Sometimes, there is no replacement for weight no matter how many stabilizers you have or how far out they are.
Operator error? I worked for an electrical utility as a mechanic for a few years. The utility decided after a very expensive screw up by a mechanic servicing a truck mounted crane that their mechanics needed to take a crane operators course. The crane was a telescopic boom and part of the service was applying grease to the bottom of the boom extensions where they slid on the wear pads. The mechanic thought it would be okay to fully extend the boom with the main boom still sitting on the boom rest. The boom buckled from its own weight just above the main section. A very expensive mistake.
oh ouch^ That is a very expensive Boo-Boo. The LMI was fooled in the boom rest. I always liked an RT that would hold the full boom flat for grease/inspection. First pic was driving too fast. Been there and got religion in the air suspension boom truck I operated most recently. The rest have stories.
Love mine But I'm not doing the big industrial stuff like those jobs
What I find more disturbing is it looks like the same truck in every picture.....
Are places they do or can work as well, HOWEVER nothing replaces a True Crane but another Crane. Still see that Grove truck crane I had to cut the mast away from the house On a Hilltop outside of Festus MO. Line Crew dumped it on its side as outrigger dug in, FAILED to set outrigger expanded seats. Used a Rented twin to that one to pick the scrap off.
Always wanted a truck set up like that with a lift axle. Would be handy as a shirt pocket to pull a lowboy for the lighter equipment and use on the job when we don't have a hoe to lift things.
According to a former employer of mine the solution to this issue is to put a full 960 bucket on the deck, went right along with the sketchy man basket on the boom tip. Dumb ways to die lol
Of all those pictures of boom truck problems, how many are the fault of the boom truck? Or are boom trucks simply less intimidating than a regular crane so ignorant people use them carelessly? If you put those same operators in a regular crane, will they just find heavier loads to overtax the capacity of the crane?
I see way more dumped boom trucks, than anything else. Of course, numbers wise, there's probably a lot more boom trucks out there. I see typically 2 incidents, overload to boom failure/tipping, and dumped on their side going down the road. The manufacturers have gone to more and more main boom, and they are mounted higher to clear the cab than a standard truck crane. They are top heavy SOB's. And they run 75mph with a 500 hp engine. So they are out there ripping along, a tire blows, or someone does something stupid in front of them/on their phone, and over they go. Of course you're right, none of them would go if the operator was doing his part and kept it within the operating parameters. But these 40toners with no counterweight and 127' or 140' of boom are all a accident waiting to happen.
I worked at a place that bought and sold cranes and boom trucks. We all so did some crane jobs and used them alot at the place . I have operated a lot of different cranes . After a while a operator will get to know when something bad could happen. Were it be to heavy , ground soft under out riggers or to far away . I was lucky and some one was looking out for me i never had a real bad deal but we got a truck crane that we started using a lot i came close to turning it over 2 times and another guy bent the boom. This crane was very different when something started to happen it was to late before i could make a move it was on its way . I was at the controls so yes it was my fault but i had never had problems like this with other cranes.
I will also say this, if I lived out west or texas with 3-4 hour drives to jobsites, I'd probably own a big boom truck.
I would bet in such a case it would be operated safely in all aspects
Think about a rotator same basic thing, and those do get flopped on their side. {ever look a Link Belt frame-compare it to a truck frame.
When I started with XYZ to operate their 1195 National, I could tell right away that they were all about safety from the management end. 100% steel sheets under outriggers without exception, decent looking forms and signature requirements, and I found the cable to be questionable and it was no issue to go get a new cable. The atmosphere was a little tense, shall we say. Then I found out the why of it. My boss had done most of the boom trucking for the last couple of years but it was a little much to do that and manage 5~10 tower crane operators, same number of manlift operators, and a bevy of forklift operators. He took over the job after they had a bad accident on a MegaCorp job and the crane boss at the time essentially got run off. They were pouring concrete on a few columns and they knocked a couple of carpenters off the form as the bucket and boom came down. As it was told to me, the operator was a bit ham-handed and he swung over there a little quickly and it just kept on going. No particulars about the pre-operations or load calcs, just a really bad scene with two guys hurt and all of it on a big site right under MegaCorp's watch. They torched the bent boom off and swung the base into the rest, strapped it down and drove it off the site. I poured concrete a few times, using a 3/4 yard Garbro. I padded the chart in my favor over and above the duty cycle reduction for bucket work. Some of the crew I worked with were a little less concerned about load charts and doing it right. I think there is a culture around boom trucks, where anybody feels like they can jump up there and they got something done once with the alarm on and then expect every body else to be that stupid. Those same guys had a 1.5 yard Garbro and mentioned maybe pouring a few footings to save on a pump truck rental for the odd footing here or there. I made it clear that the 1.5 will never be on my hook, except to load it on a truck empty. As it was, I still had to caution them about putting a wedding cake on the 3/4 yard and then trying to take it to the back of the pour full and working their way out.
A great deal of the old truck cranes built like tanks, even the Bantams were heavy buggers. Suspension was generally the tires, everything else solid or on hard bushings, very damned little give.
In 1982 we took a double frame 76 fleetstar from 38k spring hendrickson to rubber blocks. Had a behind the cab boom as the pete above yet tended to roll hard in turns. Bielsmith bros truss co. Front springs got two extra leaves and still settled to the nose. Truck barely moved 50,000 miles a year, more hours setting truss deliveries. Still had it when closed shops in 98.
I may have an unhealthy obsession with knucklebooms, but I'd want something like this. There's an oilfield service company somewhere around Hutch that has/had a 9900 like this with an oilfield winch. Pretty neat unit.
I'll take that KW with the Palfinger spec'd with a 550 Cummins and 6sp Allison. Put a pintle on it to haul the small stuff in tight spaces.
nucks are nice, especially under tight overhead conditions. One would have set this tank easily. We had a cute little city crane come do it. Just a schmear of overhead fiber phone and cable.
550 that's a little high on power, Plus you can't get one with the Allison-It would be spec'd with a Eaton automated Manual model EEO, a way better transmission, The cost of adding a Allison would shoot that down plus the extra weight.
Crane Operator--you need to tally how many like them and how many hate them. Check the score.
Maybe he meant 555!!!
PacCar is trying to regain some ground, Detroit-Allison is Daimler. So PacCar is pushing Eaton.
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I operated a brand new KW with a 28 ton Manitex with the 550 Cat of that day, the year was 2000. Talk about a waste of power! No pintle or brake lines to the back, and about 4000# of useful load.
That's good I'm glad they have that.
The best $3400.00 I ever spent was on my 1400 lb. counterweight, real rare on a mid sized boom truck, 30 ton, at least until Manitex came out with the 11230S. One reason for more "mishaps" could be simply the entry expense to get in the op seat is low enough, as compared to a truck crane or other heavier piece of equipment, to allow less than qualified operators. Same with small planes.
I SHOULD buy a 90 ton or thereabouts crane to compliment my current, and only rig, the 30 ton boom truck. The nearest crane that size in my town is usually 50 miles away. But every time I eyeball one I think of all the jobs my 30 ton easily handles, setting trusses and HVAC mostly. Then the extra insurance, registration, annual inspection, I'd have to keep it outside (my National is always in a heated and secure building, no room left over though) at my town yard. Not to mention maybe hire someone to run it, and the hassles involved with that, as compared to my one man operation. Then I think of getting a 40 ton National, but then I'd have 4 extra tires/a third axle to deal with, higher registration costs, less room for rigging boxes/pad racks (I now have 4 of each) and for 90+% of my jobs, it wouldn't do any better, worse, when you account for the 26' outrigger span, compared to my 20'. I'm picking a 16 K pound genset off a lowboy tomorrow, almost a 2 hr one way drive away, but I can cruise at 65-70, getting 5-6 MPG, have cruise control, AC, SAT radio, power windows, and most important plenty of cup holders. Every time I see a 90 ton or so truck crane going down the highway, they don't look like much fun to drive. I can "zip" (relatively) around town, stop at the grocery store, run errands on the way back from a job, not too big or awkward for that. Anyone tipping a boom truck over screwed the pooch, their fault, not the machine's, we do probably go into more totally unprepped places than the larger rigs, so lots of opportunity for things to go wrong if you're not paying attention.
