab was great, thanks again) or play around with the phone and the Sat radio, maybe make some Starbucks instant coffee with the onboard inverter and electric kettle, or eat some trail mix if lunch time, and let the hours build. Even with the electric bike I carry, I sometimes just stay in the cab when lunch rolls around as it's so comfortable.
Flying in forms today
Later in the day. I’ve poured a lot of concrete but I’ve never been around these form before.
They are pretty nice forms, the only complaint I have with them if they've been abused and beat around, the area where the clamps hook on gets misshaped. Then the lifting brackets don't want to latch on correctly. And flying a 10' x 20' panel when a bracket comes off is no fun at all. I use a short spreader bar on them a lot, just to keep the brackets from sliding together in a two point pick. I've got about a 4' one that works really nice for them. If they have a short form hooked onto a wide one, sometimes there isn't a good spot to keep the bracket from coming in and a bar makes it nice. The grabs are also just pulling straight up then, not side pulling trying to twist them off. Plus if they are up on 30' walls when you're taking the forms off, they don't have to try to swing the grabs out, they are already hanging spread out, and they can just clamp them on. I think it makes it go a little faster. It always helps if you're flying them in a 25 mph wind or so. Keeps you on your toes.
It got a bit gusty a couple times today we ended up using a rope, they were spinning like a top. It’s kinda hard to do much with it except take it out of harms way and set it down, yikes
Yikes I got my first inspection from the ministry of labour today ( government safety inspector ) he asked to see my licence and inspection records, and he was kinda grouchy about it too. I knew everything was in order but I was still pretty nervous, I had a load on the hook and he said when you get unhooked from the load come find me. So when I was done with the load I had on I swung over the deck set my rigging down, put my hard had and high visibility vest on grabbed my licence load charts and inspection book, shut the truck off and about then he came alone and asked for my paper work. Easy peazy he said everything looked good and said I had nice clean well maintained equipment. I asked him a few random questions and he gave me his card and away he went. The luckiest thing that happened was that he didn’t come yesterday, in the last seven years I bet I haven’t left my crane folder at home 3 times. It holds my truck inspection book, crane inspection book and annual engineers inspection report. He wouldn’t have been as cordial if I had not of had them with me.
That reminds me of a job the Old Man & I was on at an airport . We had just set some I beams on the lowboy and " Safety Chick " comes running up waiving her hands & yelling something at me in the Insley crane . With the engine running it was hard to make out but sounded like " You need a safety fag " . Yelled back at Safety Chick …… " Come again ? " Now she's really belting it out & gettin all wound up . " You forgot your safety fag ! " Shut the Insley down and said " that's my Old Man helping me but he aint no Fag . " Seems like we got the wording crossed with all the noise . Safety flag . " Safety Chick " never would talk to us anymore after that .
I’m not sure if he liked girls or not, I wasn’t going to ask! I found out why he was so grouchy and how he ended up on our sight. He was at a subdivision a 1/4 mile away and there wasn’t a worker on sight that was compliant, he shut down the sight and while he was doing that he saw my boom in the air and came in with both guns loaded, but calmed down pretty fast when he say that we where in good shape.
Practice saying …" Go F yourself and get the hell off my job site " These people are absolute loons . Aint got a damn thing to do with safety .
Congrats though tradesman on passing the safety check. Its always nice to know that you are doing everything right and don't have any worries when the inspector does show up.
I’ve been fairly busy with the crane, the water tank project has been really good I’ve got about 73 hours in on it ( that’s by far the most hours I’ve put into one project) the housing business is a month behind this year because of all the rain we’ve had, but I was at 4 house starts setting beams and trusses last week. Nothing really picture worthy though. I set trusses for a new house for a framing crew, when I drove in my heart sank it looked like a bomb went off. Honestly if I didn’t have a loan at the bank for the crane I would have turned and drove away, my first words to them where “ did you forget I was coming “ they had two big beams sitting in the only place I could set up without being 50 ft. From the house and that would have put my first pick, ( a stack of 2x12 that weighed 2200 pounds) at 85 feet. I got them to move the beams with the tella-handler and I backed in on a torn up piece of ground that was reminiscent of a WW I battle ground and unloaded every piece of dunage I had, got THEM to shovel of four flat spots for my outriggers and went to work. The upsetting part is these guys do this every day, they just don’t give a crap if I wreck my crane or kill someone.
We are getting close to finishing the the cottage rebuild down to the thousand final details. It’s been a pleasure we don’t always get to do this amount of detail work. A 15000 lb. dust collector I set on Saturday they tailed it with the telahandler, it was a little scary at one point. My line was centred over the load but came up and back when the deflection came out as you can see in the picture
I had a worker kicked off sight last week, I was moving bundles of rebar around and I noticed this guy being kinda dopey, but I ignored it until he started walking under and in front of my picks. So I watched him for a few minutes and he could hardly stand up, now I’m no safety nazi but this guy was gona get hurt and I was going to be involved. I called the sight super over and told him to watch the guy, sure enough in a few minutes he was walking out the driveway ( stumbling) . I asked the super how it turned out, he said his boss had to drive two hours to pick him up. I felt crapy about being a rat, but I would of felt worse if he had of walked into a bundle of flying rebar.
You look after yourself, and you look out for other people. If the guy wasn't fit to be on the job site, you were looking out for him when you got him removed.
Nice job on the big tank. I don't like to use too much rigging on standing tanks, it seems like they can get more of a head start on you when they break over center, but tailing it with the telehandler really helps out with that.
The lake house is almost there. Had an interesting week moved this old sail boat this morning, I set it on top of timbers in this valley beside the river, it’s being turned into a play house for his grand kids. It was 5000 pounds, business as usual the customer said likely 3500. I did my first tandem lift with another crane. My partner was the 72 year old founder of one of the larger crane outfits in our part of the country, he was running a 75 ton mobile. We were dismantling a large dust collector the main pick was 17000 pounds, I was the tail crane at one point I had 11500 on the hook. What a great experience for me, he was very helpful, I’d love to spend a couple days oiling for him just to absorb some of his knowledge.
If I had it to do over again I would of shortened up a quite a bit I was trying to get my best chart and only put out enough stick to make the pick and it turned out that when I got it stood up I had to set it down and run out another 10 feet to get it up on it’s elevated pad. Live and learn!
You'll always end up with more than 1/2 the weight when standing tanks if you are the tail crane. As the "upper" crane is lifting it to stand it, the "lower" crane will get more and more of the weight, the upper crane pushes it onto the lower crane. Until it actually gets to vertical, then the upper crane actually lifts it off the lower crane. I had to explain it once to a safety officer, and then the main boss, after the safety officer didn't believe me. The main boss (a engineer) understood what I was saying, and okayed the pick- actually the paperwork/lift plan that I had filled out. The safety guy was adamant that the weight stayed evenly split between both cranes, no matter the tank orientation. I usually figure between 1/2 and 2/3 of the total weight will be on the lower crane, if the tail crane can't handle 2/3 of the weight, you will need a bigger tail crane.
You made the rite decision Tradesman . This falls under only " essential personnel " in the lift area . I would have hopped out of the cab and handed the feller a $ 20.00 bill to go get us a cold case a barley soda when we finish up to get him off the job site .
It's exactly like when the wife wants to move furniture up or down the stairway . The man is " tailing " on the low heavy end of the load while the wife is still thinking about where it's going .
My two sons and I went for an early morning ride. This is a long weekend for us so we left my place at 5:30 am. And back roaded it for a 400 km. ride before lunch. I got an urgent call from the rental company I use. A customer of theirs upset this brand new tella-handler, so why not set the rest of the trusses while we’re waiting for the rental guy to show up with another tella-handler to act as a tail machine
Somebody should have got that 2nd winch option.
I’m hardly capable of running one
Being pretty ain’t easy
No wonder the paint keeps coming off, quit blasting it with 4000psi water.
I’ve got turned way down it’s more of a gentle massage
This makes me although if it’s going to happen this is the best way. Small trusses that I can lay down and drag.
This makes me sad I used an iPhone emojis. They don’t work on here.
That leg in the cab of my crane isn’t mine it’s the son of a friend of mine that has a steel erection company. The young guy is a union crane operator, so when I asked if he wanted to set the last bundle he jumped at it.
Happily, that old school truss bracing method of laying out a 2x4 and having it hanging out, frustrating the crane op, is about died out here in my parts. I didn't realize it until your post but that method is almost never seen by me anymore, I guess they figured out the metal truss clips are the way to go, probably 80% of my jobs they use those, the rest precut lengths of scrap. Looking at your picture, it looks like the worse case: swing, run the winch up/down, and boom up/ down all at once, so much more work then just lowering them straight down! The good thing is when I complain about it, I always point out how much faster the "new" method is, not to mention safer, so saves them money.
I got out for a solo bike ride today, wanted to do an over nighter but missed the ferry by 1/2 a hour. So I explored some back roads that I’ve never been on, one led me to this isolated lake access, so I took a couple pictures and soaked up the sound of the waves for a while. ( good for the soul) The blue dot is where the picture was taken, and I live just west of the B in Barrie.
