A farmer called me this fall, he and his brother had a grain silo they were erecting and they needed a little help. The job site was in a valley a couple ranges to the east from my place, about a 45 minutes drive. The brothers were real sharp in knowing what the silo weighed, and how close I could get, but after looking at my load chart I determined I better run out there first and eyeball the project. I told them I'd "stop by" in the next day or so, and left it at that. The next morning, I had perfect weather and no work, so I jumped in the plane (kept at home, like my dog) and flew over there in about 15 minutes. As expected, finding a landing site was no problem, the RANS S-7S kitplane I fly lands shorter then most Super Cubs. The brothers knew another neighboring farmer who I had set trusses for on a new shop last year, and I had flown into that job also, so they weren't too surprised when I taxied up. I have my load chart on my smartphone, and with a tape measure we quickly determined I could do it, just. I'd have to set up as close as possible, and use every trick in the book but it was within my chart and they really didn't want to use a local 50 ton truck crane for the entire project. I'd only be approaching maxed out on the last ring. By using me they'd save a lot of money. Mission accomplished, I got ready to fly off, and as I have made a habit of doing, told them there was no extra charge for me flying out first, before driving the rig out. Then I laughed, and told them I'd pay them 5 bucks for letting me land there, (as if I had asked ahead of time....) point being I make it clear that by doing this I am having fun, while also providing a superior level of service! A few days later, I drove out there and it went like clockwork. It was over a days work, so I left the national there and the farmer lent me his wife's car to make the drive home. This is another service I offer my customers from time to time, it obviously saves them paying extra travel time, but of course I only do it when I'm confident the site is safe overnight, and this one was. As expected, the last ring was right at my limit, and I was having close to an interference problem with the silo and the boom. I forgot the #'s, but I was "right there" limit wise. Any more stick extended and I would be out of limits, same with booming down. But by maxing out my out rigger travel with some rail road ties they had handy, and gaining just enough extra height above the hook, it worked out exactly like we had figured it would. I got paid that day, no waiting for a month or so, gotta love that. part of the deal was they got a nice big aerial photo of their spread, NO EXTRA CHARGE. This is a great, and typical example, as to how I use the airplane to help out the crane business, and have fun doing it.
I forgot this picture.
I thought I had the picture thing figured out, but I can't seem to get rid of that last picture, tried EDIT twice, so just ignore it.
Got a call to go out to a big barley storage facility over the weekend, (only partially shown) and "bring the (certified, with test weight, etc.) man basket. " I needed the jib but not it's stinger, 141' tip height is what we worked at mostly, only 35' or so radius. This outfit I was told supplies about 15 to 20% of all the needed barley for Budweiser. You're welcome, you Bud drinkers, it was an honor. The one picture shows us in the middle of what I am sure is the favorite activity of every crane op, folding the jib out. Especially fun when it's 25 degrees and you're working with a total stranger. I usually start off with "do EXACTLY what I tell you, WHEN I tell you, no more no less." When I show up on a job it's just me, so I rely on the customer, and make it clear in advance if the jib is going to be required, that I will need a bit of help. Thankfully, I only need the jib about 5 to 10 times a year, more likely the lower number so not a huge issue. The 110' main boom is one of the main reasons I got this outfit. It all went smoothly, and after the job was done I was told by the contractor that he would be using me on a big redo coming up in March, several days worth of work, that's always nice to hear, guess he liked my work anyway.
Guess there isn't an edit button? But just now, in looking at the above pics, I thought I'd add that unlike the fixed access ladders of my previous boom trucks, I use part of an old extension ladder, that way I can position it where it's needed, to insure that as I climb it I can bang my head into the boom. Nothing like doing that to warm you up on a chilly day.
That's awesome Natman ! Love the story checking out the job in the RANS aircraft
Looks nice natman. I don't mind swinging jib, on my 25 ton's its only a 10 minute deal, the booms aren't near as high off the ground as a boom truck crane's is, and that makes it a lot easier to swing. The tms 200-250- and my tms 300 are all pretty easy to swing, I bet I swing jib at least once a week, sometimes every day. On my 35 I'd almost rather do jib, than mess with dead stick, if I've got plenty of room. That said, my rt and my 70 ton are not as easy, the rt because it doesn't boom down far enough, you have to have a step ladder to do jib. The 70 ton is the same way, and its a 40' swing around offsetable with a telescoping section(makes 60' jib) ---- its a really heavy, big ba$#^d. The old grove jibs are really nice if you have the brackets adjusted right, I find them much easier than the style you have to telescope out, and then swing.
I'm still sneaking up on the proper setting of the jib stowage brackets. The ones that line it up for the next time you deploy it.....as the previous owner never used it, they were wildly out of adjustment. This last time a few days ago it all lined up pretty much as it should, but it's still something I find somewhat odious. My best jib experience was with my 17 ton Terex boom truck, with the wireless remote, with that I could do it all myself, easily. The worst thing about the jib use for me is when you wrap the job up, and maybe it's getting dark and every one is tired, and then you have to mess with it. As compared to just sucking in the main boom and driving off, but what the heck if it means getting the job done, or getting the job in the first place, I don't mind. Getting spoiled I guess.
I wear my hard hat all the time. When I first started doing crane work I would leave my hard hat in the truck, then one day I had to move to finish a large house, so I was rushing around setting up, and I ducked under the boom cylinder " almost" I hit my head hard enough that I went flat on my back on the deck of the crane. I've done the same several times since, but with the hat on all was well.
TD and Crane op. like the new colours, are they something to do with the new format or did you just decide to add some colour ?
When your a short guy like me it doesn't much matter which crane your swinging the jib on. You're gonna need a ladder. I'm a stickler on my jib brackets being right. I detest prying the jib into place and whaling on the pins with a sledge to get the darn thing swung. With all my talking about boom trucks this is one big advantage. Boom trucks usually have a longer main boom. When I was running our tms300 you just knew you were gonna be swinging the jib on probably 85% of the jobs. If you didn't need the jib we sent the t230. Really irked me having an 80' live boom on a 40 ton crane. Got pretty good at it tho.
I have a long time side line business selling and installing solar gear. I came up with a design using local available steel for the racks needed when I pole mount them, I never put them on roofs. I fully assemble them in my shop, pre wire them, and then truck them to the job site. The typical one weighs about 1400 lbs, and I've mounted as many of four of them on one large pipe. Two of them on one pole 60' high to clear trees! From a hoisting viewpoint, these are pretty easy picks, and it sure saves me a lot of time onsite. Instead, most of the work is done in the shop, at my convenience, plus the bottom line is I can do it this way cheaper then buying a rack, paying motor freight to get it shipped to me, and then assembling it piecemeal at the job site, and then mounting each solar panel and finally wiring them together. That's a lot of awkward labor (working overhead) needing a helper, with a lot of time, days, spent on the job site. My way, I show up at 8 and am done by 10, I only need my helper for an hour or so, rather then days.
A few more:
Here's a job I did last week, one I flew over and checked out first. It looked like a piece of cake from a few hundred feet up, but once I drove by the site, only then did I see the grade I'd have to back up, and that is was one big sheet of ice. The framer struck me as a good guy, with the right attitude (unlike some....) so I told him I'd show up and we could see if I could make it up, though I told him it was unlikely. He agreed to pay me a pittance, $20.00,(!!) my suggestion, that'd at least cover my fuel for driving there, no matter what. When I told him I only had one set of chains, we discussed which rear axle would be most effective to chain up, when backing up the hill. He thought the forward, I thought the rear But later that day, when I was driving home and going by a county gravel yard and I saw the grader operator BSing with a gravel truck driver, I pulled in and asked them what they thought. The consensus seemed to be, when backing up a hill, chain the rear drive axle, it'll chew the ice up a bit and make the traction better for the forward axle. So, the next day, I chained up the rear, and gave it hell for about 20 minutes. Nothing worked, just too icy and steep, plus even IF I had made it up, I would have had a very dicey set up area, as the big pile of bonus room trusses was in the way. This was a Thursday, and sunny weather was forecast, so we bagged it until Monday. In the meantime, the frame got a skid steer to shove the truss pile over a bit (and that amazes me) and best of all, the ice mostly melted. I backed up without chains, and thanks to the little extra bit of room I now had, was able to get into a good setup area. Every single truss was a BIG bonus room truss, except the gables, the kind with micro lam bottom chords, very heavy for a wood truss. I ended up billing for a bit over $1600.00, and the framer was real happy, so that laughable 20 buck fee for the first failed attempt was nothing, especially as he will for sure use me again. I should mention, I used my J hook spreader bar on these trusses, "as a qualified authority/rigger I deemed it a lesser hazard then exposing the framers to walking out and unrigging each truss." That's my take on the issue, a good lawyer could shred it but its what I told my OSHA instructor and he "bought" it. By J hooks I mean no safety gate on the hook, if I set the truss down and keep winching down, the J hooks fall off (the bottom of the top chord) and the truss tips over. The hooks are deep, so it's pretty easy to not let this happen, my customers love it, as it saves them running out to unhook, I can do it my self. I only use it when I can eyeball things, and in no wind or other less then perfect conditions. The bar is labeled for capacity, uses proper components, has an inspection record, and was proof tested for 5 times its max rating. It has 3 hooks, 24" OC, and I sometimes use it for setting 3 trusses at a time, but more often on these large bonus room trusses, just 2 of the hooks. I use it on maybe 10% of my jobs, if that.
Pretty cool that you utilize your plane so much. I guess I should admit we don't even own a set of tire chains. It's not that hilly around here tho. We never used j-hooks untill we got our nccco certifications. At that point we found out that according to osha law j-hooks are legal. One of my uncles moved out to Idaho about 2 years ago. Believe he said he's not to far from Spokane, Washington. He says the demand for cranes in his area is crazy. He's been kicking around the idea of getting into the crane business there. Believe he said said the guy he uses gets $175 hr on a 40t and is generally booked out at least a week. But he also pointed out that everything slows down quite a bit in the winter.
I would say you did an amazing job getting up that hill, it wouldn't of been hard to end up on your side over the edge. As a general contractor quite often I have loaded the back of my pickup with sand and spread on a bad driveway, the way I look at it I feel responsible for my trades and if they get stuck its not only a PIA for them but me too, I won't be accomplishing anything else until I have them back on the road as well. Keep up the good work
My second time this week out at this large grain facility. We had to lift the conveyor belt out of the top of the 70' high chute, that meant 140' of hook height plus some as it also goes underground a bit. So, both jibs (44') and all 110' of stick were needed, and I made sure I set up as close as I could, but not too close.....it worked out perfect, I was at 76.5 boom angle degrees and had a few feet of line still clear of the ATB when the belt finally cleared the tower, LMI was showing a tip height of 161'. Compared to my other rigs I've owned in the past, the pilot controls on the Nat are so smooth that it is no big deal working with that much stick, I still have the capability to make very fine movements. That is such a pleasure, again as compared to the other boom trucks I've operated, the Nat makes me look good! The grain facility guys had screwed up the length of the new belt, so after I got it in and they messed around for a bit, finally realizing it was too short by several feet, I had to take it back out and twiddle my thumbs while they lengthened it. Later the contractor I was working for told me the head honcho came out of the office and was bemoaning the fact that this was costing them extra crane time.... like it was my fault or something. I told the contractor, a good guy who's on my side, "tell him I charge double my usual rate, while waiting on screwups, that will really fire him up." Just kidding of course, I just charge the usual rate, no more no less. Some years ago, after gradually getting out of being an all around builder and settling into being a full time hoisting engineer, I eventually realized (it took a while) that the great thing about being "the crane guy" on a job, is I have absolutely no responsibilities! By that I mean, if someone forgot to pick up the proper parts or tools for a job, or someone miss measured or something isn't fitting right for whatever reason, "it ain't my problem." Before, it WAS my problem, and probably my fault as well. Now, as long as I operate the Nat correctly, quickly and safely, I have a clear mind, not clogged up with a million details, leaving me free to concentrate on what sat radio channel to listen to, or when I should have the next cup of coffee, and whether I should turn the heat up or down a few degrees in the cab, life is good. Now, my good steady customers, I WILL work with them if unavoidable screwups happen, and that is always really appreciated and provides more future work. But for a multi million dollar corporation, I don't lose any sleep over charging them an extra 45 minutes of time, especially as their other crane option (that had enough stick, besides me) was a 70 ton operator who sure as hell would charge them while waiting, and at a lot more per hour.
Back out at the Bud barley plant. Another part of the chute wore out, run enough grain through, long enough, and the steel just wears out. And, they are always in a big hurry, this was another Saturday job for them, and again needed both the jib (not the stinger this time anyway, just the main) and the manbasket. 125' high, down in between the chute rigging, pretty tight quarters but the guy giving me radio directions from the basket is super to work with, real calm cool and collected. Defiantly cool anyway, the wind was blowing pretty good up there judging from the mike noise, it made me set the cab heater thermostat a bit higher. I will be doing a lot of work out at this plant in the next couple months, and once the snow i s gone, and if I see a spot within a mile or two to land the plane, I will commute via airplane. Fun and quick for me, cheaper for them, as I'll leave the crane there. It's about 75 miles from my home, 60 from the crane yard.
Assuming that's the one in Idaho Falls, I've spent some time waiting in line there. Watch out for the Lott trucks if they are hauling out, they'll run you over and grab another gear.
Not that one. Further north, in Osgood. I'll keep an eye out for the Lott drivers!
Due to a lot of snow this winter, this spud cellar partially collapsed, and I got a call to maybe help out. Engineers are involved (oh boy) in figuring out the best way to salvage it, I MAY be involved, we'll see. Located real close to the big airport in town, it took some communication with the tower to keep it legal, after flying there from my home strip. I text these pics to the guy who called me yesterday, IF they do need some kind of hoisting device, I will be the first to get the call. I often "get my foot in the door" on many crane jobs by using the crane. Needless to say, I also get to go flying, while brown nosing some contractor, all part of the job!
We set this 12 K stainless tank on this "truck" for the forth and last time. The first few times were to get everything fitted up/welded up, as this was a modification. And the truck was not originally set up for this tank. A nice low stress job, level ground, a couple miles from my crane yard, secure payment, I wish all my work was this simple.
The broken down spud cellar job. The ground towards the work was rock hard compacted gravel that sees a lot of heavy truck traffic, it LOOKED iffy, with a very thin layer of mud on top, but over the day or so I was set up there nothing settled, not even a little. The opposite short jacked side was a different story, but it wasn't too bad, all in all it worked out real well. We picked three of the trusses, 8' OC, and the rest of the roof went along for the ride, we didn't attempt to bring it up the original roof line, the carpenters will fine tune that. Working around tons of spuds has it's fringe benefits . You can see the center sling is up against the pin that sets the telescoping spreader bar, I didn't like it but we decided not to stress things more by messing with it.
Today's job, at the big fertilizer plant going up just a couple miles from the spud cellar job. The 110' main boom came in handy again setting the stainless chutes, this is one big building, and I was lucky enough to do about 90% of the crane work there over the winter.
Did the spuds push the wall or did the wind get in the building. I have worked on a quite a few potato storages and done repairs similar to what you have done, but its always been in a empty storage and we able to support off the floor. the newer storages around me are insulated pre-cast, with about a 5'-0" air chase all around the building and under the floor as well, they are a modern feat of engineering. Nice job!
It sure looked to me like the spuds were the culprit. That and a lot of snow. This pic was sent to me by a Arizona friend who got into the hoisting business a few years after me, another ex nail bender/building contractor. His company is currently running 2 Manit ex 101S's (one I sold him when I traded up to the National) and a 18 ton Elliott. Their area is so busy he and his two helpers keep them all busy 6 days a week!
My crane shed, radiant floor heated, and just big enough (18' by 40') to park the 30 ton Nat in with room to walk around both ends. That solar array makes enough juice to totally offset my heating bill (the floor has a electric boiler). All spring, summer, and fall I produce an excess which my utility shows as a credit on my bill, come winter I start eating into the credit, all I pay is the 5 bucks a month basic service fee. Coming into a 50 degree (plenty warm enough) building when its in the teens outside and seeing the Nat sitting there, all ice and snow free, makes me think I've died and gone to heaven, compared to the way I started! I also re charge that plug in Prius while parked at the crane yard, so I drive back and forth from home (26 miles round trip) for free. That's also my sole employee, he works cheap, is always in a good mood, doesn't steal much, and makes sure no one messes with anything in or around the yard and while on a job.
Noticed that manitex doesn't have the front bumper jack. Does that truck still have a 360 chart. Nice looking crane shed. What is the cost of a solar setup like that. Just curious as to how long it takes to pay for itself. I know it's a totally different area but I've always heard that it's hard to make a solar panel pay for itself around here. Free/cheaper electricity is something I've always been interested in.
The 101's do have a 360 chart, without a front stab, as long as the front tires are in contact with the ground. Get enough time on one however, and we found that that rule can be fudged a bit. The picture I posted of my old unit with the tires 3' in the air...... I'm sure he was working off the rear that day. As much as I like my 30 ton National, if I was doing nothing but setting trusses on residential construction, the 101 is still hard to beat. Especially as properly set up on the right truck, it will go places others won't, best "off road" boom truck around, better then my 17 ton Terex's, plus i got to sit down! Crappy layout though from a maintenance standpoint, the National is much better thought out in that respect. Solar pays, I've been doing it for decades, think of it of paying your power bill in advance. That setup I have could be duplicated for as little as 3K. 50 cents a watt for the panels, if you buy them right. So that's $1,000.00 (2000 watt array), the inverter is about $1500, disconnect and other misc. make up the rest. Install it yourself and you have free power for decades. I have panels that are over 30 years old! Here's the thing, the vast majority of people are so far behind the financial 8 ball, it's all they can do to come up with the monthly electrical bill, so they say "it doesn't pat." Bull...., the ones that suck it up and go solar are 100% happy they have done so, all my customers love their systems. But do it yourself, don't pay someone else, it's not rocket science. I tell a guy in his 30's or 40's "this system will be putting out power when you're my age!" It's hard to over emphasize the simplicity and longevity of these systems. You can pay the power company, or take a tax credit and pay yourself, they are a rock solid though long term investment, but once you have one you would never go back to NOT having one.
Natman which vendor do you reccomend for panels and inverters?
My wholesaler only deals direct with guys in the biz. But really good retail outfit is Back Woods Solar. Most importantly, they are not scammers or hustlers, there are a lot of those out on the internet! They, having been around for about 30 years , really know their stuff, good people. Tell them you want a package deal on a small (2to 4 KW) solar grid tie package, for the best pricing. Renting electricity is money up in smoke, like renting a house compared to buying one!
WORKING FOR THE MAN? Ha ha, my area has a very large FBI data center here, one of only 3 or 4 in the US, so heavily secured. Even though I've worked there before i still had to go through another new round of security clearances. When I pulled up to the double trap entrance, guys with mirrors checked under my rig, I told them to look for any leaks! You surrender your drivers license once on site, the security just never ends, cameras everywhere, I felt pretty safe. For better or for worse they are doing a big addition, make of that what you will. I DID NOT take any pictures, but did set a 18,000 lb concrete vault while there, after doing some fairly serious tree trimming to get in. I carry nippers and a tree saw, always, my rig is too pretty to just barge through low tree limbs. As heavy as the vault was, a bigger crane would have been nice, then again a bigger crane would have torn up the lawn I drove over and probably broken up the sidewalk. My very next job is on the new addition they are putting on the State Trooper barracks, about 1/4 mile from my crane yard so I guess I'll cut them some slack on travel time. Lifting a cooling tower, don't know the weight or the distance, it will make Monday morning something to look forward too, or not, we'll see.
Next time try to get pictures, even though you might get a beating don't forget us we are simple folk and like purdy pictures.
Yeah I thought about the lack of pictures, but thought I had a pretty good excuse! I can tell you they have the largest sat dish I have ever seen "in person", easily 40' diameter. They also are tapped into the main underground natural gas pipeline in the area for powering their nat gas back up generators, it is a super serious place. Working at the trooper barracks will be pretty casual in comparison. It's fun getting into various places, under the guise of doing some crane work, we even get paid for it.
Living 20 miles out of town, I'll try to coordinate running the usual errands when I am already there doing crane work. My crane yard is on the south side of town, my home further south, and most of the work is on the north side. So, I often find myself driving down the main drag, our main street. A lot of traffic lights, and I used to hate it, until I realized it's good advertising and is just part of the cost of doing business. Sometimes I'll use the back up camera to see the faces of the people stuck behind me as I do my best to accelerate away from a red light. Here's a shot of how I use the 4 big rigging boxes the National has, a place to carry the groceries! Also,when I walk out of the store, my ride is easy to find among the other cars. My bank is also near the preferred grocery store I go (I did some of the crane work when they built it, plus they have the lowest prices in town so they get my business) so I can just walk over there also. Any further then a block or two out of the way, as I drive back to the yard, I'll park it and get the 2 wheeled dingy out, it's a lot easier to find a parking space with it. Just today, as I was getting ready to make a "special" trip into town, JUST to run errands, I got two calls for work tomorrow, so I'll put off my errand running until then.
After fabricating these solar array racks in my shop, and installing the panels, I delivered then to the job site and set them. Not my project, someone else will finish everything up, I just provided the racks and set them. The center strap goes up to the load hook, and is just used as a balancer, so the pipe socket will line up correctly. I've built and delivered nearly 50 of these now, 11 in the last month or so. My own design, I can build, deliver, and set them to my customers cheaper or for the about the same price as one they can buy elsewhere. Then they have to pay motor freight to get it shipped in, assemble it (on the pole, unlike mine that are designed to lifted with panels installed) and THEN bolt on the panels. I come in and wham, as long as the vert poles are pre set, I'm in and outa there in an hour or so. I make more money building and delivering these racks then I do selling them the solar gear, it's a win/win for both of us, especially as all the fab work is done in my home shop, when I'm not busy craning.
That's a pretty handy set up Natman using the National lifting on the job and as a " Grocery Getter "at the end of the day . That case of blue ribbon barley soda in the rigging box reminds me of and old Johnny Russell tune
Yeah it's a popular brew out here, a good inexpensive beer, or so tell my friend who prefers the more expensive Budweiser. I buy PBR with the money I make craning on the big Budweiser malt plant, my area is a huge producer of barley for the big beer makers.
Got a call at 9:07 from in town, a 30 minute drive away from my home compound, where I was at the time. A new Pet Smart store needed the HVAC set next week, and the contractor was setting up a time plus wondering if I could reach it. At 9:57 I sent this picture to him while circling overhead, some kind of new record for me. It can be real handy to have your own plane right at home and be in the hoisting business, apparently my local competition does not offer this aerial pre inspection service like I do. After getting the building length and width, I was able to tell the contractor that I could do the job and we good to go Monday. That unit in the middle back is going to be about 95' away, and what with the high walls of the building, I'll go ahead and jib up and should be able to hit it. The HVAC guys are "on my side", and will be prepared to hump it into place if need be. I may set up on that loading ramp on the left, short jacking the left side in order to fit in there. That'd knock 20' off the reach. I think I can do it all with two setups, On the way there and back I took a pic and texted it to the builder minutes later of a big house I am working on, plus another job, a small castle (really). Plus eyeballed a new medical building going up (still framing walls, be a while before they need my services), and also noted several new homes going up I may or may not get the call for. Plus buzzed a farmer cutting hay that lets me land my plane on the same field, when the plane is on it's skis in the winter. A busy morning, but I'm not complaining. Any time I can fly and hustle up a little crane work is a good day!
Love it!
I spotted this old rig over the 4 th while near the Frank Church Wilderness Area (largest in the lower 48). It had been repaired numerous times, but the welder sure laid down a pretty bead......but eventually it somehow ended up like this, wow! Mining related, it had a drag bucket (dragline not a crane I guess?) nearby, also patches over the patches over the years. The operator cab sure didn't look like anything I'd want to sit in all day, that seat doesn't look very comfortable at all. Looking at the worn steel foot pedals and the polished hand controls, I think this thing had a few hours on it. I got the above HVAC done, and while on the jobsite the aerial view came in real handy, as expected. 3 setups, 95' the furthest.
At the tail end of a 12 hour work day, not including the 2 hour travel time to get back to the crane shed, I had a rear blowout Saturday. I pulled over and got to check things out, and saw that the remnants of the tire were wrapped around the rear drive axle, and it was a good thing I stopped when I did. Of course......I just engaged the PTO and lifted the rear up a bit and got under there and with the help of a small pry bar I always carry got it cleared up and was outa there, before any Highway Patrol stopped to "help",( this was on I-15), I like law enforcement and feel bad when they needlessly spend time checking me out is all! What worked out perfect was that I was only 1 mile from an exit, and another mile to my tire shop, this after 3 different jobs in the last few days involving 2 hour each way travel times in remote areas. I had this problem comparatively almost in front of my tire shop, though I can drive with one tire missing I don't want to do it very far in super hot weather, I lucked out.
CRANES AND PLANES: I was lifting the roof of the spud cellar that collapsed this winter, so the carpenters could get the walls underneath, when I accidentally timed this picture just right. We were working right near the Pocatello airport, in the pattern, so the plane was just going about it's business.
This rig has been sitting out in the high desert for about 10 years now. It appears the operator planned to make some easy money by picking up these boulders and selling them for landscaping to the gullible. It reminds me of the movie "Mad Max." http://i.imgur.com/dV0JfSt.jpg
Working right close to one of our wind farms in the area, setting girder trusses for the post and beam guys. I whined a bit to the contractor, about me having a minimum charge just for little jobs like this, how they are almost more trouble then they are worth, killed half a day for 40 minutes work, blah blah. I guess I did it just right as he added 40 bucks onto the bill! Man that really made my day.....not the money so but the guys attitude, that he "got it." I flew back the next day and texted him an aerial pic of his jobsite, and he will get service with a smile next time, no more whining. I was in a pissy mood because my brand new front tires, were so far out of balance or out of round, or both, that this first freeway drive to get there made me drive 45 mph. Plus the tire shop (first time using them, very well may be last) left the aluminum wheels filthy dirty with some kind of black goo I think is used for lube while mounting them. I can't see any balance weights, they charged me 74 bucks for a spin balance, and it rides like I'm driving on the rumble strip. I hate it when people don't so their jobs right, the dirty wheels told me a lot about the guys attitude (screw it....) I almost hesitate going back there for a re do, shoulda been done right the first time!
Yeah, ya gotta take it back though, if it's anything more than a one man show, the owner/manager needs to know what kind of work his employees are putting out.
You will see cranes and flat bed trucks doing exactly that in this garden spot north of Red Bluff https://www.google.com/maps/@40.268...123.98059&pitch=0&thumbfov=100!7i13312!8i6656
Most big truck tires never get balanced. They do have a balancer stuff, like little beads, they can put in them if they are terrible out of balance. I think they call it equal. The idea is that the centrifugal force pushes the beads to the outside, leveling out the tires. I've heard both ways, it works and doesn't work, I personally don't use it. I find that better quality tires tend not to have as much balance problems as the cheap chinese stuff that most tire shops like to sell. They're profit margins are better on the cheap tires, so they tend to push those. I don't mind them on drives, but I like a better tire for a steer. I'm not sure why you would have been charged for a spin balance.
It's what was described as an "entry level" tire, cheap in other words. Dayton is the brand, a real American sounding name, so probably Chinese. I didn't want to know at the time, never asked, just went for the pricing, $1242 for both, plus install and "balancing." I've been regretting it since, my fear it IS balanced correct but just crap, and/or out of round also. My backup plan if so, if they can't get it to run right, upgrade, throw some money at it. I want to eyeball it on the spin balancer (the shop liability insurance be damned), I know better to buy the cheapest anything and almost never do, I screwed up here maybe but a good reminder NOT to be too big a tightwad. I had the rig home today (that term nicely sidesteps that whole crane/boom truck thing, OK?!) so pressure washed it and sort of detailed it. Everywhere except the front wheels, all the better to make my point when I get into the tire shop. It's a large national chain, not a mom and pop, so I won't feel too bad demanding (in a positive way, "if you care about my future business...") some help.