I wonder how do concrete pumps compare to boom trucks. I was following one today and it looks like they have a lot of weight up high.
I really don’t see the problem with keeping it upright and on the road. Being on the mechanical side I hear all the excuses for why things go south. I get asked to taxi boom trucks to jobs for operators that can’t manage a CDL all the time. Have not flipped one yet and don’t intend to.
Me and my big mouth. I had to run this today after my 40 ton Grove truck crane went down on a job. Went and borrowed it to finish.
It was safe it had training wheels in the back.
It was slow, awkward and unhandy, but it ran for the rest of what we had to do, which is more than I can say for what I brought to the job.
The other best thing I ever did for my 30 ton boom truck, was take the frigging jib OFF, It's on a stand in my crane yard, but taking off roughly 1500-2000 pounds from 11' high did wonders for my cornering speed. I take 25 mph listed curves at 40 all the time, familiar ones of course. Every single time I get on the interstate, right at the bottom of a big up grade, I turn off the county road onto the on ramp in high range, second gear, getting a bit light on the inside to the turn, but it makes a big difference as to my freeway entry speed. Taking it in grandma mode, I'd be hitting 30, taking it fast gets my entry speed up to 40-45. I know it well, and can throw it around pretty handily, but always and only when it makes sense to do so. I'm ready to defend my "wide radius" turns to a state trooper if I ever get called out, where I use all the asphalt and go over the painted lines, IF it means I can enter the flow of traffic at a safer speed. MOD Edit - please don't post regular text in bold. Thanks CM
It's been my understanding boom trucks are cheaper than a real crane and the lack of real crane operators gives way to the boom truck But I never understood why they didn't just add counter weight to them would help a lot And a boom truck with a 550 in it is a little overkill that's a lot of motor to buy to push a crane down the road I dont run that in a transport because for the most part in town you just dont need that kinda power plus at 120 degree days try cooling that kinda power
cooling is not a thing, if you are not making power then you have a massive cooling system oversize. Boom trucks might use 60~80 HP to run the pump so it really was ludicrous.
What gets me a bit, from time to time, not often really, is when I see a 90 ton truck crane doing a job I could have done with my 30 ton, just as easily and safely. Like the big LED billboard I saw being hoisted the other day, that I put up about 5 years ago. The bigger crane had to set up further away, and as I recall the weight was comfortably in the green on my LMI as I could set up closer. This 90 ton crane had 1 hr of travel, 2 hrs total. I would have had 10 minutes. No skin off my nose (I was busy anyway, and a different sign contractor was being used than the one I had worked for) but it had to have cost many times more than my bill would have been. What I really like is seeing a job by a bigger crane that is not even close to what I can do, and I'm sure if I got a 90 tonner myself, the first call I'd get would be for a job that needed a 150 ton machine! Crane OP: the 1800 series of National boom trucks is what I've been eyeballing, just tire kicking so far. Not sure how to consider your review, I mean any machine different is going to feel awkward. Slow? winch speed probably, the big machines seem to have a lot faster? The Grove RT crane I took my practical test in felt real awkward to me, as I had never ran one before, but I still beat the guy who owned and operated it. And yes, he is never going to live that down!
If I'm buying a boom truck, its going to be a national. I've run 1100,1400, 1800 and I've kind of looked at the new 50-60 tonners. The 1100 series is the best of the small ones, simply because of the small footprint. 1400 gets you the worst of both worlds, no counterweight with a wide outrigger span. I ran one with the 127' main, and it ran much nicer if you didn't have it all out. The 1800 would probably be my choice, for what I do. The 1100's just don't have enough chart for most of my work. The 1800's at least get you a counterweight to go with the wide span. The 1800 I posted the picture of is a 18142. Which has the 142' main. The guy that owns it has only ever run it all out to use once. Usually he's running out 100' or so- he primarily builds steel buildings. He says its spooky with all the main out. The guy that owns the 18142 also owns a old tms300. The boom truck goes to do most of his jobs, simply because of the roadability. But, like he and I were talking, the national is a wobbly goblin and isn't "planted" and secure like his old grove is. The boom truck gets you a lot more frame flex than any comparable truck crane. Turntable bearings are smaller, and you can't run up a rear jack to get more room for cribbing under a front jack, because the frames just aren't rigid enough. And realistically, the 1800's are really a 100' radius machine. They won't pick with my 40 ton grove, which can take 2300lbs flat any direction, but I've got over 8,000 of counterweight. But the trade off with the grove is the only 95' main. The truck cranes just have so much more counterweight, which really gains you speed and stability when operating. To get what I really want for chart- I've got to go up to the newer NBT 50-55 models. They at least give you 6,000 of counterweight. And then you loose the pilot hydraulics and go to all electric joysticks. But you can get the optional taller jacks in the NBT series (which may be standard now). That's the real downside of the 1400 and 1800 machines (and the later 14000 and 18000)- with the wide span, they have too short of jacks, the 1400 I ran- you couldn't get the tires off the ground on flat pavement without 4x4" cribbing under the pads, the jacks were just too short. The long jacks of the later series would make a big difference. For you, a 1800 or 18000 with the 127' or 142' main would save a lot of swinging jib, and if your happy with how your 1100 runs, you won't be disappointed in how a 1800 acts. I don't think I would buy the 1800 series with the 103' boom, it does have a way better chart with jib on, but I have enough other cranes in the 100' main category, I would want the longer main boom- just to have more options. The newest National is the NTC (truck crane). Lattice jibs, more ctw. 151' main booms. Special outrigger extension pinnable at 20' (for the guys like me that complain that the boom trucks are too wide). They look pretty nice, but probably run around $700,000 also.
After running a tms300 with a Detroit around for most of my young life at 35-40mph, our manitex 38100 with a 90's truck is like a Cadillac. It's still not new by any means but being able to cruise at 55+mph is great. We still have the tms300 but we seem to use it less and less and try not to move it anymore than I have to. The tms300 definitely has a better chart and for heavy lifts it's the one to have but it doesn't have a lmi so I usually try to be more conservative with it. Where as with the manitex with a computer I'm much more likely to run it up to its limit because I know exactly what's on my hook. The crane is more stable but I've never really felt like the boom truck is that unstable, then again I only have 100' of main boom. A rental guy in the area has a nbt 55L and that is a pretty sweet rig. But even he'll admit when you put out 150' it can look a bit sketchy. He said sometimes he can see a couple feet of side boom deflection depending on the pick but he also said when he questioned National they said if it'd in the chart it's okay. I'd love to have one but a newer 40 ton crane that has an lmi and can run 55+mph is probably the more practical and affordable option for me.
I like the chart on a older/pre emissions National 1800, one I've been looking at is a 2007 like my pre E Mack is, (but it appears to be sold) but only with the 103' of boom model. Probably 80 or 90% of the truss and HVAC work I make my living at only requires about 85' of stick it seems, often less, rarely more. Before I put the 1400 pound counter weight on my 1300, working off to the side at the top of the LMI green felt real sketchy, my butt meter told me so, after it was hung it feels rock solid up into the yellow. Not much of a counterweight I know but for this rig it made a huge difference. A guy in SLC who runs 5 of the 1300's says the reason he likes them is with the counterweight, he has a full 360 chart without needing a front stabilizer, since I have a front stab I use it, but the few times I haven't it's solid. Really, my 110' of stick 1300 does me just fine, I just wish it didn't have 10,474 hrs on it (just changed the oil.) Being my only rig, one little glitch and I'm 100% out of work until it's fixed. I've thought of getting another 1300, as a backup, and just swap plates when needed, and not tell my insurance man, two rigs with one cost of paperwork, but I know better!