Saw this helicopter in a corn field the other day it’s a crop duster with the tail rotor busted off, I’d say he got off easy he isn’t 5 ft. From a hydro line. Ps. Impact “ stay out of the corn fields “ I put some fir timbers and framing material up on this rather unique house a couple weeks ago. The carpenters where glad to see me show up they are up three stories and everything till then went up by hand.
I put the communication tower up for the municipal water plant this week, it’s not very big, 70 ft. Then put them up to install the equipment in my basket. It doesn’t happen every time, but I stood it up perfectly, when the bottom cleared the ground it didn’t swing 2”. I was surprised as much as they where impressed. I have to put the pump and steel pipes down the well next week. For the upcoming week I have picked up a new customer, a propane company wants me to load and arrange for the trucking and unloading for a 6,000 US gallon tank. They have several more to do in the next month.
Backing up a steep driveway, stealing wood off a jobsite to level your pads, and the front end up in the air? Bet you were glad you didn't have to build a stack for the front jack. That new crane sure looks nice.
Thanks You sure have an eye for details. I always spend a bit of time leveling the pads, in some of my pictures you can see the three green lights on my front dashboard they indicate weather or not my outriggers are fully extended or not and I have found that if my pads are not fairly level it twists the beams and the magnetic censers don’t make proper contact. And being the worriers that I am I don’t like the beams twisted so I have started leveling my pads.
Here are some sea cans I stacked up, the guy is making a cottage/ storage complex.
I don't see a front stabilizer crane op? In my case, and probably the same with Tradesman's rig, the supplied counter weight means you don't need one, you still have a full chart, 360 degrees, even with the front tires in the air. I had a guy who runs 5 rigs identical to mine tell me that, all with the 1400 pound CW, and no front stab. In my case, since I already had the front stab and only added the CW later, I still am in the habit of using it. And I carry some big blocks just for it, besides my other blocking. Nice work on the tower tilt up! Yeah it's sweet when a load just levitates up, straight up, only problem is most non operators don't appreciate how hard that can be, the National has free swing/foot brake on the rotation, that helps a bunch.
These are bio filters that have been in the local sewage lagoon for the last two years. They are a test of a prototype filter that is meant to improve the quality of water being released. They wanted me to do the crane work lifting them out but it was too narrow of a set up for my unit so I recommend a competitor of mine with several cranes one of which is an almost new 60 ? Ton grove RT. Its something new every day. Notice the wet stuff on the window, don’t worry I had the heat on just enough to be comfy lol.
Heat ? Heat? Its been hotter here the last week, than I think it was all summer. Upper 90s with heat index's close to 100. (that in F not C, f for _____ hot). If I had the a/c mounted in the liebherr it would have been running this afternoon. I'm feeling pretty cooked right now. I'm so ready for fall.
This is home This is a sh,,t hole but unfortunately it’s where the best doctors are and I had cause to visit ( don’t worry where all ok ) no place for a farm boy to be! On a positive note there’s cranes everywhere.
I set the pump at the water plant I’ve been working on this summer, 180 Feet of 4” pipe. This sight was a little snug, I was setting skylights on the roof, a pretty easy gig.
This is a grain bin I set up on a hopper last week. They didn’t have any bin jacks so I held on to it while they put on four rings. Then it took an hour for them to make the connection to the hopper. I relocated this dust collector on top of a newly poured structure that allows a dump wagon to back under to be loaded. Man the Mennonites Love their concrete This LVL beam weighed just short of a ton, I was back in our shop with the door down in less than an hour.
Exciting,just got delivered
Galvanized chokers? Are the 1" shackles crosby too?
Small with red pins are Crosby and the orange say Ocean on them when you blow up the pic.
Yep I’d have all Crosby but the price yikes! the ocean seem to be good quality and are nicely machined. So most of my smaller shackles are Crosby and the larger ones that I never get anywhere near the WLL i use the ocean. I have the 1” just to fit on large objects.
Do you order the galvanized chokers, or do they stock them? I've got a few galvanized chokers that I've picked up used, but most all my steel is standard cable. Doesn't the galvanized cable have a different rating? You should know better about the cheap shackles, buy once, cry once, but I understand the cost thing. Its hard when you don't use them very often. But I don't use chinese shackles. I actually prefer the older CM shackles, a 1" cm will have a 10 ton rating, while a crosby will be 8 1/2 ton. Seems like their threads are smoother also. I did get some chicago shackles a while back that are like 3/4", and the threads on them are really rough, you about need a pliers to open a shut them.
I buy all my rigging from a dedicated rigging supplier they build their own slings and have a testing facility and the ability to certify. When I phone to order wire rope they automatically send me galvanized, the one time I ordered from a different supplier I was surprised when non galvanized showed up. It’s quite often the owner I deal with, he has spent his whole career in the hoisting industry and is a really good resource for myself, because as you know I’m self taught and haven’t had the benefit of more experienced industry professionals. But I pride myself on being a student of the industry reading and listening to everyone that will talk to me. Oceanside industries is a Canadian company based on the east coast serving primarily the off shore industries. Wether or not they actually produce the shackles I don’t know but they have put their stamp on them and everything they have has multiple professional certifications. And for good or bad depending on how you look at it Canada is a highly regulated country. So I’m comfortable with the quality of all my rigging. But having said that I do see the value of having Crosby equipment “ perceived value or not” because this isn’t the first time I’ve had this same conversation. Ps. The ocean shackles are to replace the Chinese shackles I bought when I first started many moons ago.
My rigging supplier builds their own chokers too, I know he would make galvanized if I asked for it. I don't think I've ever even priced it. I'm always up for learning about something. Are they a little stiffer cable than a regular steel choker? The galvanized ones I have are not as flexable as my non galvanized, but they are probably a different cable. I'm going round and round with my rigging supplier right now to get me a spelter socket for my liebherr. He's not been any help, so I've found the part # I need from another rigging suppliers online catalog. I just want to buy local if I can, but he's about to lose this one. If I call you, give you the part # of the item I need, how hard is it to get back to me with a price and availability? I'm wanting to spend $. I need one of these for the aux. hoist on the liebherr, its been cut off. I think I'm getting a second one, if I damage the main load line and need to cut it off, I'll need a way to fix it right away.
The squirrel fell off the wheel today. my first pick on a big work shop was a gable set. I stomped off my radius and set up, I like to set up closer to the end I finish on. When I centered over the gable set I was at 61 ft. Thinking to myself “ no problem “ when I took the load the buzzer went off I’m thinking well you miss judged that boy. The carpenters still had ahold of it with the tellahandler so I got them to move it 5 ft. closer and up she went so I swung it into place and the buzzer went off again, I set it on the wall and grabbed the charts they said I was good for almost twice what I had on. “What to H “ then the light came on I was in personnel basket mode that Max’s out at 3000 lbs and drops off pretty fast, I reset the LMI. and finished with no more drama.
I had a nice relaxing Saturday morning setting some previously enjoyed trusses on a new work shop. This building will be strapped out 3” and spray foamed then clad with agricultural steel, driving by on the road it will look like a farm driving shed, but it could have a million dollars worth of equipment in it making parts for the auto industry.
Some random pictures. The roof on a 5 plex A garage from Friday morning first set was at 78 ft. A glamour shot from Friday afternoon. I love the way the sun sparkles in her head lamps.
My son sent these pictures to me from one of their sites. It’s a big septic for a church T
Last Saturday I travelled about 1 - 1/2 hours and took down and dismantled three 100 ft. Internet towers. A good client bought them on an on line auction from a school board, they had to come down and be taken away on the weekend.
This was the last tower, I had to hook ten feet down because I was 54’ away, thankfully I was up hill a bit and picked up around 6 ‘ of elevation and just because of my cautious nature we only hooked onto 40 ft. of this one. I am also glad to report that I used a technique a saw on this sight as a safety precaution, I had the climber put two spud wrenches in the bolt holes so I could test the load before I owned it. As I remember I think whoever it was on this sight used long bolts but the wrenches worked well. Thanks! It can fly! A beautiful old school
I placed the lower trusses, ridge beam and girder rafters for the dormers on this house One of my competitors retired and I picked up a couple high end housing developments in a ski resort town. This is a four plex with triple drywall party walls the one I’m hooked to was 4,500 lbs and had to go out around the gable wall, we put two tag lines on and slid it in quite nicely. A little project we’re working on. A covered porch with cedar shingles on the roof and all the gables of the house. I went back to the house on the hill and set the super joist rafters, they had to be packed both sides with plywood and ended up being a lot heavier than the framer anticipated
A beautiful Friday morning waiting on the contractor to show up. The wind is supposed to get up and I’d like to have these 60 ft trusses up before it does
Hope you're charging wait time! Your Canadian contractors are oddly similar to the ones here in Idaho.
Oh ya from the time my shop door opens till it closes or till I’m sitting on the next job
A little crane porn! I spent New Year’s Day, washing, undercoating, and waxing. The sad part is today I was out on slushy roads and am dirty again. The middle picture got out of order, in it I am setting a HVAC unit across the road from the store that my wife works in.
Looks a lot better than the last manitex picture I saw:
Yes I saw that as well, I was waiting for all the regular jack a$$es to say how another tree outsmarted a crane operator
Does anyone know the story?