I got my tire situation squared away, turns out the new fronts WERE out of balance, I was able to stand right over the balance guy (in a non obtrusive way, didn't want to make an enemy but a friend....) and as I got educated as to how the spin balancer machine worked (pretty cool), it was evident they were out, 4 oz.s one and 6 the other. Long story short, during these few days of messing with this, I got educated on Centramatic wheel balancers, and then spent some time on the web reading reviews on them. I now have them on all three axles, figuring a smooth ride and longer tire life life is worth the expense for what seems to be lifetime product, about 180 bucks a set, but come tax time they will be a welcome write off. I like the feeling I've done ALL I can to ensure a proper setup on the wheels/tires, and the resulting smoother ride is paying off already. I set a new personal record of some sort, a 2 1/2 hour one way drive for what turned out to be a 45 minute job, 12 trusses! Plus, they wanted me there at 7, so as it was near a part of Idaho I play around in a lot anyway, I left the day before, after that days work, and crane camped. I found a secluded spot just 10 minutes from the job site, and it turns out my usual airplane camping gearing all easily fits in one of my rigging boxes, and I took the plane's folding mountain ebike and went for a great canyon ride late in the day. That is the Lemhi Range, Idaho's highest, in the background. I ended up doing the truss setting for free, (my idea, I made a joke out of it) but charged my full hourly rate for 5 hours of travel, and the builder was happy with that. For my more normal 20 or 30 minutes of travel for a 3 to 8 hour job, I only charge travel one way. I just noticed, in the couple hours between the first shot, right after I parked right after a thunder/snow storm up high, by the time I went for a bike ride and set camp up, it had melted off. Winter is coming, I also found a old cabin that i may fly into this winter, when I have the skis on the plane.
Darn natman. Im green with jealousy right now. Thats some beautiful country out there.
NICE! really nice!
I flew back to almost the same area I camped out at last week to watch the eclipse, FULL totality. What a difference though, that deserted dead end dirt road I camped near was almost full of RV's etc.,. I landed just far enough away plus high enough, 8,000' to be secluded, it was a great day to be a pilot, plus I beat the traffic jam of all the out of staters, about 300,000 of them, all gone now.
Not the picture I wanted ....here it is.
A nice level place to set up on, with the trusses to the front of me of course....this contractor usually uses a guy with a regular boom truck, who I guess works cheaper then me. This time he used me and it worked out good, he was happy enough to pay me at the completion of the job anyway.
I did a new lighting system at a local high school the other day, the tapered steel poles slip onto a tapered concrete pier, and are held there by friction only, and gravity I guess. The thing was, if I let down too far, the crew couldn't rotate the pole to it's proper aiming point (set by a sensor in the middle of the field and a laser, this was a totally engineered system and impressively almost idiot proof to install correctly). The system came with a big pole with a winch strap, so it could be sucked up tight to the pole base and a couple guys could reef on it to aim it correctly, unless it was jammed up tight by being too low. We figured this out after the first one, after a scary few minutes of the light fixture being about 90 degrees off where it was supposed to be, and me being unable to pick it back up because it was bound up on the tapered base. At least the nearby parking lot would have lit up real well! Once I got it loose (cable down, boomed up, then cable up, wasn't pulling straight up and couldn't tell from my angle and the "crew" didn't know enough to tell me I was over center) they got it aimed right and then had to hold that postion while I lowered it the last couple feet. That's where it got tricky, I couldn't just winch down, unless I wanted to take out the LED light fixtures with the tip of the boom, as we were rigged (by design) below the pole top. So I had to retract, boom down,cable up, and so on, all while not binding up the pole base and keeping the aim right. Despite my repeated pleas to "hey guys lets not all get focused on what's going on at the base, and let my boom tip take out a fixture," that is of course exactly what happened. Several times I and every one else lost track of the boom tip position and I looked up at only the last second and saw I had almost bought a fixture, never did though, one of those jobs where I felt like I had for once really earned my pay.
Mountain biking up a 9,000' pass this weekend, I get up there and who do I run into but the head guy of the biggest and best equipped hydraulic repair shop in my state, who was up there spotting elk. I don't recall how we found out we had a mutual interest, but we did, hydraulics. We both had business cards on us, (yeah I carry some even when in a remote area, you just never know) and exchanged info, plus when next in Boise I get a guided tour of their facility. I can't recall the term for it, but the machine tool that unscrews the big threaded cap on a hyd. cylinder? They have the biggest, even bigger then the local CAT facility. While yakking away, the view we had was national park worthy, fun stuff.
A simple truss setting job, a 2 hr drive away in my favorite part of Idaho, I went for a quick ebike ride after getting down and before heading back.
Using the crane dingy ebike on the way home . It takes about 30 seconds to get it out and ride off at 20+ mph, climbs well also.
OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK They broke ground today locally on a new 100 million dollar data center for the FBI in town, to compliment the already big data center we've had for years. There are only 3 or 4 of these in the U.S., and to work there you have to pass major security checks, the last time the guard was running a mirror under my rig, I made sure to ask him to look for any leaks, he didn't laugh. Also, rumor has it, the NSA is also going build a data center here. They like are Mormon work force and the big natural gas pipeline that runs through town, their back up generators run directly off it I hear. This weekend I will fly over and get some aerial pics to give to the general contractor, my way of getting my foot in the door for work.
Some tight quarters working at another grain elevator. It took a combination of me lifting and them using a comalong to pull this pipe out of the silo, we'd pull a few feet and then re-rig. A good crew, it went well. A few days later I was back, looking to lift the man basket out while a larger crane did the lift on a bad auger over this pile of grain. I was short, by a fair bit, and couldn't figure it out as I been asked to look at it a few days earlier and I eyeballed it as doable. Then I realized, the pile had grown a fair bit since I had last looked, they were hauling more in as fast as they can, may bad I guess. I had already done several thousand dollars of work at this facility, so I didn't feel too bad for telling them "no charge, sorry I couldn't do it," though I did point out the grain pile had gotten a lot bigger!
Yet another job near the largest mountain range in Idaho, and another 2 hour one drive to get there. On these bonus room trusses, if there's no wind and I can see, I use my little spreader bar and 2 J hooks to pick them. They don't have a spring loaded latch gate, and if I continue to winch down another 8" ( the depth of the J hook) after I set it on the top plate, I will lose the truss, but "as a qualified rigger, I deem it to be a lesser hazard then having a carpenter crawl out on the unbraced truss." That's my interpretation anyway of the OSHA regs. I can self unrig in other words, and have never lost one in the last 10 years or so since I've been using it. Wind or can't see, it stays o n the truck bed. Also, another job where I got done and then went mountain biking nearby, so close that once I reached the trail summit I could look down and what do you know, I could still see the jobsite.
I got a call for the man basket, lifting a "lighting technician" up to "service" the bulbs that light the big Union Pacific switch yard, which of course runs 24/7. This tech was flying in from the mid west, as this was specialized work. We first had to get a look out UP employee that baby sat us while we were in the yard, and that was a good thing as while we were working out of no where (not actually, but it was spooky how quick these rail cars could appear and make almost zero noise) would come a loaded freight car going 10 or 15 mph. Just the car, this yard is where they make up trains, and the switch engine will give the car a push from maybe 1/4 mile away, and then it coasts until it smashes into the the car it's intended to connect with. This loud bang is not what you want to hear when you have a guy in a basket up 100', but I got used to it. Turns out, the skilled and trained tech, only took about 2 minutes to service the 4 lights on each tower. Near as I can tell his task consisted of turning the old light counter clockwise until it was free, and then inserting a new one (the old one was still good, but nearing it's pre engineered lifespan) and turning it clockwise. I can see why they had to fly a guy in for this work, no one around here could handle it, talk about a specialized job description! All rails were active, except for the one I had to actually set up on, I was assured it was dead, but still it was a a pretty strange job, and in two years, now that I'm in with this outfit, I get to do it again. The same day I pulled a well pump at a ranch, 80' was all, so no need to take the drop pipe sections apart to replace the pump.
After their lousy framing skills resulted in the garage blowing down the day after I set it, I was back on site to pick up the pieces and re erect it. At one point I watched for 10 minutes as the crew fruitlessly tried to tweak a sheeted and nailed off wall section, that was no doubt out of whack when they first framed it and sheeted it. Most framers plumb their walls BEFORE sheeting them! When seeing work like this, I've learned to just keep my mouth shut, these guys don't know or care I was framing when they were in diapers (well before actually), but it is really hard not to correct them sometimes, so I am unloading here. On this entire project, a good sized home, I'll be billing about 12 hours, a good competent crew would have had me in and outa there in 3 to 4 hours. I'll cringe when I hand in my bill to the head contractor, then again HE should also know better then to hire these bozos.
We sheath or strap our walls laying down, but we string line the bottom plate, secure it in place, then square the wall by measuring corner to corner. We will sometimes build 50 ft at a time and stand with the crane, but just like building truss sets on the ground you need to think it out and you need to know where the pit falls are, because like your friends are finding out it's hard to fix if you f... it up.the pictures are of a small commercial building we did the wall was 50' long and 15' high, it picked up like a dream and set down square and plumb,
Around here, most plumb the wall sections after framing and standing them up, then sheet. Pulling a tape works great also. Actually, these days, I rarely see how walls are framed, as they are finished when I get a call. Another thing I've seen that bugs me, is a guy standing on the bottom chord of a girder or a hip truss, pushing it out of column,/putting a bow in that bottom chord, while he holds a level on it to plumb it! I like your "equalizers" on the spreader bar, I've seen the big boys setting precast use them in a similar fashion.
I set a 10,000 gallon underground tank (for the firefighters) today on a new mountain side subdivision. The tank was about 35' below where I was set up, that and looking down into the valley made for an odd view. Most of my work is looking UP a bit not that far DOWN. What really made my day is we got it done before the gravel road is ice packed, the next time I'll drive it a few weeks, to set trusses on a house they just finished the concrete work on, I'll no doubt need to chain up. I seem to have a lock with the owner on doing all of truss work on the 7 or 8 high dollar homes in this sub, so I cut him a deal on the tank work. A lot less wear and tear on the rig to do one tank pick then setting trusses. Note the overloaded trailer they used to haul the thing up the hill, after I unloaded it off a semi.
About 3 last Friday afternoon, I get a call from an outfit I lift hot tubs and swimming pools for. They said it would be a quick and easy job, just getting them off the trailer and setting them on the ground. Here's what I saw when I pulled up!
Im shocked!
But you really don't know how lucky you are, usually they ship those pools upside down, and then you get to try to flip them without damaging them too. At least they parked them under the power lines for you.
I've set 5 or 6 of these things for the same company, usually lifting them directly over the homeowners house, while set up in the driveway. They have dandy rigging points built in, short sections of chains glassed right in. The local pool company picks them up where they are built, California, and transports them himself with a triple axle low boy and a 2 1/2 ton truck, not much weight but a lot of surface area. 12 or 14' wide. These two were brought up over the Donner Summit/Tahoe pass, in the winter, that could get really spooky, he must have had dry roads. He keeps them right side up, I'd bet it'd be tricky to flip one.
I flew 80 miles one way yesterday to check out one of the swimming pool sites. I wanted to see, not having heard from the company doing the install for a few days past the project install date, whether they had used another crane service (one closer to the job site, so less travel time charge then me), but I see I am still in the running. the hole is dug, and they have the pool still on the trailer. This is a sneaky way I have of keeping track of my jobs, without anyone being the wiser, an eye in the sky. Still having the skis on the plane, I also landed the mountain in the background, at 8200', this is how I mix business with fun.
I had a short notice job yesterday, one of the ones that keep things interesting, as opposed to setting trusses on a house, I get sick of that. This 40' by 16' ( or so) metal arch building needed to be moved, the type with no framing, all it's strength is in the metal corrogates. It was sitting on a rec tube steel frame, with lifting eyes on the ends. I let the owner make the decision to use those, and when he got around to saying "if it folds up when we pick it, no big deal, I have to get it out of here," we got to work. Only 5400 lbs, including the OSB floor, an impressive amount of floor space for not much weight at all, the thing picked great and didn't even flinch much less look like a crushed beer can when we got done. The only hitch was right after I set it on the lowboy, out of 5 people helping, only one noticed that it didn't look like the semi could make the turn to get out of the fenced yard! No one had thought of this, including me, (not my job, I just lift what I'm told, but I still felt stupid) after we all regrouped, he gave it a go and had a foot to spare. A drive across town, and I set it down at it's new location. One of those jobs that remind me why I carry as much rigging etc. as I do, every now and then I really need it.
I got a new tool for the business (and for my own personal use of course, the thing is fun to operate and I have 40 acres to always be doing something on) and since I had the rig in the home shop for an oil change, took it flying. It also gave me a chance to see how it balanced out, and to see what I need next time to keep the rigging simpler then this time. I can put the little Kubota about 50' away, into someplace with no other access, and I am putting the word out to my construction buddies to keep it in mind as it sure beats using a shovel.
Been there done that. Those little machines are awesome, not great at anything but handy as heck for almost everything. Ours has been in many basements, we usually put it in with the excavator when we are back filling. I have a few pictures but can’t find them know I’ll look later. Good luck with the new toy no sorry new tool.
Heres a roof i did for a friend of mines 24 X 60 shop. We lifted it in 2 sections,hes very meticulous so everthing fit nicely.
The Kubota handbook even calls out where and how they want to you to rig to, so I guess these things get flown around a fair bit. I keep it in the hangar right next to my plane, and that shot is right above one end of my runway, so using the term flying fits for me. The first fe
I'll be putting up some kind of a new structure this year on my home property, whether it's post and beam or full foundation, I'll lift the roof complete, as in fully tinned, all except the ridge cap. I did it that way last time and it was a hoot, worked great and was just plain fun for this old carpenter to do it the lazy way now that I have the means to hoist it. It will only be 18' w by 20 or 30'long, so the extra weight won't be an issue. Right now the mini is in the hangar, but that's only temporary.
I got a new inverter installed, 750 watt continuous,1500 watt surge, to run my electric kettle. I keep it and the Starbucks instant coffee (I don't go to Starbucks, but their instant is really good) in the tool box up on top the deck, right behind the hydraulic tank. At the same height as the tank so I lose no rear vision when backing up, and also leaving 20" or so under it for open storage of other stuff on the truck bed. I consider this coffee making setup an important part of my safety equipment, getting revved and up and staying alert on a boring job (instead of dozing off, and no I'm not kidding) makes all the difference. Last week I showed up at 11:00 AM at a grain elevator job, just as requested. While enroute (a one hour drive) they had a snafu, so after I got set up and ran the boom out, I sat there, and sat there......until 2:45. I only use this onboard coffee setup in cases like this, not routinely, but as an emergency backup. Especially like this job, with no nearby convinence store I could ride the carried onboard electric bike over to (another part of my crucial equipment), and I don't feel it is frivilous at all. That on deck tool box is where I also keep emergency food rations, and my rain gear, still carried as a habit even though I've had a cab for years now. If I ever get even a hint of kidding on the jobsite about the way I am setup, I respond with "you want me falling asleep," and that shuts them up. Sitting there staring at a grain bin for almost 3 hours IS hard work, harder then actually working. I also put in a foot rest recently, thanks to Tradesman for that idea, brake formed aluminum bolted to my aluminum panel that covers the area where my lower window used to be. After getting it broken, parked overnight at a truck stop (vandals or accident, don't know) I decided it was worthless as i never pick up stuff 5' away anyway.
How the carpenters here do their hip assemblies. A lot of these use triple or even quad girders, doubled at a minimum, and are often non symetrical so often way out of balance end for end AND with the tails hanging down. Any attempt by me to pretty up the lift by some fancy rigging is met with blank stares, and seen as a time waster. These assemblies are the first thing to go up a lot of the time, and when hanging crooked both ways, with maybe no direct line of sight, no help from the LMI radius indicator as it's the first, wind, and working with a new crew who is clueless but in a hurry, can be "challenging." Nice view across the high desert anyway, in the high dollar part of town, it's booming like crazy out here.
I thought I was going to have to go back to bending nails today, as in out of the hoisting biz. Heard a loud, very loud, noise, then lots of black smoke, then a major loss of power. Once pulled over (on the interstate, of course) all seemed fine, tired it again and managed to limp off the exit without having to call AAA. A slow drive across town, to my mechanic's shop, where he correctly diagnosed the problem, before the hood was all the way up no less, as a blown hose on the turbo. I had assumed the worst, but 5 minutes later, with a new hose clamp (hose was good) I was back to being a big shot and gainfully employed again. The one bad thing about this biz, is with just one rig, if it's down I am 100% out of luck, and business. Luckily I was able to reschedule my 5 jobs in the next two days with only a little reshuffling. I need a backup machine, just something like the little 18 ton Elliott a friend (who I've sold two of my past rigs to) will have up for sale in a couple months, good enough for setting most truss jobs, and only 60K. A lot of the jobs I do, don't require the reach and heft of the 30 ton, and I could maybe even make it pay for itself by working it on the little jobs, plus have the peace of mind of having a fallback machine. I need to check with my insurance agent and see, what with me being able to only drive one at a time, what the hit would be from him.
I know a guy with a little Mack that hasn't totally fallen in love with the whole boom truck idea (if you're really looking). But - I've got a operator that would gladly send you a 25 ton truck crane of mine though, he's loving my mack- 95' of main and no jib to swing and a nice ride- he's thrilled, gets a funny look on his face when I talk about getting rid of it. I've had all kinds of cranes sitting around this week that I could send you. But I'm afraid if I did send you a real crane, you'd be ruined for boom trucks forever, so maybe I better just leave you alone.... If you get another truck, you'll need another operator- why have it just sit, you can go do 2 jobs monday at 8:00. If one of your 5 jobs goes long, you aren't making 5 phone calls. 60k isn't bad to double your work. My best 2nd operator for a long time was a semi- retired operator who would just work when I needed a hand, and it was a great deal. If you buy it and it sets, it won't be running when you need it. My wife's got family in boise and they say Idaho housing is really cranked up, so I'm glad you're busy too. Nice too that it wasn't a serious repair, its always a sinking feeling when something is broke.
When one of those turbo hoses goes, it does make a very loud noise. If you've never heard it before it'll make your heart drop to your feet. Back when I wore a younger man's clothes I did a complete inframe on a cat 3126. Got everything back together and went for the test drive, hit about 30 mph and BOOM...talk about feeling sick. Fixed the intercooler line and truck ran great. Still see it around.
This just happened on my f500 with the 6.7. amazing how much thick black smoke it can produce
The smoke
Rumor has it that oil from the pcv hose lubes the tubes, assisting in blow off, I put a Raccor "catch can "on my PSD, Nary a boot problem, also keeps nasty stuff out of the engine,
Well the punch line is, my mechanic just blew me off that day when I asked how much, "catch ya next time", or words to that effect. Then the next day, and a half I billed for 18 hrs., AND got paid on site for those 4 different jobs, (super rare) a new personal best. I will slip him a 5 spot in appreciation..... as in 50 bucks, whether he wants it or not. Ha ha. All of these jobs could have been done with a smaller backup boom truck, though I would have had to reposition a few times on two of them. I agree Crane Op, machines not used a lot have more trouble, like airplanes. It'd just be a real luxury for me to get a call for work, and then decide which rig to take based on the need, my 30 ton is over qualified for a lot of my work, residential trusses and HVAC mostly. When I pick a 650 lb unit up and place it 30' away and 25' up, I sure don't need it, something like the little Elliott would do the job and I'd imagine I could charge nearly the same rate. Buying it from my Arizona buddy who I sold two of my past rigs to, would also be pretty stress free, pretty sure he would not shaft me too bad! Mostly though, knowing I had a backup would be a stress reliever. Any employees is something I prefer to avoid, even if it costs me money, I think I could feasibly run a smaller boom truck (having had 4 others, all smaller then the National, I know what they can and can't do) enough to keep it operational, several times a month at least.
In my area natman, most of the "little" crane work has disappeared. Most framers have a telescopic forklift, the biggest of them reaching 54' with 10k of capacity. The "sign" guys with their little round pole trucks have taken up the 30' away 300lb stuff. Granted- I kind of gave it away with a 3 hour minimum. But they will work cheaper than me, because for them its just side money. The second crane can get you out of a real bind, and make a super stressful event, be just a slight inconvienence. As in "hey I'm broke down, its my engine and I won't be back up for two weeks" vs "hey, I'm having some trouble with the crane and I've got to go back to the shop and get the other one, I'm going to be a hour late".
Running hot water, I have it on board. One of those cheap solar water heaters, but it's lasted 10 years, 1 gallon capacity, I jjust lay it on my behind the cab toolbox for gravity flow. Nice for washing your hands, after forgetting to put your gloves on and having to jump out of the cab to show the carpenters the right/my way of rigging a 60' truss with 5/8" sheet rock on it so it doesn't snap in half like the first one.....lifting it from behind the house I couldn't see it but trusted them, once it got in my view I saw that it was 50/50 chance of folding whether I set it back down or set it in place. No one near it, for sure, it made it halfway and it folded but no damage to anyone or anything, and they field repaired it. But after I got my hands dirty and rigged the second one it flew perfect, I'm no neat freak but this little water bag improves my outlook.
Forgot the picture, that little clear bag laying on the deck, by the bracket that secures my 1 5 ton load block.
Not crane related but sort of....over the weekend I attended one of the bigger fly-in's in Montana, and part of the fun is the spot landing contest. Third place was 26', second place was 14' out, then they announced my landing.....ON THE LINE! Sure I'm a experienced pilot (46 years now) but I'm kind of cheating by spending so many hours in the National these days, mostly swing trusses as fast as possible (high cycle time I mean to say.) I mean both activities are just hand/eye coordination, at least compared to some other pilot who spent all week in the office pushing paper. Crane op's make good pilots, and versa vice.
Congratulations. Impressive
A buddy who does concrete work managed to tip his telehandler into the excavation while off loading his forms. I was there in 45 minutes and it took a 6K pull to get him out. I made sure he understood the need to not side load me as he drove out using the rear wheels while I held the front up, it went slick. The foundation had been overdug and backfilled fur ther out then normal, so I made sure to stay plenty far away as we didn't need two pieces of equipment in that hole. I am adding on to an outbuilding at my home, excavating it today, and am going to need a 9' high retaining wall/foundation wall as I am cutting into the hill side, and jumped at the chance to help him out, ha ha, I almost hope he does it again and needs more help from me.
After waiting almost 4 months to get paid by an HVAC outfit in a town about 50 miles from me, and after 3 phone calls, several mailings, and one in person office visit last week, I paid a second visit early today, parking the boom truck so I'd be blocking their only yard access, and also blocking 2 cars in the front lot. I took the keys out, and turned on my cell phone to record, and walked in the back/shop door. I was greeted by a surprised office girl who immediately told me no one was allowed "in back." I told her, again, who I was and why I was there, "remember, you told me last week you'd mail the check.?" I then told her I was accidentally blocking their parking and access so let's cut me a check real soon. Now we were up front, and another office lady (no guys, yet) starts talking to me, explaining how the owner of the commercial building had called them (he was on my side, and had told me THEY were responsible for the bill, several weeks ago) and "clarified things." Turns out, supposedly, that the HVAC outfit had thought the owner was paying for the lift, and that's why I didn;t get paid. No mention of the fact that I sent THEM a bill, called and faxed several times, was there last week, etc., and basically brought it to their attention months ago who was expected to pay. Meanwhile, the first office lady had gone down the hallway, and returned, with a guy who was about 3' wide, well over 6' tall, and AT LEAST 300 lbs., with not much fat. And a beard about 16" long. And about 40 years younger then me. Just then, the other lady was telling me, finally, that they'd cut a check tomorrow, now that "it was all cleared up." This gave me my out, so I didn't have to butt heads with the big guy, and could also save face (he was so damn big, his appearance totally defused the situation, (to my credit, I looked him in the eye and said "how you doing, you the guy that writes the checks") no he said, he was just a peon, a tin bender, if he had been my size (and I had a chance to not get crushed in 2 seconds) and the guy who called me for the job, it would have continued to escalate/I would have kept running my mouth. It's great being self employed, I get to do EVERYTHING, including collecting on way past due bills. When and if I get my check, I will mail them a receipt, along with a note that any further work will require cash, in advance. I's not the money, it's the idea of getting cheated, disrespected I guess, that sets me off, after months and months of BS. How do you guys handle billing? In almost 20 years I have never actually been totally screwed except one time, for just a few hundred bucks, and the guy had earlier given me thousands of dollars of work and was going bankrupt, that didn't bother me at all as he was upfront about it. I'm super easy going and non demanding, until after about 3.5 months, then I turn into a real jerk. One good thing I think, I'm 69, so my age probably saved me today, and I got to somewhat play the tough guy role and got away with it, ha ha.
A grain elevator has been oweing me for over a year. Phone calls, visits, emails. Just couldnt get them to pay. Couple of weeks ago, they broke down and needed me. Were begging me to send a crew. Not till you pay up. They finally did, and I sent a crew. I sent one against my better judgement. It was a buckey elevator repair. Top head bearings out about 100’ in the air. Someone had worked on it before us. 2-7/16” shaft, straight, no journals. They had already paid someone else to work on it. They installed 2-13/16” bearings. Yikes. They told me they had the right bearings. They had 2-1/4” bearings. I guess they can read a measuring tape, until theyget into the little lines? Lol
Enough whining about not getting paid...... A couple weeks ago, I set a large solar array, 3.4 KW, fabbed by me in my shop and then trucked (tractored actually) to my neighbor's place about 1/2 mile up a dirt road. The rack is one of many I've built over the years, using "that looks about right" engineering. The benefit for me is I can do all the busy work in my shop, in between my usual hoisting jobs, my spare time. Then when I show up onsite, I am in and out quickly, I am the only outfit in my area doing solar work who has his own boom truck, and I beat them all in installed price, it's a nice little side biz. The rack bears on steel pipe bolted to the girder trusses, using standard plumbing roof jacks to water proof eveything. The pole mount array in the back of one pic is one we put up 5 years ago.
I would have just said I'm here to pick up my overdue check. There's nothing the big guy or anyone else could have done. He threatens you or puts a finger on you, you have him charged. You say you're not leaving till you get a check, what are they going to do, call the cops? They hired you so they should pay you. Sometimes it's easier to take some off a bill but cranes aren't cheap to run and this was a commercial job. Residential jobs can be worse. I had a job where the guy wanted about $1200 worth of landscaping done. The only part I couldn't do was rototilling his front yard because it was mostly clay and packed like concrete. He asked if I could mix some mushroom manure in his garden. Sure except he had 3 tandem loads delivered and it was about 10" deep. I said no rototiller goes that deep but went home and brought back a cultivator to get into the dirt below. I had yards of baler twine to remove from the rototiller. He was very happy with the work until it came time to pay. Then he complained about everything. I should have looked into having him charged with uttering a threat though. I lowered my bill about 1/2 and left. He told me "I broke the arm of the last guy that tried to overcharge me when I built the house". I still I think I should have looked more seriously into having him charged. The other thing I've done is pay $25 and file a claim in small claims court. NOBODY wants to go to court because they didn't pay what they owed for work done.
In 78 I was driving tuck and the boss man said remember where we graveled the driveway at Taylors Mill, he said meet me there in 30 minutes he took the loader and I hauled 3 good sized loads away and left driveway in a mess. Owner came home and said you can not steal my gravel Stan said 3 months you have not paid for it so I am taking my gravel back . I left Stan followed next day he came with a cheque and he was told to go pound sand.
There's a couple jobs I felt like driving by and having an accident where a gallon of round up spilled on the lawn.
A hand sprayer filled with glyphosate makes an excellent writing tool in a lawn. The message stays for a long time.
On the other hand...as I figured I was on a roll, getting caught up on some way past due invoices, I went ahead and after 2+ months (and a guy I didn't know really) after I billed him with no response, texted and called (had to leave a message, he didn't pick up, always a bad sign, maybe anyway) and real nicely asked we "get caught up" in a few days. I had just finished up a quick HVAC job at a Wendy's, and drove across the street (busiest in town) as the big grocery store I prefer was there, and a guy pulled up along me as I parked. He had his head down, doing something, turns out he was writing a check out, and HE was the guy I had texted a few days earlier about getting paid. I didn't know him from Adam, he called me blind, I only met the carpenters on the jobsite. I thanked him profusely, all but saying I was sorry for pushing him a bit on payment. And that is the main reason I hate the all out crooks, they make me supicious of the guys who maybe are just a bit slow but still trustworthy, but just need a little prod to pay up. It is just so much simpler, for everyone involved, to get paid, either on the job site or within a month at most, 45 days is cool also, but 3 months plus and I get wiggy.
