new to the knuckle boom always used straight boom with winch,so when you need to pick in a small confined area say a engine pull or head pull are guys just using a chain come along to get it straight up. how are pushing pulling with these, what have you built,or use to help assist you with the use of a knuckle boom crane??
I like to use a chain fall or chain come a long, I don't find a knuckleboom easy to lift straight up with.
IMHO a knuckle boom is one of the most versatile lifting devices ever invented. We have one at work that we use regaulary to snatch transmissions & differentials from haul trucks. Lifting-wise it'll do 3 tons @ 25ft radius. We have the numbers to show that it's already paid for itself despite the fact we only bought it just over a year ago. However you have to get used to figuring out what function (or functions) you need to be using in order to get the hook to do a certain thing. As crane operator says, it can be difficult to do a straight vertical lift with one, again you have to think about what you’re trying to achieve. I'd also suggest it's worthwhile practising with an empty hook and see just what you have to do to make it do certain things, then once you get lifting into tight corners with it you'll know exactly what you need to do. That reminds me of an old workmate who was a former air force helicopter pilot. His story about flying helicopters was pretty simple - "Get off the ground (which is nothing more than applying enormous amounts of power to overcome gravity) and get up to a safe height, say about 5-1000ft. Then you hold the joystick in a certain position and carefully watch what the helicopter does - because if you want the helicopter to do that again, that's where you have to put the stick...." Well it may surprise you to learn this but knucklebooms work much the same way .......
Knuckle booms were pretty much all I ever used in 45 years of pulling wrenches. Like Nige said, it can be done, just takes practice and a very easy hand on the controls. Forget cranking the idle up on the engine, run it at an idle so you can get some fine control. Depending on the lift, how tight I was and how heavy, I would use a chain fall or a chain come along, but it was not always an option. I snuck the hook into some pretty tight places. The one thing that is nice with a knuckle boom is when you are sneaking the extension in and out, the cable does not move. The other option is to have a small winch mounted on it and run the cable through a block hanging off the hook. Had two trucks during my career that had that system, nice option.
Here's some photos of pulling a transmission/diff assembly. The knuckleboom is the only thing that will get under the raised haul truck body and centred over the top of the tranny. Load is about 4 tons @ 17ft radius IIRC.
I had a truck with a National N45, one of my favorite rigs, I could get the boom right up into a scraper cab to drop a generator or transmission (Wabco 333). and I could run the boom to make a straight up or down lift. Took a bit of practice.
I have loaded a lot of relic machines over the years using a knuckle boom. I run a cable from the hook thru a sheave fastened to the deck on the truck. When I lift the boom it pulls the cable thru the sheave pulling recovered old iron up onto the trailer. It works much better using the main lift at close radius than it does pulling with the jib with the cable straight from the hook. They are indeed a very handy tool.
I've a knuckle on my current F550... Use it with an assortment of straps and slings and chains and cable. Basically half a cabinet is lifting and rigging. Way more versatile than the conventional set up. Said I'd never go back, but, you pay for versatility. It's a big lump of steel and it takes up a lot of space on the frame so you loose cabinet space. Also,they don't give them away. My new truck (build in progress) will be a conventional set up.
My tire man uses his knuckle boom as a bead breaker/assist. It will push pretty hard.
I have added the manual extension to my power telescoping knuckle boom. When I extend it it takes less head room because you don’t have a cylinder attached to it. I take the rotating hook off and put a chain come along right on the pin. I had a cable winch on my last knuckle and thought I would have to add one to this new one but found with the wireless control you can lift pretty well straight up by using up and telescope in small increments.
i can remember with the auto crane straight boom having to get the truck just in the right spot,after only using this knuckle boom twice, it saved me time, just get within 20 feet, and your in the zone. it almost seems light your better of being a little farther away. i like the idea of pulling stuff on trailer deck with the cable sheave combo,it seemed to with the auto crane and sheave attached, lots of head room was lost mobiltech i like the idea of attaching come along directly to jib end point that will save me some head room. did you fab you own manual pullout or by from manufacturer.
i just purchased a small micro chain come along, and a assortment of endless slings,any other handy items you guys use for rigging
I bought my extensions from the manufacturer. I could have probably made one but the shape of the boom is not square . It adds 6 feet of reach and came with another swivel hook for $700 canadian.