Too much tree, too far away, and probably soft ground too. At least no one got hurt. Tree work is some of the most difficult work you can do with a crane. No one wants a huge crane on their driveway, and that expense, but they want a huge tree taken out, on the other side of the house.
Think the way to remove a tree would be to do it opposite to the way it got there and that big. Start from the top down not the bottom up. Might take a bit longer but safer over all. Kind of the Johnny Cash method: That said the last tree I took down was maybe 20 feet from power lines and at least twice that tall. Not a lot of branches and I had plenty of room in all other directions and a good solid tree to hook a cable to and put lots of tension on it to encourage it to go where I wanted it to land. Power line still up and tree is cut split and stacked in wood shed!
Though I do keep my National in a heated building, it has no floor drains, and I am loath to just let any wash water run out the door, to seep into the gravel outside. Reason being, I have set septic tanks for buildings in my area, needed as a "grease settling tank", or words to that effect, as part of a near 10 K system to tie into the city sewer system. One of my past customers let it slip to the P & Z people, while applying for his building permit, that the building was going to be for storing his large, bus sized, motor home in, and maybe they asked him if he'd be washing it in there, next thing you know, and 10 K later, he was able to (legally) do so! I use the car/truck wash, and spend about 6 bucks in quarters, a couple of times a winter. The rest of the time, it looks like crap, but all vehicles here do in the winter time. Just be aware, washing heavy equipment may require more then just a standard tie in to a sewer line, less said the better. The commercial high pressure car washes have already jumped thru all those regulatory hoops, and i don't mind giving them a pocket of quarters to keep the P & Z types off my butt. It may be even more of a regulatory nightmare, if on a private septic system, if the wrong agency knows about it!
I hear you, I wash on the downhill side of a gravel driveway that runs down beside the barn then onto a concrete pad that holds my manure pile.
Perfect! My yard is in town, right on a main drag that just happens to be about 1/2 mile down from the county P&Z offices, so I go out of my way to keep a low profile and not rock the boat. I do any needed maintenance inside, with the door closed. No signage on the building, nothing going on here!
this dust collector is only 7,000 lbs. when I was fine tuning the radius looking up at those slow moving wispy clouds I got that split second feeling it was coming over on me. Gets your heart going. Lol
Yep, but there are more pleasant ways to experience excitement
Ha Ha, look at all that white! It was 71deg. here today. (we are supposed to get snow wednesday though ) But it was 71 here today. . I understand something now though, in Canada, the white paint on the crane, is like camo paint color here.......
That reminds me of a joke a John Deere guy told me “ why are case tractors red? So you can find them when they’re broke down in the long hay “
For the non crane operators, when your looking up at a suspended load or even just the boom in the air and there are slow moving wispy clouds it looks like it’s your boom moving not the clouds. It’s a scary feeling. The first time I experienced it,it scared the heck out of me, but now it just freaks me out for a split second.
It is like that when you are a hundred feet up a radio tower and look up and there is still a bunch of tower above you. Makes your heart stop.
Or if your spooling a lot of line on your drum. Hit the brake and it looks like the drum is still turning. Its caught me a few times.
For my southern friends, I nice drive to the office last Friday
I nice drive many places snow without also. I place crane with items many in areas. Working much effort dieseling with much information.
Also- better you than me.
I shouldn't make fun, I didn't have to grow up bilingual, or even learn the metric system. Glad to see you working, I was wondering with the weather how busy you stay in the winter. Couple jobs a week, or busy every day?
Also- digging the wrap on your A2B chain, got tired of it catching on the keeper pins of the weight didn't you?
Someone’s been feeding you miss information. I had two classes of French in grade seven and eight. I can count almost to 5 and likely recognize no more French than most North Americans, that I picked up watching tv. Although I can function in both metric and imperial and as a carpenter I’m almost totally imperial. metric is far easier and more logical than imperial. For me it’s been pretty good I wouldn’t be surprised to not be out at all in the last part of January or any of February, but I’ve been out to 4 or 5 jobs a week, which is enough that I don’t have to dig myself out of a financial hole in the spring. As well my crew of carpenters are busy as usual
Yes that wrap is awesome. Jimmy from the YouTube channel “to the top crane” has it on his and as soon as I saw it I went out and got some hydraulic line guard and life got better.
Can you decipher that rather cryptic message for me?
You're previous post was quoted - "For my southern friends, I nice drive to the office last Friday". It reminded me of every Chinese translation to english that I read. And I am the grammar police. You should proof read before you post....
Oops Seems just for me though. I still have time to edit it but I won’t. Too late.
It's from all the pot consumption in the I gotta know what gives thread.
No crane work today,we got a light dusting of snow. Lol
Well around here in Central NY it's all about location here where I am most of my driveway is clear with only to shallow drifts not worth snow blowing and a lot of the lawn has ends of grass showing. Go 45 miles north and I'm thinking it might be a different story!
I was at a good clients job today. We set the three dormers that where built on sub floor and filled in the rest of the garage trusses, set the I beams for the back deck and stood the tall wall. I’ll be back early next week to finish the house trusses.
I like those type projects, where you know you're going back in a few days, kinda like a money in the bank feeling. I did the same last week,soot up walls etc., going back today to set trusses. Last night, after the Wells Fargo bank closed, I did a quick HVAC lift, then walked 20' to the night slot to make a deposit, as it's my bank anyway, and then drove 100 yards to the grocery store I frequent and got a weeks worth of groceries. As I live way out of town it's handy to be able to do a job and also run some errands! My under bed rigging boxes work for hauling groceries also.
I have a new addition to my tool box, a remote controlled sling release. I haven’t got to use it yet “ so pictures to follow “ new set of boxes, I couldn’t find a safe spot for the sling release
This myself and the framer self distancing. This isn’t so bad when your paid by the hour, I put 4 trusses through this 10” space and I had to stop them from adding another strap that would of closed it off completely. This is what I was up to today. First new house start for 2020.
Have to give you boys credit where due, keep the mechanisms nice and tidy, much better than the lackey's I saw as contractors at the old workplace, drop and stuff was their typical work method to put stuff away. Very cool to see how a better class does it. That last pic, are the foundations usually that shallow there? Looks a 8 foot pour which most here no longer do as end up a 7-7'6" max headroom height. Most wall work here they will no longer allow the full height studs without Fire Stop blocking as tend to Chimney any lower floor flames. How do they adapt to that up North Country?
Most of our foundations are 9’ budget was getting tight on this one, I am putting an extra sole plate on so we’ll get him 7’9”. those are tall walls, so 17 foot ceilings in that corner, if you look closely there are three rows of fire blocking to stop the drafting effect your referring to.
Had windows in a very tall space of a former house. Only cleaned them once in ten years That one time was enough for me.
The codes here got seriously stupid on Fire Breaks and Blocks, local guy that built my Barn, Shop and House is building a Shouse south of here right at an hour away, showed me the plans before all the crap broke loose where the requirement was a series of 2 separator blocks just at Floor Joist bottom edge(one for a fire stop the other for sheetrock nailer) then a fill of a fire retardant material the lumber yard had to special order and a pair of blocks set just above the joist line. Being as started with a Pole Building they had other special instructions and decrees as to Fire control, limited use of Treated materials in the residence area and other issues. Basically doubled the cost of the place from initial designs.
Yah government..
I have had great reviews from my clients on the remote release. It sounds a buzzer before it releases then there is a pretty good click as it clears the sling off the hook and almost everyone looks up in amazement, none of them have ever seen anything like it before. What I am finding “ at least initially “ is that the good high production crews it really speeds things up and the slower less production crews it makes very little difference they’re just a bit safer. When I was considering it’s purchase I was a little concerned that I could be costing myself revenue, but so far it looks like I’m going to do better on my 4 hour minimum charge, going home or to another job sooner, and the larger complexed roofs are still going to take some time. Ps. The house in the picture is one I set the trusses on 5 years ago, it suffered a fire recently.
Where is the button for the release, and how is it set up to be convenient yet safe? Congrats on pushing the envelope, I think you said earlier it was about 5K cost? I was the first, and still only, in my area to have a wireless remote (on my 17 ton Terex boom truck), and the customer response was interesting. Most didn't fully appreciate the fact it cost me 14 K, and how it improved things, all they really care about is the bottom line, the bill. I would have one on my National, but apparently that is not possible, unless you permanently lose the free swing/foot brake feature. Besides, I like sitting down too much now, spoiled.
http://craneequipment.ca/products/spec-sheet.html This my first attempt at posting a link we’ll see if it works. It’s super safe the whole main body is one big hook and the sling is swept off the hook, it can’t have any load on it at all or it won’t activate the release mechanism.
Its a little remote control button that he can have in the cab, or I guess you could give it to the signalman if you were working in the blind.
I found out how dirty my top window was today. I put up this internet tower today, good job I was doing it in the blind because between the sun and my dirty window I couldn’t of seen anyway Not just the scenery I’m used to but interesting. I had to set up a 61 ft. so I had to hook just above 1/2 way on a fourty ft. piece
A little thunder head moving in, we didn’t get a drop of rain out of that cloud. I got a call from a competitor on Thursday he had set this pool the evening before and the pool guys had the grade off by 5”. He couldn’t make it so gave me a call, I picked it up swung it out of the way and the crew regraded it, only this time the home owners where there making sure every stone was in place.