Wait. I thought we weren’t talking about bad debt? LOL
I had this job last week, a 100' long by 60' wide addition to a private school. VERY tight quarters, but we managed, and really entertained the kids during their recess. Of course, no trusses were swung over the little buggers, and we had plenty of nuns keeping on eye on them, and us. The wind came up towards the end, and as I was also told to make sure to NOT swing them over the existing building (occupied) it made the last dozen or so fairly tricky. I was working with residential type carpenters, with no official signal person, and at one point the job super, who told me he had "lot's of experience with tower cranes" (not operating them, being around them), decided he'd signal me. That was a disaster, I had 104' of stick out, needed to pick them off the pile, and also needed to reach to set them. Rather then have me boom up and cable down while snaking them around my rig (like I had been doing, and always do) he had me retract the boom, and it went downhill from there. The thing was, I didn't need his signals for picking them off the stack anyway, we were doing fine at that, but towards the end with my viz getting worse and worse, I set one down and after the nail benders braced it off, my ball was about 2' off the peak. Safe enough, in the clear, just not dead over the layout, big whoop, in those conditions. The carps just pull the top over and move on, they knew what I was dealing with. Of course when he pointed this out, we were standing with perfect side vision of the truss, he had no frigging clue of what I was dealing with viz wise, combined with the wind, and it again went downhill..... if the framer had not been a friend of mine, I would have walked off the job due to the super's ignorant attitude, and also by the fact my friend by rights should have had a "qualified signal person." The only thing worse the no signaller is one who doesn't know what he's doing of course. The one attempt made by one of the carpenters was hilarious, he didn't understand I needed to rotate, boom down, and cable up all at the same time as the radius changed, plus it took about 10 minutes to set one truss. Then the super tried to change my rigging setup.... with 3 trusses to go, that's when I shut it down, climbed out, and we had a heart to heart. The framers later told me the guy had been a total pain to work with, and were on my side thoughout, as I came very close to just packing it up and going home, something I have never even been close to doing before. It almost got physical, no kidding, the guy was not listening to the words coming out of my mouth, and finally walked off and sat in his truck. In 20 minutes we were done, interesting job, I've had a couple days to think about it and would not do anything different. I kept my cool, he didn't he acted like one of the little kids on the other side of the fence.
Then there are dream jobs like this one last week: 2 hour travel time each way, at my usual hourly rate, through the best scenary in Idaho. Once on site, I was working right next to the main Salmon River, the "River of no Return", as it's known. A great crew, and a simple roof to set, I even had a level site to set up on, and great viz the entire job. And zero wind! To cap it off, the two lane road for the last 85 miles had just been resurfaced and was smooth as glass, and the rig (also thanks to two new tires on the rear axle, replaced due to being worn out, I think one also had a flat spot as the rig is much smoother now) had never driven so smooth. I had brought my electric fat bike and topped off the day by riding a couple thousand feet up the trail to Borah Peak, the highest in Idaho. Just a perfect day, now all I need is to get paid, ha ha.
How do you like your Electric Fat bike and which make is it? Thinking of a E- bike for general riding have a Mountain bike now but the hills are getting much harder to ride now at 68.
I have a conversion, a $1000.00 fatbike I bought online from bikesdirect, then I bought the motor and the battery from Lunacycle. Luna is the best supplier, best prices, least amount of hype and BS, and it's owners are actual riders. They have recently started offering ready to ride bikes, they are a great deal and I'd probably go that route is starting over. It's mid drive, as opposed to a hub motor. In general if you want to trail ride, mid drive is the way to go. Better balanced, most important, the motor drives the wheel through the cassette, the hub drives are one speed. Fine for flat around town riding but any decent trail bike will be mid drive. Mine is real capable, 15 to 20 mile trail rides, steep and rocky, no problem. Moderate pedaling by me makes that possible. These things make you feel like you're 20 again, maybe even better then that, but I can't remember what that felt like anymore. They are so much fun you get into top shape without realizing it, waybetter then going to a gym. I have three total, one that folds for the plane, one that lives in the boom truck, and the fatbike I occasionally carry on the boom truck but mostly use locally on mountain trails.
I have 3 also a Knoa for in town, Brodie full suspension mountain , and was given a Schwinn Invida E bike which is to small for me but a blast.
The ebike I carry all the time in the National came in handy again the other day. I had just set trusses on a garage for one contractor, and then as luck would have it had a unrelated twin home set also just a couple blocks away (that never happens, that convinent). On a roll, my third job of the morning was at our big mall just another few blocks further, lifting some roofing material. That took me up to noon, and the joint I wanted to eat lunch at before heading to my fourth job of the day, setting some timbers on a landscaping project, was clear on the other side of the mall, over several speed bumps, across a couple busy streets, with several traffic lights. Parking at best would be super tight for the National, and then I'd have to backtrack through all that again to the freeway on ramp. So, I kept it parked right where it was, got the ebike out, and 45 seconds later I was catching air over the speed bumps, running the stop signs and most of the traffic lights, (things you can get away with on a bicycle, but are frowned upon if driving a large commercial vehicle) and rode right up to the front door of the restuarant. Fun and quick, after lunch and back in the rig, I was on the freeway and made my last job of the day right on time. Having that bike onboard at all times is the best piece of equipment I've added since the backup camera, or maybe the air conditioner/genset combo, or maybe the Sirius sat radio in the operator cab, right up there with those mods. I have right at $1,000.00 in that bike, my least expensive one of the three I ride, but I called it a "piece of equipment for the business" and as such it's tax deductable.
I was setting trusses on a 40x60 shop, one carpenter (ONE) up on the 14' high walls running back and forth, and one older guy running the tag line. The tag line guy annoyed me about as much as most do, (also the rigger,) and I had to show him 3 or 4 times how to sling the truss so that when I cabled down the rigging would NOT between the trusses but on the free side, I hate it when the rigging ends up between) but that is normal except for the crews I work with all the time, and I've grown to expect it, no biggie. He had just climbed the ladder to hand some more stabilizers to the carpenter, moving slowly, and he had walked about 10' away once back on the slab, when he slapped his hand to the left side of his chest, and then keeled backwards like a tree falling, and that was all she wrote. He smacked his head on the concrete, but that was the least of his problems, a massive heart attack took him out, he never moved again. The carpenter got to him before I did, and that's when I learned the old boy was his father, oh man. Late 60's or so, not overweight, looked OK to me earlier. I called 911 and while they made it official I climbed up and secured the last truss we had just set and called it a day. Yesterday we got together an emergency crew of guys and we went back and finished things up, so the kid didn't have to worry about the building falling down in addition to everything else, I never did see him again.
Wow. That's crazy. Just shows how fragile we are. Any day could be the last.
They are changing out all the blades on a wind farm that was right on my flight path the other day. That is some impressive work, besides high and heavy, the blades would seem tricky to rig, but of course they have that all figured out by now.
Moving boulders, about 60' or so uphill. One of my areas biggest developers/mover and shaker doing the rigging. It's for a artificial waterfall and stream behind his new home. I told him and his helper that just because it stayed in the rigging when I first picked it clear, didn't mean it would STAY in the rigging while I was moving it, and to NOT get anywhere near it! As expected, about the 20 th rock, for no apparent reason it decided to slip out and fall about 20'. No big deal, just over the hillside, and it proved my point that it could happen so they continued to stay well clear. The first one we picked, I told them to guess the weight, they both guessed 550 or 650 lbs., I guess 850-900, it weighed 1400..... I'm usually not so blase about loads slipping out of the rigging, but the CG of these things is always in question and we had a lot to move so dropping one or two was expected, at least to me. Trickest part so far is setting them down as he wants them to sit, with no vision or signaller, just using our cell phones on speaker. They, the boulders, of course have their own idea as how to set down in their new home, usually the opposite of the way the head honcho wants them, and the language has gotten colorful.
If you drop a load like this, does the crane buck like a bronco?
Good point, the one that dropped was only 800 lbs., and only about 30' radius so the reverse shock loading was real minor. But yeah a bigger one further away, I'd prefer not to drop it for that reason. The bigger/further loads we made sure as possible they were secure. The more numerous and smaller ones we did the best we could but didn't worry about it too much as we had to get them MOVED. I'm getting paid a bit extra for this work, and this customer is someone I want to please, so I was willing to push it a bit on the small ones.
Winter is here: a 2 hour drive to a jobsite near the Wyoming border, setting trusses on a vacation. The first storm of the season, always a wakeup call for everyone, right before this picture I had to descend a 6% grade on a mountain pass, interesting.... I noticed the cars behind me didn't bother to pass like usual, just hung back there. Heated operator cabs, best invention ever! A few weeks earlier, I went right from a job setting a spiral staircase (unlike most steel staircases, especially those with landings, this thing was easy as heck to rig, to find the CG, the center pipe) in our area's most high dollar neighborhood, across town to set some HVAC at our local Womens Correctional Center. Both areas with killer views of the high desert, both so exclusive they are gated, but only one has concertina wire.
An icy and cold Monday morning, what could go wrong? I kept my speed up pulling the hill to the jobsite, and only when I was backing into the drive and noticed the front end was sliding sideways, did I realize how slick it was. I aborted that approach, and in slowly backing down the slope to an area where i could get turned around and try a different approach, everything locked up. I slowly slid backwards, in reverse, for about 100 yards, never faster then a walking speed, mostly slower, but moving. I purposely got her cockeyed a bit so I could use the curb to stop it, leaving just enough room for other rigs to get by. While I was getting chained, one of the carpenters started yelling at me to get out from under the truck as another truck was sliding backwards! Same deal, same path as me, I thought sure he was going to get me but he stopped where you can see in this pic. The house with no trusses is where we both started sliding. Once chained up, I got up there and got the job done in the usual fashion, no problem. Then for something entirely different, after lunch, I got to take this AWD, 150 MPH, 310 mile range, 75 K, brand new Tesla for a drive. 0-60 in a bit over 3 seconds, owned by guy I've done work for. I had a better horn though.
Natman … Did you trade rides with the Tesla owner ? I'd say he got the better trade since your rig is more $$$ than $75K
What procedures do you take for putting down outriggers on snowy surfaces?
A good client of mine has a Tesla as well it’s crazy it will pin you back in your seat. His iPhone is his key.
I scrape the snow off as good as I can, an inch or so I don’t worry too much about, it will compress pretty tight as long as there is good ground under it. Ice bothers me more because there can be voids under it unless it’s just a skim of ice I like to bust it out ( by that I mean have my customer bust it out ) and get down to solid footing
That’s one BAAAD! Feeling sliding backwards down a hill, at least you’ve got lots of time to think of the ugly things that are likely to happen. Glad it didn’t go to **** on you.
What I meant was it sounded like you were on a pretty good slope there along with ice/snow. In my limited experience with crane-type devices the flat foot outrigger likes to slide around on slippery surfaces and if the tires were sliding all over then they are not going to be much help even if they are still in contact with the snowy pavement.
Little sand or # 11 limestone chips works great on ice for all kinds of traction . Don't take much .
I for sure get the loose fluffy snow out of the way, I just threw my grain shovel in the rig yesterday. On a slope, I try to take it down to the gravel or dirt. Almost all my residential is on slopes, I did every house shown in this high dollar, plus many unseen, all on slopes. I do snowboard, the ski area being a 5 minute drive from my place, but I prefer not to do it in the National! At that job pictured, once in the driveway, it only had a little downslope and no side to side, and the good crew I was working with that day were savvy enough to take the snow down right to the gravel. On my 17 ton Terex boomtrucks, I had some homemade 1/4" plates that fit on the outriggers, they had angle iron welded on the bottom, they never slipped but dug in real good. I took off my rear axle wheel covers/mud fenders today, they look sharp and keep the slush off the bottom deck but make chaining up even more of a pain. Best case scenario, when I have a heads up as to the need to chain up, I stop on level ground and raise the wheels off the ground with the outriggers, put on my snowmachine suit and get 'er done. I don't mind as it's all at my usual hourly rate, including taking them off. No one has ever complained about that, and if they do, they can get someone else to make their pick.
I actually passed up the chance to drive the Tesla for a week, the owner was going out of town and he offered to leave it with me. I'm proud of myself for doing this! My daily driver is a pluginPrius, and the tesla was so high tech it made the Prius feel like a model T. Today I had a weird thing happen, after doing a simple HVAC job on the main drag in town, the location made known to me by the contractor by it's relative nearness to other well known businesses, I never got a address, on nice level asphalt. Tonight, I'm home reading the local newspaper, and see an article about a new cookie shop/bakery opening in town, and for one day, today, they were going to be offering free chocolate chip cookies (one to a customer, but they were huge). Since I had just driven the entire main drag, I could have easily stopped by if I had known. For future reference....I googled earthed the address given, and after I zoomed in on the location and got oriented, I found the roof top I had done the HVAC work on a few hours earlier WAS THE COOKIE SHOP. I was on the backside so never noticed, and now that I think of it, I was upwind. I got robbed.
drop in there later today tell them you want your cookie or you`ll pull their ac back down
Coulda.. shoulda … Put a note on the hook and dangled at their front door … Fish'n for a cookie !
So I'm setting a SECOND 55' gable end truss on this project, for a crew I never worked with before, the first just like the one in the pic, but it sat on the wall, so full bearing. I still think a bit like a carpenter so I told the builder "that thing can't go there, on layout, 24" from the OTHER gable truss", so he double checks his truss plan, and sure enough it tells him it DOES go there. He then says he doesn't care if it's wrong, he's going by the truss print, I dig in my heels and tell him it CAN"T go there, it will collapse, something's screwed up, and that he better call the truss plant for confirmation. 10 minutes later, he tells me I was right, the plans were wrong. It's a little spooky to see the head carpenter on a good sized commercial job that didn't have the common carpenter sense to see that the thing would just fold up without full or at least partial bearing underneath! I see this all the time, it wasn't until I pointed out the different construction of the trusses meant for free spanning that he got it finally. He took it like a man, appreciated it, and they are using me on their next project, and they paid that day, cash.
Geez, a customer who listens to reason, pays cash!
Did they lift ok ? I’ve done some 52ft. X 4 ft. Deep flat trusses for one of my own jobs and they wanted to fold up on me I had to hook 4 points then my crew had to brace in 4 places from a man lift to keep them from folding right over
I used my telescoping spreader bar, at it's max 14' width, and two 20' straps, just to keep the rigging angle as moderate as possible, then my usual truss rigging setup of a 1" round sling going to a 3' length of sch 80 chain with a snap hook on the end. It took several attempts, starting from 10' either side of the center, and steadily moving the rigging outwards and nothing was working! I too have had issues with these types before, and they had sent a guy to get some more 16' 2x4's to make into a stiff back, (my suggestion) that we would clamp or nail to each truss, the only way that worked for me before. Removing and reusing it each time. Centered, and for some reason not on the bottom or top chord, but about 1' up from the bottom seems to work the best. It takes longer obviously but it stiffens them up enough to pick the darn things. But, this time, to my surprise, after 3 or 4 rigs, each more outboard, moving 24" each time, we reached the sweet spot. We never resorted to the stiffback plan B. The interesting thing was each previous attempt was not even close to being workable, no way, but that last move and it was 200% better and practical. That was the gables, the regulars flew better right from the start, but both needed the pick points much further outboard then I would have thought, very unusual trusses, I don't come across these much thankfully. Big job tomorrow morning, and another one the day after Christmas and the rest of the work week, quite the year!
I did the same thing on a pole building a few times setting 80' trusses. We had a left over 6" x 6" post about 24' long. We'd lash the post to the truss with ropes for each and every truss. W/O the stiffback we never could find a pick point that would safely lift the truss. Glad to see you keeping the rig busy. I enjoy watching this thread.
I have a 30' spreader bar that I like to use on those size trusses, its kind of a pain because I have to have a pickup and trailer haul it to me, but with a 4 point pick and rolling the hitches, its the best way I've found to pick those really floppy trusses. I did one building with 65' trusses that were flat like those, and another condo with 90' trusses with the biggest board in them was 2x4. The firewall trusses were built like gable trusses in the 90' and stiffbacks were necessary even with the 30' spreader, there just wasn't any other way. These were some short ones I set this fall on a church, the bigger bar and 4 point pick makes a big difference.
My thinking on the 14' max spread of my bar, (about all I want to carry onboard) combined with the 20' straps before I even get to the truss rigging itself, is to kind of fool the truss that I'm using a wider spreader bar, by keeping that rigging angle low enough to not introduce too much compression, causing it to bow even more. That's my theory anyway! I had some 78' 2/12 pitch trusses once, we spent most of the morning trying to pick those suckers and nothing was working. Finally we quit for the day, and the next day I came back with a 4" channel iron welded rectangle (20' x 10') and 4 big C clamps. That finally made them fly great, once we got in the swim of things it didn't add much time. The frame had a lift point, so I could fly it away after they had the truss braced. After the job, the channel was salvaged and used for other things, so pretty cost effective. Those trusses were the worse I've ever worked with, thankfully. It's good to hear that others also have to resort to a stiffener at times.
A big shop, on a icy gloomy day, but zero wind. 1 hour travel one way, a spooky drive, and worse at the end of the day. On the way home I just missed a wreck that had just happened in front of me a minute or so earlier on I-15: one lane blocked, people out walking around (no one hurt, just a spinout into the guard rail) but enough to cause a major blockage if not shutdown once the troopers and the tow trucks showed up. As well as some further wrecks from rubber neckers. Pre assembled roof sections, 1 single and two doubles, 9400 lbs. total according to the LMI, up 16' I think it was, with no cross bracing other then 2 " web straps and binders, and I was close enough to get the paint scratched if things went south. But, this crew is good, and I've worked for them many times before, and they pay at the end of the day so what the heck. Everytime I was thinking they better add another strap, they would add two.... so not as scary as it sounds.
I think this is the longest building I've done, 270', plus or minus, 46' wide. It never got above 20 degrees or so, usually below that, but the framers were tough, and made me feel like a sissy sitting in my heated cab, almost.
Looks like santa brought you the same white stuff that tradesman got. It was 50 here today. Supposed to be that tomorrow too. But supposed to get single digits over the weekend at night. We were just south of the big snowstorm central mo. got this past weekend. My daughter is at college about 3 hrs north of here, they got 15" - 18" or so. We just got rain and a hour north of here they got ice. 270' is a really really long building. Looks like a garage/ shop with some doors taller? 46' is pretty short depth for a shop.
Some commercial shops, only 46' deep but at least twice that in length, so big enough for a lot of small businesses I guess. Being the old framer that I am, I noticed the carpenters braced up the gable end and the first 3 trusses, and then just kept setting trusses....just using truss clips to tie the tops together in the usual fashion. Adequate for most length building but this long thing needed more I thought. My experience has been that each truss adds to the surface area, if the wind comes up, and in a building that darn long I felt they had inadequate bracing, but got away with it as we had no wind that day or the next, they got lucky. Sheeted now. We had a building very similar to that one, identical actually, blow down about 20 years here while under construction, the old hands here still remember it!
I just will NOT get it, the design engineers cut down on number of trusses to drop expenses then have to use Special fasteners or as shown stand the lumber up between the trusses or as done here On top of the trusses where they use special nails to set them where do not try to roll. Trusses are still Cheap if done correctly for snow load and set to 4' on center IMHO. Custom building Custom ground assembled roof does NOT justify as cost effective to myself but HEY, did make you some coin!!.
24" OC is the norm here, due to our snow loading. I worked on one super high dollar "cabin" (a 15 million dollar cabin) once that had them on 12", which was a waste of money, like the rest of the place. As a pilot of light planes for years, I maybe have more respect for the wind then most. One little fact: when the wind speed doubles, the energy in it quadruples! So, a bit windier means a lot more push, something most crane operators know also of course, but carpenters, not so much, until they learn the hard way.
Same here on Snow load truss stagger, can get away at 4' set IF the pitch is great enough to dump the weight. HOWEVER, a Number of Barn and shed builders came up with the great idea that Standing the Roof Purlins on edge they could spread the trusses to 6,7 even 8' OC to "Save Money" but as noted special fasteners 5" 40D nails, pre drill ALL the truss location holes in those purlins so don't split them, just seems so Chancy. Guy that built mine, 4' OC with 2x4s every 2' OC from peak down face nailed to trusses. And one of the Midwest's bigger issues is diaphragming of barns by high winds.
I got a call from a guy building his retirement home in a remote area, where no other building is going on, and he was amazed I immediately knew just where it was! Only 11 air miles from my home, but a good hour drive in the National. We set a tentative date and I casually mentioned that "if I was in the area beforehand I'd stop by to check it out." I never tell them I'll be flying in. The next day I took off and quickly made the short flight, and as expected also quickly found a landing site right across the road (the plane is on skis now). We had a good productive meeting, discussing where I'd set up, where to dump the trusses, the plane making this possible as no way would I have driven back there. As usual, when getting ready to leave, I told him "no extra charge for this pre lift meeting", followed by "heck I'll pay you 5 bucks, I'm having fun." Once again, the plane comes in super handy. The day of the (10 hr inc. travel) job, he paid cash, and I even got a 60 dollar tip! As far as I know my competition in the area in the hoisting biz, doesn't offer this free service like I do, and are unlikely to start, I almost feel sorry for them.... not really. Just another example how flying has been so good to me, it doesn't cost, it pays. Mixing business with fun, while helping the business.
impressive
How did you arrange snowmobile taxi service to the building site from your plane ?
Piper?
A kitplane, been building and flying them for 30 years, RANS S-7S. I mixed up the pictures a bit, the landing picture was a lake a few miles away on another day. The lighting was so bad, and the snow so deep when I landed that job site, I didn't bother to take any pics. It was mid thigh deep and I didn't bother to get the snowshoes out, besides I was working, not playing around....ha ha, so I didn't want to mess around taking ground pictures that day. 8 degrees that morning. I also tend to clutter up some flying forums I'm on with crane stuff, so it only seems fair to do the opposite here! But I'll keep it to a minimum, and only when directly rated to work.
Doped wing/fuselage skins or metal? Dad and Uncle were A&E Mechanics after WWII. Uncle went farther got his A&P, Dad moved into Management McDonnel Aircraft in the 60's. Uncle retired KLM Airlines seems twenty five years ago, dad in 1989 from Mac. Started in A&E life at Slick Airlines. Uncle lives CdA.
I have been reading a bit on Pilots of America. They are a viscious bunch
Chrome moly welded tube fuselage, aircraft fabric over that, both easy to repair after the inevitable dings. It has 2300 hours on it now, in 12 years, and is still in great shape, light planes are pretty simple machines, not a lot of systems to go wrong.
At a rolled oats mill about 1 hour away, I guessed (to myself) this 1800 lb. piece of equipment was worth 8K, no reason, just a guess. Later, I asked, 65K! Food grade stuff doesn't come cheap I guess. The single most expensive thing I ever picked was a 36" ball valve, all stainless, with a big hydraulic actuator for flash freezing fish, 285K.
Single most expensive thing I ever picked up was …. $ 8.1 million check made out to a company in the building I was lobby security for. Old man came up to me and asked "where do I take this ?" handing me a slip of paper. No envelope, just a check. I directed the messenger to the accounting dep't
Can relate. Using Building installed crane I used to lift Nuclear fuel at the Plant I worked. $750K a Stick, two sticks to a Container!! Respectful but never let it get under my skin. Added, NEW Nuclear fuel can be hand handled ALBEIT with gloves on so as to not present the metal structure with any corrosive elements. Roughly 3/4 ton hanging off a 5 ton hoist swinging from a 200 ton Bridge!! Had to align them to fit inside a box holding structure or the pool loading 'Elevator' with 1/4" clearance to any side. Cannisters were lifted from trucks at grade entrance the 47' to the working deck with myself or others on the deck taking instruction by radio on hook, LOADS of obstacles the Enganears place IN THE WAY to steer around to get the cans upstairs!!
The big valve I lifted on the flash fish freezing project was "top secret", they were quite worried about industrial espionage. They had one room that was 10 times cleaner then the cleanest room at our local transistor chip plant, WAY cleaner then a hospital operating room! The process was all about the Asian market for fish, I got that much out of them and no more. It's been over 10 years now, so no big deal (I think) to talk about it. We have a big nuke research facility in my area, the INEL, lots of intense crane work out there I'm told, beyond my pay grade. One iron worker I know who had an "in" out there leased his 15 ton boom truck out to a sub there, and paid for the thing 3 times over, guvment money.
Nukes are 'different', a lot weird as well. Special rules, idiocy in the Safety department's, special dispensation for some and strict adherence to rules upon others. Had to follow 'Written Instructions' on doing anything where were supposed to 'Circle a step number or letter, read and understand it then perform it and then place a slash mark thru that circle as Completed', except when I had a hand full of crane remote, then they had a person stand next to me trying to read faster than I was working!! Gave no acceptance for skill training or adept at what one did. Had operators with mobile crane certs as contractors, largest SOB Liebherr track crane I EVER saw was on site to remove and reinstall our steam generators, pretty cool and intimidating same time. Do not have photos of that anymore, stayed on my PC at work as I retired. 600 ton unit, counterweight rolled on earth mover tires until made a lift then would be slightly off surface. Steam Generators were 748,000 lb each stuffed them horizontally thru a equipment hatch 21' in diameter 8' thick concrete and steel hole. Mammoet handled them inside uprighting and setting them where they had to go, old ones had come out similarly. With my left eye issue could Cert installed cranes but not mobile which made no sense as most heavy mobile lifts radio use, around half the bridge work visual. And did seem as Money no option nor argument.
The bike I carry:
Nice video and bike. I think it was filmed better than most TV shows....
HA ha... I have a buddy who is a pro at that type of work, it's what he does for a living, I've seen his work on national Dodge truck commercials, and he knocked that out in a few minutes as a favor to me. He couldn't resist getting a bit fancy, the shot of the bike going in the box was pretty cool, though I didn't think so at the time.
I got a call to set some trusses for a contractor I had never worked for before, on a smaller home in a new subdivision. No mention was made of price, by me or him. When I texted him the bill he got a bit excited, it seems the guy he usually uses (who parks his boom truck outside in front of his house, which is much closer to this newer neighborhood, then my heated building at my yard across town) never charges him travel time. I told him I do, and oh yeah, I'm also ten bucks an hour more then brand X. This made my bill correct mathematically but he still didn't like it. So I got sucked into responding with "my rig cost 3 to 4 times as much as brand X, and I charge ten bucks more per hour plus travel, and I have ten times more rigging, more reach and capacity, 360 degree continuous rotation and 260 load chart, but you're right, for you brand X is a better deal, please use him in the future 100%". Something like that anyway, point is we parted ways (we were texting actually) on decent terms, I left him feeling not cheated I hope anyway. MY competitor is welcome to him, they are a good match for each other! All part of being an owner operator, I kept my cool, I'm proud of that, wouldn't have been so years ago but I've calmed down........
I had jobs like that, guy wanted me to do all his work as had seen results I made but damn near to choked to death on the first receipt. He did pay up but not without noting Joe Blow down the road and Nitwit across town were so much cheaper per hour. Explained to him He came TO Me I did not advertise and if he felt the lesser expense shops adequate to be my guest and use them as I was pretty busy not needing the extra load. He did and we did not for a long time cross paths then met up at a parts house as I was grabbing some stuff, he was unhappy with JoeB and Nitwit, was having to drive all the way into the city for as low an expense but found someone else he considered better wrench and was still trying to get someone closer as reasonable. Said good luck and walked away where he looked shocked I turned work down. Did not hear any more until he sold his business off and resumed full time farming.
I'm busy enough to let this just slide off me, and I am grateful for being able to say that, sure wasn't always that way. The guy he uses BTW, has a 20 ton boom truck, so he's always reaching over the bed when he backs up to a job, that plus my longer stick on my rear rider gives me 30' more reach plus higher capacity. That higher capacity is useful when setting light weight trusses, not so much, more for picking an entire bundle and re positioning it to then make picking the individual trusses go quicker. A new crew is always surprised when I do this, no else does I guess, but I'm not trying to drag the job out but make it wrap up faster. The cheapskates don't get that, and i don't bother explaining it to them anymore, that more per hour doesn't mean more for the job necessarily. And we don't even want to talk about multiple repositions for a job I can do without moving.
We had a record amount of snow here, 28' total at the ski area above my place! Down in the valley, it collapsed an office roof and the demo/remodel guys called me in to hoist a CAT 305 mini excavator up and over. I was first told it was a 5 ton pick, but to my surprise (sarcasm) it was 13 K on my hook. I managed to put it within 3' of where I told them I would put it, back when it weighed 5 tons, so they were happy. Don't ask how they are going to use it, not my problem, but i think to rip off the 4" thick multiple layers of hot tar roofing. I'll go back in a few days to lift it out again, these kind of jobs beat the heck out of residential truss setting. I'd rather pick one big load once then 50 small ones. I had a problem with my LMI (Hirschmann) last Friday, it would boot up normal when I turned the key in the op cab, which I often do just to listen to the radio, during down times, but when I started the engine and it re-booted, it would show an error. This had occurred before but it went from rare to more often, to almost all the time by late Friday. Thanks to modern communications, while setting trusses (72' long ones) I was able to contact my problem solver guy in Boise and he got back to me with "it's a low voltage problem." Long story short: the Mack's dual batteries had weakened enough over time to still crank it instantly (the heated building helps) but the voltage was dropping below the LMI's preferred threshold, causing it to not boot up correctly. Still on the job I contacted my local battery wholesaler, who had 2 in stock, and as luck would have it, his shop was right on my way back to the yard after my truss job wrapped. I didn't even bother to load test the old batteries, they came with the rig, and LOOKED old, kinda swelled up on the sides, not a good sign. The at rest voltage was high, but put a cranking load on them and the volts plummeted. The LMI worked perfect today, for this mini X pick, the problem was for sure the tired batteries. So instead of maybe days of being broke down searching for the problem, and maybe thousands of dollars, I was fully back in business for $290.00. I sent my mechanic on the other side of the state a 50 dollar bill today, and he didn't even have to get his hands dirty! Not his bill, my idea.