The 103' boom has a pretty good chart, and will be way less whippy than the 127' or 142'. 10k hours is just getting broken in. I've got a old tms250 that's definitely north of 50,000 hours. Different engine, trans, and pumps, but the main structure is all original. But it was built to last forever. Newer boom trucks, aren't built like that.
No they are not. I only have a little time in a 60 ton Grove but it felt like a solid block of steel in comparison.
Elliot crane rolled over, and a mack that got a little bent.
I have a on ramp to the interstate I have to use about 80% of my jobs, it's at the very bottom of a big grade, and I've learned if I turn off the 45 mph secondary road while keeping enough speed to stay in my high range/second gear, it makes a big difference as to what speed I enter and pull the grade at. Being near Teton and Yellowstone Nat Parks, besides the usual truckers and cars, traffic can be fairly heavy. Today, I noticed a side dumper gravel hauler behind me as I hit my turn signal and prepared to make the turn. I'd bet the driver was a bit surprised as to the way I took that corner, but I know my rig, I put more miles on it than I do my car. On another, my least favorite on ramp, in another town, an old one that has a real crappy sight line due to it's curve, shortness, and the grade, AND no shoulder (very little anyway, before there is none) I also hit it in high range/second gear, but that means I need to sometimes get a little daylight under the outside tires, it makes the difference between entering the 80 mph freeway at 40 mph, or at 25 mph. I use the entire lane on the onramp, cut it tight and swing wide, painted lines don't mean squat, to keep my radius as large as possible. Fun stuff! These drivers pictured, I have to wonder what their story was, on the phone, hung over, little experience, all of the above?
460 hours on it, 9,600 miles. 2023 pete with a x15 in it. Rolled while traveling.
Wow, negligent operator.
IF he didn't hurt somebody else he's damn lucky. What a way to ruin a good gig.
Hold it----that truck is not old enough, who would by a emission truck, should have used a 62 Freightliner cab over-according to---that's all that's needed.
"My" 80 ton Terex crane, in a town 25 miles away, owned by a company that does work at the big plants in my area, and that I was on good terms with, as I would shunt work their way when I got a call for work out of my chart, and they would return the favor by throwing little jobs my way, just sold. Now it's IN my town, and I kind of know the guy, know the family anyway, and can probably do the same thing, trade work, with him. I had no idea it was for sale, just 3 or 4 years old, from brand new, good thing I didn't as I might have been tempted. They couldn't keep an operator, or find a replacement, was part of why they sold it I guess.
You are better off without a terex. No parts support except for from Load King, who bought their line when terex closed their crane production.
Well I think that most operators that are really worth something work for themselves, and that is why you can't find them as employees.
Not really, I've got some great guys right now, and from in the past that have worked for me. I've also worked with a lot of great operators that didn't own their own, and I've also worked for other crane companies. Its a capital intensive business, and the insurance bar is high.
I don't think its so much negligence, as its a design problem. They are top heavy sob's, and you don't know fear until you see daylight under a tandem, or hear the drives squealing when a corner is a little sharper than you thought it was. And maybe someone just pulled out in front of him or made a lane change. And with being so top heavy, the bigger boom trucks sure don't like sudden swerving.
All true! But still, being aware of the design limitations and not exceeding them while driving is no different than the way I operate my car. I guess I mean, it's not like a boom truck just all of a sudden changes it's handling characteristics while driving down the road, whatever type of a handling pig it is, it's like that all the time. It's degree of top heaviness or lack of it is there all the time. I have 80 K miles in 6 years of driving my Mack National around the Idaho mountain roads I operate in, (120 yesterday, a bit more today, including a mountain pass with those escape ramps on the downside) 12% grades being common, and 5 times that mileage in 4 other boom trucks, and I've kept them upright so far. The 17 ton BTC Terex single axle rig , I had two, was the worst by far, stability and cornering wise, but it was still predictable. With that thing, a posted curve of 35 MPH, I'd take 30.... IF I had an employee who rolled my truck, he'd get no sympathy at all, he simply screwed up by exceeding it's operating limitations. The fact those limitations are lower than other vehicles is just something that should be taken in account as a matter of course. Having said that, I'll be extra careful in a couple hours when I crest the 7,000' pass and start the descent.
Brand new altec, no hours on the upper. 2023 on a tridrive pete with a bunch of cheaters.
How in the Hell does one roll a Boom Truck on a FLAT road, Boom DOWN??
Tree job, looks like they've given it a shock load one too many times. The turntable bolts have decided they would rather not be identified as bolts any more.
ow that last picture. Look how long some of them have been parted.
I'm telling you- those things are top heavy SOB's in the big ones. Looks like all air ride suspension, and it has those outriggers like a concrete pump, all above the frame rail. I'm guessing he was hauling ***, delivering it (WHERE'S MY NEW CRANE THAT'S 11 MONTHS LATE) and took a left off the main highway behind him, and flopped it over right into that pole. Steer, two air lift axles, tri drive, and a rear air lift. Seven axles all together. Factory says GVWR is either 93,000 or 105,000. 155' of main boom hanging out above that cab. Got a nifty jib too. Hyd. offset to -80 degrees.
Wow, quite the jib indeed!
It really does not look nifty in that 2nd picture. it has.......wrinkles.
As much as I dislike the concept, that 155' plus the jib and a man basket would be super slick for cellphone tower work.
that would be a nice kit. It would be good for grain elevator work too, and setting HVAC if it was not too heavy.
With Skyking on the sheared bolts, should have been able to see there were broken ones by rust trails or loose washers, IF Ever looked close while lubing that, bad day. As to that ALTEC, if they have to go that heavy, are really no advantage over True Crane machines, these are a nickel and dime distractor of what is really needed. I see MASSIVE Rotator Wreckers on the Highways, several companies around here have them where REQUIRE a Release of DOT Axle Load schedules as Emergency Equipment, drive like crap, cannot take anywhere Off Road as sink like lead balloons. Look Pretty but value or worthiness? Crane can accomplish as well in many instances or if Must Side load pull, just a wrecker as TS Built.
The Altec and Terex boom trucks I used to work on and the National crane required that the rotation bearing bolts torque be checked once a year. A broken bolt would be caught before a failure like in the above posts.
Broken bolt failure? Read more than my share of boom truck manuals. Have yet to find the section on repeated shock loading and how to anticipate the turntable breaking off. Lol
And there are some that Maintenance is a PITA and oft Ignored, ask Vetech!!
Kinda off topic, but speaking of trucks and idiots, you know how Ritchie Brothers does videos of the trucks driving back and forth now? I always cringe because I keep seeing idiots revving the truck like crazy and then burning the clutch and spinning the tires. lol
In my area, a BTC Manitex boom truck that was used for delivering and setting septic tanks, broke off at the turret, and fell onto the ground, pretty exciting I heard thru the grapevine!
Here is a delivery conveyor truck that had a bad day. The jobsite is Freightliner NW and there is a lot full of oddities. Love this short stout all wheel drive high rail monster knuckle boom truck.
I find it funny, that 4x4 knuckle sitting behind a RSH and aside a RSTank! Most of those machines likely in there for Emissions Warranty.
National laid over nbt50 And a burned down altec
Roofing company
Seems boom trucks have short lives, have seen a few rough terrain Cranes dumped by poor operator choices and a few where width being really wide on narrow roads caught a edge ending up flipped as well. Just not as prevalent.
How did they crush the cab on the roofing company one?
Any day now we will get some snow, and ice, time to throw the tires chains in one of the rigging boxes. Keeping them upright is pretty easy on dry pavement. I don't know what the problem is with these drivers pictured here, but I like to think if I wreck mine, it'll be for a good reason, like black ice on the 12% grade I'll be driving on to get to an upcoming job. Forewarned of course, I won't, or will chain up. Or working on uncompacted dirt maybe. The other day I had a weird one, I could see the entire setup area was built up dirt, and when getting out to only about 75% of my chart, I felt "that feeling", when I eyeballed my pads, expecting them to be sunk in a bit, I saw there weren't..., and by the time I finished the truss job, I decided the feeling I was getting was the dirt mass under the top more compacted layer giving a bit, or something like that, my pads never did so any signs of subsistence. I've never had that happen before, safe enough I suppose, but new to me. There was about 20' of fill, to get a more or less level area on a steep hillside.