The pools I set don't use stiffeners, a spreader bar set to the pool width makes them unnecessary. I looked close to see if you crammed all those slings into your load hook....., and see you didn't/did it the right way, by using a large shackle. Why the oval load ring though? Maybe because, like the large shackle I use for gathering sling ends, that large shackle pin is too big a dia. to fit thru the gate of my load hook? I will steal that idea, as that looks a bit more convenient then having to hold the big shackle, with slings already in it, up to the load hook while then screwing in the pin. With the load ring, you can just hook it up as usual as it will fit thru the gate. I get tired of having to explain to others "that big shackle won't fit the hook, don't try," it usually takes me jumping out of the cab and showing them how I want it done. I'm glad I saw your pic, I have another pool job Tuesday, and will use both my spreader bar and now the big shackle/load ring combo.
I’ve only done two pools and both of them came on the truck with stiffeners and engineered lifting point “ just like they describe it in the books along with level well compacted soil” I like the oval link, it puts a straight vertical pull on, and I don’t have to worry about the slings loading the tip of my hook. And I bought all this stuff so I like to whip it out when I get the chance.
Tradesman you know that we cant let this slide ,,, tip of your hook ,,, whiping it out ,,, this just isn't politicly correct anymore..
It wasn’t an accident. As I get older being an “A hole” is one of my greatest pleasures, that and running my crane.
Living the dream on Saturday morning.
Those guys in the boom lifts are peas in a spoon without harnesses. White shirts w/ suspenders... Mennonite ?
They got hard hats on.
Just a thought... Since a safety harness is required by OSHA to have manufacturer's labels and cert tags... Is that decoration forbidden by their sect ?
HA! I think I'd trade those hard hats for a harness..
I became a harness true believer, when I levitated in the basket. Didn't come out, just had air beneath my feet. I remember when ever I see Marklift blue.
I love how this site allows one to really really zoom in on pictures posted, other sites (flying sites) I'm on don't seem to do that, or at least I don't know how. Or at least as much zoom. I keep that in mind whenever I post here, it is a great incentive to make sure I am "doing it right" if I am going to post a picture here! Like the other day on my pool job, I made sure the guys had the sling's tag towards the hook, they asked why, I told them because this site has ZOOM!
Its hard for me when I'm on a jobsite and the customer's guys are in manlifts with no harnesses. I always make a point to get out of the cab, and tell both the guys and the foreman that they should all have harnesses on. But they aren't my guys and I can't tell them what to do. At least saying something eases my mind. Won't help if they dump one, but I've said my piece.
Sorry for not contributing much lately I’ve been super busy both on the crane and with my building crew. Lots of trusses and internet towers. As I get busier two challenges have reared there heads, first one is cancellations or more precisely postponements, when I wasn’t as busy it wasn’t a big deal I just reschedule, now I find myself loosing jobs because I turn down a job based on scheduled work then the scheduled job cancels now I’m sitting with nothing. Frustrating but I don’t see an easy answer. Number two. Scheduling, again as I get busier I am challenged to just keep them in my head I don’t find the phone calendar very handy and keeping a book with me is a challenge I could be in a half a dozen trucks in a day on multiple job sights so keeping a book with me is a long shot. With my good clients I get them to Tex me their time and address but that’s not very reliable they can easily forget or my big fingers delete it.
We've started charging a 10% cancellation fee because of the scheduling issues our customers cause us by cancelling. Part of our thinking on that is we do additional paperwork and take the time to issue coi to the customer when they approve the work. This all takes time which isn't free.
Some weeks it seems about 75% of my "schedule" gets rescheduled! It is a constant tap dance, keeping everyone happy (talking house framers, setting roof trusses), as the guy who canceled his Tuesday appointment because of wind, now expects me Thursday, but what about my already booked Thursday job?! It comes down to first come first serve, get out of line, go back to the rear. Mixed in with that though is my fast paying and reliable customers get preferential treatment, they get to cut in line, but I don't tell them that or the crews they cut in front of. To keep track of what, where, and who, I have a system. 4x5 index cards, folded in half so they fit my shirt pocket, giving me 4 separate areas, and a pen. That's it, no electronics involved. I write stuff down during the day (if I walk out the door in the morning without a pen or a index card, I'm screwed, so extras are always carried in my car and my manpurse. Then immediately when I walk in the the front door back home, I write down that days billing info on a post it pad, and stick it on my home computer screen. The next time I turn it on I enter the info on the post it, and note whether or not I have billed yet. I'll let several days build up before I get in the mood to do the actual billing, address the envelope, etc., usually on a bad weather day. THEN I'm done for the day. Until you realize you have failed to bill a customer for works done months ago, and they didn't say anything, you won't really know what a true deadbeat is. I've done it twice, the first guy never used me again, knowing he had cheated me in effect (slow payer anyway, screw him), the second insisted he owed me money, I argued back he didn't (confusing another job I had done for him), he mailed me a check anyway and it turned out he was right. That guy goes to the very front of the line every time, though I laughingly told him, "you're hard to deal with, and you're screwing up my book keeping." All in all, once I arrive on the job site, get set up, and sit down in the cab, it's break time, that's the easy part. Everything else involved with running a one man craning operation is more hassle and less fun.
Glad you are staying busy. Last two weeks have been a little slower for me, been catching up at the shop. I'm lucky my wife answers the phone and runs the schedule book. I intervene/ help when needed. Good customers can get me direct. I keep a weekly planner book that's narrow enough to fit my back pocket. I keep track of my daily billing in it. She keeps a larger schedule book at the office in pencil, and we share a google sheets document that is able to be pulled up on everyone's phone that shows a current status. She can then bill off the schedule book, with daily time from me or the other operators. The busier you are the worse the schedule gets. Weather and trucking cause most of my scheduling issues.
Thanks for the comments. I was talking to my book keeper today and by coincidence she gave me a small booklet ( small enough to fit in my back pocket) that displays a week on two opposing pages, I’m going to give that a try for a while. As for the postponement problem I don’t see it getting any better. I’m just a little ouchy right now I had two guys screwing around this week re-scheduling several times and I had to turn down a 8 to 10 hour job to honour my commitment to them both canceled and I ended up sitting for the day. To make it worse I ended up pouring concrete.
Thanks for the comment billing is the easy part i fill out a field sheet and quite often give it to the customer and get paid on the spot if it’s my regulars, when I get home I do my inspection, log book, grease, fuel up if required then sit down at my computer and enter it into quick books then email it to them. It’s not because I’m that organized but because I would likely never think of it again.
Don't know your business climate but can you charge a "no-show" fee? I know all businesses are as different as the area and customers they work in but maybe a $100 - 250 cancellation fee if they cancel within 24 hours or something along those lines.
I use the 3 1/2" x 6" dayminder "at a glance" in my pocket. One week in every two pages. I rip off the top corner of each page every week, so I can instantly flip to the current week without paging through. I also keep back years in a drawer, I have looked through them for old info. (made in USA too!). Usually hold up all year. https://www.amazon.com/AT-GLANCE-Weekly-Planner-DayMinder/dp/B07QM9FV11
I'd post a picture of one of my 4x5 cards, but as much of the writing is scribbled while driving and my handwriting sucks at the best of times, it'd be pointless. I should also point out that along with my so called work schedule, I will also have notes like,"get milk, stop at the post office, stop by the lumber yard," whatever, my personal business is also taken care of while in town craning, so my cards are a mash up of my life. Job #184 for this year, tomorrow. Charging a cancellation fee in my market would go over like a t*rd in a punch bowl, I still get outraged comments about charging for travel time, these smaller contractors knocking together houses are working too close to the bone, most of them anyway. Now a commercial job for a big time outfit, yes I could do that but won't, I rather complain about it. I'd have my wife deal with my paperwork, but she's been living in Hawaii for the last 35 years and is remarried.
No- its just part of the deal. I know one outfit that tried it in my area for a while, and it went over about like natman explained.
first day with the new lap top
I see it includes the time travel option. Its not october yet.
Didn’t want include my clients names and numbers so I skipped to an empty page. Thanks for keeping an eye on me, it keeps me grounded and takes some pressure off my wife.
I carried those little calendar books for years (Just started year 48 ). Have every one in a bankers box in the corner. Now days with my smart phone i have a bigger one on my desk that I try to write every thing i did that day. Appointments are on the smart phone and desktop / outlook. I spend a lot more time in the office than i used to. So I'm a volunteer at the local tourist railraod. No bathroom at the engine facility, for several years we had to walk a block away to the city park bathroom. So one day nature calls. There's no way I can walk that long block without filling my pants. So, I grab a handful of paper shop towels and go into the woods a few steps from the engine house. Unbuckle the pants, squat and dump. I standup, turn and look, my little calendar book had fallen out and I had dumped right on top of it LOL. Picked it up, wiped the vinyl cover off and put it back in my pocket. No damage to the in side pages . I tell my wife what happened and she thinks it's absolutely gross. I tell her it's vinyl for petes sake, no different that wiping off the changing table for the kids . I'm just bigger than they are
isn’t this nice. This is the first time I’ve set for a city developer. And maybe the last, before I could set up I had to move enough junk to back in. The sub divisions I usually work in are from local developers and this crap would never fly with them every house has a dumpster and they best use it or they’ll be kicking there lunch kit down the road
I know you guys where worried about being tied into the man lift this is my son in ours, all safe and sound belted in. I’m on the peak of an old bank barn taking the picture I might not be quite so compliant. ps. The Mennonites I work for don’t take advice very well, but they are very competent. I’ve seen them do some wild stuff and never a missed step.
work for the Twp. Roads department The sight super told me this sign was worth 300 k minutes before I rolled it to a vertical position. putting up a 110 ft. Internet tower, I couldn’t see the top of the tower. Luckily the tower climber is a good communicator.