I bet it’s 5 metric tonn plus the cab and attachments.
Yeah, plus full fuel etc. I suggested they try and rent one without a cab but none were available. For what they intended to do with it a cab would just be a liability. I just assume it's going to be heavier, usually is, and my LMI is calibrated and accurate. Today: lifting a 12,500 lb. arm off one of those excavator type machines with a grappler they work at a scrap metal yard, at a heavy equipment shop a couple miles from my yard, so handy anyway. After we rigged it, I pulled about what they thought it weighed, then they used a small excavator to pull the final pin (which was about 5" dia), and it popped out like a champagne cork, no sweat, and it banged off the super structure making a fair bit of racket. Me and the guy on the tag line both yelled to the guy in the excavator, at the same exact time, "it's out", and then laughed, like he didn't know it. I had it then, but pulling straight up couldn't get it out of the side brackets as there were other weldments in the way. They wanted me to swing/rotate it out but I told them I just pick things up, not pull then sideways and they got the hint (ain't side loading my boom....) and they used the same excavator to gently pull it sideways until clear of the brackets while I kept my foot off the swing brake and out it came, smooth as silk with no side loading. Then across town to a new city water pump station to set four 2800 lb. gantry crane steel beams in a new cinder block building. I'll go back in a few days to set the roof trusses. Then across town again to stand up a big (14' high x 40', tall homeowners I guess) framed wall in a large custom home, another job where I'll be back in a few days to set the trusses. This framing crew works with me a lot, and as I drive up they are already putting my pads on and throwing dunnage out, and they know what rigging to use and where I keep it, so it's a real easy job for me, I just get to do the fun part so I cut them a good deal.
What surprised me pretty often with people requesting crane to swing a load that big and awkward sideways was they had no clue of pendulum effect, getting it moving is pretty easy but getting the load to stop once started not so good!
Yeah, and later that day when swinging those steel beams, blind, the guy signalling me never seemed to pick up on the fact then when I was rotating as per his signal, and then he'd have me stop, the load would always end up past where he wanted it! Like I could slam on the brake and have the beam stop dead instantly, without the load swings even though I had 80' of cable out? He never got the idea that maybe he should signal me a tad earlier.
Totally not crane related, but we have talked flying here a bit. The guy who shot this video is a pro drone operator friend of mine, and also a pilot, and the old guy in the ski plane is me! All the scenery is within 3 miles of my rural home FWIW.
Some guys have way to much fun after work... Wish I was there..
Awesome just awesome
I've put over 2000 trouble free booming hours on the National since I bought it used, the engine hour meter shows 6060 hours, so probably around 4-5000 hours total boom time. In the past when I go long stretches with no problems at all, while keeping real busy/making easy money, I start wanting to throw some money at it, kind of a mechanical good karma thing. With 1 rig only, I am 100% out of biz when and if it goes down. Always in the back of my mind, even after 20+ years of doing this, is if I screw up this hoisting thing, I may have to go back to really working, like I did before, and I may have forgotten how. So, while at my National dealer the other day in SLC, I got a parts quote on doing what amounts to an almost total rebuild of my 4 section boom, everything except the hyd cylinder. As many of the parts have to be ordered, and even National may not have them immediately on hand, it occurred to me to buy them BEFORE I need them, and maybe cut a week or two off my wait time if and when it does. My thinking is, if I do this, I WON"T need them, if I don't, I WILL need them and while waiting miss a lot of good jobs! In the past, when I start thinking like this, I have ended up buying a new/newer rig, one way around the long term maintenance issue, just own low time equipment. But I really like the stainless bed on this rig, and the Mack carrier, and the crane part also, so am for the first time thinking down the road a bit and not just buying a newer rig. For about $2000.00 I can rathole away everything needed, A spare ATB internal line also. Not knowing what's going on inside the boom is whats bugging me, not like you can eyeball things in there. Then, once you take it all apart, doing a total rebuild makes sense. Ordering Monday, dropped ship direct to me.
$2000 is cheap insurance to have everything up to snuff.
As long as you don’t get stupid that hydraulic cylinder is gonna be the first thing that’ll go. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen the cables just go bad. Keep everything adjusted right and keep your power scoping down to only when you need to and I doubt you ever have a problem until your hydraulic cylinder starts leaking. I’ve rebuilt and reinstalled many a telescope cylinder without changing any wear pads or boom cables. It’s rare you have any problems with those things. Keep an eye on your top inner wear pads. The ones on the back of sections 2,3,and 4. I have seen those sheer off from scoping in with a load at a low boom angle. But that’s abuse. And abuse causes uncommon failures.
"if I have the part, I will not need it If I don't I will is Spot on!"
I got a call from a big farmer that had something needed to be picked up, once I determined the weight and how close I could get, I hit the road, a 1 hour drive. I've worked for them before, so didn't think they would be foolish enough to call me if they didn't need me, or had something I couldn't pick. Turns out it was a drill, a seed drill, with dual fold outs that makes it 60' wide, and someone wasn't paying attention (no one wanted to talk about it, I didn't ask twice....)and buggered up one side. I had to rig and hold the damaged section while they put new hinges in so we could then fold it down and the rest of the repairs could be made. 14K, and the power lines weren't really an issue, just looks bad. Asymmetric load, with the folding down part further skewing things, but it all came together and we got it done in 3 hours. A lot of high dollar equipment just sitting there, at planting time, glad I have another line of work then farming!
Awfully new appearing machine to need hinges, did they freeze up or fail to cause the cylinders to shear like that?
Probably has transport locks or something, and someone didn't take them out before folding.
Had not considered that thanks.
No transport locks, the wings overcenter. Visibility is very bad for these rigs. Its difficult to see in the picture, but there are a couple of big yellow tanks between the tractor and the drill (the part with the broken cylinders). The tanks carry the seed and/or fertilizer. When you turn around at the end of the field, you absolutely can't see the outside of the drill. Pretty easy to whack a tree or other things. This whole rig is probably 80' long, and weighs over 100,000#. When it meets an obstruction, there is destruction.
You got it TH, perfect summation, and there were miles of hydraulic and air lines running all over the entire setup, I got the run through on how it all worked, which really makes one appreciate what it takes to get our food on the table. Pulling it all with that big CAT, probably with the stereo on, I could see where things could happen....., I do remember something about "not being able to see" being part of the reason.
This got a lot of press, not too far from me. Something to think about before getting on the interstate the next time! https://www.deseretnews.com/article...h-windshield-misses-utah-woman-by-inches.html
Scary!!
I had a big steel beam to set across a canal, and where it was sitting and then where it had to go, was too far for my mid span or retracted outriggers load chart to work. So, I offset the first time, picking the beam and setting it directly behind me, then offset to the opposite side, so I could get full outrigger span each time I was picking in that direction. Duh, obvious, I guess!
I have a 2500 pound lap pool to set in the backyard of a 100 year old house. Short by 15' or more with the National 30 ton, and a Manitex 40 ton also was shy. 106' from the hook to the city street curb, for the big units and their need to set up further away.. I was going to drive onto the lawn, but still too far at 90'. We ended up getting a 110 ton Grove 9000, and he was figuring about 125' from center of rotation as he was NOT going on the lawn of course. He needed all, maybe most, of his counterweight, so a separate semi for that plus the driver. It got expensive quick, but the pool owner was motivated. The big day came, I was there with my rigging and spreader bar, the tub crew, we had the city street blocked off, and everyone on the block settled in to watch the show. 2 hours later, we bagged it, the Grove had an issue with it's PTO engagement, and we were dead in the water. Then, to make it worse, when I was in the middle of a truss job almost an hour's drive away, they called me and said they had it fixed, but it was too late for me to get back in time so the tub still sits on the trailer, and I am scrambling to find another big rig but they are ALL tied up in my area. Everyone was disappointed, and no one made any money, but what are you going to do, stuff happens. I'll post a picture later. What a Chinese fire drill!
Seen over the snake River Canyon (about 3/4 mile from Evel Kenievel's ramp, still there from his aborted jump), looks like real tight quarters!
Looks to be a tough spot for a lift!
Setting a 2500 lb. lap pool 127' away, over a 110 year old house. I subbed out this job to a big time crane outfit, and they ended up using this Grove all terrain machine, after having PTO issues with another crane a week earlier. I got to run it a bit, what a machine! So maneuverable, the way he parallel parked at the curb using it's trick all wheel steering and maybe crab steering was impressive, for me, it was like getting a walk through of a big airliner, everything familiar to this small plane pilot, just on a enormous scale. I was told, with the counterweight they used, they were at 50% capacity, though i found it interesting they still "cheated" as much as possible, using the sidewalk as opposed to the street for their outriggers. Closer is always better no matter the size I guess.
What's this mess back by the counterweight, on the back of the upper house, on the tms 9000? I'm thinking back up camera mount, or a proximity switch mount for sensing how much counterweight is installed. Looks like the guy with the tms9000 was going to do it all from the street, unless he's still backing over toward the curb. The AT guy is like me, I'm not giving up any radius if I don't have to. And just because I'm curious, did they road both of them with all the counterweight hanging and/ or some on the deck? i.e. no support trucks with the weights?
Almost all the gmk’s have that bracket on the back or one similar. There’s no switch or Camara on it as far as I know. The base weight has a little hook that slides up into the bracket if you don’t have full weights on. You can see the same idea on that 115t. It’s on the side more then the back tho. I’ve wondered if it’s the keep the weights from swinging to much of your not fully weighted up. I’m thinking the guy in the tms just didn’t want to three leg it onto the sidewalk if he didn’t have to. I don’t blame him. The AT could just level his suspension and run his O/R’s straight out.
They needed a semi to haul the counter weights, and I understand they could not make the pick with what counter weight they could run down the road with. When the AT pulled in right by the curb, I immediately noted to myself that his outriggers would hang up before he could get them extended, this shows what I know about a crane like that one! He of course, used his suspension to make it a non issue, that right there is one handy feature, and one I could often use on my boom truck, dream on. That thing had more bells and whistles just in the driving cab then I could fathom, and appeared to be low time/newish. The sidewalk remained as it was, already cracked under one pad but no worse, and still uncracked on the other. This pick. including 1.5 hour drive time each way, cost $2200.00. If I could have done it with the National, I would have charged my minimum, $350/$400.00, but there was just no other way to get that tub back there, and I believe the tub/lap pool was part of a health related insurance thing, for rehabilitation purposes on an injured knee in a car wreck that was not the homeowners fault, in other words the driver at fault's insurance may be picking the tab up. Whatever, we are all paid up, and that is what it cost.
I learned something about how the hydraulic fluid flows in my rig. I learned the hard way though.... I had to take the front stabilizer off, including it's supply lines, in order to get the front bumper off. The bumper was tweaked and the plan was to use a rear stabilizer to apply pressure to carefully straighten it out. Once I got it positioned on wood blocks, just right so that I could go past straight a bit and when it sprung back it'd be just right, I started it up and engaged the PTO. The only thing was the rear stab controls were not working, hmmmm. Then it hit me, I had ASSUMED that no fluid would escape out the disconnected lines up front, wrongly it appears, though I did take care not to use the front control. Now I know, and after the cleanup, it seems I only lost maybe a gallon of fluid. The thing that got me though was that my shop was just back to normal after a job on that Jacobsen mower you see on the left, which required spilling both diesel and hydraulic fluid apparently, and everything was all cleaned up for about 3 days before this happened. Dried grass clippings and some gravel with a lot of dirt in it I had nearby cleaned up the concrete floor surprisingly well, everything else, about every hand tool I own, took a bit longer. The bumper ended up being beat back into shape with a sledge hammer, and it actually looks pretty good.
OOOPS!! Just played that game!!
My guess, and it's only a guess, is that the fluid is not constantly circulating thru those hoses I had disconnected, that seems like a lot of busy work, and inefficient as that would also take power away from the functions actually be worked. I would guess that the fluid flow would be static, until I command via the outrigger control for that jack, then things would start to flow for sure. But, and this just occurred to me, it has an "auto up " feature, when I raise ANY of the 4 side jacks, the front comes up, saving me from trying to drive off with it still down, a great feature. So, that's the answer right there, that front is somehow interconnected with the other 4, and though I didn't get full flow I got some kind of semi pressure. I don't really care how it works, I'll just assume any hose is "live", and have it capped off or reconnected, lesson learned. Pretty obvious, NOW.
Almost all outrigger systems work off of return pressure. Meaning everything is pressurized and only one return opens. Yours May be different but I bet it’s not. At least it wasn’t a terex crane. Those have air pressure in the hyd tank. You crack a line and it’ll spray hyd oil till the air pressure bleeds off. Matter fact enough air pressure to send a plug 40’ across the shop. And spray fluid dang near that far. Not that I know from experience.
Well that makes me feel a bit better, Knepptune! Within 5 days, I set some 85' light poles at the local county high school, ( tricky, as the way I was rigged, the last 6' down was by sucking the boom in and cabling up and booming down, whatever it took to keep the boom tip OUT of the lights and stay centered over the concrete tapered base) then removed several tons of gravel off the federal court house roof with a debris box (which required going through a security screen similar to the airport, just to use the bathroom across the hall), set a back up generator at the new city water pump station, and then the county Road and Bridge crew replaced the culvert on the gravel road right before my home, (I just watched and stay out of their way) me being the prime recipient of the new culvert, especially as my hydro electric intake is right below it. This work all helped when I had to pay my property taxes right in the middle of all this, the county and Fed money more then made up for that, the new culvert and the city work was a bonus.
We usually run the rigging all the way to the bottom of the poles, how did they get up there to get your rigging off? Bucket truck or man lift? That's one of those jobs where a remote releasing hook would be nice, hit the button and drop the rigging, grab a basket and take them up to get the rigging. I like setting poles with my rt. I don't disturb the ground as much (often I'm on the field or track), and its a little bit big, but it makes it easier to horse the poles around telescoping and such.
Rigged just slightly above the vert CG, a smaller man lift (maxxed out though) got a guy up high enough to unrig me. Those big light assemblies are all pre aimed, and nudging one even if it didn't break would not be good!
GOING TO A DIVE BAR (35 YEARS AGO...) PAYS OFF I knew the old Greek guy who owned the bar right on the corner from this HVAC job I had today. If not for knowing him, and at one point getting a tour of the entire 100 year old building the bar was (and is, now run by his son) on the ground floor, I would have assumed the sidewalk was adequate support for my outriggers. But, I had been in the basement, where regular patrons were not allowed ( I was doing some construction work there as I recall) and remembered how the basement extended out underneath the sidewalk! So, this AM, though i have not been in the joint for 35 years at least, this all came back, and sure enough a tap with a hammer made a hollow sound , and I then operated on the assumption it was not a "regular" sidewalk. Luckily my mid span load chart showed I could safely do the job.
Good catch
A good customer ( one who pays, and promptly) called me concerned about my access to this job site, a 50 min. drive, but a 15 minute flight (at 85 mph, in a straight line) and it looked OK to me. I sent him this pic while overhead, modern communications, gotta love it. My home strip makes this real convenient and no hassle at all. Next, I have a grain mill job to look at about 25 miles away. I do this FOR NO EXTRA CHARGE! Ha ha.
Did you ask him about the weight limits of his bridge ? Any tree limbs lower than your glass ? Bridge inspection technology from space satellite >> https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190709141305.htm
Lumber and truss supplier seem to have made it across said bridge, corner may be a little short and tight but should make that. Appears as some point in the past someone used the field for a access wide swing.
A it late in the day but my those AT's are handy. We had three at the last job. A 4115 like the one in your photo, a 5165 and a 6250. To do diagnostics on them you need to understand CANBUS six ways to Sunday. That all-wheel steering on the rear axles is great but you have to be really careful when using it on soft ground surface conditions unless the crane is actually moving or it can bend the track bars. Don't ask how I know this..........
If you mean across the road I would say that’s a wheel path for irrigation
Curves the wrong way. Appears as old white rock not just dirt and curves into drive area.
That is probably the dry spot between the end gun and the hand lines in the corner. Nothing grows in that part of ID if you don't water it. I might be wrong, but that's my guess.
That's the weak point in the megatrak suspension grove uses. We had a 175 ton up in iowa where I used to live, and they had twisted them up more than once in the mud trying to turn those big tires while buried in a hole. That picture looks like "training day". Like they just came in and they are trying them out. There's just a few dollars setting there too, between the crawler, a new boom truck and the two AT's.
The three AT's were all literally fresh off the boat when that photo was taken. The Manitowoc Triple-8 crawler was one of two that we'd rented in from an outfit in Florida and it was just getting rigged. Around about the same time we also had a brand-new 16000 delivered to site.
Besides the lumber truck, they also got a ready mix truck in there, or maybe they didn't, maybe they pumped it, I'll find out at 7 tomorrow morning. It looks like I'll need to move that stack of trusses, then get in and set up. One thing I do know, how stuff looks from the air is often NOT what it looks like from the ground, sad but true. I need to remember to take my nifty battery operated chain saw just in case.
My 2 year old AC unit, a 5,000 BTU Frigidaire cheapie, quit on me, blows but not cold! I picked the brain of some good HVAC guys I was lifting for, and was told to junk it, they are non fixable. Rather then modify the installation hole for it, I bought the exact unit again $150 bucks, and this one works. But then my cab vent fan lost it's low speed, it only worked at high, and it was noisy, vibrated, and didn't seem to move much air. I have found that the AC hitting the back of my head, and the fan hitting my face, dramatically increases the AC's effectiveness. It's like sticking your head into a beer cooler. So, while sitting in the cab during a lull, I got on Amazon and ordered this: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Caframo+...+Campers.+Easy+to+Clean.+Black&ref=nb_sb_noss . Less then 24 hours later the big brown truck dropped it off at my rural address, amazing! 50 bucks or so, and it's whisper quiet, doesn't vibrate, and moves much more air. It was 94 degrees today, and I was working with dummies pretending to be carpenters, but I kept my cool. Literally. Worth every penny!
A big frame building collapsed in my area yesterday, 16' high walls, about 60' span. The contractor is one I have worked for many times, including just last week. He called me Monday for this job (I think it was for this job anyway) but I told him I was busy the rest of the week and he got a guy with a BTC boom truck. That operator is good, he just has crap equipment, and at this time I have no idea why the building fell, whether it was the boom truck operators fault or not. The paper mentioned something about the wind, but there really wasn't any all day, (dead calm) and I pay attention to that more then most. Not even any dust devils, but anything is possible. 1 dead, and one critical. I flew over the job site late today and took this picture, which I will forward to the contractor at some point, or maybe not. https://www.eastidahonews.com/2019/...-identifies-man-injured-in-building-collapse/
It looks like they hadn't got the bracing all up yet, which is weird for me. As it would appear they were setting truss already? Is that typical construction method used it your area. Kinda looks like how you would build a fence. sorry for the loss of life and injured. muzy
Oddly enough, today's job for me was almost identical to this one, though the framer chose to not put any OSB on yet (something for any wind to push against) and instead used diagonal 2x4's nailed on the studs. You can see this building appeared to be fully sheeted. I have probably done 40 homes with this outfit the last year, and they are better then most, as in well braced framing, but man do they haul ass, there is no downtime for me when working for them. They always have enough hands on deck to get me unhooked the second the truss touches down, while another guy holds the truss vertical while another guys nails in the first stabilizer. They have the fastest cycle time of any local crew. Which of course may or may not have anything to do with why it fell, just saying.
Speed has been known to lead to shortcuts. I hope for their sakes NOT this time and just a material failure.
The guy that died it turns out was the crew foreman, and he would have been on the tag line, at least he was all the times I worked with him. 5 kids. Every job has a certain "vibe", a mood, set by the crew but mostly by the head honcho. Some are frantic, disorganized, and herky jerky. His jobs were always well planned out (one of the best in getting the trusses scattered out in a way that sense, and sped out/shortened the crane time) and always calm, while at the same time not a second was wasted. Some jobs, setting residential trusses, have carpenters that make me look bad, idiots on the tag line line, clueless carpenters, etc., and I sometimes cringe when taking 5 hours to do a house that should take 2, it doesn't look good to those in the know. His crew always made me look good. Reckless and careless really doesn't apply here, I never felt endangered at their jobs, they just didn't waste ANY time. This crew wasn't your worse case "wet behind the ears, bid the job too cheap, bunch", they were one of the best in the second or third largest city in Idaho. The one main thing I've come up with is, out of all the jobs I did for them, they were all residential, not large commercial like this one. I think it's clear the trusses tipped, and when they tipped they bowed (no partitions) and then exerted tremendous pressure on the walls, blowing one out (relieving pressure on the other wall, explaining why it didn't go also) and that was all she wrote. I am a bit baffled by the forklift trapped under the truss wreckage, they never had one on a job I did, this stands out as different, it may or may no have been a factor. Inadequate lateral bracing would be my verdict, residential style truss bracing on much larger span and heavier trusses, all on much higher walls, and possibly combined with a bump, to set things in motion, though that's strictly a wild assed guess. The local news is still reporting the walls collapsing as the cause, and then the roof falling, they have it backwards I'd guess.
That pic is pretty bright ,but it looks to me on the right one truss is out of place and facing a different direction than the rest. And under that pile it don't really look like a forklift to me. But i would think some sort of lift. I couldn't imagine the silence right after it happened. Dreadful
I was looking also, and believe that to be a wheeled manlift. I can see the truss cards collapse initiating this, one truss gets loose it drops the rest, could have just been tagged with a rope or a nail set to a wall blew out. May never really know. Still and will remain very sad days there.
I had a job on a vacation home, 2.5 hr. one way drive, but a real nice area (right above the Palisades Dam, south of Alpine Wyoming, think Lake Como) so I unloaded the camping gear out of the plane and put it all in the National, and drove there late the day before and camped out a mile from the job site. I took the fat ebike and had a great evening 17 mile ride, part of it finding exactly where the job was, better using it then wandering around in the Mack. So, I'm all done, it's getting dark, and I'm cooking dinner and the phone rings. The contractor tells me he may have to cancel, all his help was sick. He thought I was still at home, not 2.5 hours away, almost THERE.....to his credit, he must have given a pep talk to his help (two of them his sons), as the next morning we got it done. The gravel road on the last stretch was being paved the next morning, adding to the fun. Lots of trees to play with when setting the trusses, that keeps things interesting.
I will say this. Your one the few that if you told me that you’re living the dream, I would not doubt you one bit.
I love it ! Nice work Natman.
I flew back over to that last job site, I had spotted some things on the drive up there and while working, that I wanted to take a closer and aerial look at. I made a landing in the big field where I had camped, that was a given, it had to be done. Then I flew to a job I have coming up in a couple weeks, right below the Grand Tetons, about 30 miles further north. Low and behold, there was room enough to land there also, I had it all set up and was short final, when I noticed a car and a guy, and figured it was probably the homes owner. So, not knowing him at all and not wanting to maybe make my contractor look bad if the guy turned out to hate airplanes or whatever, I desisted/didn't land. Off airport landings are two fold: 1. Can you do it without bending and breaking something (like crane work in that respect). 2. Can you do it without annoying someone? The second thing takes the most judgement, and I hate to see guys who the tech skills to land somewhere, but they stupidly don't think about the repercussions. In this case, I backed off, but immediately sent this picture to the contractor, asking if that big trench was going to be filled. NO, it's a "water feature", and it sure as heck is going to get in the way when several semi's show up with the prefabricated walls and then the trusses, this is a (not sure what to call it) pre fab home I guess. 6,000 sq. ft., and on super high dollar real estate, NOT low end at all. So, this morning's flight was work related and served a useful purpose, (the contractor didn't know they had dug the thing) and after seeing that water hazard, I figure if the homeowner can afford to screw around with something like that, he can sure as heck pay for my motel room (a 2 day job, 3 hours away) instead of me camping out, we're going first class all the way.
I’ve seen it happen. I was setting trusses on a 60 x100 two years ago for home owners. Thankfully they had scaffolding down the center the full length of the building ( it likely saved someone’s life) they started out really well, they had three trusses put together on the ground and very well braced but it all went downhill from there. After putting up about three more trusses with very few braces I shut down and told them they needed to put more on, there was two different ethnic groups working on the building “ why I have no idea “ they spent most of there time arguing to the point where one guy swung in the trusses and kicked at the other, so they put on a few more braces and told me to get moving. This same performance happened twice more and I finally shut my engine off and got out of the crane and told them I wouldn’t go any farther until I was satisfied that it was braced enough, well in ten minutes of fighting they still hadn’t done anything and a gust of wind came along and down went 80 ft of trusses. The only good thing was they were all down off the top of the trusses arguing about how to proceed when the trusses went down. The only trusses left standing were the first three that they had put together on the ground. I went back a couple days later and the one group of people were missing and replaced by some more of the same ethnic group, I had a tailgate meeting with them and told them how thing where going to proceed “and they listened “ the trusses went up smoothly and they thanked me for my help.
Yeah, at some point sometimes we have to show who's in charge when we're on a job, them or us? My attitude is, me. Shutting down always gets their attention, that and saying "or I'm outa here," usually works. Just two days ago, a new to me crew, was using the "nail a long 2x4 on top the trusses, hanging out where the next trusses go" method of truss bracing. That method is almost never seen here anymore, 90% use the metal truss clips/stabilizers, the rest use short lengths of 2x4's. I was working blind, a 2 story house on a steep slope, and when I wondered why it was taking them so long and why I was getting such conflicting directions, I jumped out of the cab and took a look see, only then seeing their method. I called them on it, told them next time they use me, it ain't going to happen, that it was an old school method not compliant with using a crane. Get the clips or get someone else.
A big Mormon temple under construction, I was driving by and saw this sign while looking at the big cranes. As a pilot, though not a drone pilot, it got my hair up, I'm pretty sure they don't control the airspace overhead, point being. The Feds control the airspace, and have guidelines for drone operation these days, not any contractor who puts a sign on a fence! Though if I was a drone pilot I'd respect the sign just to be a nice guy. Or maybe, if I was bored and had nothing better to do, and was sure I was legal, I'd violate "their" airspace just to make a point. Makes me wonder, is it there for non interference with the cranes, well what about orbiting the site at 400'? Or 300'? The second time I've seen this small tower crane taking work away from me! Not yet close to me but in my general area, and doing work that I would maybe have gotten. I have yet to find whose it is, or watch it in action, but it's area of operation is pretty sweet. I wonder how fast it cycles when setting trusses, and would like to talk to the framing crews as to the difference it makes for them. The other time I saw it was a similar large structure, I'm thinking maybe it's owned by the job's contractor.
More wind farm money being put to good use: a farmer with several of the big turbines on his land, is putting in a 30x40 game room and home movie theater, along with a big hot tub AND an adjacent lap pool. At 6 to 8 K monthly payment, (and they still farm as usual underneath them) guaranteed regardless of drought, pests , or other usual farming concerns, these guys are having a hard time spending the money fast enough!
A company that does some commercial work by me uses the portable tower cranes quite often. They build motel, apt. buildings, dormitories for college's, etc. Its a money saver if you need a crane every day or every other day on a jobsite for 6 months, vs. us in the rental game. For just a few days, the cost to bring it in and erect it and move it back out again is too great. They used one by us in a crowded jobsite, that without a tower, would have taken a 200 ton hydro to do the work. They have their place, and once the general owns it, they find a way to use it. They are probably using it to set those wall panels, that they probably prebuilt offsite. It makes a structure go up fast.
Those little tower cranes are the future. They are remote controlled. Therefore eliminating one job. Either the operator is on the ground hooking up or he’s on top landing the load. And the load chart is phenomenal considering the ground space they take up. That one looks to either be an Igo 36 or igo 50. This shows the smaller brother an Ma21 compared to a 30t grove. Now they are not quite as fast as a hydraulic crane with a good operator but there’s not a huge difference. This one just showed up a few weeks back. 100’ tall 131’ jib. I believe 2200lbs at 131’. This one has hydraulic outriggers and so once the crane is fully erected you can pull the outriggers up and walk the crane to anywhere you need it. We timed setting the crane up and start to finish it took us 2 hrs. Should say it me and 1 other person.