I believe that's a freightliner badged Unimog.
It's set up for railroad to boot.
That was in my initial description. " high rail" is the common term for any rail equipped road rigs.
The high rail trucks can be a pain to work on. My mechanic friend had to pull the V10 engine out of a Ford Superduty with the train wheel assembly. Said it made the job even more of a PIA and he had to be careful not to bang his shins on the extra brackets and crap hanging off the front. Even more of headache to remove the rail assembly.
Found another 8640 for Crane Operator. I guess bad drivers don't just drive boom trucks.
You got to hit the brakes pretty hard to shoot the boom like that!
Whoops they had it listed as a 8640 but I now see it has the front tandems so it must be a 8650/60 de-rated
Big iron can go bad also... 2016 with not very many hours on it. Looks like they were all on fill setting the sound barrier walls. In the one picture you can see where it left a pad sit in the dirt. No outrigger mats at all. There was a genie self propelled manlift that got squished by the lower cab, you can see the basket under the boom. I don't know if anyone got hurt, but its a miracle that basket wasn't squashed. Looks to me like they were not pinning outrigger beams, no mats, just skipping down the row in a hurry, almost like sitting on rubber. And they got bit.
Wow! To miss the car and no others in the parking lot is a stroke of good luck in a bad situation. Would the crane be a right off or just a really expensive new boom and other repairs?
Is it repairable? Yes. Is it cost effective to repair it? Probably not. Swing bearing took a heck of a knock. Could even have twisted frame. Certainly outrigger beams and boxes are all bent. New cab. Maybe twisted upper works by the winch mount. Three quarters of a million in repair work on a million dollar crane and six months to fix it all. I would imagine they either flipped it up into a wall or alley, or clear on over. Could have dropped something on it.
Boy this thread brings back memories of a winter spent as a rigger in the Bakken. Only did it for 6 months but saw plenty. Seemed like the smaller the crane, the less experienced the operator they sent with it, and the closer to capacity, or just straight up over capacity the task. Spent quite a bit of time rigging for a boom truck putting together portable water tanks, 2nd day out on one of those jobs the laborers running the tag lines on a big tank panel lost control of it and let it spin into the truck cab, smashed the heck out of it. I forget what the story was on this one, happened during rush hour in Watford City though.
I'm curious if major mishaps/fails like this are covered by insurance? I'd imagine insurance is pricey to begin with.
You're covered the first time. After the second time, you're insurance is most likely cancelled, and you will have a hard time getting anyone to insure you.
I would imagine if you could find another carrier to insure you the cost would be prohibitive.
Local company couldn't get any insurance after hitting a cross country petro pipeline without calling 811 and taking quickie saw to a fiber line the KU engineer said was abandoned in 18 months.
we don't need that in the business. Too bad they screwed up the rates for everyone else. I have contact numbers and a map from the AFB regarding their cross country JP-4 line that comes up out of the Port. They want to take nothing for granted. I know that they would respond to an 811 callout too.
We have 2 major petro pipelines with tank farms that supply the east coast. One has to be extremely stupid or deliberate to hit one regardless of 811. Those types don't need to be in the business period.
several years ago a pipeline north of here ruptured and then the gasoline got ignited, and 3 young kids were killed in the resulting fire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_pipeline_explosion "In 1994, five years before the accident, an IMCO Construction crew, working on behalf of the City of Bellingham, damaged the pipeline while constructing the city's water treatment plant and failed to notify officials about the damage. Subsequently, Olympic Pipeline failed to find or repair the damage." The line ruptured do to a control failure, but where it ruptured was no accident and that crew is on the hook for that.
In the loader operator's defense, he had no idea there hadn't been any utility markouts and he was working in the middle of an undeveloped pasture of significant size. He was never within 1000' of one of the permanent markers. He also kept it from becoming a worse mess by digging a pond to contain the diesel while the pipeline was closing the valves. Lots of dirty dirt got hauled off, but he kept it out of the waterways. The owner should have known better for a number of reasons. The fiber incident was the university's fault, but they have all the money and lawyers. Their engineer looked at the site plans and told the crew it was an abandoned line. In actuality, It was the trunk line for the main campus and took down the entire intranet and all remote sites.
2012 KW 7,000 hours, 49,000 miles, laid over.
That almost looks like it'd be worth salvaging. Maybe. At least for parts, fort a guy who already had an operating one.
National Crane 800D Telescopic Boom on 2008 Cat 574 8x8 Log Forwarder Used Cat 574 Log Forwarder in Smithfield, Rhode Island, United States for sale, inspected and guaranteed. null www.ironplanet.com This one probably won't go fast enough to flop over
@ianjoub needs that in his fleet!
I'd love to drive that thru my town!
this boom "truck" is pretty easy to flop over. Limited work over the side
That "boat boom" sure does not look very useful. What would they use something like that for?
Doesn't look very stout but don't underestimate the ballast.
they call it a tug. Chelan Tug Boat | American Construction The largest of the American Construction tug boats, the Chelan tugboat is 51 feet in length and has a draft of 4 feet. www.americanconstco.com
Here's a boom truck that's a bit different: https://www.liebherr.com/en/usa/pro...k-mounted-telescopic-cranes/ltf-1045-4.1.html
Liebherr boom truck with variobase would be nice!!!
Pretty nice looking work boat. We have similar up here but always with A frames on them. You couldnt pay me enough to run any kind of hydraulic swing boom on the water,geometry of your lift can change in a heartbeat on a floating rig ,even when you think you have it figured. Conventional friction cranes only on the water.
I only saw it used over the nose, with good reason. If you suck it up tight to a tow it would be somewhat more stable. It has a big deck winch for that and the push frame.
Over on cranetrader there's one of these for sale in Flordia. I think it says it's 1 of 11 on a US truck chassis. It's on a 2011 kenworth with twin steers.
Another one bites the dust.
Florida's finest says it all! LoL
some companies need to update their fleet and put the old abused worn out neglected boom truck in the scrap yard or Ritchie the thing to some unsuspecting person getting ready to make a million setting air conditioners.
Fishing? Lol
We would go get something off the dock or one of our barges, deck load it, and bring it within range of the real crane that Tugger2 is talking about. You can also grab an anchor and take it out if you lash it to the push bars up front. Think of it as a floating carry deck crane, that also is a twin 250 horse Cummins tugboat.
Wouldn't you know it that right where I found this one. Ritchie brothers special and probably on its way to scrap yard after some one steals a few parts off it. It doesn't look worthy of a revival.
It looks a darn sight better than this Oceanview special. I can't believe somebody took the time to de-mount this thing. Another angle on the rust.
Another victim of operator error.
Looks like they had a big stack of cribbing in the ditch, and shockloaded it off the stack.
Looks like maybe tree work with a boom truck…….not an operator, but sketchy to me.
Ouch.
I am an operator and when I think of tree work I think sketchy haha. I think any operator would rather take a load from the ground to the air as opposed to from the air to the ground. When you pick something off the ground if you don't like it you set it back down and re-adjust. When you pick from the air once it's cut loose its yours whether it's too heavy or not rigged right for balance. I'm sure if you do tree work all the time you have a pretty good idea of what trees weigh and how to rig them but it's not for me.