This is what happens when drunks are driving around in subdivisions at night. The sight supers trailer was parked in front of the foundation, I picked it out and set on the road for the insurance company. Best part is I was there to put up a set of trusses, when the super asked me to lift this on a separate invoice “ perfect“ two four hour minimum charges and home before noon. This is a tower that it dismantled. In the spring we erected the tower on the right. When they where switching the equipment from the old to the new the climber discovered that there was some significant cracking in the old tower so he dismantled the top 40 ft. and pulled the equipment off from my basket.
Looks as bad as a War Zone.
the view from the top. I helped assemble a gas station canopy yesterday
Every third service on the truck I like to have done at a truck shop, and my espar heater wasn’t working properly, they can be a bit spendy so I had my fingers crossed. I was lucky, you know what they say “better lucky than smart” my high viz vest that I drape over the seat was blocking the air intake and causing it to over heat and shut down. So in celebration of not spending a lot on the heater I added the wheel nut covers I’m thinking it should add a quite a bit of horse power. Lol.
aerodynamic improvement!
Saw this today about a half an hour from home. It’s inside what looks like the start of a new water tower.
Not the typical type of crane our crew deals with but I've enjoyed getting to see it in action. We recently rented a crane from Cashman Equipment Corp. I believe it's the Manitowoc 4100 Series 2 one . Runs like a champ! This thing came with a user manual so thick I thought it was a phone book at first lol.
Guess what the two guys standing on the top plates are waiting on. be there in a minutes.
my wife and I made an emergency last sunset drive for the year. Not likely any convertible weather left for 2020.
I stopped and talked to the operator for a minute as his crew slugged the drywall. We both agreed being the operator was way better.
Yep, I may have been able to carry in that drywall when I was younger and stronger, but after parking my ass in a crane cab or truck cab for the last few years I’d definitely have a hard time after just a few sheets.
I set the roof on this monster yesterday. Three stories high, did most of it in the blind. not a big fan of these modern style houses but it’s surprising sometimes they turn out quite nice.
We are starting a new work shop Architec designed it’s going to be very nice and very expensive This is a bathroom Reno we just finished, the oak barn doors where built in my shop starting with rough sawn oak, we are lucky to get the opportunity to do work like this.
Have to get a little creative to deal with a old sloping floor? Then its way easier to just make your own- you aren't ordering that from home depot.
Yep the easiest thing to do is make everything plumb and square but in this case it would have looked terrible not to follow the floor, so you swallow your pride and do what’s best for the customer
I moved a 100 year old house off a shot foundation (hired a mover to put it in the backyard for a few weeks) and then put in a new up to code foundation, all square and level. Big mistake! When we moved the 2 story house onto the new foundation, none of the kitchen cabinet doors or the walk doors would open, or they had huge gaps on one end. Plus the house wasn't square like the new foundation, so we had to cheat to make it work. Building new is easy any dummy can do it, I work with them all the time! But yeah, a re-do really takes skill and an artists eye. One time I was setting a 30 foot log pillar, vertical, for a cabin, and the dummy amatuer builder was trying to plumb it with a 4' level, a rough hewn log.....after watching him and his brother in law, who had another level, banter back and forth for a while over where exactly plumb was, I couldn't stand it anymore and pointed out to them I had a big plumb bob right handy, the headache ball and winch line of course. We eyeballed it both directions, using the line, and put the levels away, they were amazed but to an old carpenter like me it made perfect sense.
A old school plumb bob was the factory method for the pillar for my jib crane.
Still have my Plumb Bobs come in rather handy WAY Too often.
That Crane Operator is a nit picker, for sure. He's always drawing circles on photos pointing out the crimes committed. He was a privet eye in his first life.
Aircraft should have a plume bob hanging in the cockpit, a circle on the floor.
To make the foundation fit the house what they do here is after I have the hole dug move the house over the hole. Plumb down and pour the basement to fit the house. Little more work but makes sense when possible.
Have seen that on old farm re-sets before. Takes a bit of Throw the Square Away technology but works out. Great Aunts place was a problem like that, stringlined square when built on Large Rock corner supports and crawl space under, sagged and slipped over time then decided to square it up and set a footer, Grandmother said Grandfather was constantly aggravated in helping to stabilize the old house in the fifties. Then in the sixties tore it down anyway.
I put in a email to Starrett as I have a fairly old number 87 plumb bob out of my father in law's old tooling, a bit scared of it as feels like has liquid inside it, possibly Mercury?.
Mercury? Probably, safe enough when contained. The old Starrett tools are the best for sure, I have one of their bubble protractors I've used on many aircraft builds and other work. No batteries required! A lot, most, of the kit airplane builders I know of, are all using digital this and digital that measuring devices, as they think they are more accurate then a plumb bob or a whiskey level. Bull! And a chalk line, can't forget that, some of the best tools to this day are the oldest.
I use a bubble protractor on any job requiring set up for angles, very reliable and fool proof. It's either right on or it isn't.
I last used it when I built a flatbed on my truck, while it was parked on a sloped floor, easy enough to set it "level" off a datum point on the truck. One little trick I use when trying to be as ultra precise as possible, like setting the washout in an airplane wing, is to NOT just center the bubble, but crowd one way or the other, so the bubble just touches the line on the side, and then when I do the opposite side I make sure I am holding the protractor the same way of course. Probably not a big enough difference to matter but it makes me feel better, as accurate as possible. What's been fun for me is mixing the old ways with the new ways and tools, like a cheap little Harbor Freight laser level, even a cheap as heck laser still shoots out a straight line!
This is the jewel And confirmed they mercury filled them
Still as accurate as they day it was made!
Learn't sumpin off this device. Starrett sent me a Email as to Safe so long as DO NOT OPEN IT, inside cap was seal sweat fit when new. Also the Outer cap has that odd little notch, that is to allow a 'Hold' for a self contained string line to be wound up Under the cap head(String Drum).
I had to slide this drywalled truss in between the occupied house and the one under construction, there was too much wind to take a 2000# drywalled truss over the roof of the house to the right.
I had to hire this fellow to set trusses for me on Monday. We had a 3,000 lb. truss section to place at 85 feet. The 45 ton was busy so the boss showed up with his 90. Likely cost me $100 chatting with him. Lol.
Bob Hoover could keep that plumb bob in the circle while doing a barrel roll, so I don't know how handy that would be!
I set the beams on this house before Christmas, today I set the trusses. It was a real challenge getting in, there was about 3 miles of single lane ice covered road with steep hills, then a sharp turn in the driveway and what seemed like straight up the lane with two 90 degree turns (I almost got stuck on the second one )
Some people build houses out in the boonies and don't think much. Either they build it in amongst a bunch of tree's so it's a real fire hazard or they put in a weird twisting driveway that makes it hard for emergency vehicles to get in if they need to. Imagine it's the middle of winter, there's a foot of snow and their furnace quit or they needed an ambulance. Nobody could get to them. The other stupid thing I've seen is acreage owners with 3 acres and you can't turn around to drive down the driveway. I know a guy who built a great house but his driveway totally sucks. He has a travel trailer and has to back up the driveway to park it or hook up to it. He's got 2 -1/2 acres to make a turn around area.
When we built found that rock was relatively inexpensive so laid in wide driveways does twist at bottom but a gooseneck is easy to maneuver thru At times still have to get off in grass but not often
This talk about mercury reminded me somewhere around here is a glass bulb switch with mercury in it. As I recall it was part of an idle control system on a Lincoln welder. Also recall playing with that stuff in science class in high-school. They had a pint bottle of it and it was crazy as to how heavy that bottle was to pick up. Handled that stuff more than once with bar hands. "The inhalation of elemental mercury vapours can cause neurological and behavioural disorders, such as tremors, emotional instability, insomnia, memory loss, neuromuscular changes and headaches." Some might say that would explain a few things about me!
Slay Transportation used to haul Mercury for a couple of controls firms in STL. When worked Feld Truck rental we supplied Slay with truck leases, the Mercury Trailer was a bridgework of Structural steel to a MASSIVELY Thick on end cannister with a lid that bolted in place with three seal rings under it. Gawd Awful tanker could haul some 150-250 gallons of the stuff and was near to overweight doing that. Was a full load empty.
By my off-the-cuff calculation ... 250 gallons of mercury weigh a bit over 28,000 pounds. For perspective ... a common IBC (liquid tote) is 275 gallons.. Dmiller's flask was likely designed to hold up to a minor wreck. Would be a major ecological disaster in case of a spill. see here for a flask test ..