You can walk it erected? I could see walking folded, but it better be flat walking erected. The tracked mobility would be a huge gamechanger for a lot of jobs. Typically most motel/hotel or apt complexes cant all be reached from 1 spot, which makes the little tower's a pain. But being able to move it would make a huge difference. I could see hauling that rig around like my rt on a lowboy, walk it into the site, do the work and haul it out. They aren't heavy lifters, but I've got some places they would work nice for Hvac and trusses.
Ye. It can handle up to a 5% grade front to back or side to side while erected at the 26m height or 5% front to back and 2% side to side at the 30m height. I’ll get a video and post it at some point. I did convert the ground bearing psi and it’s right at 15-16 psi erected on tracks. Now you can’t pick and carry or work the crane on tracks. Keep it mind it has 24,500kg in counterweights. And yes these numbers are metric because the guys across the pond thought it’d be wise to quit converting load charts and specs to sae. So all the new potains only come with metric data.
Here's a pic I took from the air a few weeks earlier and about 80 miles to the north, of a similar rig or maybe the same one? A similar project anyway, both appear to be motels. The last picture got fuzzy close up, but it seems to be the very same rig to my eyeballs. Good, the less of those things around the better! I've had the thought to get one and lease it out, but just a thought so far, I keep plenty busy doing what I'm doing and have no debt so don't want to rock the boat. But I'll kick myself if someone else local does so and actually starts making an impact on my work. "You snooze you lose."
The older models were kind of neat, especially the ones that were "trailer" mounted. Hook up to the 5th wheel plate on the front and a set of tandems under the base. But most of those had hand crank short jacks, and other issues. But I really like that track machine. Onboard gen set, hydraulic jacks, the only question is can it self erect counterweights?
Natman I happen to work for a dealer so I’m sure we could get you set up with one. The new Igo ma21’s are a custom home builders dream. Run it off a dryer hookup, it’s one load, hydraulic outriggers, remote controlled sets up in no time. And it takes up a whole 13’ square. And yes crane op that crane does have a Derrick arm for ctws. That’s an option on all self erects you just don’t see it used much. Mainly due to the fact you have to get the trailer right up beside the crane and that’s usually not happening in the places these cranes go.
Is it possible that the No Fly Zone is because it's a Mormon temple being built? Maybe they don't want people seeing it built (other than the hundreds of construction workers) and how it's laid out.
The LDS church built a Temple here just outside Chesterfield. All Concrete and stone, massive interior iron structure, built like a vault. Allowed a three day walk thru prior to being Sanctified and closed to public. Not all open inside as a 'Church' more like an office building inside a church façade with alcoves, special rooms and meeting areas. A smallish chapel for important events but otherwise mystique and mystery remained. Were a number of rooms and stairs(Up and Down) not open or tours allowed during that walk through.
I'm not really up on the drone regs, which are different then for airplanes, but I do know no one but the Feds have the say so on closing airspace. Being a temple wouldn't change that a whit, the Feds protect their turf! No matter, if I fly over I'll be at the totally legal 500', and could orbit there for hours if I wanted, but I don't. That sign is.... a sign of the times I guess, they probably had looky loos flying at low level and being stupid, can't blame them if so.
Spotted while flying back from a weekend trip to Montana: this lattice boom's crane reason for being there is obvious, I just hope it's operator is a fly fisherman, as that's one of the premier sites for doing so in the country, the Madison River. https://www.bigskyfishing.com/rivers/southern-montana/madison-river/
Almost appears as they are disassembling the temp platform from casting the River Center Pier.
This 6 K ft vacation home, right below the west side of the Grand Tetons, came all framed, including windows installed, on flat bed trucks. The rigging points (1" web strap loops) are built into the top plates, and balanced. The tricky part is as you pick a wall section, it will at some point slide off the stack, and they were too heavy to pinch bar them back just an inch or so so I could smoothly pivot them up to vertical. So that left just being real quick on the winch AND the boom, to kind of just snatch them off the truck. We had all the exterior walls up by noon. Then I bunk set the interior walls and left, and came back, after the recent snowfall melted, and set the trusses. 2.5 hour one way drive, made for a long day, but I had a great view!
Who would have thought that a 1500 pound sheeted gable truss, being picked by a telehandler on a 8% side slope, with a lot of boom out, would make the telehandler ALMOST tip over?! Everybody here probably, but the dummy on today's jobsite figured it out real quick. After he bailed out, the tilt rate slowly increased as the rig creeped back another couple feet, then everything "stabilized." After cleaning his shorts out, I suggested to the operator that sucking in a bit of boom instead of booming down (increasing the radius) may be the best option to salvage the situation. He jumped onto the high side and reaching into the cab, did so, and down she came. OSHA doesn't monitor this site, right??? The trusses were being shuttled to me, to within my operating radius, from a couple hundred feet away, don't blame me. I wasn't even watching the shuttle action, not my job, though if I had seen the event's transpiring I would have attempted to warn them off, oh well. Just read my post, by "down she came" I meant back onto all four wheels!
I would have sat there and rode it out. Think of all the time he spent in the crush zone when bailing out. But I would like to think I would not have done that in the first place.
First instinct usually gets men injured, baling to clear the machine is not so smart.
Yeah, no seat belt though...., he wasn't wearing one anyway, so maybe bailing out was better then falling out of the cab. Instinct took over I'm sure, not like he had time to consider his options. I can't think of ever seeing one of the framers ever using the seat belt, the next time I'm on a job site with slopes to deal with, I'll mention it may be a good idea, and show them that picture. Over the new Mormon Temple they are building, where they had signs on the fencing, NO DRONES. I'm in an airplane, at a legal altitude, deal with it! I circled over the job site for about 5 minutes, just to make some kind of a point I guess. A huge crane onsite, lots of stick anyway.
Had to have been driving them nuts with a plane circling. Generally they will have an open house just at completion before they lock it down for forever. We got to tour the one in Chesterfield MO, strange inside, looks a church exterior interior is like a Commercial Building all cut up into smaller office spaces, some rooms closed off where no idea what was there. Did see the Dead Christening pool where they Baptize those that have died into a life with Christ, kind of weird.
That may be the round thing at the lower left, looked like a hot tub to me. I doubt anyone got too excited as the construction crews are like any others, a mix of all types, not all Mormon by any means. Plus my plane is super quiet, especially throttled way back like I was. I do know that their building standards are right up there with the Feds, as in cost is no object, they overbuild if anything. I've seen them use LVL for studs, where anyone else would use 2x6 dimensional lumber, as one example. I'm setting trusses on a house tomorrow right down the street from the site, I may try and get in there and ask about that drone sign, just curious as to how that came about. I'll park at the gate, and put my hard hat, fluorescent green vest, and safety glasses on first, as it is that kind of job site.
If you look like you belong and dress the part, no one will ask.. I have been on lots of large sites and there is always someone wandering around looking at something. A clip board is a good prop.
Better find the the safety guy and sign in first. Once thats done your good to roam . Most never ask why your signing in.
A nice shirt, new white hard hat and a clipboard and your good to go. A service truck is also a good way in. If your in a service truck it’s very rare to get questioned at all. Just sign in with the safety guy tell them your there to work on a fork truck and your good to go. I will say the new facial recognition stuff kinda wigs me out. Enter your credentials the first time, it takes a picture and every time you sign in it takes a photo to verify your not signing in as someone else. Kinda creepy. And it knows if you enter someone else’s name. I can tell you that you can’t sign in as John Doe or Joe Dirte’.
I'M NEW. I'M NEW.
I had time today, after working setting trusses just a bit over a block away, to stop by. The attached pic was taken from my cab, they were swinging like crazy the entire 3 hours I was on my job. I pulled into the fenced site, and asked the first peon I saw, while still in my rig, where the big bossman trailer was. This is the type of job, big enough, for all the subs to have their own, and it was hard to tell who was who. Turns out, the head contractor's trailer (double wide) was just outside the fenced in zone,m so I parked and left my hard hat in the truck. I introduced my self as the owner operator of a small crane service, working nearby, more to the point also a pilot, and flat out asked him about their posted airspace restriction. Turns out, the drone ops (different then "real planes") are regulated (if I understood him correctly) to stay at least 80' above THE HIGHEST POINT OF private property, so they were, as i expected, stretching it a bit to post a sign saying simply NO DRONES, without mentioning the required ceiling. Then I showed him the picture I took, which shows me off to the side of the site, not OVER the site, which he said was OK, being NOT overhead. Then I told him I circled directly overhead also, which was perfectly legit, and explained why. If it's sounds confrontational or I was being a jerk, it wasn't at all, which was my intent. Just to educate them on the airspace regs a bit, it was no problem whatsoever, and we both got some new information. I expected no less, and it was fun getting a close up look at the site.
So I show up up to tilt some walls up, turns out they are 60' long and 14' high, wood construction. Not only tilt them up, but because of the carpenters poor planning, LIFT them and put them on a hill side, so he could get at the walls underneath. This guy was a joke, and would NOT listen to anything I had to say, so I decided to just do it his way, to a point. He insisted only 2 points were needed for the lift, though I told him the center would bow, and the ends would droop, and IF I did get it up in one piece, the top plate would just pull off. JUST DO WHAT I TELL YOU, he yelled, OK, no problem. The tilt just started, and one end snapped, turns out he had forgotten to pull the nails that located his top plate on a snapped line, while he framed the wall. AND, he had only broken his top plate and his double top plate by 24", (not even to code) AND..... he had rigged it (his call, not mine, I told him "you built it, you rig it") right where he shouldn't, at the max weakest point. I set it down and turned the rig off and told him that was it, I was outa there. Harsh words were spoken, he used the F word several times, directed at me. I kept my cool and just got annoyed, not angry, as I did not want to set the trusses anyway, this guy was dangerous. I did mention that I had my journeyman carpenter card when he was still in diapers, (we nail benders that now operate need to sometimes let the carpenters we are working for, know that....) and why in the heck he didn't frame that wall in two sections was simply indefensible. I would have left before the failed pick, but a long time trusted contractor had arranged the job, and I didn't want to let HIM down. Turns out, this yahoo was his cousin, and he apologized to me for getting me into the situation, and I am still golden with him. I almost feel bad for giving him enough rope to hang himself, for lifting it the wrong way, but it was the way he demanded it be done and I guess he annoyed me just enough to not feel too bad about the results, just maybe he learned something. I did feel bad about the 4 carpenters, his helpers, that now had a wasted day on their hands because of their boss's ignorance. I should also mention, that the day was shot anyway, as this was the nearest wall, and most of the others were going to be beyond my load chart capacity, (estimated 3500 pounds, 85' away, not going to happen) with no way to get closer, as I had all kinds of other things in the way and it was a steeply sloped site, he was screwed from the get go due to his poor planning, a broken top plate was the least of problems.
It is always a little nerve wracking when I get a job like that, is the customer someone that has "pull" with more influential segments of the community, and this one job going south is going to sink my reputation, but years go by and you find out later how the other shoe dropped, you were left unscathed, everybody knows the other guy's reputation.
tell him this is how a journeyman gets a wall ready 50 ft. X 15 ft. High I think it’s suspended in this picture
At the safety meeting a few months ago the topic of bad riggers came up. The operators were told that under no circumstances are they to provide suggestions on how to rig stuff. They were told “refuse to make the pick if it looks unsafe, but under no circumstance, show or tell the contractor how to rig something”. Something about assuming liability. Apparently, if you express concern but go ahead and make the pick, if things go sideways a lawyer will be happy to point out that you knew better. Sometime’s the less you say the better off you are.
These walls were sheeted, (all that OSB adds up) and I had no warning they were going to be so long so only showed up with my usual rigging. I go across the port just a couple hundred pounds below 40K on my rear tandems, so am always weight conscious. Meaning, my adjustable chain rigging, so I could have picked it (though he insisted 2 pick points was adequate) in 3 or even 4 places . I use the chain (grade 80) to take up the slack/lengthen my other strap rigging, and I did have my telescoping spreader at 14'. It was all fruitless anyway, as the further walls were out of chart, we call a job like that a cluster something out here. I have no fears of this incident hurting my local rep, anyone who believes this guy's account (he thinks I broke his wall on purpose, why that would be to my advantage was not made clear) is someone I don't want to work for anyway. I have a better story coming up, I'm done with this one, just had to vent a bit.
Due to an early single digit cold snap, I had to turn on the electric boiler a bit earlier, it will stay on until March. A thermostat embedded in the concrete slab set at 50 degrees (which results in an air temp of mid 40's on average) controls it, NOT a free air thermostat, so opening the big door doesn't make it kick on. 1.8 KW boiler is all I need for the 18' by 40' building, and that 2 KW solar array, being grid tied and me not using any power to speak of all spring, summer, and fall, produces enough excess KWH credits with my utility for me to heat for free. Radiant heat slabs are great for equipment sheds, electric boilers are 100% efficient (no combustion losses) and using solar to provide the juice is simple and reliable. I used to really struggle with frigid equipment, even though the truck was plugged in (when I only had outside parking), now, life is good! My total maintenance/messing with the heating system annually involves turning on the breaker in the fall, and turning it off in the spring, about as simple as it gets. The big PV panel on the lower left is a spare I had that is tied into the main array. The little panel on the right by the window is just to keep an old battery topped off that powers a 20 gallon weed sprayer, so I having running water in the shed for cleaning windows and washing hands. An electric hot plate is used for hot water for getting bugs off, so I like to say the place has hot and cold running water.
Here are the pics of the rail car recovery crane I mentioned a few days ago that seems to hang out a lot at the CAT dealer, just a mile down from my yard. It is a beast, looked like 1" wire rope, a pretty good clue as to it's capacity?
Judging by the model number - 300 tons..? I'd like to see the size of the counterweight that hangs on the back.
Looked it up Tadano Mantis 30011 Cap 150t Weight 88,000+/- Counterweight is an option!! On their site had photos, only one had any form of counterweight where was lifting a Class 1 six axle loco nose and was not very large
Got it back up, they used me this time, plus a different framer. Pretty windy and about wrapped up, so I had just enough boom out to set the sheeted gable. First and only time I've seen 61' (not 60 or 62'...) span, bonus room trusses. 1' O.C. on the wall studs also. I am glad to get clear of this project, we all were. As for the guy who got killed when it first collapsed, the building community has rallied around his family, and his widow will be getting a brand new house, on a lot, furnished, this spring. All volunteer labor, I'll set the trusses. Not sure you could call that a happy ending but best we could do.
I'm curious if have a professional obligation (for lack of a better term) to report a building that isn't being built to code? I know you can refuse a lift that isn't safe but what do you when the actual construction is sub par? Kind of like Dr's./nurses have an obligation to help in an emergency or at an accident they come across.
NOT MY PROBLEM! Nothing I know of that would formally and officially require me to report to "the authorities" out of spec building practices. But, I was a carpenter too long to not chime in when I see something really out of whack, if for no other reason then to let them know they didn't get away with blowing smoke over their screwup. Like "oh, the truss is built wrong", when really, they screwed their layout up, things like that. Or my favorite: when they stand on the bottom chord of a long narrow hip master truss, bowing it out 12" or so, then proceed to put a level on it for plumb, whereas the only proper way to do that is line and brace the bottom chord first, then plumb to the top chord, but what do I know, I'm just the crane guy!
So you can just refuse the lift if it looks too wonky? What would have happened if the truss the guy pressured you into lifting came apart and injured someone while being lifted? Not questioning your expertise just curious. Would a judge accept I'm just the crane operator? I don't know the laws regarding lifts. I worked at a job where my skid steer had to be lowered into a church basement. Mammoet had a big crane to lift HVAC units on to the roof. I got delayed and got there when they were just starting to clean up. The crane (I'm guessing 75 to 100 ton for the reach) was 30' away from where my machine had to be lowered. They asked the weight (4800lbs) but because they had already signed off on the lift wouldn't lower my machine. I think a 25 ton came the next day and lowered it from about the same position.
And that Mantis is still at the CAT dealer, it lives there! Good shot LJ. OF COURSE I will refuse a lift, if it looks and is wrong, and it has nothing to do with any regulations, just common sense. I don't want to see anybody hurt of course, plus just to be associated with a project that has gone wrong, thru no fault of my own, is not good. I don't even like working for a framer who is slow, meaning if I'm there 7 hours setting trusses, on a house that most others would take 4 or 5, it makes me look bad! I get a lot more enjoyment out of doing a lift that is efficient as can be, with safety being a given. The one thing that really sets me off is if some bozo makes a comment about a screwup THEY made that adds time to my bill, and that I must like that! I hate it, but because I hate being associated with their screwup, I sure as heck am going to charge for it. On the other hand, the good crews I work with on a regular basis, I cut them some slack when something happens, that is clearly not their fault. I'm sure most or all here do similar, it's just good business plus I can sleep at night.
From the mantis site: https://www.mantiscranes.com/railroad-specialty/30011-2/ Capacity … 150 ton at 11 feet (136t @ 3.35m) …. 300,000 pounds at 11 feet = 30011 ? Counterweight (Optional) 25,000 lb (11,340 kg)
Unless I’m asked or the deficiency causes a safety concern, mums the word. I have faith in the building department to pick up any building code violations. And I see lots.
I got a call from a rancher 30 miles away, by air, 45 by road at least due to 8,000' ridges in the way, he had a water tank he needed moved, and as it was close to the power lines wanted me to come look at it first. Close but not that close, On the way, I overflew a shop truss job I'll be doing Monday, took a picture and texted it the builder. I told him where the best place was for me to set up (NOT right next to the truss pile, as many seem to think is best) and what end of the building we should start on, (the opposite end from the truss pile, so I don't have to lift every single truss up and over the very first truss), these are my two biggest gripes about less then pro builder truss setting jobs. I'll fly at the drop of a hat just for the heck of it, but I really do get a lot of good practical use out of the plane. After landing back home I jumped in the car, hauled butt to my yard, and drove 30 miles the opposite direction to a small town where I made it to my 1:00 truss job, 2 minutes early, good thing as we still worked until dark.
Wow, it has been been a busy year so far. The Mormon Temple is going up, as are houses all around it, high dollar ones. I did two in this picture that day. Still charged travel time, but it was only 2 minutes worth for the second job. A few days earlier, working for a farmer building his shop, and the first time I go to swing a truss I see 4 or 5 kids, his, right in the way, as in right below where I'll be swinging. I stopped and made it clear that wasn't going to happen, and we proceeded. A few minutes and a few trusses later, I took this picture, of the kids and the wife running around underneath the 14' (I think it was) high trusses, with Daddy and a helper (both amateur carpenters) crawling above them. We all have seen hammers and other things fall out of tool belts, it happens even to the pro's, I have done my share in the past. At that point I didn't say anything further, figured I'd just be extra careful on my end and hope to hell I didn't see a kid get brained with a falling framing hammer. What a pointless and stupid risk, so stupid I felt less obligated to point it out, again. "Your kids, dude, your problem." Not a great way to look at it but I really didn't want to butt heads with the guy as I got the impression it was a business as usual day for him and his family.
I had a cotter pinned bolt on a certified shackle today back out, start to back out anyway. The nut had fallen off, gone! It has been in service for a couple years, and is used as part of my J hook operation for setting some trusses, some of the time, for some crews. I know cotter pins, and the proper way to install them, I trust my life to them on my airplane all the time, the big difference here was the rough usage. Still it really surprised me to see that somehow, even after being thrown down, walked on, and drug (not by me but by others) that the pin managed to come free. This was the bolt that came with the shackle, nothing home brewed. I happened to be at a buddies hangar later the same day, a full time aviation mechanic, and he also was kinda shocked that it happened. A great wake up call, obviously I was lax in my rigging inspection and should have caught it earlier, like when (assumingly) the pin was just starting to show signs of abuse. I fessed up to the crew I was working with, and suggested that it would be in their best interests to also keep an eye out for any rigging anomalies, my ultimate responsibility of course but then again, this thing was right in their faces and they didn't notice. I did, from 60' away. Out of three of these j hooks, the other two cotter pin shackle bolts look like the day I installed them, not mangled at all, making this incident even more surprising. If I ever lost a cotter pin in my airplanes control system, and the nut backed off and the bolt came out, I wouldn't be here to write about it. I have never known a castellated/cotter pinned bolt to lose a pin, but again, it must have been a freak abuse, 1 in 1000 issue, still hard to believe though.
On critical lifts at the Nuke we had to safety wire Crosby style thru bolt clevis. Can honestly state not ever seen a cross bolt castellated nut cotter pin fail. seen them over exercised/reused and break but not fail.
I also safety wire a lot of plane hardware, so yeah I also thought of that. I have safety wired the hand tightened type shackle bolts, but this application was pretty much a one time deal, and why I went with the threaded and drilled bolt type, as there was little chance I'd need to ever get it off. SO reliable, I got lax on inspection, that won't happen again. I'd kick myself in the butt if I could, I got off easy!
Some very interesting crane work going on in the background of this video, especially on the big ferris wheel.
Don’t take this the wrong way, but it was very hard to focus on the “interesting crane work “in the background while watching a human being fly around with wings and I’m assuming a jet engine on his back.... .....only in Dubai....
Four wing mount Mini Turbines
That video pushed all my buttons, cranes and flying combined! The significance was that's the first public showing of the jet guy not just flying around after leaping from a plane, but making a ground level takeoff. The climb out he did, the speed and the altitude gained, has the general aviation community absolutely blown away, no one had any idea it was that far advanced.
Very good, he has came a long ways since the first videos. (Of course the "Ironmans"suit is more advanced)
I would say you need to have quite a set of cahonies to strap that thing on yourself and light it off, much less flip the switch that gives it full go juice....
Or a death wish. Looked to me like a failed attempt at suicide.
I'm still having an issue with my thumb thumper, it appears the problem is the sender in the winch. I pulled it, a pretty easy job, job two allen screws, and took a look at the dipstick thing that engages the center of the winch, and it didn't appear to be broken off: the end of it was square, not busted, near as I can tell. But then when I looked inside the winch, it LOOKED like maybe the slot in there that the sender engages in may have a part of the dipstick in there. Hard to see, I need a bore scope! If it is broke, it is too far in for needle nose pliers to work, even the extra long ones, though I will try that next time. The dipstick is part of the whole assembly, not replaceable by itself, or so it looked anyway. Keep in mind I already spent over $300.00 for that little solenoid that runs the thumper, and this part looks it would be even more expensive. If so, I doubt I'll replace it, I can live without it, but I'll have to see what happens.
After 3 phone calls I never seemed to be able to pin down how far away I'd be from these hollow core pre cast sections, or, once I picked them, how far away I would be expected to set them. The customer is not a pro builder needless to say. So, I begged off and referred him to this outfit and their 80 ton Terex. Since my work today was canceled due to wind, and I had nothing better to do but gawk at others working, I made the 40 mile drive to the site. Turns out, this was a good thing as I didn't realize he'd be needing a truss setter in a few days, so I now have a lock on that. Also, it was a muddy mess when I first got there, and they needed a tracked skid steer plus a mini excavator to help the rig get up that slope, just barely. It's always interesting to me to see what all is involved in setting up these larger rigs, and makes me appreciate the simplicity of my operation. The entire counter weight installation operation took longer then it'd take me to do the pick, but of course I COULDN't do the pick! As you can see, after the semi was also towed into position as close as possible, the pick was a good 50', maybe 60' from the COR, a bit out of my chart, (!) so I made a great call in not taking it on, it would have been a big waste of every ones time. The rigging angle was discussed BTW, and deemed "good enough", as it was all they had, I prefer more, as in about 60 degrees not so close to 45'. The load was 14 K. Looking at a T-80's chart, he was getting out there, if 60' he was good for 17K before deductions. So just right, not major overkill and for sure not too small. This rig is about 1 year old and real clean still, and so much bigger then mine we compliment each other not compete.
Just for fun, have someone put a cordless drill on the end of the sender unit and spin it, and see if it makes the thumper go. I'm assuming it turns, if its a bump up and down movement have someone do that. At least then you would know if its actually a piece broken off not making it work, or if the sender is defective.
Excellent idea, how come I didn't think of that!? And yes, it turned by hand. As near as I can tell from the fuzzy illustration in the parts manual, it does not seem to be broken, at least it looks like about the same length as pictured. I priced out a new one in the mean time, having guesstimated that it may be as high as $750.00. Not even close, $1819.00, plus shipping! I told the parts guy, I don't even have to agonize over that, no way, no how, the benefit of the thumper is just not that great for my usual work. Not the money, the principle of the thing....OK, it's the money also, I have it, but would feel like a dumb a** paying that much for it.
You will have to have the power on upstairs to check it. The old style greer rotation indicators used to be around $1,000 for a whole kit. Drum wheel, power box and the wheel for the lever. The old company that used to make them, got bought out, and now a new one is over $3,000.
Over at friends crop dusting strip today, I saw his "crane." He uses it to load (as I recall) 500 pound bags fertilizer high enough to dump in the plane's hopper. The hyd. cylinder is powered by the bus power steering pump. The entire outfit is OSHA approved and fully engineered, though he may be kidding about that. Crop dusters are the lunatic fringe of the flying community! Actually, they are held in high regard, as some of the most talented aviators out there.
Are cranes required to have certified modifications ? (like aircraft) Seems to me (Industrial type) An inductive proximity switch and power supply could send to your thumper a pulse as the winch turns. The prox switch could sense some part of the winch for a pulse. Guessing parts cost within $200 or less. More info : http://www.is-com.ru/files/photoelectric_detectors_xs.pdf
No need for certified modifications, the thumper is only a aid to the operator. I home built some manual ones on my 70 ton. The trick with the prox switch would be putting a small tooth gear, on the outside or inner of the drum, to catch the signal. Something like the ring for anti lock brakes sender units on a car.
I had a dream scenario the other day, shortly after taking off to eyeball a truss setting job on a large custom home about 10 miles away from my strip, the phone rang. Thanks to my current headset and modern technology, I can talk while flying and people don't even know I'm in the air. Having taken a picture of the first job site, and then texting it to the crew below while still overhead, and telling them where I'd set up and what needed to be moved etc., I was headed for home. Another contractor was calling , wanting me the next day, on a home being built an hour+ drive from my crane, as you have to drive around the 9,000' mountain range, you can't go thru it. BUT, from where I was, and with a bit of a tailwind, I squirted over a 6500' pass at 105 mph, and was there in about 8 minutes after he had called me. Seeing the big field there, I figured I may as well land and jaw with the carpenters a bit. Best of all, now I knew how find the place, as it's fairly remote. All this really helps when I pull up to work, I know whether to pull straight in or maybe back in, getting a preview of the job is always handy but almost never possible, unless I can fly to it.
I hope they have a tellahandler or your going to be playing leap frog a quite a bit.
I especially like the photo with your plane's shadow on the ground.
Yeah they had a lot of stuff in the way, but all I had to do was lasso a couple of the stacks and drag them a bit closer, I only set up one time, as usual for a house. By that I mean when a stack is out of my chart to reach, I'll reach out as far as I can, have them choke a long cable on whatever part of the truss is nearest me, could be bottom chord, as long as it's not mid span, and they are still bundled. Then I'll boom up while winching down until I get to where I can pick one end of the entire bundle and scoot them towards me. No side loading the boom of course, and its just a matter of keeping the stack, once it starts sliding towards me, under control. Smooth surface helps, and I've never broken a truss doing this, and I'm not overloading the crane, just fooling it a bit.
I did some HVAC work at the place where the bad girls end up, the state Women's Correctional Facility. A grim place, even if you are only briefly working there. I couldn't have smuggled any inmates out, or any contraband in, even if I had tried, pretty tight security. NO joking around while I was there, just here. A few days later, at a grain mill, I had this silo to move about 200', and first was told it weighed "about 2,000 pounds." I immediately scoffed at that, and then when the boss man came out, he authoritatively stated it weighed 4500 AT MOST. After three setups, and going to a two part line, the truth was, it weighed 9800 pounds. This is a new record for me, for a most grossly understated pick. I was able to move it 70' at a time, 35' times two, at pretty much 100% of my chart. At one point, I realized that this thing came in via truck, and had to have been off loaded and stood up by a crane, so what was the mystery about the weight? Then I sat there for 3 hours, engine off, right by the mill's big air handling unit's exhaust, (like having your head inside a shop vac) because of poor planning by the same mill boss who misstated the weight, and by the end of the day I was not in a good mood, but I felt better after handing him my bill.
Does the weight affect the cost of the job if you can still do it with the same crane?