You can see the extension here allows me to get in tighter spots without cylinders in the way. Can be taken out easily too.
mobiltech thanks for the pics,i am going to be in heaven parking in the middle of the shop, be able to pick up anything in the 1000lb range at a near 30ft radius, looks like the shop is coming along well, how tall are your ceilings? my service/crane deck is a milron out of edmonton,i am getting ready to add the remote control,new valve body and the electric over hydraulic pumps and batteries,anyway you could snap a photo of your pump/battery setup just not sure where would be the best place to put it on the service deck? talking with the pump manufacturer,he said 30sec run time, then you need a 5min stop time,do you find this to be true? your amco veba crane is a 5.3 gallon per min crane, my fassi is a 4 gallon per min ,so should be alright with these low gpm pumps? batteries?its going to suck batteries down quick, one battery guy said two 6 volt golf cart batteries connected to make 12v another said two 12 connected in series? what are your thoughts on the best battery setups and types? mobiltech i like your idea on the shrink wrap for loose hose ends,does it work ok in cold temps,also very interested in your water line air hose setup for the shop? should have posted this in electric over hydraulic knucklebone thread after reading it!!
Ceiling is 20 feet. I have run my electric pump more then 30 secs at a time. With light load it doesnt get very hot. I do use the pto to unfold the crane and put outriggers down and to pack it away. The electric is good for moving parts around and lifting parts in especially when there is several minutes between movements . I have one extra 12 volt battery down in bottom of cabinet where i mounted electric pump and two underhood truck batteries.. I have a charger hooked up to plug in while crane is in use.
Love my old girl....use it all the time
Good morning I'm looking for parts for a amco veba crane ,is there any dealers in Southern Ontario
Try commercial truck equipment. I bought my truck and crane from them. https://comtruck.ca/contact-us/
what are you building?
I like the bed free for hauling, the boom is stacked away. Its not as good for erection work although it can be done. I want a bigger one on a different truck but this is so simple a girl can drive it.
The truck is so economical we use in in place of a 1 ton. Gonna send it today with a mower, brush hog type and a picnic table.
That's an old post I put together a 4x4 freightliner. My next little job in my spare time will be swapping the front clip and repowering with a C10
pics or it didn’t happen!
I took the test and have it on my NCCCO card, but have not used it since. They are handy though, the trench safety guys and concrete structure guys do great work with them.
I started before there really was a test I guess, I kind of dropped out before it became an issue and to tell the truth would rather be on the other end than pull the levers. Just curious, what is on the test? Is it like I tell my people,,,, with this little rig every foot you boom down or out its like tossing a 100# block on it. There was a thread in cranes where one of the guys had a good list of tricks for lack of better wording, wish I would have copied it. I been at this long enough most of it I do by instinct but I do a quite a bit of training. Things like weigh and test, rotate in place and not to boom down with very7 heavy loads if it can be helped etc. Back in the day I was the fill in operator for an owner and used to get comments on occasion,,,, that was way easier,,, smoother than the last guy running it,, ha I dont muind utility work, a little is ok and I usually get someone to run it when I can. I been operating equipment well before I was double digits in age, I get bored with it too easily and just as soon stand with a shovel and point if I can when I want something fussy done. Some days I can manage 1 control without too much problem, others can run 2, 3 and 4 on occasion,,,, ha.
There's a written test that you can study for for about 8 or 10 hours and take, there's individual tests for each kind of crane so I was a whole lot of tests to take to fill up that card They do keep asking the same kinds of questions but they toss in the specific ones to that type of crane mixed in there. The practical tests are all very similar. If you have something with a winch then you do things like take the hook and ball to a barrel, dunk it in there without knocking the barrel over, back out and over to another barrel 180° away and a different radius. Take a chain on the hook and fly it over to a circle on the ground and land it all inside the circle. Then they all have a course you run a heavy weight through. With the knuckle boom it was kept within the range of what it could do but it weighed about 2,000 lb, it was a barrel, and it had I think 3 ft chains hanging off the bottom. You had the boom and stick your way through the course of traffic candles with tennis balls sitting in the top of the cutoff poles. You couldn't touch the ground with a barrel and you had to keep the chains touching and you weren't supposed to knock any of the balls off of the traffic candle sticks. At each end of the course there was a circle to land in. They're all shaped like a z.
None of the more creative stuff? Hanging a guy in a 55 gallon drum cause no man basket to take a sheet off a building to slide a beam in? Sitting in a nylon choker 85 ft to hook the rigging on top of a flag pole? My fave,,, Hilti bolt a sign clip to the side of a concrete wall, shackle a nylon sling on to it and sitting in it so the rig can be used to bring the next piece to a huge cross to be sent up on the side of a church. Must have looked like a little Jesus hung up there in the middle of nothing,,, people walk past in the parking lot, look like a fly on the wall.
I remember a beam needed to go in a pocket under a balcony, no way to get to it and finally c clamp to stand on after getting off the ball on the far column, then connecting that end with a spud so it would come loose, hanging the beam and catting across to the other side to get a spot so could pull the other end loose to wiggle the first connection in. One other comes to minf was hanging the man basket, clamping it to the elevator and putting a 20 ft extension ladder in it. Can you imagine that today? 25 guys on a building and saw about 1 lanyard. Now they have clamps and harnesses, cant move without tie off.