Looks like nice balmy weather you're having. Have to have chains to get up the driveway to the house on the hill? We've had a good layer of ice here the last couple days and haven't gone anywhere. The truss is about like when they skip around setting trusses, and you get to walk one between two other set trusses. Only on that one you can take siding off the neighbor's house.
No chains just good tires and 45 years of driving on snow and ice. The only thing I’ve ever had chains on was a two wheel drive loader tractor that I used to clean the barn out with. I have to confess this trip had me sweating a bit. The township had ice bladed the road, so it wasn’t a problem, as it turned out the biggest trouble I had was caused by the contractors efforts to make things good for me, he put a lot of salt down and it softened the snow on the driveway enough that I started to chop a bit in the slushy snow.
Truck inspection-check Crane inspection- check New rope - check New winch hydraulic hoses - check
I shouldn’t be given any time to sit and think, I decided that it would be nice to have an oil dispenser, so after a couple of phone calls and a bunch of $$ this showed up. My supplier would have put it in for free, but then I pay a premium on the oil. By owning it myself I’m free to purchase the bulk oil from whom ever I wish. I like the ability to put the oil directly into the machine rather the pouring it from pail into a oil can then into the machine. Not counting the spilled oil while transferring from pail to can, I’m thinking a couple years to pay for it, but mostly it’s just nice to have.
What oil? Engine, hydraulic?? I too have noticed the winch lines get sun damaged due to their location, good move.
Appears Rotella Engine Oil
NOW I see the big label on the side of the tank! I'm currently at 650 hours between oil changes with my 425 hp Mack, 56 qts capacity. This is based on Blackstone Labs reports, and they cautiously suggest I could go a bit higher, but I'm good with that, especially as I was changing it at 350 hours. I've used this increase in change intervals as an excuse to get lazy, and just take it in to get a full service at my local Kenworth dealer. The weird thing is, based on dipstick readings, the Mack doesn't seem to use any oil....at least not enough to have to add any at all between changes.
Kind of shorted you of cable didn't they. I like a full drum if I'm buying new, but its always a little tough to guess what it takes to get a full drum.
Do you ever pull all the cable off and reverse the ends? We used to do that on the dragline cranes, as the would wear in one place.
I bought the rope from Manitex and the part no. is 35714-335 35x7 rotation resistant rope, 14 mm. and 335 ft. I started shopping for one but in the end my dealers price was good and I have the added benefit of using a rope supplied by the factory shop.
The main wear is always where it jumps to the next wrap. I've never reversed one, that would be a huge pain to try to lay it all out, or you would have to spool to spool it, and then back on the drum. You can get the same effect- i.e. changing where the cable wraps over, by just putting it on a spool, cutting 8' of cable on the swedge end at the drum, and then spooling it back on. Then you don't wrap it backwards. So is it actually 14mm, or is it just 9/16 cable? 14mm and 9/16 are pretty close, and I'm just curious. Liebherr uses a stupid 17mm on my 100 ton and why they didn't just use 3/4" and make it easy I'll never know. Its hard to source cable, and forget getting creative with a alternative block or becket.
I haven't done it but I've thought about it. Because it is spooled the reverse of the way its spent its life have you had any trouble getting it to lay properly? I even read somewhere that you should spool it off the original reel onto a second reel, then install it, to keep it laying the way it was originally spooled, when I asked the head mechanic at the dealership he said there was no need. In the case of this rope I had to cut and shorten it twice and I think the last time I cut it I wonder if got the seizing wire tight enough because it appeared that the core slipped because I had a bit of a spiral happening in the first 15 ft. of the rope. so upon discovering that I immediately cut out the effected rope " taking great care to seize properly" and ordered a new rope. My feeling is the consequences are far too great to take a chance on a three year old rope that has shown any issues.
I've seen Manitex call it both but when I ordered it the part no. came up as 14mm. and it didn't seem a problem, they had it in there parts room in two days. when I was pricing from my rigging supplier he could have two different ropes in the same time frame and a German made one in 10 days. The German made one was $600 more than the other two. It was about then I decided to use the factory supplied rope. There was also a chinesium rope for half the price, thanks but no thanks.
Cummins recommends 500 hours I usually change oil and filters at about 250 hours. If I was running 50 hours a week I'd maybe feel differently, but although some weeks I bill out that much, if I have a lot of minimum charges but I've never ran even close to that so 250 hour service intervals aren't a very big impact to my bottom line and it makes me feel good. I'm a lot of things but any kind of a mechanic other than a poor one " I'm not. But I remember being told one time that all engines burn some oil and if your dip stick does not change level its because of a small amount of impurities entering the oil making up the difference in the the oil used.
yep rotella t 15-40 I have a really good shell dealer 6 KM. from me that I get excellent service from I have a metered clear fuel tank with a level sensor that they monitor remotely, a dyed tank and I buy most of my gasoline at their fuel station. So I really never consider anything else.
I'd never go that long on my own, and didn't, until Blackstone showed me the numbers, and if anything is entering the oil it doesn't show on the tests. I do about two changes a year. I'm sure I use some oil, but the dipstick shows it's still in the safe range by the time the next change is due. Try an oil analysis, you may be able to safely extend and STILL get that warm fuzzy feeling of treating your money maker right, and I am 100% for that, I call it mechanical karma.
You could add rural Canada to the mid west column. Toronto is is a different story they have a habit of calling in the army if they get a heavy dusting of snow. “ f,ing embarrassing “.
I'm going to have to make correction to your southern column Sir. Our liquor stores are emptied before the "Mild panic and sense of doom" sets in.
I stand corrected.
Here in SE Idaho, I saw a college student the other day in 20 degree temps, wearing shorts, while brushing the snow off his car, and that is not too unusual.
This is happening about eight miles from me, I know the land owner, he said the wind tower is not producing the way it should, so they are adding three small blades between the existing. I haven’t talked to him for awhile but since around Christmas this is the third crane to be set up and to date there hasn’t been anything done. If anything happens I’ll update. This is the building my crew is working on, it is the one that I used the 90 ton grove on.
the rear wall of the building above. 26 gage corrugated steel installed horizontally, it’s for an architect. This is the first time we’ve done this.
well just damn` I like the looks of that
Is a bit weird to me after decades of corrugated barn tin set vertically. Are shed companies here use steel tube framing set the corrugations 'Wrong' but seems to be OK. Only a arketech would think of going that way. Had thought of asking why the girts were vertical earlier!!
If you get mice with the sheets horizontal, they have free reign of the entire building. Put the sheets vertical and they are limited to each individual cavity.
Not really maybe less so then the steel vertically. On a conventional building the strapping is horizontal 1x4 or 2x4 allowing mice to travel the perimeter of the building horizontally or vertically through the 7/8”x1 1/2” profile of the steel. The cross section of this building is 2x6 studs @ 16”, 1/2” spruce plywood, tyvek air barrier with all joints taped,2” ridged roxal insulation, strapped vertically @ 16” oc. All windows flashed through with steel trim to the interior of the tyvek and blue skinned, then 26 gage horizontal corrugated cladding with all edges getting lapping trims. Not our first rodeo!
Oh my the details but the final product is worth it.
I did these beams and the trusses on the house below. Best thing was it was for two different contractors, so two charges and out by noon. Over the last year I set the trusses on all the houses in the picture and quite a few not in the shot.
I’ve started helping erect silos, the crew puts the bottom 40 ft.up with their deric and then I come in and hoist the staves up to them a skid at a time.
Silo's are interesting either bolted metal or precast. They must have to have a very solid, very level foundation so they aren't the leaning tower of disaster. Things like vessels are 1 piece and everything is level and square in the fabrication. I think shims and bolting sequence are used also to to keep them exact.
Cannot believe anyone still constructing them Around here most are either in deconstruct or have become landmark points for directions while unused for decades
I bet in Canada they grow grain for food and not a fuel additive.
Here they have gone to Trench Silage storage and eliminated Silo Storage. Chop corn Whole not just grain store.
I’m in cattle country so very little if any ethanol corn. I don’t know any beef guys that still use upright silos other than the Mennonites, they use them because they don’t use tractors, so most have a tmr mixer in their silo room and feed with carts. some of the smaller dairy guys use uprights for high moisture and silage because their usage isn’t high enough to keep the face of the feed from spoiling. Our corn likely comes off in a four way split, silage, shell corn, high moisture and cob meal.
It’s pretty interesting watching them, the top of every second stave is checked with a 12” level then if not perfect a washer us used to level it. I have also seen them measure from one silo to another.
a little before and after
What do you guys use for every day use wire rope slings? I have been using 3/8 x 6x19 chockers just because that's what I get when I order them, but recently I pulled out the 7/16 x 6x26 chokers that came with the manitex to tie down the ball for transport. My old slings almost immediately start to Kink with even light use, but the 6x26 that I've been using for months now have no significant kinks. My question is it more the composition of the wire rope or is it the manufacturer.
Does not take much to tip a three legged mule.