I don't charge any more if I don't have to go get a different crane. In this case, it just meant he had to set closer and move the crane more. If the item weighs what the customer says it does, and I've mis measured and brought too small of a crane- on a job I looked at. I won't charge for bringing a different crane. I pay for my own mistakes. A somewhat local friendly competitor of mine (our areas don't overlap much- and we throw work to each other), charges more if he has to put block in, and for putting in jib. He charges less if its just trusses on some farmers yard. My hourly rate is based on which crane I bring. If it takes jib, they pay me that rate while I put it on and take it off. If I need block, they pay to put it in and take it out by my time, but its not at a different rate. I have a different competitor that charges a mobilization fee- a flat amount to show up, set the crane up, and go home, then its just a hourly rate while he's on the job. He essentially just guesses at his travel and set up time, and that guess becomes the "mobilization" fee. Another guy I know only charges his travel time one way, and then has a 9% usage/ mileage fee added onto the bill. The customer pays usually about the same in the end, its just the bills get written differently.
With my little nickel and dime operation, with just the single 30 ton rig, I charge a flat rate. Travel time, at the full hourly operating rate, both ways, port to port I call it, based on a 60 MPH travel speed, which makes the math easy. I point out, if asked, that I am working the rig harder, pounding down the highway, wearing more things out, and am at more risk (highway hazards, etc.) when driving down the highway then I am when set up and working. BUT, I get a little harder to deal with....when faced with a more then challenging lift (because of the customers misinformation) like on this job. Still outwardly easy going, not a jerk at all while onsite, but whereas on other jobs I would have cut the guy some slack on all my standby time billing, I feel he "earned" getting charged full time for his disinformation on the weight involved. My gut feeling is, he is still getting off cheap, as compared to what a big crane would have charged for coming to his very rural area. I can, and did, charge him what I consider top dollar, and it's still chump change. One thing I learned long ago as a building contractor, if from time to time you don't get told "you're expensive,", and/or if you get every single job you bid on, you are working too cheap! I don't get a lot of the smaller crane work in my area, but I get the best, where I'm not dealing with guys trying to nickle and dime me over 15 minutes of travel time! The flip side is, I have no wiggle room for less then the best rigging and other equipment, whereas my competitor gets by with Harbor Freight tow straps for slings, and non engineered spreader bars, etc.
A new, tricked out, sheep camp lift (to be used as a guest house) was yesterdays job (and two other more mundane ones). I had anticipated being able to rig to the axles, but once laying eyes on it it was obvious that a lifting frame would be required. Oddly enough, (they are not at all fabricators) the homeowners had some light gauge wide flange their contractors left after a remodel. Turns out that was all we needed, we loaded it into their trailer and went to my shop (they are 1/4 mile from where I live, so it was handy) and about 30 minutes of torch and MIG work make a workable frame. The slope I was set up on was fairly steep, 10 degrees, and we gave some thought as to how to initially pick it (with the uphill rigging getting taut well before the bottom, or maybe it was the other way around, unequal anyway) it complicated things. B But it picked perfect, and then I did what I always do on unusual picks like this: once off the ground a few inches, I stop, get out of the cab, and just kill a couple minutes, while all involved, (kind of spreading the responsibility around.... "look good to you?") and verify that it is stable and not balanced on a pin head. Then I boomed it out into the trees about 50' away, 2900 pounds on the hook. Asked how much extra I would be charging them (they are neighbors, but no one gets me to drive up the mountain, going thru the Port of Entry on the way, I live on for free, I gave them a deal but still it wasn't a freebie) for the extra time spent fabbing with the lift frame, and I got generous and said just give me it and I can throw it in the boneyard and no doubt recycle it into some other project.
I developed a leak, all at once. OF COURSE, it was hard to see where the leak was coming from, once hyd. fluid was everywhere. But I had the tagline guy eyeball thing for me while I operated, and he seemed to thing it was coming from a round black thing. Something called a pressure transducer? I have a large chunk of iron with several hyd hoses going into and out of it, and with these things that look like solenoids (round, black, 2-3" long, 1.5" dia) attached to it, they have wires coming out of them. I called my Nat dealer in SLC, just to get a feel for what was involved with them, and he said it sounded like a bad O ring, and to remove them just remove the bolt, visible on the end, that secures them to the block. This was great news, even greater was when I went to loosen the bolt, I found it was nearly already finger loose! So, I just snugged it up, and unless I am whistling past the graveyard, that has stopped the leak and I am back in business. Almost seems too good to be true, I didn't even get my hands dirty.
Further inspection showed that an unused port in the same block that the transducers fit into, had a threaded plug, that showed O ring material sticking out the side..... removing the plug showed a butchered ring. Seventy nine cents later (Ace Hardware, right down the street, the nearest auto parts store where I could have got one free was across town), the plug is back in place. No work today due to wind, but tomorrow should tell the story, I'm pretty confident it was the source of the leak, possibly combined with the others being looser then a goose. A few days earlier: another job I was able to fly into. Right along side the biggest and baddest mountain range in Idaho, the Lemhi Range. 2 hr drive one way, charged travel full rate both ways, so 4 hours travel for 3 hours work. This job struck me as squirrely, the way the developer/contractor (new to me) said he'd stop by later and give me his billing info, and then never did (even 3 days later), and this big pile of trusses, that either blew down or maybe were wrong in some way and no one noticed until they were up! So, 4 days later I flew over (this is an area I often fly in and around anyway, and I for sure had some fun this day also, landing a 8700' ridge top at one point, but this WAS a work trip....) and after I landed I left an invoice inside, then texted the contractor it's location and included this aerial pic of the site. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to get paid on this one, I used to be much more trusting when I started this hoisting biz about 20 years ago, but the last few years I have my BS radar set a bit higher (partially because I can now afford to be pickier as to who I work for) and am generally more suspicious. He has 9 more houses going in there, maybe I'll be back, or not.
Yesterday, after a 3 hour drive to an area I had flown to just the day before, (not knowing I'd be up there the next day working) doing some mountain landings along the way, I got to the gravel yard job that was being setup as a batch plant for, oddly enough, resurfacing the town's airport. I found that somewhere in that 3 hour drive, the right rear outrigger shoe had fallen off, the 2" x 1/2" flat bar attach bracket where it's stowed had crystallized at a weld (not mine, original) and snapped off. We made do, and I got the work done, and on the entire drive back (all 2 lane road, except the last 20 miles on I-15) and on the drive back I of course kept my eyeballs peeled the entire way. Just a few minutes ago, I looked at the pic and saw that my shoe was still there, and this was only 25 miles from the site so greatly reducing the search area. I texted the contractor and this morning as he makes the drive, asked him to keep an eye out for it. It was just a coincidence that I took this pic of this area, because I had landed higher up the day before, but it may save the day for me if I find the shoe. I remember hearing somewhere, that they cost about 1K if bought new. NOTHING would surprise when it comes to parts cost..... anyone have a handle on where I could conceivably find a used one? National 1300 series, but similar would work, today I will measure the ball diameter as whatever I use has to have the socket fit it. Anything like a crane and boom truck wrecking yard anywhere?
I think I have a aluminum terex one somewhere in the shop, I'll look. New are only $3-400 from sauber, but that's been a while ago that I priced them. They make them for everyone. I would guess your old one is already at a scrap yard. I would call the local scrap yard, explain what it is, and ask them to keep a eye out for it. Just offer to buy it back from them if it shows up- they will be much more likely to call you. https://saubermfg.com/crane-pads-pontoons/
Do you drive with them hanging? I thought they had stow locations, but I see in your look over you have them hanging?
Reminds me of the Security Searches at the Nuke!! We felt more in prison than on a Industrial Yard.
I agree with Crane Op I bought an extra one just to have, about four years ago. I first priced it at the Elliott dealership and it was $1,600 plus 4 hours driving to get it home with a two week wait, I said screw that got the name off the casting, phoned sauber told him what crane I had and it showed up at my door less than a week later for less than $600. Best thing is it’s the exact same one on the Manitex.
I checked with my nearest Nat dealer, I was way off the price, they want $1500.00, plus sales tax and shipping. AND...at least 30 days out! I will be jumping in the Prius and zooming back up there and this time, knowing more, I will look real hard in a now much smaller zone. I also sent a text with pics to a friend who is tied in with the big scrap yards in my area, $250.00 reward to whoever finds it. I also am going to make up a few signs, like people do when they lose a dog, with a picture and the reward, and when I'm back in the nearest town, post them in the cafe, bar, etc. Sounds like a big hassle but for the $ involved, it's well worth, Plus it's super scenic, and I'll take my fat bike. My last resort, if driving doesn't find it, is to fly back up, it's hard to say how far off the road it could be. this assumes someone didn't pick it 2 minutes behind me, again, worth a shot. I will also of course get a hold of Sauber, as a backup, good info guys, thanks.
Until you get another plate, you can just have your local metal outfit make one out of steel plate. A half piece of pipe with two flat ears with a hole for the pin, welded to a piece of 3/8" plate should do just fine.
You sure that Prius can handle that Shoe?
You're thinking of a town Prius, I drive a country one. With the back seat folded down (always, unless I have passengers, as the front passenger seat is removed) it hauls a large volume, like two 55 gallon drums (empty) and is a great parts runner. No matter what, it always seems to deliver in the high 50's mpg on a tankful. Half the fun of owning one, is playing with people's Prius perceptions, they can be right zippy, you just have to put your foot down. Every morning I have an uphill on ramp onto I-15, just a 1/2 mile to a Port of Entry, so many time semi's are seeing my come up and I'm sure thinking I'll get in their way/be slow, ain't going to happen! Mainly, it's a great change from driving Miss Piggy around town, a great contrast at the end of the day. Bought it used BTW, and never wash it.
Drive the route in something with a higher point of view than a Prius. I used to have an old cabover. It was always amazing what I could spot in a ditch that was never seen in a regular vehicle, even a pickup.
As you drive on I presume this is asphalt surface look for the aluminum scuff that shoe left as it skidded Should be quite prevalent
No joy on the float search, I am pretty confident that if it was still there I would have spotted it. I put up a few notices on the small towns "hotspots", listing a $250.00 reward, and will give it another week or so to surface. But, great news from Sauber, after not responding for several days, I got a call today. $550.00 plus shipping, which beats the National dealer price of $1500.00 by just a tad. In the meantime, I have a chunk of 3/4" plate with some handles welded on it, and it works fine other then it's a bit of a grunt throwing it up onto the truck bed.
I looked all over in my shop, and I can't find that old terex pad that I swore I had. Sorry. The 3/4" plate is a exercise plan. I figured Sauber would be the way to go.
THANKS for the heads up craneop, I may have eventually realized contacting them direct was the way to go, but you expedited things. Here's my make do pad. The micro lam pads are my usual thing I use, and have been for years now. I carry enough of them so that I can stack them up quite high when needed, to deal with a sloped setup, which seems to be most of my jobs here in Idaho. I lately have been slipping it in the racks my pads go in, rather then up on the bed (and over the sideboards) much easier to load. A commercial medical arts building, with 60' span flat trusses (minor slope actually), as per my past experience it took 3 or 4 attempts to find the sweet spot to pick them, this was it. The next day, another glass swimming pool, about 3600 pounds is all, though make for an impressive pick when you swing it over the home. The diggers got it wrong, meaning a 2 hour downtime for me (but on the meter) while they got the hole right, so I jumped on the e bike I carry and rode 2 miles to lunch and back. I got back, and they still needed more time, so I took another ride around the high dollar neighborhood, just looking at the houses and being thankful I don't have to pay their property taxes.
I have never seen a pad this clean, it almost looks worth the $640.00 (with shipping) it cost. The old ones don't have the NO STEP cast into them, (I think, never noticed anyway). I don't get that, probably an OSHA thing? It came via UPS just like this, no box, the last thing I got that came sans box etc. were my plane's bush tires. After I had pulled the trigger on buying it, I had the opportunity (great weather and time off) to make a flight up and low level fly the 33 miles stretch it the old pad disappeared on, from 50' high and 55 mph, it isn't there, period.
I'm sure it says no step because some dummy tried to use one for a step when it was sitting partway down (or up). We used to leave them hang when we were moving a short distance to reposition for another pick.
Got it, he must have slipped and sued, or filed a workman comp claim, or both! I was thinking more "how could that hurt the pad?"
More like a busted Lip or Chin or even missing teeth!
It may have been ugly if he hopped or jumped to it trying to get off the machine.
In the airplane world, "no step" or "no push" placards are common, but they are meant to protect the airplane! That's why I saw that warning and thought "how could me stepping on it hurt it?" But yeah, I could see some dummy jumping off on to a retracted pad and getting a surprise. It does make me wonder though, how much more that pad cost me, to pay for the resulting lawsuit that instigated that warning? I sometime, if working in town and only driving a short distance, will leave them on in transit, but I am over width when doing so, and if ticketed would just congratulate the officer on his sharp eyes.
For the third time this year (so far) I got a call about a job, and managed to find an excuse to fly into it. Besides the usual off airport considerations, having the gift of gab or just being sneaky about it ("I'll drop by and check it out", didn't say I was going to be driving....) I have never had any bad repercussions in doing this, and I've been doing it a long time. I'm more proud of that, that deviousness, I guess you could call it, or maybe just correctly reading a situation before I land, then my flying ability. This house job had a 40 acre field so super easy for my plane and it's big tires. But I quickly realized once I met the husband, he was convinced his excavator could do the job and my services would not be required. His wife had called me, without him knowing or maybe against his wishes, she being smart enough to figure the ex would not be the machine for the job. The husband did like the plane though, and odds are I'll still get the work once he breaks a truss or two.
Natman … What's the bomb shaped thing between the wheels of your aircraft ? …
That's why he has no competition left in the area!!
Yup, tis either a bomb or Beer cooler
It is the rubber shock absorber for the landing gear.
The bomb is for past due accounts, works better then filing a lien to get their attention! Actually, it's for my two e bike batteries, as I often carry a full sized folding mountain bike in the plane also. I have a voltage converter and can charge the 52 VDC batteries in flight, with over a 50 mile range.
After I had pulled the trigger on buying it, I had the opportunity (great weather and time off) to make a flight up and low level fly the 33 miles stretch it the old pad disappeared on, from 50' high and 55 mph, it isn't there, period.[/QUOTE] Well we KNEW this was going to happen..... a couple weeks after putting the new one into service, I got a call in response to one of the ads I had put it up. It was found 5 miles from my job site that day, (but several days later) after a 3 hour drive. On the fringe of town, not in the boonies, where I concentrated my search efforts, thinking if it was near to town someone would have quickly picked it up and/or called. Don't know if it was hidden, must have been as I looked hard even in town, and outside of it. So now I have 5 pads, better then 3. And the real kicker is, after conversations with the findee, who I have not met as I can't make it back up there for a while, he is going to drop it off at the airport, and he refuses to accept the $250.00 reward I promised, "I don't need it or want it." We argued about it for a bit and then I let him win, and told him OK, no reward, how cool is that? Much appreciated, as the plane's muffler just burned out (2600 hours TT) and it will cost 1 K to replace,
If not one thing Twelve others!!!
I dropped a pad once and the driver behind me saw it and stopped me. Thing is I had to buy him 2 new tires and rims.
Done deal, flew 5 hours yesterday (not that far, but I did the usual off airport ops on the way there and back, landed one site at 8700', so a little fun mixed in with "work"). Rather then wait until I got a callback to work in the area again, which SHOULD be soon but you never know...( kind of ironic that the work I did was setting up a rock crusher and conveyor for an outfit that was re-surfacing the local runway) I decided to just get it ASAP before something else went wrong. It fit perfect on the plane's cargo deck, which is where the passenger seat normally goes.
You might want to slip the seat back in and give the fellow who found your pad a ride in your plane someday.
Late Friday I got an emergency call from some truckers stuck at the nearby Flying J, they won't make it thru the port of entry unless I move the 46 K loaded 40' container 20" forward. I told them I can't do it, too heavy, and hang up. Then 20 minutes later called them back, "how about if I lift one end, just enough to put some pipe underneath, do the same on the other end, and then we roll it forward?" I just happened to have picked up some pipe the day before for a project at home, and it was still at my crane yard, and I even had my 30 ton load block already rigged for a three part line, as I had just picked a rock crusher the day before, and was picking a 14 K piece of machinery Monday. 99% of my work is with the headache ball/single part. It went slick, other then the container frame deforming a bit, it never did roll but a couple chain comalongs moved it enough to get them thru the port. Next time, some thick flat bar would solve that issue. The money guy wanted to give me a CC # for payment, but as he had a Wyoming area code, I asked him where he was exactly. "Alpine, all weekend." That's a place, a 45 minutes flight, but a 3 hour drive due to all the mountains, that I often fly to for breakfast and have been for 35 years. So, next morning, we met, and cheated the CC company out of their fee, and as he was a pro river runner I even got offered a raft ride on the Snake, but I told him that looked too dangerous, and got back into my homemade kit plane and flew off. Once again, the plane comes in real handy.
but I told him that looked too dangerous, and got back into my homemade kit plane and flew off
There's a story of some sort there ... 20 inches !! between go and no go at the port ? on a 480 inch container ? less than 5% of the length ?? I can see a problem with height, but 20 inches on the bed of a truck ? Or is it axle weights ? What was the requirement / problem ??
that would have been an axle wgt. prob. 10' spread trlr. is allowed 40.000 on interstate 40.300 will get you a scale problem
If it had been me doing the trucking, I would have seriously considered unbinding the container, getting some speed up (little at first, more if needed) and then hitting the brakes. That could have saved them my bill, but also maybe have lead to a much larger one. I am told my local port is somewhat notorious in the freighter world for being real sticklers. All I know is that when the newly installed system they put in a couple of years ago lights up green, telling me I don't have to pull in, it makes my day!
Have used seriously strong concrete structures to resituate loads on a flatbed before! Some old dock structures had full concrete walls up to a foot or two thick, worked great!! Just back in Gently so as not to awaken the watchman!!
Much easier if hauling cattle pop the clutch they set back, hit the brakes they step forward. Can get you through a scale if close. Also have backed up to another empty livestock trailer and off loaded a couple. Went to the next exit and backed up to the guy hauling a couple and reload head on down the road.
Like a baffle-less tanker, drive the scale boys nuts they leave you alone.
So I always wanted to go cross country in a tractor trailer. Back in 1991 my buddy who was the facilities manager for a medical device company asked me if I wanted to go Kalamzoo to LA and back? I'm in. His boss even paid me a per diem for helping drive. Flew us back home for a week while the trade show was going on. We pick up as new Ryder tractor in Kazoo (1800 miles, plastic still on the bunk) and a used Ryder furniture trailer, (Baker Knapp & Tubbs if you remember that name). So off we go. I tell him, you get us thru Chicago. We stop for dinner in IL and he says we are stretching out this trailer. He says, you take off and I'll pull the lever when I say hit the trailer brake. So as a newbie I'm cautious. I hit the trailer brake, nothing. Go faster he says, I do, hit the brake, nothing. Give it the gas this time so I do. I hit the brake and there's a big bang and a little something rolls out in the parking lot. I said what was that? He said you sheared off both stops of the rail holding the tandems. Good thing it hasn't been lubricated in a long time or we would be putting the tandems under the trailer. In my defense, looking at the breaks, they were cracked for some time. That was the first of many adventures and real fun trip . I talked to him last week and we went down memory lane again My first stop driving on a scale was hilarious, but that's for another day.
Chickens are the easiest ,,just gettum flying
Beautiful area your in
Another pool job, about my dozenth in the last year. Just as I snapped the shutter (or whatever my phone uses....) I remembered I was going to use a oval load ring between my round slings and load hook next time. Too late, and still OK I believe, with just 3400 on the hook, and my hook being loaded not out at the tip, but within it's marks. I did use a load ring for the big hot tub we set next to the pool, just to avoid hook crowding as I don't like 4 sling ends in my hook, makes it tough to get the gate back open and that's why load rings were invented I guess.
I have a need to pour about 3-4 yards of concrete in an area unreachable direct from a mixer truck due to the terrain and other factors. A pumper truck would be the easiest way of course, but overkill for such a small pour. No one in my area has a crane bucket I can borrow, rent, or steal, so I am going to modify a 55 gallon drum to serve as a bucket. I'll post later how it went, but my drum mod will stiffen it, provide a way for the crane to pick it/rig to, and maybe also allow for semi-controlled dumping. Rather then just burn two holes in the top of the sides and using shackles in the holes to rig to, my "plan" is to roll some 3" x 1'" flat bar, same dia. as the drum, into two half circles, with flanges on the ends so once around the drum they can be bolted or welded together. Not at the top, but just above halfway up. Then drill some 1/4" holes thru the curved flat bar and drum, maybe a dozen, to secure them to each other and distribute the forces. THEN, holesaw thru this now secured to the drum curved flange for a length of 2" pipe to slip clear thru the drum, and project out both sides a few inches. Then I'll weld some flat bar to the pipe ends, burn some holes in that, and then shackles and wire rope slings up to my hook, which will be well above head height. In theory, and depending on how much mud we dump in (I'm thinking about 3/4 full) maybe this will allow a couple guys to have some control over the dump process, as I hover it a foot or so off the ground, maybe they can grab the bottom and tilt and pour. We have the poles plumb now but they could be knocked off kilter if a drum of concrete fell in the hole. The best part of this plan is that it removes me from the other scenarios we postulated: hand mixing bagged mud, wheel barrowing down a hill, and others. This way allows me to sit in the air conditioned cab, looking important, while others do the grunt work.
May want to look into something heavier, like a old Farm Fuel tank or some heavier wall steel vessel, drums collapse relatively easily without a lid or if a end cap is cut away.
why not use a 2 wheel wb rigged with nylon straps so it picks level
Drums are easy to pick up around here, free. The issue of it collapsing under a load should be dealt with by the way I rig it, to the steel collar/ ring I'm bolting around it. Most importantly this ring will be about 3/4 of the way up it's height, and I'll fill the drum less then that, but yes it is still a concern. Today I had the thought of using my Warn electric Pullzall winch, one end rigged to the drum bottom, the other my load hook, to help get it started tilting over, with maybe a chain limiter on the upper end to keep it from turning over all at once, but only part way. The dynamics of it all will much clearer the first time I test it under load, with water. But water only weighs 8.3 lbs per cubic ft., concrete weighs 150 I just read, and a cubic foot contains 7.5 gallons, so even filling the drum halfway up, call it 30 gallons, would weigh 600 pounds. I will proceed cautiously, the last thing I want is a failure and no other way to move the mud. Even a third full, the drum would beat the heck out of wheel barrowing it or a 5 gallon bucket brigade. A steep hillside above where the mixer will be, steep and high enough so we can't flow it right out of the chute, is why my boom truck usage makes sense to me. That and it's air conditioned cab.
1" thick material is overkill. I would use 1/2" and make 6 or more inches wide.
Used a barrel dumper at the nuke for hazardous chemicals so we could control it, still crushed a few is why my concern. One cubic yard wet concrete is just over a ton so you should be working 1/3 cy in the barrels at 600+/-
Rental onsite mixer or redi mix delivery truck? Is there room to stand by the poles and the holes? I like petepilot's idea of just lifting a two wheel wheel barrow up there, set it on the ground, and then they can dump it with control. I have a concrete bucket if you want to fly down and get it. It would probably overload the cub. Chain fall or come along to help start the dump would help, but once it starts to come out, its all coming out. Could you mount two wheels or like a 2 wheel cart to one side of the bottom of the drum, and set the bottom on the ground and they could roll it back as you let down, to help control the dump, essentially laying the drum on the ground horizontally. Then you could raise the bottom with a block and tackle/ chain fall/ comealong. https://www.purplewave.com/auction/...oncrete_Equipment-Concrete_Dispenser-Nebraska Got a sunbelt rentals nearby? https://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipment/items/935/concrete-buckets/
How many 55 gal drum loads are required ? Do you need pin point accuracy during the pour ? Idea : a concrete bucket made like a pancake batter dispenser. A hole at the bottom of the drum, a cone shaped stopper on a rod. The rod extends to the top of the drum. Use a cross piece at the top to center the rod and support the drum diameter for lifting. A lever at the cross piece to lift the rod/stopper. The cone centers in the bottom hole so no guide required. Reinforce the edges of the bottom hole with a ring to prevent the cone from tearing through sheet metal drum bottom. A thousand likes if you build this with a pic posted.
I've carried concrete with my skid steer to build a floor for a gazebo in a back yard. Put plywood on the lawn. The driveway was stamped colored concrete with fancy edges. No way the owner was putting a heavy truck on there. He was the owner of a large building supply outfit. I think someone joked the driveway probably cost 30K and the gazebo over 100K. There was a custom built commercial style BBQ in the gazebo. The floor was also stamped concrete. How about using a dumping hopper only partially filled? Might be able to find a used one or maybe rent one and rinse it out good. They use them for scrap steel so concrete shouldn't be a problem.
My experiences with Sage Junction have been less than ideal. As many oversize loads I've seen out at the 22/28 junction, I'm not the only one.
typo, it will be 1/8", already have it rolled, and the pipe going thru it should stiffen it, keep it from collapsing. Hey, I'm making this up as I go! No rental yards here with crane buckets or anything else that'd work. I do have to admit, though I have hauled a lot of concrete in 5 gallon buckets, and not that long ago, I was still surprised to see it weighs that much more then water. I would have guessed double, I think any shortcomings in the design can be solved by light enough loads 1/3 of a drum, 1/2 at most, beta testing will tell the story. Hold on...a major math/ reading comprehension error: One cubic foot of water contains 7.48052 gallons. The weight of one cubic foot of water is 7.48052 gallons times 8.3453 pounds , which equals 62. I misread this earlier, and no one here caught it! So, concrete all in all, weighs around 2.4 times as much as water, the first way I stated it, it would weigh 17 times as much! That what I intuitively knew was off, and what I get for just googling the info, then mis reading it, instead of penciling it out myself. Garbage in and out.
I have used scrap dumpsters at a factory numerous times. They work pretty good. They were brought to the pour with a forklift, you do have to tilt it just a little to get it started to dump. Most of them just sit on the frame, so you have to be a little bit careful about them falling off when dumping. They make concrete carrier to be used by a skidsteer that even has a chute that would work, but again has to be tilted.
You're supposed to have them on a safety chain to the mast......
A job I was asked to come look at, a 45 minute one way drive, but since I can fly across the big lake in the way it only took me 20 minutes. Talking to the contractor, once he told me the trusses were three ply, and he would prep them with the purlins in place, I mentioned each pick would probably be around 3500 pounds, and to send me the truss weight so I could figure it closer and make sure I won't run out of reach. Turns out, I guesstimated it the first time correctly, 3500 pounds is what I came up with! Got a bit lucky....I told him 4000 pounds, counting my headache ball and spreader bar and misc. 60' span. I also got my 55 gallon drum concrete bucket BETA tested. No deformation on anything, at least 3/4 full of water, and we'll probably just fill it halfway with mud, so it should work fine. I had a Warn winch in the hangar, and it looks like it will make the dumping a lot easier and more controlled. I may get fancy and rig a rope snubber to also control it once it get's over center, but I don't think I'll need to, the pivot point (1.5" pipe, clear thru the drum) should make it somewhat controllable, at least better then just a "all at once" dump. We need to baby things until we get enough mud in the hole, at first the pole stability will be all on the bracing, and it's so so due to all the rocks.The chain is just what I had laying around, not the rigging I'll use next week.
that`ll work
Ok now we need pics on the stove and that bicycle motorcycle contraption
The bearing is a Toyo, I was told it is a Japanese company that bought out Timken.
Odds are good that if you bought that bearing from the Dealer it would also be a Toyo. .... At the inflated price. What gets me is how do you have time to keep the shop that clean!! Way to much time on your hands!
Bearings are a mess anymore, used to be a timken/ national/ Chicago rawhide, were all made here. Now it could be mexico, southeast asia, taiwan, china, maybe usa- you don't know until you get the box. Two of the same bearing may be two different countries. And Theweldor is right- OEM is just whatever is available, with their markup.
The JD dealer used to claim JD got the best bearings and the 2nd's went to the bearing houses. Know another mechanic who used to work for a heavy equipment dealer. They got bearings locally but put them in OEM boxes to pass them off as coming from Italy.
We did our little 3 yard pour today, and the mixer driver managed just barely to reach the holes, and the mud just barely flowed enough (a very low slump) down the almost level chute, to make my neat little 55 gallon drum concrete bucket look pretty dumb. This is a project I'm helping a neighbor with, at my cost, but also meaning I'm not driving the National up the mountain from town and back just for grins, NOBODY rides for free, so he will be getting billed, 30 bucks ought to cover my diesel. He still doesn't have a sense of what a clusterwonk it would have been if we had planned on the chute dumping working, meaning no crane bucket, and it didn't, now what? Another 1' further away, and another 4" in elevation difference, it wouldn't, it was that close, and the driver was already concerned about rolling over to the side slope he was dealing with. My neighbor, with no construction experience, against what I and other full time concrete guys told him, insisted a truck dump would work, and darn it he was right.