One of the members here, @John Griffin has a great business doing trees. Check out his thread. HeavyEquipmentForums
I know there are people that do it all the time and for John it probably helps that its his own crew cutting the trees. As a construction guy with cranes I've had some tree guys ask if I would do tree work but I ve always turned it down. I just don't trust them even though I probably could I just don't like the idea of it. I just remember watching a YouTube video a few years ago, I think it was "guilty of treeson". They had a brand new national 55L out on its first job. It was a tall pine/cedar looking tree. The first thing they did was the boom truck was about 20' too short for the tree they were cutting, mind you they have 151' of boom but they just hooked a strap to the bottom of the top 30' and cut it off and give it a big old swing. It was light and probably didn't really hurt anything but that wouldn't fly with me. Then as they're cutting they get down to the big trunk pieces which is probably still 40'+ some feet in the air. I can't remember the exact numbers but it was like 75'-80' radius and they had a capacity of like 5000lbs. But the pieces they were cutting were like 4500lbs. That to me would be way to close to the limit with a guy strapped to the tree cutting. Maybe they're that experienced and knew exactly where to cut but that close to the limit how easy would it be to be off 500lbs. I'm sure not every crew is like that but to me there's just too many unknowns and not worth the risk.
Been exactly as that man cutting the mast off, as scary as dumping the crane as can roll Back onto wheels dragging that partial cut away with it.
Wonder if there was a void or storm drain under the outrigger?
Asking those we run cranes wouldn't it better to run that thing in the center of the ditch on flat ground?
If it is driveable yes. They are heavy pigs and get stuck on an idea.
I was teamed up with this other rig the other day at a fertilizer plant, both of us way out of our usual work areas. Thinking at first we'd be working up high, I asked him how much stick he had, 127' was his answer. Getting bored a couple hours later, I googled his rig and it's 103', seems a funny thing to not know or to fib about. The op was just a hired hand, I'd guess he just didn't know or confused it with another rig, would have been a pisser though to find out if he came up short, turns out we were working low anyway. Then I noticed the sheave wheel at the top of the boom was missing, the one that keeps the winch line off the boom. plus the guides and plastic wear points mid way, all gone. I thought about bringing it to his attention, but never did, he probably knew and didn't care was my best guess.
If it's a safety concern better to tell him. You don't want something going wrong that you're involved in.
No neoprenes under outriggers, no barricade tape, no Hard hats…… safety pretty out the window. Typical!
As for the "neoprenes", we were working on concrete that's had loaded semis driving over it for the last 50 years, at a radius of about 40' and a 900 pound load, so I didn't and still don't see the need. I sure can't control who wears a hard hat either. But you are correct, this is typical of a lot of job sites in these parts.
Other than protecting the concrete finish what is the purpose of using neoprene?
When you say "hey your sheave is missing" what people hear is "hey your sheave is missing and your an idiot because of it" so I haven't bothered with that kind of stuff
If you are talking about the little wheel toward the top of the base section, very few boom trucks have them, or the roller guides on top of the base section.
My National has it, this other National used to, guess they figured no need to replace it as it would just get swiped off again! Maybe now they know how tall the rig is anyway. Looked like a decent job of cribbing on that Altec, maybe they were setup over a septic tank or something, or had hit the bypass switch on the LMI?
That left a mark! Do you know what they were lifting? Would insurance cover that?
No need to hit a bypass switch. Just cut off too much tree top and there you go.
We work a good bit as the crane sub for several other tree companies. I'm very upfront with the other owners, my crane equals my show. What I decide we are going to pick is what we are going to pick, period. I've trained several of their climbers myself so the other owners usually just kinda get out of the way. We of course do a lot of our own cutting. I personally do quite a bit of it. I have a very good crane operator that works with me. I used to operate a lot more than I do now. I still pull trees off houses myself a good bit. I have a bunch of stuff I need to post in my work thread. The 'guilty of treeson' guys are idiots with a crane. I don't know if they are really that bad or just doing junk to hype up their videos. There's much better ways to go about the crane being to short than what you are describing. We sometimes fold over a top and catch it on rope. Then we will hook the crane to it once it's hanging upside down if we can't land it for some reason on rope. It is an ANSI Z133 (tree work rules) requirement that you don't work beyond 60% of the chart for a calculated pick weight. IE my crane is good for 10K lbs net lift capacity, my calculated pick weight can be a max of 6K. This is to allow for slight miscalculations and overages. We have made picks before where someone filled a cavity with concrete. It's of course much heavier than wood. We have a wet wood weight calculator so it's usually pretty easy to get close to the weight for a pick. It's not exact but it gives a very good idea. Don't want to have a crane try to lift a piece that is way to heavy for it. As you said, when it's a load taken up in the air, the crane has it whether it wants it or not. It's actually harder to figure the weight for tops vs logs. Knuckles are also heavier vs the same size log. For the spirit of the thread, I have taken hundreds of trees down with a 2892s manitex boom truck. I certainly don't hate it and have actually purchased the same model myself. I see the appeal vs a truck crane. We do a lot of running around and setting up in residential jobsites. The lack of tail swing is very nice sometimes if you got to setup between houses. Setup short on the offhand side and no tail swing to worry about. I also see the other side of liking real cranes vs boom trucks. They are so much more stout. Usually much better chart, especially at distance. Don't have any of the weird mismatch going on from putting them on a universal chassis. Seems like the larger models of boom trucks get very top heavy.
That is match for the 1195 National I operated. They do a good job within their capability and yes, it was a top heavy pig and those speed limit signs in the corners were the gospel and not merely a suggestion. It was on air and that is a horrible feeling when you are just a little bit fast. That tree chart reduction is about the same as the duty cycle reduction for working with the concrete bucket. I mostly did pourbacks for hanging imbeds, and only 1 deck. I'd rather let the pump truck have it Sunset imbed pour. We bucket poured that deck in the same spot 50' up. Set the steel and pandeck.
Every time I see one of these pictures of boom trucks laying on their side I have flash backs to one of the dumber things I did many years ago. I think I mentioned it before but some may not have been here at that time. I live all of maybe 1/2 mile from the quarry I worked at since 1970. In those early years company was easy going about letting guys borrow equipment for personal use. In 1984 I was building a three car garage and thought, as 98% of the work was being done by me and wife, it would be nice if I borrowed the little Koehring Bantam crane to make the job easier getting the trusses up on the walls. We had muscled up about 1/3 of them so asked the boss about the crane. He said no problem as it was the weekend and would only take a few hours. I had worked on and around the crane so knew setting a few light trusses would be an easy project. After work that Friday instead of jumping on the motorcycle to go home I climbed in the cab of the Koehring and drove it home. Backed it in close to where I figured was half way between the stack of trusses and the walls of the garage. Just to be sure I fired up the 318 in the crane and raised the boom and swung it around and positioned the hook at the top of the stack of trusses. Next swung the boom over towards the new garage. I was a few feet short of there the next truss would need to be set so I started to boom out a bit. I'm sure someone notice one step I left out! Good thing is everything happend slow but did manage to judo-chop three of the already installed trusses and the end wall nearest the crane. Was able to boom down to get the crane back on it's tires and THEN PUT OUT THE OUTRIGGERS on that side! Looked boom and cable over real good nothing hurt! Put machine back in travel mode and returned to the quarry as now had an end wall and three or four trusses to repair before construction would resume. I did tell the boss what happened and had the regular crane operator look it over before using it just to be safe.
Pretty new national, and a 2023 load king, both laid over.
That's nice---creates work for others--optimistic view. * There just isn't enough drop axles-it needed another drop axle.
Nasty appearances, defined totalled
I'd like that job. Might be an OK operator but the driving is the thing. Perhaps they should be delivered on a lowboy?
It's funny, the places I worked before I went on my own, nobody touched the brand new $500,000 truck if they couldn't be trusted to keep it upright. Those things can't be that top heavy. Can't be any worse than an excavator up on a tag trailer.
Given the way people drive-truck or car, nothing shocking there.
Drove a few as a wrench, design built cranes roll some, these beasts roll as if on a skate edge and at not much speed or cut of turn.
Made a tow to La Grande today speed limit for trucks on I84--65-----average speed today hovered around 73 for trucks. Running on cruise at 65 I got passed by just about everyone. Hardly anyone abides the law.
