I run a Tms 300 35 ton. My boss bought this thing and there is nothing saying what the maximum wind spurred is for safe operation. If anyone can enlighten me i would appreciate it
Hey beamwalker. I'm no expert, but, the charts on my Liebherr crane say the load charts are calculated with a wind speed of 20 MPH. A chart on a Grove 60 ton crane I have doesn't menton wind speed at all. I also have that same TMS300 LP Grove. We don' run it much. It mostly sits on the yard.
I'm no expert either (have a little time on an old 15 ton Pettibone, and a little on a 25 ton Grove), but wouldn't the load be a factor? I mean, picking a steel beam would be a whole lot different than picking a pre-fab wall made of 2x4s and sheathing, even though they might weigh the same...
Last job had 35mph as the max wind speed. Critical lifts were 10 mph max. which cause several delays, and most likely added expenses. 1100 Liebherr can't be cheap A wind does play a big part in a lift, such as pushing the boom, or even making a lift spin. Makes it real tough to feather a load into position while the wind is blowing the opposite. dimensions also contribute, bigger isn't always better. I almost never fails that the biggest gang forms are lifted on the windiest days, on the calm days your hoisting a crescent wrench 50 feet in the air.
That's the way it works with me. I use common sense and if I'm not comfortable with a lift i don't do it . I've even stepped foot out of the crane and let my boss have it. He its cco certified, and last time he jumped in after me he almost turned over. Now he doesn't slip seat me anymore.
hey beamwalker, If you look on the chart in the cab, below the charts are the "notes to lifting capacities". On mine (tms 300) #2 reads "practical working loads for each particular job shall be established by the user depending on operating conditions: including the supporting surface, wind and other factors affecting stability, hazardous surroundings, experience of personnel, handling of load, etc." In other words if the winds howling 30mph and thats the day to do gang forms, (like was said above that's the way it always goes) you the operator have to say no. It doesn't give you a convienent cop out in the book that says "no lifting above 20 mph" that you can show the job super, or have a "wind chicken" (areonometer) that sends up a screech when it gets to gusty. They wrote the notes with the assumption of a level of competence of the operator. And it sounds like you have a good grasp of whats smart and what's not, and if it seems stupid to do something- stop and speak up. Today's manuals have 30 pages written by lawyers trying to cover every stupid thing that a operator can do, and we still see pictures of cranes on their sides. That said, you also must remember that we all have to get work done, sometimes in conditions that are less than ideal. I have set gang forms in a howling wind. We picked them flat on the ground, 4 point rigged, flew them into the foundation hole flying flat, then stood them in place. It took extra time to rig them twice, but I usually try to come up with options other than just giving up, and at the end of the day we didn't have as much done as we could have on a perfect day, but we had more done than if we just went home. Sometimes trusses can work in the wind if you double tag line them, weather vane them with the wind, keep them low till the last moment, spin them and set them. Don't fly them 50' in the air up over top of all the other ones, and then when they bust in two say "I told you it was too windy". Some jobs don't give you other options, and you do have to go home till another day. I always have sympathy for the wind farm erectors, pick a place where the wind always blows, put the smallest (cheapest to rent) longest boom crane on the job, and do work at max height/ max capacities, for 300 windmills on a site.
Last wind farm I was on was doing night time lifts. Lots of power plants and lighting on the boom. I wasn't involved on that part as I was backfilling bases