I hate it when someone that knows nothing gets lucky and there too dumb to know how lucky they were.
how do I double-super-like this comment?
I made a rack for the spool of new winch line. it went pretty slick. As we spooled the old one off, the guys said it looked pretty good. I told them I knew that, but at 8 K hours of use I wanted to replace it anyway, "just because." Got my annual inspection done at the same time, from this new Idaho offshoot of a big Utah crane inspection and service biz. I was having my inspections done by guys traveling hundreds of miles previously, and even then having to schedule with others to make it worth their while to make the drive. This new place is 1/4 mile down the road from my crane yard! The first time I saw their new sign as I driving by, I thought I was hallucinating, "that's too good to be true!" They will fill a big gap for me: someone not only for inspections but (hopefully not) major repairs, all within a few minutes walk instead of a hours long drive to the big city. In BS'ing with the service manager, he casually mentioned more things about my past 4 boom trucks, that I knew were true by my own experiences, that really made me feel like my rig is in good hands. I don't pretend to be a real mechanic, and am perfectly willing to pay others to do what needs to be done, so their presence almost within shouting distance is a major load off my mind.
You just about need another crane just to work on your own crane. We bought a yard crane primarily for that reason. Its pretty handy for working on other equipment without having to set up out 35 ton.
Their shop doesn't have a bridge crane or a yard crane, if I ever need to pull my entire boom off, I'll run down the road a mile to the big CAT equipment yard and rent their 15 ton (may be bigger) National boom truck for a couple hours or as long as needed, before I'd call any of my competition and give them the business! Being a big AG area, we have, besides CAT, a couple of good hydraulic hose shops also. CAT is always my last resort, as they are always very high dollar.
A cabin job on a mountain side overlooking the Palisades reservoir, which is fed by Yellowstone Park's lakes. The mountains around it are 10K +'. 3 hrs work, 5 hours driving!
Palisades was always my favorite part of heading home at the end of wheat harvest.
The kind of things I do on my days off, a dual pick of this 47' railroad signal tower I got for free as part of a recent job. I will sell it for a flag pole, is the idea. Once off the flatbed, and with the center of gravity determined, the mini X was able to walk off with it. I don't keep the National where I live, in case anyone was wondering.
I had a mountain top job Saturday, setting 3 high cube 40' containers on piers. The owner is going to make a vacation home out of them. 1200' above the valley floor, and invisible from any roads, the owner was quite surprised that I instantly knew the location and didn't need any directions to get there. My airstrip is 8 miles down the same ridge and I fly over this area often so once again the plane comes in handy. A real windy day, 25-30+ mph, but what made it safe enough was the direction of the wind, more or less away from me as I was lifting. Plus, he had a small tractor and a mini X on site, which we used as a deadman to keep things under control. Just him, no other help, and the guy was a "tech engineer", whatever that means these days. At the end of the job I complimented him (I think), as he was as sharp to work with as any full time construction guy, especially with being short handed and with the wind. I never had more then 50' of stick out, and all in all it was a safe operation from what I could feel in the op seat.
This "boom truck" was built up by a crop duster buddy, to lift 500 pound bags of fertilizer up high enough to dump in the plane's hopper. Powered by the original power steering pump! Pretty ingenious.
Power steering pumps can do many things. Neat old building, love old aviation buildings, and old planes. Only an hour away from where they have the annual Stearman fly in so go there about every year. Love the sound of those round motors!
Yes, the old sign work on the front of the hangar is pretty historically significant, and I have been keeping an eye on it. I would try and salvage it if the hangar fell down. I like home made lifting devices of any sort, this one takes advantage of the long bus chassis as a counter weight I guess!
Yesterday I get set up as the carpenters go behind the house to tool up. 10 minutes go by, and after I started getting bored I got out of the warm cab and went back to see what the holdup was. The genset wouldn't start, so no air compressor. "No problem" I told them, "I brought an air compressor with me." I of course was referring to the Mack's air system, and I have a air line fitting on one of my tanks, and I carry various reducers and bushings to adapt any of the commonly used fittings to it. A few minutes later and they were nailing away, when asked how the PSI was, I was told it was plenty good, as I knew from previous times I've done this, about 135. IF I was really feeling generous, I'd also get a 4 KW high quality inverter, to also supply a crew with plenty of juice, but that ain't going to happen. This was a crew I like, and I was happy to help out, and only added 5 bucks an hour to my bill. Kidding....
get that inverter you can 9.50
At one point, while I was still building, I had a remote for my 17 ton Terex, and would often be wearing my tool belt and the remote both, and also have a nailer gun in one hand. It also had a 2500 watt sine wave inverter, enough for a worm gear saw, plus the air setup. Kind of like a one man band! Then I wised up, and started doing nothing but boom truck work for others and after 30 some years, totally got out of pounding nails myself, now I just watch others do it.
I love having onboard air and a hose and chucks for my tires.
Monday morning, re-setting the trusses I put up Friday. A good crew, and we did have 50+ mph winds, so I charged them half price, and told them if I had to come back again, I'd charge them double my usual rate.
Trusses fall here they scrap them, truss manufacturer will not warrant load capacity or vouch for ability to retain structural integrity if topple during build. Have seen Carpenters here add blocking to the more limber trusses the engineers qualify for constructions going up here too.
All the trusses I ever set, and that's more than a few, all been hand nailed. Too many things going on to be dragging air hoses around. And always strong backs bolted to the gable wall prior to start and a stack of 1 x 8 rough sawn spruce for temporary diagonal bracing.
We set truss on a barn frame at the BILs place, by hand, 30 footers setting one ear up then climbing and two others shifting the other ear up to a third on wall. Should have had a crane service just was not affordable then. All cross braced and end braced until confirmed square then set sheathing and tar paper. Eventually roofing then a trespasser burnt it down.
Well, I am pretty sure nothing was or will be said to the truss manufacturer, so no warranty worries! Hopefully, the building inspector won't notice all the scabbed on 2x4's the carpenters slapped on. If so the expense will come directly out of their pocket, something they are trying to avoid for some reason. If I had to guess, I'd say he won't notice, if he does, the truss company can come out and do what they call a field repair, fix them in place. The way these guys repaired them I'd have no concerns, even if it was my house. There are 40 or 50 buildings in my area, that I built trusses myself for, back in the days before something called "engineering" was required, and when I was building. 25-40 years ago now, all of them still standing just fine. It's kind of, no it IS, an insult to a good carpenter to tell him he doesn't know how to make a truss, (imagine telling that to a modern day county inspector, ha ha) and the new guys nowadays ARE clueless, they just know how to set the factory built ones. Most here use nail guns when setting trusses, to nail to the top plate, they are spoiled, and the new small diameter plastic airhoses are a lot easier to drag around then the old rubber ones, and the guns are lighter too.
Ha! A flying forum I'm on has somehow segued into a show and tell about cranes, like my posts here devolve into plane talk. This 45 ton Manitex shown is interesting, mostly for it's licensed gross weight, guess that makes up for all those tires. https://backcountrypilot.org/community/forum/latest/why-so-much-nose-down-attitude-on-skis-24583
really nice when you have a half acre to maneuver it, LOL! Those tandem steers are not known for a sweet turning angle, and then there's that wheelbase thing. I would just pay a guy to bring the 53' trailer for me, thank you very much. Cool that you have skis. I have my float rating but have never been around the skis.
Same deal I'd suppose as floats, #1 being, no brakes! Here's a link to a ski flying vid a buddy did on my ski flying, he's a semi pro video guy and is notorious in the YouTube world for making poor flying decisions, and his good looking Lithuanian girlfriend.
Fun video! No brakes is different on floats. They fall off the step quick and the water is really draggy. The downer is when you don't plan your docking and doink the dock. Or not-quite-make-it, after you already shut down the engine. Ask me how I know
Great video, thanks for the ride. Got to love all the back country lading places!
Yeah, that video was great, almost like getting to meet you.
I had to check out an upcoming hot tub job today, driving my car, and things quickly went horribly wrong. I arrived at the high dollar house unannounced, (the hot tub company always wants me to eyeball things before the big day), and all I had was the address, so no advance notice. I knock on the door, and get checked out before they open the door, and since I haven't had a haircut in 3 months I am looking rougher then usual. So I made sure to have my biz card out and when the teenage girl opened the door I immediately handed it to her and said I was "the crane guy" who was going to be setting the new hot tub. Her eyes got big, she squealed, and jumped up and down. Then her mother came into view, and her response was entirely different. Turns out I had ruined her Christmas surprise to the daughter, and she was PISSED. She made me wait long enough while she "put her shoes on", that I almost drove off as I had a job to get to, and when she reappeared I immediately apologized for letting the cat out of the bag, expecting her to laugh and to say something like "how could you know." But she wasn't buying it, she was still pissed, she showed me the tub site and as expected it will be an easy pick, and as I left she gave me one final glare. The job will be on the 22nd., and if she still has an attitude, I may tell her daugher there is no Santa Claus.
After setting the steel trusses on a new convenience store/gas station, I had to lift the steel panels that lay on the trusses, prior to insulation and the rubber membrane. Some of these bundles weighed over 4K, and one edge was sharp. Residential metal roofing I've picked before "rolled", the rigging pulled it into a cylindrical shape more or less, and it seem to hurt it at all. This heavier, plus shaped different, stuff didn't do that, all 6 bundles remained flat and stable. The welder crew says they always used cables, but he also said they didn't use a spreader bar, so even though they do this a lot, metal roofs, I exercised my authority and told him we WOULD be using a spreader, and my lifting grade chain. Of course they needed them placed at my limit, and at one point I thought I might need a 31 ton crane instead of my 30 ton, but we got it done. This chain is where I currently buy all my diesel, and this new one is just 1 mile down the road from my yard, versus the others in town being a real hassle to get to, so it was great for me to do the work, on a place I'll patronize a lot when it's done.
My little hot tub job on the 22.nd got canceled. My tub guy said the people canceled their order altogether, though he didn't feel it was because I let the cat out the bag and ruined their big Christmas surprise to their daughter, but other factors. I think that lady is still mad at me.....
could be the tub really was`nt for the daughter
That pick looks great with the spreader, and would look like puckered nether regions without. I don't see how you could get a decent bite on it otherwise.
I rarely use the two lengths of lifting grade chain I have, but the edges were so sharp I didn't even want to use my pads (old fire hose) as it might have ruined them! The foreman on this job spoke English, barely,and we had to work around that (I speak no Spanish) and keep it safe, but I could have swore he said that they didn't use a spreader bar, but once I determined that was what he meant to say, I called BS on it and then had to make my point clear, we are using a spreader bar. A good crew though, they liked how it went. I'd rather work with a crew like them then good English speakers who were dummies and thought they were hot stuff! It's rare, never actually, to see a Hispanic crew here, other then the language thing, not be competent. Guess I'm racist, and a white guy.
We had to use a spreader on our structure set the other day for the grease interceptor. The submittals and drawings all showed inside clutch pick points on that thing, and there weren't any just the outside ones. This was extra problematic for me because I had a pretty tight trench box! I was able to lay on my belly and reach down and flip open the clutch with a shovel while somebody else pried the clutch out of the pocket with another shovel.
Lifting fuel tanks for a big farm that was setting up a new site for them all, I found out something interesting. A 10,000 gallon tanks weighs 10,000 lbs., and a 750 gallon tank weighs 7500 lbs., +- a few hundred pounds anyway. This formula came in handy as we had to move them well over 200' away, so multiple setups were needed. I could move the 10 K tanks 70' at a time, 35' from behind me, another 35' in front of me, repeat. We actually measured out my setup points, didn't eyeball it, in order to max out my picks and it worked pretty good. Some, most tanks were vertical, with no lifting eyes anywhere, so we farmer engineered it by removing the 3" center pipe nipple and rigged my red round sling to a big shackle down inside the tank. This kept my sling just free of the fitting, while the shackle was large enough to prevent it pulling through. One big tank was horizontal though, and against my advice they wanted to rig me to the sides, they claimed that was how they picked it earlier, using two tractors. I said OK, but I'm going to pick it and then wait a few minutes while it's still over the truck. Did so, and with it 6" above the trailer, after 2 minutes, one of the welded on round bar pick points (being side loaded like it was, no surprise) failed and down it came. No harm to it or my equipment, and then we did it the way I originally suggested, with my spreader bar and slings clear around it. Some of these farmers are dangerous, they are expert half assers and are used to getting away with it, not this time. He's lucky it didn't fail over his new tank farm containment walls with it's EPDM membrane, that at least he did real good. Anyway, my forecasting this failure made me the golden boy for the rest of the job, I could no wrong, you guys will rightfully say I shouldn't have picked it that way to start with, and I agree! Another job on the local Flying J truckstop, this big HVAC that came all bolted together as one unit, after much conferring with the HVAC guys, this is what I came up with. The posted rigging "tips" on the equipment assumed I had rigging of exactly the correct lengths to pick it in 6 or 8 places at once, totally ignoring the geometry of the thing and that rigging comes in even numbers, in my case I carry 12' and 20's, and if warned in advance I'll bring my lifting grade chain and this chain fall. Though I am unclear as to it's use legally, as it's not "rated for overhead lifting," we got the job done.
On the water, they use chain falls like that all the time. That was a mess of a pick to figure out!
Got a "hurry up" call yesterday, out of the blue. A good home and light commercial contractor customer, I made record time from my home to the job site. Seems his rented excavator had gotten too close to the hole, and it had caved in, leaving the 20 ton machine in danger of tipping over. I backed in, as is my usual, and only then googled it's model number and found it's weight. I immediately told him all I could do was to act as a dead man, rigging to his undercarriage, and then maybe he could raise the boom(HIS boom) and swing it around to provide a brace to prevent it from toppling. No way was I going to hook onto it, too heavy, too precarious. It was ticklish, for him in it's op cab, ( I had enough chain rigged from my front tow hook to it, so that even if it had toppled, I wouldn't get drug in) to very slowly move the boom 90 degrees and plant it, but once he did, the pressure was off and we all took a deep breath. But then he found his one track that wasn't airborne, was bound up from the side load, and would not budge, all he could do was tread air with the other one! The more he tried various combos of boom and track action, the worse it got. It was getting towards dark, and it was obvious we were done for the day, I suggested to him that since we hadn't bent anything and nobody had yet got hurt, we bag it, and I unhooked and left. His boom keeping it more or less on an even keel all night. I gave him the contact info of a guy with an 80 ton Terex truck crane, who I knew was working just 3 miles away as luck would have it, after first sending the Terex op some pictures so he would have a heads up. My other work today got canceled due to wind, and since I was in town already I drove my car over to the site just to see what was up. I couldn't have timed it better, about 5 minutes after I pulled up they made the pick, I kicked myself for not bringing some popcorn. It was great to just be an observer and not have any skin in the game, not to mention the mud they were dealing with. After it was out, I did drive over and roll down my window so both parties could thank me for getting them the right tool for the job, and then I drove off, job well done, and I didn't even get my hands dirty! I barely made it out in my 2 wheel drive car, a mix of mud and frost, and it was getting warmer, there was a good chance the Terex might have problems and I didn't need to be there to see that, besides he had a support crew there. The track never came off, no damage, other then to the contractors checkbook, and no one got hurt, so I can afford to be a bit humorous about it all. I'm not sure why they used 2 spreader bars, other then for extra capacity I guess, first time I've seen two used side by side like that. about it all.
"Seems his rented excavator had gotten too close to the hole" You can't turn your back on those rental excavators, they will do the strangest stuff.
Later, the same day, I had somehow failed to notice this motel going up, just hadn't been in that part of town I guess. From a distance, all I saw was a lot of OSB, and my first thought was WHO DID THE CRANE WORK? They had it pretty well covered, a big SLC contractor has his own mini tower crane, there are none in my area, based here anyway. I never did see it run, I sat and drank coffee for half an hour right after lunch, and finally gave up. I was wondering what the line and trolly speed was going to be like. Then today, flew 45 miles to eyeball this truss job I'm doing tomorrow, on the left, looks like a big ag building. But what caught my eye were the two giant slipinslides. I had to planned to land, until I saw there was no snow, and though I'm on the wheel skis now, the tires are small enough to make me a lot more cautious then the big bush tires I'm on all summer. I had fun anyway, plus I know how to find the place now driving.
from what I see there. a very inexperienced operator
that was tongue-in-cheek for "should not have an excavator off flat ground".
Yeah he's NOT a heavy equipment operator, but in the situation he managed to get it in, I don't know if an expert could have extracted himself or not. Maybe.... I know those things have some incredible abilities in the proper hands. Looking at my truss setting job tomorrow: the tag line will be on the prevailing down wind end, and I'll be looking right into the sun. If they had dumped those trusses on the left side of the building it would have been much better from my perspective, but they think like carpenters. Nothing I hate worse then having to babysit a guy on the tag line, modifying how I want to swing the trusses just so they can keep the line clear, and many don't seem to understand the concept of not being able to push on a rope.
With the bucket on the ground in the hole, most guys would have either turned it away from the hole pushing themselves away, or just walked it right down into the hole and dug their way out of one end or the other. But that's with a guy that can run the stick and the tracks at the same time, which it sounds (and looks) like is out of his skill range. Hopefully he pays his way out of his learning experience, and doesn't turn it into his insurance as a "incident" and we all get to pay for it.
It was a rental, and for some reason when I offered to send the rental outfit some pictures he declined! That bound up track, almost thrown, on the uphill side, with the other in the air, complicated things, we were all surprised that once he got the bucket around, eliminating the tip over hazard, that he couldn't finagle it out. It wasn't until he told me that the uphill track was a no/go that I cut him some slack....I flew over the day after, and judging from the tracks, the 80 ton was at least able to drive right out, I don't know if those Terex rigs like that have AWD or what but I'd bet it was close to getting stuck, got lucky. I'll be going back to set trusses eventually, and we can all laugh about then, maybe.
Man whoever stacked the counterweights on that self erector did a bang up job. It’s got a Bronson crane decal. They’re the biggest self erector dealer in the states. And they’re not as fast as a good operator on a hydraulic crane. The difference isn’t huge tho. They’re just a heck of a lot cheaper then a comparable hydraulic crane and it’s remote controlled. So now your operator is also the rigger. Or he can be the one landing the loads. looks to be either an igo36 or Igo50.
I don't know what he paid for that Crane rental, but it might have been cheaper to have someone who knows how to run excavator bring another machine, in stuff some dirt underneath it, and drive it off. All it would take is a mini. That's how a dirt hand thinks though
Pretty amazing, the reach and the small set up size required. It takes two semi's to transport I was told. Another impressive rig, making a 1500' high below the hook pick of 3600 pounds, at a radius of 2 miles! They were scattering straw on a burned hillside, about 1/2 mile from my yard in town, a good show.
Those K-Max helicopters can do a lot for how small they look. Really fun to watch the intermeshing rotors spool up.
Makes me wonder why ALL helicopters aren't built that way. When I pulled in the (unmarked, no keep out ) area they were working out of, just far enough off the highway to be out of the way of traffic, I was able to watch for several minutes. Then a lady walked over, and before she said anything I told her I was a crane guy and a pilot, and I was enjoying the show. She wasn't impressed, and said, "if you want to watch, do it across the road," booted me outa there nicely! I'd seen enough and drove off, and really, I was as close as I wanted to be, and they probably should have had that turn off blocked off but I'm glad they didn't.
In the summer of 2018 we had a lot of forest fires here and this one was flying out of our airport for 2 weeks.
This pick was going great, hanging level, square, etc., until the carpenters started fighting each other on inserting the beams into the beam pockets. One pulling, the guy on the other end pushing, no communication, one of those times where I'm glad to just do what I'm told and leave the thinking to others. I've learned to keep my mouth shut, unless I see something really dangerous, this was never that, just ugly. Turned out fine in the end. About half an hour later setting trusses, we had a man go down, to his knees anyway. He was climbing over an icy truss in such a way that when he slipped, the top chord end up contacting his nether regions and he had to take 5 until he recovered. First time i've seen that happen on a job, poor bugger.
I had a 23 K concrete tank to set in a very tight area, as in narrow. The 80 ton Terex I could have handed the job over to wouldn't have made the entry into the area, and would have been too far away for it's chart. The construction company I was working for has a 50 ton RT crane that would have been good but it was tied up in another town and this was a hurry up job. I made sure the crew (a good one luckily, I had worked with before) were fully aware of the limitations of the 30 ton National, and how tight it was going to be, just to make sure we were all on the same page. After I offloaded the semi out in front of the project, I got set up in back, short jacked on one side. Then their excavator was just barely able to pick and carry the tank and its components, with air visible under the rear of the tracks. To get it close enough to me, they had to crawl between the foundation walls, with less than an inch clearance on both sides. Everything about this job was tight and maxxed out. My left rear/most important outrigger was 1/4" from the foundation wall, with the 10' deep excavation right along side the footing. I assumed the foundation would hold otherwise I would never setup so close to a hole like that. The crew I was working with had poured it, and assured me it had the required rebar in it ( I asked) and the ground was compacted and largely undisturbed. After we rigged my 30 ton load block for a 3 part line, (font changed, don't know why...) I picked it up and while still holding it away from the excavation just a couple inches off the ground, got out of the cab and told them now we were going to just give it a few minutes, 3 or 4, do a final check before swinging over the hole and getting fully committed. During this hold, I pointed to the 2" natural gas line I would be within 3 or 4" inches of, and as a joke said something like "that's not hot, right?" I was told it was heating half the school, being fully active. Of course! Once I swung it around and started winching down, I got the expected "boom down", as I did, I was getting to the end of my chart and told them so, as I didn't want to get in a position where I could not boom it back, and the hole was so tight getting it jammed up catti wampus was a concern, not in or out all the way, that would have been a real problem. So real slow, and 2 minutes later it touched down perfect. When I billed for this job, (didn't do anything, font changed) I did something I had never done before, I made a note about needing a 3 part line and charged them $25.00 more an hour, my usual rate didn't seem near enough.
Sometimes hiring the professional is a requirement, not an option. Well done!
I don't know what enlarged my pictures like that, maybe it's just my computer but the entire site is all screwed up on my end, something has changed?
OK, now this site is back to normal, from my end anyway, and i see the pictures are too. Made a 7800' lb pick today of a 6' dia. fiberglass pipe for an underground irrigation canal. I love these weird/unusual type jobs....the original system was all concrete, put in in 1905, once out in the country, now in suburbia so they have to be more sneaky how and where it transits from point A to B. Once I set it in the open trench, the crew inside the tunnel rigged onto it with a "pipe puller", a purpose made grabber that hooked to an electric winch further inside the tunnel, and the crew sucked it in until it mated up with a huge HDPM rubber grommet. This tunnel was 1/2 mile long, between the above ground points, and I got permission to walk into a ways, about 50' was far enough to satisfy my curiosity, if I had wanted to I could have come out 1/2 mile away. This glass pipe is rated for a 100 year life span. I gained some points with the crew, when I told them all the water that feeds this system comes from a fairly small underground spring fed pond about 20 miles way, something I knew from flying over this whole area for decades. The huge gravity flow irrigation systems we have out west are amazing engineering, and fun to check out from the air. No pictures darn it.
The gravity water was the main stay of mining and farming with aqueducts going around the side of mountain, even wood was used on the side of a mountain to carry water long distances. I bet they stand out very well flying low, used to be able to see them when flying at 10K stretching for miles. A lot of back breaking work for sure!
I wasn't able to get the story on this "overheating" event, whether it was powerline line inspired or not, but they did say it was going to be rebuilt. Another small tower crane, taking food out of my mouth! Luckily I have plenty of other work and am actually a bit relieved I didn't get tied up in this large apartment/condo complex job. It's hard to keep my regular customers happy when the big projects come along, and those regular customers will still be there after the big project is finished. This project is using all pre fabbed walls, framed and sheeted, and the tower crane makes perfect sense to me, much more cost effective then I would be.
you can't win with jobs like that, they want you YESTERDAY and TIME IS MONEY but you can't bid high enough to just tie up your crane and ditch all those customers who pay for the mobs and keep you busy year after year.
The CAT facility a couple miles down the road from my yard, this 75 (?) ton crane had to come from 50 miles away, if I had the rig I'd get all their work like this, oh well. I'm busy enough. I set every single one of those multi colored panels (and it's a huge facility) when they built the place about 10 years ago. It's a windy location, and they were foam cored, and all custom built, as to the length and the color. There were strict plans as to what color went where, some big brain had it all figured out, I still think it looks weird. I was told if one got away from us and got damaged, a replacement would take several weeks and cost $2,000.00, one never did, still can't believe that.
MY Hirshmann LMI is flashing a 04 error code, I believe that means it is no longer communicating with the boom, it's not getting the needed info about the boom's extension and the pressure on it. The first thing I did was check my ATB cable, and it appears to be fine. That reel keeps track of how many feet of stick I have out, so that seemed to make sense to check first. Then I started thinking it was the pressure transducer...so I get the parts book out, and while it lists every other darn part in the entire 1300A National, there is not one word about the LMI or the boom's transducer. Looking in the boom end, nothing jumped out at me that looked like what I'd think a transducer should look like (hydraulic fittings plus electric wires, both). I think it may be in the dog house on the turret, where all the hydraulic lines terminate. Would it be on the lines that scope the boom out? What do they even look like? Here's the error code explanation : Operating mode switch in the console set incorrectly. Operating mode is not permissible with actual crane configuration. That sounds better, like I somehow pushed a button I had never pushed before, and somehow made it boot up wrong. I guess it's time to read the entire user manual before I start worrying about a transducer.
Pressure transducer for weight is on the boom up/ doom down cylinder, not telescope. Does yours have the switches on the outriggers to show full/ half/ retracted positions?
Boom up/down cylinder, I knew that, or should have...... makes better sense. No switches, but the LMI asks what position the outriggers are in, and it's up to me to tell it correctly. The setup mode is the same as its always been utriggers out 100%, single part line, no jib mounted, etc., either it's a failed transducer, or the LMI did something weird and needs to be set up again from scratch somehow. I hope its a part replacement rather then some obscure computer thing. I will be messing with it more in a couple hours. My totally unrelated backup camera also quit working, if not at the same time this problem started, close to it. And...I threw a serpentine belt also about the same time. Hard to imagine it's all related, not like losing the alternator would cause a voltage spike, more of a sag I'd imagine.
You probably know the story that trouble comes in threes. Once you fix these problems you should be set for a while.
Belt maybe took out some wiring?
Typically the pressure transducer have their own error code when they go bad. It sounds more like a issue in the display key or the override/ operation key on the big box. From what the description is . If the length reel gets too far out of adjustment retracted, it will throw a code. Will your functions work if you turn the override?
I think you are correct CO. The service manager of the National dealer in SLC told me it sounded like a simple problem, not a transducer, and all I needed to do was "reset the limits in the LMI", which is located in the turret swivel, or at least the limit setting switches are, or something like that. I played around with it today (the LMI display) while setting trusses, and quickly got out of my depth, after it asked for my code. But yeah, I can operate still, via the over ride. As luck would have it though my last two truss jobs, for reasons of the crew, visibility, and the conditions, it would have been real nice to have my radius display back. Not to mention the ATB. So, tomorrow morning at 4 AM I will make the 160 mile drive to their service center, (all interstate anyway) and hopefully be on my way back in an hour or so. No work scheduled tomorrow, so why not. I will also get educated on what went wrong, I'm not just going to drop it off but will be right there while they mess with it. I don't mind throwing some money and time at it, if they can get me turned around and headed back north ASAP. I DON"T want to get used to operating without an LMI, I did enough of that in the past, before I had one and before I knew better. Lantraxco: Hard to imagine how, the affected wiring for both are not anywhere near the thrown belt, I think it was just my time.....the National has been very good to me for the last 3500-4000 hours (have to check the op cab hour meter, around that) and if I can't afford to throw some money at it now and then I'm doing something wrong. Learning something in the process is worth something too.
Natman, Did you get it back working, and what was wrong?
I made the drive down, timed it just right and got there 5 minutes after the service shop opened. 15 minutes later I was on my way back, all fixed! It was a initial setup code that somehow got scrambled, and just had to be reset. The only codes I have messed with are when I tell it my outriggers are halfways out, or I'm rigged for a 2 or 3 part line, whether or not the jib is mounted etc., this was a bit deeper than that. The 320 miles of interstate driving (left at 5, was home before lunch, on a no work day, lousy flying conditions and no new snow at the ski area so I didn't miss doing anything else) was well worth it as IF it does it again I now know how to reset it. The service tech did say that a few guys have managed to really screw up their LMI's by random button pushing and ignorant code inputs, to the point where they were wiped out or at least had to undergo a lot of reprogramming, I didn't want to be one of those guys. NO CHARGE, they took pity on me, the only bad part of the trip back was diesel went up 5 cents at the same station I had filled up on the way down. Best of all, my next day job, with a 9 man crew in a pit below me, and three engineer/inspector types above watching and taking pictures while we positioned some 4500 pound pipe assemblies (in and out of the pit a lot of times, until they got the 6' diameter fiberglass tee joined up just right) I was fully operational and didn't have to make some lame excuse about my LMI being out.
yeah that is best. I had an LMI issue when hanging glass on a skybridge, and had to have a guy hold down a button on it while I worked. It was the boom truck so I tossed it over to the other work station and he chilled over there while I finished that set, then we figured out the problem.