@Acoals , I drag the 120 on a 3' tall tag all over. I also drove this truck for a couple of years. There is just no comparing it. That airbagged crane just dips the front corner and the rears follow, and it is the most sickening sensation. It caught me a time or two but I am pretty conservative, and I dialed it down a couple more times. The 120 behind the Ford feels downright sporty by comparison.
Are you saying it had air ride suspension?
Hauling an RT on a lowboy is not something I enjoy. Yellow iron isn't bad.
yes. I had driven a dump truck with air suspension and was used to that. Put all that weight up 12' off the ground and it changes up a bit.
Air seems like a bad idea. That's why I just spec'd my new tag trailer with air only on the lift axle and springs on the other two. My current tandem trailer rocks enough as it is with the 315 loaded with springs.
Well---IMO the guy who spec'd that truck with that suspension----was/is an idiot and should stay away from drafting boards.
Nice thing about it is you can set the cruise at the speed limit and relax not having to pass anyone.
How heavy is the mast on those boom trucks? I drive oilfield pulling units all the time and I think the masts are way heavier. The one in my avatar mast is 10,000#. I drive the speed limit in everything, people get so made when you do 65 in a 65.
That's true, very true. But it doesn't take away from the fact they are overdriving in a winter time situation. I just want to see these patriotic flag waving americans to start observing the laws they hold so dear.
I have a friend that was short an operator for a 30 ton picker on a tandem x tandem Western Star,a beast of a truck . A couple of times id go out with my trucker buddy ,he would drive and id operate. Id go ahead in my pickup and scope out the site ,and radio him in on the best route. Worked great,but a 2 man crew on a picker truck just dosent cut her in todays market. Ill stick to my old friction conventionals and keep an oiler wherevever i can thanks.
There's a 2007 KW tandem tridem picker truck for sale at auction that I posted in another thread. It has Neway air suspension. So far not much interest as it's only at $650. Maybe just better drivers in the oilfield that are more used to top heavy loads? It's a C500B with an Cummins ISX 530. I'd guess it's not going to meet reserve.
My Mack/National combo has a walking beam rear I'm told, all I really know is it corners like a sports car, a 54,000 pound sports car admittingly, but still good enough to hit any posted curve sign area 10 mph above with no sweat. My worst ride was the 17 ton Terex, single axle, 5 below the curve speed was still an attention getter. My jib (12-1400 pounds I think) has been off for a couple years now, that helps a lot,
This is a picker. *
They call trucks with cranes picker trucks here. It can be conventional cranes or knuckle boom cranes.
Bulldogs with camel backs handle tall weight about as well. Same reason Hendrickson built Rubber Block ride walking beam that was installed on Crane Chassis or mixer and dump trucks, stability. Air ride or springers really have no purpose on heavy high COG machines except engineering trying to soften a really bad riding machine that does not need it to sell more equipment. Western star Quads I have driven with the four leaf axle to axle spring/beam sway like a hog and get tricky as to tippy off angle much at all. Did not care for those.
There also the no suspension walking beam, I wish my rig had that.
A very experienced long time heavy truck recovery/tow truck guy told me that once, after I got stuck. While waiting, I rigged one of my old slings (kept onboard just for a two strap, to the rear tandem axle, thinking to save him time and me money. When he showed up, he mentioned that as it was a walking beam suspension, pulling on the axle was not the way to go...., and he then went to a fair bit of trouble to unrig it and find a spot on the Mack's frame (pulling it backwards). I remember this because I couldn't see any reason why not just pull the way I had it, I was pissed off already and thought he was just running the meter up, taking longer to charge more, but kept my mouth shut. Glad I did, kept my mouth shut, as when he got me out, the price was the base charge I was first told over the phone and I was a happy camper, he was a good dude! About 10 days later I heard that he got killed when his rig went off the road, no reason given.
You'd be wrong You'd be wrong too. My tms 300 boom weighs more than that. If I remember right, it weighs more than that with the butt section left in the crane. Those 80 ton machines are probably 90-100,000 gross on a 30,000lbs truck, with a center of gravity of 60,000lbs probably 5' above the frame rails. Amazingly, probably 3/4 of the ones sold are on air ride. Looks fine on paper by weight specs. Not so much hanging a corner going a little fast. Top heavy ball of fun ain't they. The big rubber tires make chaining it tight kind of important, or they can really rock. Our trailer is a side drop and I think that helps with the center of gravity on them.
Air ride on these are really dumb I was more comparing just a regular tandem boom truck, not the really big ones
Curious what brand of crane that is with the cab on the left? I think most US built, the cab was on the right.
I'm thinking Lima. I'd have to talley them up, but I'd guess it was about 2/3 right, 1/3 left. Some, like American, did both.
I like Truck Shops picture,i think id fit in well there instead of on a picker truck,trying to swivel my head with a neck that dosent move anymore.My Americans are cabs are on the right ,Lima is left. Both controls are similar and you use your left hand for swing.Northwests use right hand for swing .Im thinking i might be ready for a Northwest ,my right arm is wore out from operating ,might give it a break using it for swing.Then again might wreck things getting used to that to,old dogs dont learn well.
Ah found a photo of Crane Op Jr years ago. Been crane'n long he asks. *
Don't think I've ever seen that particular one man cab downstairs. Is that a IH truck?
That cab was used for steel delivery trucks mainly--little narrow cab set to the center and steel loaded along side the cab on both sides--IH built allot them, fondly called {Pin Heads}. You entered the cab from the top or some from back, but most all were entered from top. Only this Pin Head was purposed onto a crane/boom truck. That's a 1950 to 52 IH.
A later 60-70's pin head. *
like they popped an Isetta on top
Sort of! A guy here in town sold a Isetta a few years back---$45,000.
I've seen newer steel delivery trucks with a half cab and the deck extends where the passenger seat would be. I think they were IH's now that I think about it. Similar grill to S series trucks maybe??
I saw this rig the other day, looks like it was in tip top shape!
A big boom truck. *
I like the diaper under there.
Yeah that boom truck has a issue, going to be late setting rafters on the ice house.
I saw a smaller crane loaded sideways like that sitting at an intersection in the city. I saw the issue when I was directed around it. There were pilot trucks fore and aft but a driver had come around a 90 deg. turn lane going the opposite direction and turned their car into a convertible hitting the tracks hanging over the trailer. Why there were no police or anyone else stopping traffic at intersections is beyond belief. Thankfully the driver wasn't badly injured or killed.
I found a new hate for boom trucks yesterday. "Fixed cab" boom trucks that is. I never realized that in my 20 some years of running cranes and boom trucks I've never operated a fixed cab. I had to set some grain bin rafters the other day and the customer owns a boom truck that was on-site. So instead of driving one of our cranes an hour for a half days worth of work he said oh just use ours. It didn't help that the cable and swing levers were opposite hands of what I'm used to but I couldn't believe just how disconnected from the swing I felt. I guess you just don't realize how connected you become to your machine and the feedback it's giving you as you operate it until it's gone. I'm sure you could get used to it but I don't think I'll be in the market for a fix cab anytime soon.
I was the first in my area to transition from a BTC/fixed operator station to a sit on your butt rotating cab type. Hard to believe, in Idaho's 4 th. largest city but true! When throwing the terms "boom truck" and "crane" around when talking to others not in the biz, I do often use the term crane for my 30 ton National rider (even though I know that's not allowed on this site, ha ha) a lot more than boom truck, because if seems if I don't most think it will be a BTC type. I find I often feel the need to explain the advantages of my rig versus a BTC type, when I get a call about moving a hot tub or similar. Nowadays in my area, there is only one guy running a fixed op stand up type.