TM we use 3/8" eye/eye slings 6' long for concrete pipe. We don't need alot of capacity the 3/8" 6' is rated for 1.4 ton on a straight pick. The wire slings are wear items to us as the concrete is abrasive on the loop and the lifting bar inside the pipe spreads the strands out over time. I get them from a local construction supply house delivered to the job for $28 last time we ordered one. So were you on site when the lumber driver flipped the Moffitt or did they bring you in to put it back on the right side?
I got the call. On the construction of our business we are customers of theirs.
I have long used 3/8" wire rope slings, 12'er's, a pair always on board, mostly for truss bundles, sheeted gables, and girder trusses. Yeah they take a bend, (kink denotes a kinda of a different thing) but it's a given, broken strands is what I watch for, one strand sticking up and they are tossed. Having trusted my life for decades as a hang glider and than ultralight pilot (3/32", 7x7) and still as a fixed wing pilot, I maybe have a greater appreciation of the strength and durability of wire rope than most. At the same time I never overload it. I once showed up at a steel setting job with a strange (meaning, we hadn't worked together before) crew of union iron workers that wasted no time in letting me that we'd be using THEIR rigging, and they pulled out this kinked up 3/8" sling that I would have tossed long ago, that they were totally comfortable with. I think I pay $18.00 for a 12', cheap enough to replace BEFORE they look that bad.
I hate seeing beat up rigging, it's so cheap in reality. We're always buying new slings and what not like I rarely walk out of our one supply house without at least one or two even if it's just a replacement for one on my service rig. Then we get to make fun of other trades and mechanics using some beat ass rigging too lol. Not worth dropping some expensive part or having an incident over a few bucks in slings.
I had (3) super short 3/8" made for my mini, right at 2' working length and $12.50 each Not worth working with chains and bubblegum.
Skyking: I just discovered a local industrial supply house I long have used for my rigging needs, has another outlet in a town 30 miles away from me, but one with an airstrip just a mile away. Whereas my local one is clear across town, in an area I rarely go. Plus the othe,r airplane accessible one, (with a loaner beater always available) has a lot more in stock, due to the big phosphate plant nearby.
Any excuse for a 'mission' works for me. back when my partner was doing more GA engine rebuilds, we would load the 310 with cylinders, cases, cranks, whatever needed to go where ever. There is an engine shop at Troutdale and we knew the UPS was cheaper, but hey, it's a mission! http://www.premieraircraft.net/
I don't use 3/8" very often. They are kind of nice setting smaller I-beams because they will choke down a little tighter. I always carry 1/2" x8' for my everyday use. Some of the carpenters complain, but they don't kink up and get as snaky as 3/8" do, so I find them easier to work with. They are a little more rigid if your trying to slide them through a bundle of trusses or pile of I-beams and will push through easier than a 3/8 will. Plus if I end up going to do a big tree or some quarry work, flipping tanks etc. , the 1/2" can basket to 10,000lbs each, so I don't end up with too small of rigging near as fast. It's always the game of how much do you want to haul along with you everywhere, vs. getting places and not having enough rigging. I've never had 6x36 for chokers, are they a swaged core wire? I'm wondering if manitex just uses their cut offs from the winch ropes to make up those. What's the tag say for a manufacturer and what's the rating on them?
I have a 14'6" (something like that, a custom length I had made up) 1/2" cable onboard, but never used, as it was 1 component for lifting my mini excavator. I'm selling the X, and this thread has made me want to try using it the next time I need to move a stack of trusses. For individual truss setting I still like the 3' length of lifting grade chain with a snap hook that attaches to a oval load ring, hanging from a 6' 1" endless sling, then my load hook. The chain doesn't get kinked, the ball stays min. 6' above the carpenters heads, and my winching up and down to unhook is minimized. Assuming they can reach the top chord where I'm rigged to, I just have to come down about 18" or less to let them unhook, and I train them to get the chain on the outside of the truss, so I can immediately swing or boom up with no chance of the chain fouling, a few seconds saved every truss adds up.
I set the steel columns for a 60x120 building today, when I drove in this is what was happening. I had to sit for awhile and get my strength back the sight of someone compacting a pad for me was overwhelming.
I got my 6x39x7/16” six foot slings today I’ll be trying them tomorrow on some 60 foot trusses tomorrow.
I had my biggest day ever last week I left my shop at 5:15 am, set two beams at 6:30 drove 2 hours laid over a propane tank and loaded it, drove 1 1/2 hours and set the trusses on a big house, drove a hour to get home at 7:00 pm I billed out 17 1/2 hours.
I had a young iron worker call the kinks and twists ***-holes, to be fully appreciated you had to hear him say it.
Its been a while but I have set 100's of 80 ft wood trusses. I was a super for an outfit I talked in to getting a National 500. I went to the rigging store, got a pile of chokers slings and shackles. 2 heavy chokers I bought we never used, we used some steel and some 3/8 with the hooks, logging crap, I forget what they7 called but i mostly used nylon and we shackle 10 ft together to make as long as we want. I set 2 80 ft at a time, we tried 3 but it wasnt as good, was too complicated and 2 was slick a few ft apart and never unhook them. Go around the chord and pull the line thru the eye and stick a 2x4 thru them. On occasion would tie rope to the 2x4 to pull them out but once we worked with a decent crew we could really fly. Where they got the scheme of stagering the stringers right it was easy.
I have a set of 10 ft purple round slings as well.
The only issue I see with that method, is the crew better be able to reach to above the top chord to pull the pin. Around here, we usually try to rig to the a wood truss's kingpost, not the top chord, so when winching down the chain I use slides clear down to the bottom chord if needed. more than one way to skin a cat, never seen that method of choking/securing a sling before!
There’s a long rope to pull spud wrench out thus releasing the sling. A favourite of iron workers when setting columns.
Thus a need for high steel hard hats
With bar joists a plate with a hole in it slid between the flanges and a hole for a pin with a tag line to it. For wood trusses a 2x4 is better than a spud.
Deer season.
I use shackles often to choke a long strap, like you used the spud wrench. The carpenters usually don't get it at first, and always want me to winch clear down so they can reach my load hook, and I have to yell at them to just undo the shackle, then they get it. Depending on the job, it saves a lot of winching up and down.
I got all kinds of schemes. Wanna see some gittins trust setters the jerked off Amish. On a dead run
My framer clients love my remote release. Most of them are four men crews one on the ground one on the subfloor and two in the trusses. One guy in the trusses will set the truss at the plate and the other will tie the truss in half way to the peak then at the plate. As soon as the truss is adequately secured I get the single to release and neither one ever needs to go near the centre of the truss, it saves a lot of time and reduces the risk of a fall. A couple weeks ago I had to set some long shallow trusses that required two hitch points so we couldn’t use the remote ( I’m not buying a second one) it was like taking a kids favourite toy away
Interesting! That's how I'm quickly starting to feel about my camera system. What brand of release is that again?
Gotcha they’re made in Quebec. I’ll find a link for them and pm you.
It’s been all about the wind mills lately. The first picture is for an off grid house, he already had the head installed and said it had to stay on and by the way it cost $10,000 so don’t damage it. The second pic is an old wind mill I pulled down for a Mennonite neighbour he had a buyer for it. The third picture is the same tower I posted a picture of in the spring. One of the bolts in the new prototype smaller blades sheared off letting the blade swing around chopping at the large blade and down it came. You can see it sticking in the ground on the bottom right hand corner of the picture.
Setting a 120 ft tower it took a couple towers to get there with the new climber but we’ve got it down pretty good now. The top 40 feet I have to hook onto just above centre then it hangs about four feet out of plumb, I swing into them and the head connector grabs the tower and turns it to the proper orientation then I slowly raise it to about a foot above the tower, swing it in to place they spud two legs I lower it till it just touches then they put one bolt in each leg then I stand it up straight. I don’t think anyone on the ground watching realizes watch a delicate dance the climbers and I do. second picture I was playing with the big boys.I was setting door and window lintels, the link belt was setting core slabs on the same building as me and the other crane was setting core slabs on the building next door. The link belt was hooked to some precast for the elevator shaft in the picture. The last picture I am hooked to the base section, when I stand them up they climb the goose neck on the trailer I can’t always do it this nice but it was my day to shine ( place smart azzed comment here )
Those tower monkeys are always impressive, it's pretty humbling when you realize they are are trusting YOU with THEIR lives. And they are getting paid less.
I have a 100' freestanding radio tower to take down soon. I don't have any tower guys so I will rent an 85' boom lift to set the rigging on it. It has only the angled stays on it, so climbing it would be truly painful for this old phat phart.
New and interesting ways to Irritate your crane operator
Well it turns out one wasn’t enough of a challenge
knuckleheads.
tradesman... How does one stabilize trusses without blocking the next ones for the crane ?
Most guys use 22 3/8” spacers and block between trusses. I use pre-marked 2x4’s never sticking them out more than one extra truss. I never say anything unless they create an impossible situation. Most crews that start out this way figure it out before long that it doesn’t save any time. One case that I won’t let them do it is on large trusses like over 50ft. with the ties on the top of the rafter because the only way I can get them in is to set the truss down and drag it under the 2x4, the big trusses will fold in half if you try that. But most of the time I just let them do what they want unless it’s unsafe. Too much unsolicited advice usually isn’t appreciated. Ps. Those straps where hanging out 8 ft. As you can see in the picture it two of them to get it nailed. I give these men credit they stuck to it till the end.