Interesting that my spying phone coincidentally suggested a 5 year old Jimmy with To The Top Crane YouTube video with him running their stand up boom truck last night. Their boom truck seemed to be a similar vintage and model to the one I ran and the controls looked identical. Except on the one I ran it was like someone switched the swing lever with the hoist levers. So instead of the swing and telescope being on your left hand and the cable and boom on your right, which I would say is standard on any crane/boom truck I've been on, it had the cable on my left hand and the swing and boom on my right hand. It just made me have to consciously think about what levers I was pulling while trying to swing, boom, and hold the load.
2023 load king. 50-155 = 50 ton with 155' main boom. Rolled, no hours or miles given, but it says 2023 so not likely very many.
National NBT 60. 3,600 hours and 20,000 miles. Reported as rolled over in operation.
2012 40124 manitex. Looks like they laid the boom right on down.... 169,000 miles and 13,000hours
That's one way to remove the extend cylinder........
How are these not just scrap The Galion unit I cut apart decades ago went to scrap yard, no way could salvage anything and consider it safe to use.
Bet the company owner wasn't saying Bravo after hearing the truck was rolled. That truck has be worth at least $1.5 million I'd guess. It looks like too much crane for a highway truck. Bigger isn't always better.
Such a shame to see such nice boom trucks destroyed.
I'm convinced! If I ever want to upgrade to a bigger rig than my 30 ton (but with a 1400 pound counter weight, giving it extra stability, or so it seems...) National, rather than a BIGGER boom truck, a truck crane, of 60 ton to 100 ton capacity, would be my choice, not a bigger boom truck. But in the meantime, I drove mine all over this week, one job 4 hr. round trip, two others both 2 hours out and back, plus a lot of in and around driving, and managed to keep it upright. The easiest part of my day is usually after I get set up, turn the sat radio on, get the coffee/ cup holder set up, and then start picking whatever, compared to driving Miss Piggy around anyway.
You can't be in a hurry or get complacent when driving any top heavy vehicle. Kind of like riding a motorcycle you have to pay extra attention to everything. One misstep is all it takes to end in disaster or worse.
Drive a Concrete wagon with 10 yards of water/rock in the drum and make a Left turn Drum Rolling to keep from damaging support roller bearings, gives a Unique concern causing pinch upon a seat cushion.
Just so I'm being a equal opportunity hater- here's a truck crane that's had a little boo boo. 2013 tms 9000E. Only 42,000 miles on it. Website of the owner only shows a boom truck, so this was maybe his first step up in size of crane. The kick in the teeth would be the grove locking out the serial number and not selling any parts. I'm guessing the insurance man doesn't want to pay the grove dealer $150,000 to disassemble the whole boom, and have the dealer say "the boom is bent", for fear of throwing good money after bad. Grove isn't going to take any chances, if there's the slightest nick, they are probably condemning it. Sounds like the owner can't afford, or have the skills/equipment to remove it himself. From the sales ad: The unit sustained impact damage on 8/31/2022. It has been reported that the operator was using crane to lift HVAC unit to place on top of commercial building. Landing gear sunk into dirt causing cab and boom to tip over on right side and the boom came to rest on the top of a metal structure roof. Damages include but are not limited to scratches to outer boom skin, hydraulic cylinder mount, outrigger box (repair, foot pad assembly (replace), front foot pad (repair), and scratched cab rocker. Unit starts, runs and operates. Insured has been operating unit for the past year. Boom powers up and working without issues. However, the unit incurred a total loss because Grove insisted on inspecting it before recertification. The expenses associated with dismantling and reassembling the boom were significant, and neither the insurance company nor the insured could cover the cost. Consequently, Grove has deactivated the unit's serial number in their system until recertification is completed. The current operating and/or physical condition of the unit has not been verified by IronPlanet. 2013 (unverified) Grove TMS9000E Hydraulic Truck Crane Used Grove TMS9000E Hydraulic Truck Crane in Maplewood, Ohio, United States for sale in auction. null www.salvagesale.com
Unless self insured he should have had coverage to repair or total that. IF did do that and he bought it back, joke is on him, getting that recert would be as pulling Rooster Molars..
Certification? We don't need no stinking certifications! It'll be flying steel down in Central America in a month.
Ain’t that the truth, or some third world African hovel.
It says he's been using it for a year since the incident. My guess is the ins. company and him have been fighting back and forth on a settlement, and the insurance man wants it settled. They aren't going to insure it any more, with grove considering it a "condemned" machine. The insurance company/ customer has it insured for $550,000, Grove wants $150,000 to dismantle and another $250,000 to repair, Or the customer cheaped out and told the insurance company its only worth $300,000 and they are staring at a bigger probable repair bill. Cut some checks and walk away.
6/1 half dozen other. Condemn, wholesale as scrapper and walk away.
All for want of a $90 a day steel sheet or two, FFS. My old employer went medieval on that stuff but I cannot fault them for it.
Reminds me a burnt Lieberr crane that appeared near new that sat on Southway Crane & Riggings yard in Birmingham for several months. It was a 5 or 6 axle unit. Ouch.
One of those alongside the highway in BC, that they then bent another big crane trying to recover it onto a lowboy. Talk about from bad to worse!!
Was that the one on Hwy 5 around McLure?
Sounds right. I read about it here.
I know the spot where it went off. Probably a 50 foot drop almost straight down.
No, this one. First one burned and then they broke the second one attempting a recovery. https://www.castanet.net/news/Penti...Highway-3-in-Osoyoos-could-finally-be-removed
Ummm.... I don't drive or op one, but that just don't look right.......
I seriously don't know what they were thinking there. Boom was not set up right for a heavy pick, it was probably over chart by any configuration anyway.
Load king 35-127
Two aspects, what the hell was that lifting and second what kind of foil strength steel did they use to build that!
Whatever happened there looked like a really bad day. I would like to have a boom truck up here on this job. Right now. I'm having to figure all sorts of fun stuff to get this 42 ft telehandler to reach. A 56 would have been cake!
Hie thee on thither to a rental house, and procure thyself ein jib......
Can't get ya on the foreign language..... That's still English.
It just went poo and broke, nothing to see here move along.
we are in the rental sticks so to speak. We are so fortunate to have the swing carriage.
Did you ask if they had a boom to go on the forks? Aaberg's in Tacoma had them, not sure if they still do. It's been a decade since I had to rent anything like that
Ah- that's amish. Those boys think you can do everything with a forklift and a jib on it. So how far away did the forklift have to come from? The problem here is usually finding a place to drop it, and turn the truck around. One rental place has a straight truck that can haul a 6k, and I think they sneak some larger ones on it, if no ones looking.. The jibs are kind of hard to come by at the rental house, I think it leads to overloads a little too often, so they don't want to carry them.
We're on gravel county roads and there's a switchback about a half a mile away where they can get turned around. There's a big hump in the other direction in. He's lucky to have two driveways. The big hump is just too much for low boys. I think there's a giant leaverite underneath the gravel. I think it's the perfect excuse for a little amateur drilling and shooting myself. I'd knock that knob off.
As in Leaverite there!! Seen a Few spots as that here in Stoney Hill Country!
Who got the worst, crane or 70 Nova?
Crane is probably $600,000, but more likely to be insured than the Nova. That whooshing sound is my insurance going up.
crane is le tired.
3400lb Nova on its feet, 70,000lb crane not so much.
This creampuff still has the new smell in the cab, 119 hrs TT! I chatted with the steel companies owner who also operates it and I think ordered it up. Both crane and truck are perfectly color matched, and it's the first 40 ton I've seen that isn't a tri drive, at least most seem to be, he claimed the front dropper axle worked for getting him across the scales. No jib, 127' of 5 section boom, needed for their type work, also no counter weight (if there was, it'd be a 45 ton), and a Allison auto tranny. He wasn't convinced on the tranny, until he drove it the first 3 blocks and instantly realized he'd never go back to jamming gears! I think I was the first person who really appreciated it, he really enjoyed showing it off anyway. I didn't think to bring him down a bit though about the op cab having NO SAT radio, with dual speakers, not to mention NO camera system, like my rig does. The next time I run into him I will, and tell him how the camera could be a game changer, like it has been for me anyway.