Trademan ... Thanks for the reply. I don't get many chances to stop and watch a crane & crew set trusses.
You're the one with the fancy release on the cable. That gives those carpenters all kinds of time to think of stupid bracing scenario's. If you keep them busy hooking and unhooking, they don't have time to dream up stupid stuff like this. Really, they just need to keep attaching 16' ers to the top chord, so they droop down nice. One on each side. That's my favorite. Saves cutting up all that wood.
We, at least about 95% of the builders here, use the stamped metal stabilizers, my personal favorite as a crane guy. Fast, but they are not particularly cheap. If I was still playing carpenter, and I was the one paying for material, I'd earmark the jobsite lumber not good for much else (bowed, twisted, etc.) set it aside, and before the crane showed have it cut to blocking length. I'm seeing more and more of the battery operated nail guns, those things are super handy for truss work. When do I get the rare job using drooping 2 bys on top, I just keep repeating to myself "I'm working by the hour."
I sat here for a hour waiting for the guy to go get a quick cut to shorten the beams, and the when he came back without it we got in his pickup and went to my job sight and got mine. The view out my office window I held this ridge beam in place while the hacks building this multi million dollar house cut it to fit with a chain saw. We have a really bad shortage of journeyman
A few pictures of the renovation we just finished
just some random pictures This was an arse clincher even though I was lots far enough from the water tower it was terrifying to look up at it.
Tradesman What was the lattice tower to be used for? Seems awfully close to the water tower for any radio usage without interference.
that tower and you probably had some decent winds, so the clouds are scooting by too. That would be a bit vertigo-creating. The remodel looks great. I just watched the gotcha video that thing is slick.
It’s an internet tower they are pretty well line of sight towers. I work directly with the owner of the emerging company, he provides excellent service to our rural community
Oh ya! I was sure I was falling over. I put some equipment in the top of a silo a few weeks ago,it was a windy day but not so bad that I couldn’t do it except I had to get them to move the skids of parts because the wind was swirling around the silo and shaking my boom violently when I would return to the pile. I told them I wasn’t going back to that side of the silo again.
Natman can attest to it, but the downwind side of a mountain is a b*****d in a high wind too. Many times I have taken people for a mount Rainier and St Helens airplane ride, around 3 sides of each mountain. They would ask about that other side and I would say there is nothing over there worth the ride to see!
Nice day for putting steel on, -15 c, at least there where no flies buzzing around. The day I set the trusses on this house the temperature was similar. The week before a washer had worn through the plastic on my diesel tank for the Espar heater so no problem I got a new tank and installed it, except somehow I ended up with water in the small rubber hose and it froze on the way to the job. I spent 6 hours sitting in a -15 cab when I was done instead of staying and helping my crew I went home.
I’m looking to have these built likely out of aluminum but if they are too spendy I might consider steel. Any thoughts would be appreciated
Long after you forget about the extra cost for having them made out of aluminum (assuming you can't find any stock sizes that meet your needs) you will appreciate them not rusting, ever. You have steel wheels, or aluminum? Thought so. I would NOT powder coat them, if you go steel, it's easy and looks great, but after a while..... I've seen too much powder coating looking good, until a piece flakes off and you see rust underneath. One thing keeping me from getting a 40 ton boom truck (besides the wider outrigger span) is all the underbed space taken up by tag axles etc. You and me, with out little bit of counterweight and 20' span, have the hot set for residential truss work I think.
They will be custom built. Ya I made the mistake of having something powder coated, never again, just like you said it got chipped up and seemed to rust faster than normal. My rims are all aluminum.
Are you going up on the deck behind your job boxes? Or getting rid of the job boxes and these go in their place? Personally, I like my wood under the fenders if I can, because we throw wood a lot, and I hate lifting it any higher than I have to. You've got a lot of stuff under your fenders though- so maybe you don't have room there. I've never had one with the wood rack on the rear of the crane, behind the outrigger box, my national has the outrigger controls on the rear, and if your manitex has them there, that's a no go for a rear wood box.
The job box’s are going and both new boxes will have to be on the deck. If you zoom in you can see I have gotten rid of all my laminated plywood ( very heavy) pads an replaced the with ash 46” x 4x6 it was an immediate improvement of quality of life, and a lot more versatile. The big driver behind my change in box’s is to not have to put multiple ratchet straps on my dunnage and just have to latch a door.
I use 36" sections of 12 " Micro Lam, along with some 4" x 6" hardwood (Wisconsin hardwood, the previous owners included them!) I use two, flat, and alternate them if using multiple layers. I have found this to be "less work" and more versatile then fewer but heavier pad solutions. I get the Micro's scraps for free, but that isn't why I use them, they work. 4 under bed inclined racks, all stainless steel no less, no securing necessary. Port of Entry people look, along with troopers, and in the last 10 years only one told me to put a bungee on them.
I installed my new dunnage box on the weekend and moved my top boxes. When it came time to move ahead with the project it was just too much money to do the new rigging box.
first picture is of wheels on a concrete pump line great idea first time I’ve seen them. second picture is a top view of new box.
Going to put a lid on it to keep the snow/ rain/ sun off of it?
No it’s in a heated shop when not being worked so I want it open so it can dry out between uses. There are the same oblong shaped holes on all side to allow air to flow and let the dirt out the bottom. I also have plastic riser strips on the bottom for additional air movement.
The biggest look outs I’ve ever seen. 12” LVL 8 ft. Lookouts. They were hard for the framers to secure, as I would set them down they wanted to slide down the roof. We raftered the entire roof with wood I rafters. Can you tell there was a high priced Architec involved on this building. It’s going to be a brewery.
This is a church renovation we just finished. We added an elevator, accessible washroom and modernized the front lobby as seen in the picture. The new double door are to be installed soon I saw this guy working on the house next to the one I was setting trusses on. It would make a good picture to add a caption to. Our transportation to the ice fishing hut. I can’t remember the year of it possibly manufactured in the 1930’s and fully restored two years ago.
those knees on the upside of the shed are cool! I am designing now and had planned on kneeing my shed overhang, rather than stick the TJI joist out there and boxing it in. I personally see no reason to do those lookouts like that, I would kick some protected knees out there and frame it up with lighter stuff. My big gripe is knees and beams that put wood out in weather to rot. It is either flashed or more better, recessed so it is not exposed to begin with.
Someone has a rake wall to fix. I put the trusses on this infill house,I sat right at the neighbour’s front step.
I inherited a timber framer from one of my retiring competitors. I did two of these gable bents in one week for him. I had this picture sent to me buy my building supplier. Guys out of the city putting roofing supplies on a new building, apparently it sat there for a couple days before the rescued it.
How's that fancy unhooker work with that kind of rigging? Hit the button and it all falls on their head? Not that I don't know carpenters that could use that kind of positive reinforcement of their spectacular skills.
New crew I showed the how to hook it then they did that I had to use negative re-enforcement to get them to hook it properly.
Anyone else ever get a hoarse voice, from yelling over the equipment noise? I had 2 jobs in a row last week that for the usual reasons (improper rigging and tag line technique) seemed to require a lot of yelling back and forth. I once again thought a loud speaker would be beneficial on some jobs, but I am afraid that some of the things I mutter under my breath, might inadvertently be heard at large.
Actually, I think it would be beneficial for safety too. As long as you didn't key the mic, you'll be safe from the hot mic. (Unlike Obama when he promised the Russians "flexibility")
I know a guy who worked for a fairly large construction outfit building a hotel. The foreman had a megaphone and also a fowl mouth at times. On several occasions the police were called because of the excessive yelling and/or cursing through the megaphone. The police even banned him from using it a few times after several complaints earlier on the same day.
Based on this a loud speaker might not be a good idea. I wouldn’t want someone I hope to cut me a cheque to know what I am thinking in the heat of the moment.
Something audible and loud is usually a good idea on a noisy job site and an unsafe situation is involved. A travel alarm is just one good example. You can call a police officer all you like, but they are unlikely to do anything unless there is a situation outside of written ordinances or there is a safety situation. Keep in mind we have social disturbances involving bullhorns all the time with people marching down streets and blocking traffic and few if any arrested.
A megaphone is OK if used responsibly. There are a few other options nowadays for safely communicating with employee's. The headphones with a microphone are 1 option that is hands free and doesn't require yelling across a construction site.
a little bit of 911 work
a Facebook crane operator page I belong to call this flat stick Friday, and it was indeed on Friday that I did this pick.
I’ve got three of these to do on the same farm. 22x90 For the first time I put the roof on this one.
Sometimes my weeks vary a we bit.
Now this a cool diving board It’s pool season
You're making me want to forgo the spreader bar I use when I set pools! I can't remember if it was my pool people or me that felt the need for the spreader, it's been about 10 years and we always use it. No real need obviously. I have 4 pools next week, for two different companies, a new record, I'm just glad I don't have to pay to heat the things.
They specify 30 ft. Rigging I was digging out my 20’s and 10’s and the pool guy said don’t worry 20’s are lots. Ps. But for all the time it takes To rig a spreader bar unless it’s their idea I wouldn’t chance it, and just stay with what you’re used to.
number two of three going up this beautiful spring day.