Once you go Alli in a vocational truck you don't go back. I would not buy a dump truck without an Allison auto - period.
Driving in the bush with an auto is leaps and bounds ahead of a manual, you will get stuck less and when stuck get out more.
It's funny how different people have different preferences. I've owned and sold several trucks with Allison's. I've kept all my manual trucks. It irritates me to drive the allison's at times. I'll have my foot to the floor climbing a hill and they won't downshift even though the engine is lugged down to 1300 rpm. I really enjoy driving my lt7500 chip truck with a 3126 300 hp and a 9 speed Eaton. Relevant to the thread, I have 2892 manitex sitting in my yard. It was bought needing repair but its snowballed. So even though I'd like to be able to use it, at the moment I'm hating on it.
I operate in the mountain west, and even in town am constantly fighting hills and mountains, I am sorry to hear your comment about it lugging down and not shifting, that'd drive me crazy. The best tranny in any vehicle I've owned has been the CVT ones in my two Toyotas, they NEVER lug or over speed, (and I live 1200' up a mountain road to a ski area) but just keep the engine in it's best torque curve, I'd love similar in my boom truck but they're ain't no such animal. The high point of my day is when I park the Mack Granite my National is on, and get in the car for the drive home, the difference in driving effort is hilarious, 10 times the accerlation if not more, all without having to do a thing other than use my right foot.
Had a 2007 Mack Granite MP7 425 HP with Allison 6sp that was an awesome truck. Strong, fast and smooth. Great in city traffic and would easily run 75 on the Interstate loaded. If you put your foot to the floor in that truck you better be comfortable where you are going. Just for fun it would take off at a red light unloaded and leave the 4 wheelers behind. You'd get some strange looks.
It must be fairly flat where your at a 300 here is almost enough for a 25999 pound truck.
Shift modulator
Allison's have their place & have their fair share of draw backs too, right along with AMT's. But one thing you can't do with both of those--is feather the clutch when it needs that, such as backing under a trailer that was dropped slightly low on slick ground. It just depends on where you live. * But racing from a stop light?
Were in the southern end of the Appalachian mountains. Pulling a chipper that weighs 6600 lbs doesn't put a lot of load on the truck. With a 9 speed and something low in the rears it does fine. It's faster than most of our other trucks and way faster than our cranes.
One truck had a new shift modulator in it the other was an ecu controlled and we were told no shift modulator. Neither were horrible, just annoying at times. We have a route we regularly run leaving our shop that takes us up a small climb so you notice it every morning.
I have no idea what the rear gear ratio is on my 425 hp Mack, but I assume it would be considered low, and have settled on a 62 mph indicated cruise speed, which is 1600 rpm or so. 65 or a bit over if in a real hurry, but never 70 unless going downhill.
I'm here more less in the heart of it. 600 horse triaxles and 400 plus tandems are pretty common fair. We want upnthe hil quick fast and in a hurry
Manually downshift
John and I are at the end of the App mountains and 600 HP tri's and 400+ tandems are common fair as well. Last job hired a guy up John's way that had 3 Pete tri's all pushing 600.
We get paid by the hour, not the load. 300-350 hp is plenty. Cranes got hazard flashers on the back for a reason.
We do but shouldn't have to. At that point I may as well drive a manual trans.
My L9000 with L10 Cummins runs circles around the CTL's on the jobsite. Does that count?
Until you have climbed a hill in a TMS300, you haven't really experienced to slow, right? Sometimes I think I could run up the hill faster.
Yours is a big cam cummins isn't it? Mine is a 6-71, it at least sounds like its going fast....
Hauling way more dirt than the little bucket on your yellow machine on every trip! You want me to send you a farmer triangle?
Small cam Cummins 250 hp 685 ft lbs naturally aspirated. Not much power to move 72,000 lbs.
6-71 is only 230 hp, and 600 torque. And it slows down if you even think "hill". At least the old 613 boxes have lots of gears down low, because you're going to need them. We had two old groves in iowa that had been repowered. One big cam 400 and a L10. The big cam 400 was a tight fit, but it was way nicer to drive. The l10 had more room, but it was still a dog.
I've seen one tms300 with a mack 300 in line 6 repower job, it fit really well, and the mack torque would be nice for driving. Mack at least has all the fuel and air and ps over on the passenger side, vs. cummins or cat. I've seen several big cam's as repowers, and they are a tight fit if you have a big turbo. Fuel pump and air compressor/ ps pump are a bisterd to get at. I have a 444 cummins I was going to put in mine, and never got around to it. A 3406 won't fit without severely cutting the frame rails up front. My tms300 is going to become a yard crane/ counterweight loader. Going to set in one spot up on blocks where we can get the trucks and trailers right beside it. Make a stack of weights around it like playing cards. I think if I was going to repower my tms300 today, I would find a old mechanical 4 valve mack, and crank up the pump a little, with a straight 9 or 10 speed. If you go to any bigger 13/18/15/8ll transmission, you run into length issues.
Be glad you didn't---fuel related parts have become a issue.
Its in my back room if you can find someone that needs it. I guess maybe there's someone restoring a truck and always wanted a 444. I was going to swap to high flow cooling, and water cooled intake air, because I didn't have room for the air to air, and it all just got complicated. We kind of quit using the crane, and for what I want to do with it the rest of its life- the 6-71 will do just fine.
Everything from cylinder heads up is BCIV/444/STC-unique to that engine. The block down is a basic big cam--except the cam it's 444 only. Not too many interested in 444's these days strictly because of the STC & low flow issues. I just parted one out for cam followers and a few other usable items.
When I was looking at going to water cooled instead of air to air, I got to measuring and test fitting stuff, I really wasn't sure the crossover was going to fit, without carving around on the rocker box covers.
Cummins made 1" 2" 3" risers that went between jacket cooler and crossover, I know where several of each are, you don't need them anymore though.
There's several advantages to automatics unless you just driving all highway
I actually have a mack 350 sitting here. It really hadn't crossed my mind as a possibility for repowering a tms300 with a mack engine. I also have a larger 13 speed and a 350 cummins sitting in my stash. I have two tms300s but we only use one of them. They are stout cranes for their size and hold up well to tree work. I'm kinda on the fence as to what direction to go with them. Sell them and buy a newer 50 or 60 ton truck crane or sink some money and time repowering them. Neither has an LMI. I keep getting water in my forward rear axle on the tms. I need to change the oil again and try to figure out where it's getting in. We do have an rt crane as our yard crane. We might end up with it at job sites so I may do the same thing with my good tms300 since we load and unload our gmk counterweights all the time. We also use it for working on equipment as well as unloading large logs.
If its a 350 with the big air box on top of the drivers side of the motor, the big box can kind of be in the way. But that is better than dealing with a air to air cooler, there's just not any room to run the piping past the radiator and the engine shroud. Nothing of a newer crane will be as well built as a tms300. They are so heavily built, that it makes them great for tree work. New stuff is all lighter built. You have to go to a 60 ton to get the same crane as a 300
glad you found a use for the tms300, so I don't have to drive it out west.
Our tms300 has the 6-71 and I'd second that the thought of a hill makes it slow down. When it's in high gear and reving 2000rpm the speedo says it's doing 50mph. But the guys following me say it's not going much over 40mph. And it has to be a nice long straight away or down hill to get there.
The '60 Lorain 50 ton truck had a gigantic 6 gasser, with an air shift 5 speed and a 3 speed brownie. 40 tops, 25 on the hint of a grade. We always moved it at night.
UPDATE: An overturned vehicle has traffic on Route 309 near the Telford exit backed up | NorthPennNow Emergency responders are on the scene attempting to place the vehicle upright northpennnow.com
Looks like he slid quite a ways.....
I looked a bit deeper, and saw one report that said he drifted off the left side and then overcorrected, and is seriously injured. Operator error.
But it sounds nice.