While a lot of driving, glad it was a simple free repair. Glad that you are back operating and not having to over ride the computer. Plus now you know how to do it yourself. Even if you forget they will be able to walk you trough it now.
Spotted across the street from where I was working today. This guy modified a standard dump bed trailer with an electric winch (recessed underneath the bed, with appropriate fairleads) and then fabbed up 4 of these dumpster like containers. He has his kid drop them off at his jobsites, and then when needed he shows up and winches them into the trailer and heads to the dump. I'd guess this is cheaper than contracting with the big companies and their much larger dumpsters, plus it gives his kid something to do, keeps him out of trouble. A couple flip down ramps help guide it into the trailer.
Worth a view, only 8 seconds long
Holy crap!!! Reaaaaal lucky nobody was behind it...
Bet it seamed like a good idea. Hook the air line to it and the rod will just get pushed out
https://www.motor1.com/news/494926/pickup-hanging-off-bridge-rescue/ This just happened, I'm surprised it hasn't made the national news yet! They used a big rotator wrecker I believe to hoist it. Which reminds me: am I the only one to get a kick out of "Highway to Hell", and the other one, "Heavy Rescue 401", or whatever it's called, the shows all about heavy wreckers. That's how I know they are called rotators, I like to see how they abuse their rigging, but of course they are not lifting overhead, and I also like how they use their quick reeve snatch blocks in creative fashion. Often though, it seems like a regular small crane would be better suited for the work. Like what they used to get old Tiger Woods cart out of the ditch, that was a nice bit of rigging there.
I think the big difference between a rotator and a crane is how they can side load the rotator
I've noticed that, they must be built hell for stout just for that purpose. I like the dual winches they have, with the boom tip fairleads allowing wildy diverging cable angles. The way the operators have to reach up into the bed to run the controls looks a bit awkward though, the guys with the wireless remotes have it made. After getting stuck in mud or snow, or seeing others stuck, I have come close a couple times to rigging a snatch block off my front tow hooks, (to get the pull down low, so cable goes straight down off boom tip to the snatch block and turns a 90) and with the boom saddled, using the winch to pull myself out. I seriously considered it, but never did it....just doesn't seem right, not sure what the dynamics of that would be, I'll leave that to the rigs designed for that.
I've never done it, but I know a guy that did it in a bad spot, he hooked to a tree and winched out. But it was in a old school truck crane, with a stout boom rest. I think your boom rest will be the weak point in a hard pull. The rotaters are pretty slick. They are fine if they don't have to swing side loaded, but the swing motors don't like it much if they try to pull a load around if its dragging on the ground.
This rotater gets drug around pretty good. They dumped the crane on the building, tried to right it back up and cut the straps. They aren't having a very good day. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=455544628831206 There are some better pictures and other video's here: https://wjla.com/news/local/crane-t...-into-occupied-home-seriously-injuring-worker
That's one sketch recovery. Trying to pull something back over with that much boom out is just asking for bad things to happen in several different ways lol.
Knowing what the edges of a box boom look like, I'm surprised they did not see that coming. They are really knife-like. If that had not happened and they set the rotator up to dampen out the stand up action, it would have worked. Company I worked for in Seattle had flopped a boom truck pouring some columns with way too heavy a bucket too far out. They torched the bent boom off at the bottom extension, flopped it back upright put the boom in the rest and drove it out of there ASAP. This was before my time, but it explained how touchy they were as a company with regards to the boom truck business.
I pulled a 35 ton RT Grove upright that had about 65 ft of stick out. We also had an excavator opposite of me (plenty of room to work) and also a big farm tractor rigged to it, trying to cover all eventualities, and even with all that it was a bit sketchier than I would have liked. Worked out though.
There's no reason they should have been hooked clear out on the boom. They could have done just as much good with the "uprighting" crane short sticked, and hooked right where the boom cylinder attaches. No where for it to slide the chokers on the boom, and more capacity. They had the wrecker set right to catch it on the way back down. I'm sure that's what happened to the nylon, as they started to come up, it slid on the edges of the box and cut it.
Agreed!
Two 10 K pound seed bins, with no pick points, need to be moved 2 miles. I told the customer that, to do it right, we'd need two boom trucks, as tipping the thing over for transport was going to be the hard part...I got the impression he was thinking I could just side load my boom and force it over, ain't going to happen. They were originally delivered by the manufacturer on a flat bed trailer, that was designed to stand vertical to offload them. Which gave me an idea: the rancher no doubt has a trailer, probably several, and of different types. Why couldn't I pick the trailer, so it was hanging vertical, swing it over to the bin, and have them bind the heck out of it to the bin. Then I got make a quick reset, so that when I boomed back and winched down, I could nudge it towards me off vertical, while being directly lined up with it. We could have other equipment, trucks or tractors, to safety the trailer from rolling or tipping in an uncontrolled fashion, while this happened. The load would get closer to me as I let it down, with no side loading, and I'd never be picking the entire weight of both the trailer and the bin. Once at the site, the opposite would happen, and again extra equipment to keep things from getting too exciting, control any over center movement etc. We have tried to contact the manufacturer, but they have not responded, the original plan the rancher had was to hire a pro welder to weld 4 pick points onto each tank, but that'd still leave the tipping it over issue, which I feel he thinks is no big deal but I do. Two cranes isn't an option most likely, too far out. I have not heard back from him since I came up with my idea, and that doesn't break my heart at all as I am inclined to take a pass on this one, we'll see. Also, he told me he thought they weighed 10K, I'm not doing anything until I get a confirmation on that direct from their builder.
4 pick points and two drums. Lift it up and then trip it using the two lines. EDIT: I see you are single drum. DOH, silly suggestion.
Better to pass than break something or hurt someone. Passing is hard for "can-do" problem solver personalities of which this forum is full of.
Option #1: 30' long 3/4" steel choker or nylon, big steel semi tire and rim. 2' piece of 4"x4" steel 3/8" wall or so, larger than the rim. Drop choker through center hole, through semi rim, and around steel tubing. Pull the rim up to the bottom of the hopper, and lift tank. Trip it with a big loader and two chains on the legs. Using a nylon through the hole risks it getting chewed up, but it will spread out the load on the upper lid ring. I'd probably use steel. If the loader is big enough, he can hold the legs while you back a trailer under it. If he isn't, lay the hopper on two straps and pick up the whole tank to load. Looks like a farm so they surely have a big loader. If he can't totally handle his end when tripping, because the loader isn't big enough, just tip the hopper enough with the loader, and keep the "bottom" legs on the ground. A rim on its own is probably large enough without the tire. I can't see the bottom opening because someone has their ugly truck in the way. More than likely there's a slide on the bottom, it will have to come off. We used to have a 4x4 square tubing welded in a cross, with angle iron welded to the top. The angle irons would catch the outside of the hopper- similar to the rim so the cross couldn't slide around. In a pinch I've done it with just a single long piece of I-beam or such, across the opening, but that point loads the ring pretty good, and tends to slide around. Option #2 : I have done water tanks with a pair of chokers on a single line. Looking from the top, choke at 10:30 and 1:30. Choke them at about 3-4' down from the top of the tank. You'll have to use chains or another nylon and chain back down to the legs, so the upper chokers bite and don't slide off the top of the tank. Pick it up and is going to naturally tip. Loader would be nice, but I've also just got them swinging on same radius, stick the bottom legs, and follow it on over, using the momentum to bring them over. Option #3 Long chokers from the hook to two of the legs, also at 10:30 and 1:30. Trap those chokers with another chain or choker with binder that goes around the tank, 3-4' down from the top of the tank. That top tank line is going to have to be tight. As you lay over, that top line is going to want to go "down" the tank, so I'd have another line that went from the top "band" chain, to around the center lid to hold it so it won't go down the tank. This is kind of rigging like you would rig a pole, a choke at the bottom and a half hitch toward the top, the choke on the side so its going to go over. Option #1 is the easiest way to stand them back up, because once your up, it hangs straight. But if its got a welded on slide gate on the bottom of the hopper, they aren't cutting all that off. If you use #2 or #3 to stand back up, move the lines to more like 9:00 and 3:00 and it will hang a lot straighter once its up, but you may not be able to hold them out there. If you move the chokers to 9 and 3 on the way up, you're going to need a spreader bar. If the guy is going to be moving these a bunch, two three or four picking eyes on the sidewall to roof joint, is the way to go. And he provides the loader. . However you lay it down, a loader is going to make it 10x easier. But sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Also, almost all my tripping has been done with 25-35-45 ton grove truck cranes/ or rt's, on smaller tanks like that. So I've always had plenty of crane and those booms are stout so I could kind of "bull" the tank around. I would have concerns about your rig, especially trying to swing / hook it on the ground/ and follow the tank over by yourself. That gets some side load on it. Tying the trailer to the tank and then setting it over sounds like a huge pain in the ***. I don't think I'd do that.
When I first got the call, I thought it was one of the corrugated type, light gauge, bins, which I have picked with a mounted truck tire that was able to fit inside the larger access door, rigged to, and then pulled up against the inside conical top. A farmer came up with the idea. They were much lighter and smaller units though. I at first thought the same here, then I saw that they don't have an opening large enough to get the tire in, so gave it up. Your #1 idea of using the same technique, but with the wheel on the outside bottom should work, assuming the tank has a clear shot to drop the cable thru and the bottom shutter is not an issue. As would #2 and #3, but I like #1 the best, pretty straightforward and that always seems to be best in rigging most things. Problem is, I can't pick 10K from 40'+ away, (just 8, at most) which I would need to do initially to trip it, once set up far enough so I could lay it down towards me. I think I will pass on this one, I'm plenty busy without it this week, plus the site is on the other side of the Port of Entry and over a big pass, generally a PITA to get to, but I will text him back and pass along the #1 idea to him for a bigger crane to use, thanks a lot. I may have scared him off when I suggested the picking the trailer up scheme, I have not heard back from him yet on the idea! If I was younger and hungrier, I'd have a larger rig in addition to the 30 ton National, but it keeps me busy enough, and is paid for. It's hard to pass up work but this won't be the first time. EDIT: I'm sure I could do it......if I HAD to, don't have to.
Yes an older 1800 with two drums is kind of a small crane dream machine for me. Ness has one and had it on my job for a few days while my boom truck was down. Way less money than one of the newer 50 or 60 ton machines
I like the chart on the 1800, but you can take the 25' outrigger span and stick it. Won't fit in a driveway, won't fit on a street. That and the older ones have too short of jacks. And half outriggers don't help if you still can't clear the ctw. I've been tickled with my grove 500e. I'll take the 500's 7,000lbs of ctw. with only a 20' outrigger span, vs the 1800 with 24' outriggers and 2,300lbs of ctw. But my 500e won't run 65mph down the road either. Everything has trade offs. I do regret not holding out on finding a 500e with both winches, I only have one, and two is nice for tripping smaller tanks by yourself. I don't use two winches very often, but when you do need both, nothing else is quite as handy.
I can see you progressing as an artist. Some of your early pieces are rather rudimentary but I an see your work getting more refined as time goes by. Keep up the good work. PS. I think everyone on the forum appreciates the considerable effort you put into your responses. Thanks..
Coming from wide ass boom trucks I don't even think like that. 20' is just a dream.
In my past life as a crane operator I’ve been known to attach a strap to the eye for the hoist line on the boom head to trip tanks. Use the winch to pick it up, attach strap from the boom head to bottom of tank and hoist down. The eye on the boom is rated for the same amount of weight as the single line pull. Gives you two lift points with only one winch. Done that quite a few times.
I can see that working also. I could get right close to it, with the boom at about a 75 degree angle, run out the amount of boom I figured to need when laying it down, to avoid extending under load, pick it with the winch, then take up any slack in the fixed rigging from the boom tip to the tank bottom with adjustable chain rigging, then cable down. The shorter tip rigging to the tank bottom tips the tank over center, and I winch down/boom down. with someone eyeballing from the side to keep my load line plumb. Seems like there would be minimal chance for slack in the winch line and a big shock load, and I'd be working like i should, all squared up to the load. If I felt the need, I could also rig to the tank bottom to a big tractor, the kind with 8 tires, common as Ford pickups where the job is. Standing it back up.....I'd be within my load chart at the start, only picking a fraction of the 10 K total weight, until it got off the ground, and by that time I'd be boomed back and good for it's total weight up to 30' away. I don't think I mentioned that I was told that the tanks were originally delivered by their manufacturer on custom trailers, that tilted back until the tank base was on the ground, then unsecured, and the trailed tilted back down, that's what gave me my trailer idea. I'm going to continue to sit tight, the balls in his court, if he gets back to me AND we get a 10K weight factory confirmed, I still may do it. Any obstructions at both the new and old sites would need to checked out, for anything in the way. It may be an excuse to fly over there, 20 min, over a mountain range in a straight line, versus an hour drive around the range.
He probably called a guy with a bin moving trailer.
Like they are common? Not around here anyway. More likely got a bigger crane. There is a large phosphate plant in the area with many cranes of all sizes working there often, probably snagged one of them. 50 mph winds here today, and for some reason my scheduled truss setting job is backing out. If I don't get busy on a project at home, I may throw the dog in the Prius and drive over there. It's always fun to drive up to a job in the Prius, I can see people thinking that maybe I'm not the guy for the job, and then prove them wrong. 58 MPG, though if I drove the Silverado 1 ton flatbed, it'd make a better first impression!
Just found this, pretty cool: https://trailtech.com/trailers/bin-mover
Yes they are common here. Most of the bin and hopper bottom suppliers have them. I think they rent them out too.
No word back from the rancher yet, I don't mind a bit, but a short text saying "we got it handled" or similar would have been somewhat appreciated, after I called the Canadian bin factory 3 times and texted back and forth with him a half dozen times. I think I got my feelings hurt, not really! If I have time I may fly over there and eyeball from the air and see if they are still there, or moved. Balls in his court. Had a pop up job this morning, all I was told was it was some HVAC equipment, turned out to be a 11,000 lb. chiller. No pick points other than the holes in the base, meant for slipping a pipe clear thru it, it appears, shackles wouldn't work and I don't normally pack around 9' sections of 1 1/2" pipe just in case I get a call like today. Got it done, after making real sure the HVAC guys were all onboard with how we rigged it, in 4 places not 6. It turned out to be much heavier on one end, but it all went well. I did my usual thing with loads a bit out of the ordinary and heavy (heavy for me at least) I picked it 2" , did a final walk around, asked them one more time if they were good with everything, then picked it for real.
Likely the heavy end is the reason for the "Do Not Fork" I can easily see it slipping off forks located at the center. Good on you for having suitable slings and chains.
Especially as I go across the Port scales at 200 pounds or so under the 40 K limit on tandems, and that's only if I remove all the dunnage from the rear storage racks. That's also why I took the jib off. It's just a habit from flying and living on a mountainside, not carrying dead weight, so I keep a lot of my rigging in my crane shed and just haul it when I think I may need it, and did get lucky on this job.
Turns out my customer was real busy "moving spuds", I am in Idaho after all. We have until June to move the tanks, and I am the mover of choice. I will cheat and fly over there beforehand and eyeball things on the sly, that way when I show up for real I know exactly how and where to get it done. Plus a good excuse to fly. Another job yesterday, the white semi trailer lost it's axles (or something) and I was being asked to pick it the rear end up, and I flew over first, about 25 miles and over some ranges, landed in a nearby field, another too long to get there by driving but a short flight thing, and it was a good thing I did. They couldn't have positioned it any worse, directly under the power lines, and can't move it now, so I had to pass on this job. The trailer was partially loaded, weight unknown, so a steep boom angle, into the wires, would be a given. A good example on how the plane really does come in handy for me, it's not just about screwing off and having fun. Not at all, though I did.
I worked for a fellow who loved to fly, so we flew to work, the job was 180 miles away. It was actually cost effective to fly the four of us back and forth everyday, than pay for food and motel rooms. I thought it was great, as I learned to fly the twin, from the right side. Finished up on the left side to get my multi engine rating!
Nice to have a short field taildragger over there. My twin is never so handy as that. I need 1800' of unobstructed grass at cool sea level. Hot and high it just gets worse, except for the fact that it is a Riley Rocket with turbonormalizing. Taking advantage of that is a fistful of monkeying around on the rollout, figuring out two mixtures, then dialing in manual wastegates whilst keeping it out of the weeds. Much easier to do as a two pilot operation
This happened less then a 1/4 mile from my place, a confused log hauler took the wrong road up the mountain, and lost traction, then tried to turn around and got stuck. I got to watch, the load was about ready to tip over, it's steeper than it looks. The 75K load of logs, plus the truck's wheels in ruts, and the tow truck on a dirt road, sloped, made me think that there was no way he'd pull him out. But after parking the other log truck alongside the wrecker, he rigged his snatch block to the stuckie's front end, and then rigged the load hook to the other log truck. So two big rigs to pull against, and darn if they didn't move a bit while winching the other guy out, a nifty bit of rigging . It still took another hour or so to get him up the rest of the way, until they got on the level. I would have liked to have seen the haulers face when he drove a mile and got to the paved road he should have been on the entire time.
I had another bout of one my outriggers not coming up, what started as an intermittent problem. I did my last 3 or 4 jobs without being able to full extend (down, out worked), it was stuck halfway down. Just high enough (on the rear right) to drive around town, but I had to really pay attention backing into job sites and on any transition slopes. Never did drag it, and kept my customers happy. I was able to do it by torquing the right front of the rig up a ways, than stuffing my cribbing tight as possible under the stuck pad, to preload it in effect, so when I continued the setup everything was as normal. Turns out, this time the problem wasn't a valve cartridge (cartridge valve?) with chewed up O rings (I had a spare onboard, but the old one I pulled was pristine) but one of the valves coil electrical connection, one of the two pins was broken and making intermittent contact. It took a CAT mechanic (pricey, but they are less than 2 miles from my yard, and they are quick so no missed work) to trouble shoot this, but once again I added to my knowledge base if similar ever happens again I'll know what to do. I had a nightmare the night before I took it to CAT: I was standing behind it with 2 mechanics explaining the problem, when I noticed BOTH rear legs, instead of ending in the ball that engages the socket on the pads, were ground down flat, I guess the dream me had been dragging them around town. I was on the phone waiting for the parts guy at National to answer when I woke up.
Just put one of these on my dead end. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ropinator-...ee-work-with-cranes-You-need-it-/114308801936 I like it, it's shape aligns it right up into my ATB weight, while protecting the cut end, simple and effective. This tandem axle dual wheeled trailer got stuck, pulled by a 1 ton 4x4 dualie. You can see my tracks in the upper left corner, where I came in a ways, stopped and said the heck with this, and still almost couldn't make it out. My customer estimates the loaded container will weight "about" 18K. Loaded with household goods mostly, and "some shop stuff". We shall see, after it hardens up a bit.
Not much going on here....because no one thought to bring a ladder to access the top of the water to rig the tank! Not my problem, or the trucker's, though we jokingly blamed each other, while the contractor hustled up a ladder. I was of course asked to give him a ride up, but I pointed out he'd also have to ride the tank while the pick was made so that dissuaded him pretty quick. Asked if I thought I could land my plane in the huge smooth field, by it's owner, I did so a few hour later, while also overflying several upcoming jobs. At one point sending a pic to a builder who said he was ready,( trying to get my schedule locked in, gambling they'd get there, screwing up my schedule when they wouldn't) but was yet to have trusses delivered, while unknown to him another project of his had trusses on the ground already, "why don't we do that first?" A small example on how the plane really does come in handy for me in my little hoisting biz.
I got my 17,000 lb. container lift done yesterday. This was an estimated weight (and you know what that means) the husband's stuff was all in the front, the wife's in back, I was told. I showed 22,500 on the LMI, ( with the back being heaviest...) which I was just able to do on a 3 part line. Didn't use a spreader bar this time, but a 1 1/2" shackle I use mostly as a rigging gatherer, so I don't crowd my load hook when using 4 slings. I shackled 2 20' slings together, so 40' of rigging per corner, which gave a good angle to my hook. IF I did more than the occasional container, I'd get some 40' 5/8" wire rope slings made up. For the last 15 years, I have settled on 12' and 20' lengths as my mainstay sling length. They seem to handle all my HVAC needs, and whatever misc. work comes up, plus my local rigging supplier always seems to have them in stock.
That is a good looking angle there. Nice of them to make work for you when a purpose built container rig would just slide it off.
You would like those 40'ers until it came to roll them up and get them in a box.
Yeah, probably why I won't do it! Though I wouldn't carry them on a daily basis. On this job I was getting close to the upper working load limit of my 2" slings, figuring 22,500 divided by 4, plus a bit of derating for the angle, (not to mention the out of balance loading of the container) which is why I went so long, to get a better rigging angle, to keep the loading down as much as possible on my 2" slings, as I guessed the load may be heavier than they figured. But they are also almost brand new so I wasn't too concerned. I used my 4 20' 3" slings on the bottom, the 2" on the top, (no reason for that) and would have preferred using 3" all around, again with the weight being an unknown, but I didn't have 8 of them. I take my older rigging home, using it on my 40 acres, grossly abusing it doing stupid ranch stuff chores. Out in the sun, sharp angles, all the things we don't do for real. It is interesting and reassuring how tough the nylon slings are even after years of abuse, compared to how I baby my working rigging. No purpose built container handlers in the area, the customer checked. Turns out the customer bought 80 acres, and will immediately start work on a house, plus he builds pole barns for a living, and I will now be his goto guy for all his hoisting needs. One problem though, he really wants a ride in the plane, I might be able to arrange that, especially if he keeps paying in cash.
I was serious it is nice of him to provide work, that was not intended as snarky at all I have a bag with a couple 2" 20's and shackles and chains in my truck for that kind of abuse. So many times getting back a ways will help you get somebody out, when you don't have a winch. Get them dirty lay on lawn in rain to clean, here in PNW.
No snark detected! As a joke, I sometimes pull out my tow sling (shredded and abraded, beat to death) and say 'this is all I got." Then I open my box with the real rigging in it....., I have been told that some operators around here with smaller boom trucks show up with NO rigging, and use whatever is handy/provided by their customer. Same with a tag line, some I surprised I have not only one, but two!. I have been told many times I carry more than anyone else, and maintain it better. It's dirt cheap, for what I make off it and what it costs to replace, so I don't scrimp. I have had to tell more than one person, that NO, they are not using any of my rigging for pulling their stuck whatever out of the mud. I constantly have to tell guys NOT to drag my slings thru the dirt, but carry it, some think I'm kidding but they quickly see I'm not. It's great having a job where you can be an obnoxious jerk.... doing things only the way YOU want to, my way or the highway, and then be praised for it as being really safety conscious!
Sounds like the kind of business I'd like to get into.
We had a new local fuel supplier just finish up their newest outlet, and as the chain is my usual supplier anyway (cheapest diesel, bonus points, good coffee) AND it's only 1.5 mile from my yard I have been a steady customer since day one. Unlike their other outlets in my area, this one has a big rig area, with the dual pumps. So now it will be easy for me to fill both saddle tanks every fillup, and like I do with my Prius (!), keep track of my mileage. Too big a hassle to jockey around and fill both at their other stations. I had a 2.5 hour drive one way, to Driggs ID the other day, than about an hours work setting 5 vent fans on a country club's club house roof. Just going by the odometer, and including the short bit of work, driving 62-3 MPH and cruise control, with almost no city driving, I got 6.7 MPG. Nothing like the 64 MPG I got the last tankful in the Prius, but better than expected. I "flight plan" for 5, anything over that is pretty good. I will continue to tell my customers it gets around 5 MPG, as it probably gets less when town driving.
Well add them up 6.7 on the road and 5 in town so that makes 11.7 MPG my cousin used to say that was how he figured the mileage on his Catty. Makes you feel better, and makes lots of people scratch their head wondering if you are real!
A shed move, 14' wide and 20' long, weighed 3200 pounds and I had a tight setup, with one out rigger in all the way but the truck angled to compensate. We (the customer is in construction and a sharp kid) were kicking around various ways to rig it, when I noticed it had a metal roof. So he pulled the tin off before I got there, and we rigged to a 2x8 lagged to the studs about 8" down from the top plate, and the rest of the (fully sheeted, under the siding) building went along for the ride. I couldn't set it where it went, due to that short rigged outrigger, but got it there after one move, fun job.
I got a call Saturday at lunchtime, a cell tower installer had his own crane issues and needed to scare up another quick. Working Sunday morning was discussed, at a town about 75 miles away. But we bagged it after kicking around my 30 ton's load chart versus his 60 ton's, he felt I might be marginal for reaching the already assembled sections. No biggie, I kinda planned on going flying this morning anyway. So I'm cruising along the Star Valley in Wyoming (a 40 minute breakfast flight I've been making for 30 some years) after a breakfast stop in Afton, and a boom catches my eye. I circle and take a picture or two and continue on. As the town the guy had mentioned the day before was no where near this jobsite, I assumed the crane in this pic was a local Star Valley guy I know, so I sent him the pic. He texted me it wasn't him, but some out of towner who just a day earlier was looking for help as his rig had broke down. So than I texted the pic to the guy who called earlier, asking if it was him, though 85 miles away from the job we talked about, and he said yeah it was! Today's job was where it was, the next day in the town we discussed, it was a heck of a coincidence I just happened to be flying over this job. I told him I would have gotten closer but didn't want to scare the tower monkeys, as my experience has been they scare real easy on the cell tower jobs I've done. And I made sure he knew that was a joke, those guys don't scare easy at all.
Now this LOOKS wild, but wasn't, I just had some tight quarters and with the wind we had I had good reason not get the 3800 pound pool any higher than needed to clear the roof. The wind angle was not the best for the guys (3 of them, on 3 lines) on the tag line also. The pool was level, though it looks like it's hanging crooked. I couldn't swing the other direction, away from the house, as that side was compromised by the slope and some fresh fill and I sure didn't trust it. No one in the home, I checked.
How do you rig to the chains in the pool 5/16” shackles?
We use the largest size shackle that will fit the chain that comes glassed into the pool, which is too small to work with my 2" slings, than the larger 7/16 shackle, with it's bolt going thru the smaller shackle, ups the size just right to work with the 2" slings. I've done about 15 of these pools in the last 3 years, plus a lot of loading them onto trailers etc., and no surprises yet. A good crew, and the same ones every time, helps it go pretty quick also.
I dodged a (hydraulic) bullet today; leaving at 6, driving 2 hrs., and after working 4 hours then another 2 hours to get back to town to lift a deck roof on the back of a house I'd set trusses on a few days before. Then right before my third job of the day, another 1 hr drive, one way, away, while hooking up my ball to the front bumper sling, I notice the ground was wet......Turns out I had rubbed through (road vibration, 110,000 miles, with original lousy routing of the hoses) one of the lines to my rarely used/needed front stabilizer. It could have happened on setup on my 2 hr drive in the morning, (making the drive a total waste of time and diesel) or before the porch job, but it happened at what was the most convenient time, and only 5 minutes from my crane yard. Once the PTO was disengaged, the leak stopped of course, and I was able to pull the lines and make it to the local hydraulic hose shop 5 minutes before closing, and the guys stayed 10 minutes late to get me back on my way. I got every green light across town, there and back. I will make my 7:00 job tomorrow morning as scheduled, then my pushed back grain mill job later, pretty good day for a Monday. I failed to note which line went where to the front stab, and though only one line had a hole, I am replacing both, and I have a 50/50 chance of getting it right. My guess is no harm will be done if I get it wrong, that right?
just operate it briefly and go check.
Got it right, so I still won't know what happens when hooked up backwards, next time.
It should just go the opposite direction. There's only two hoses, and its coil operated with a directional. So the flow just goes each way depending on retract or extend.
I wised up after this first pick at a local grain mill, pulling misc. out of a smallish hole, and rigged a longer sling to keep the headache ball clear of the steel beam sticking out that was complicating things.
Working for the FAA, on a VOR navigation site in Pocatello. The crew said they rigged the tapered covers like this all the time, so I just supplied them with what they needed and let them do it, and be responsible for it. Also a 30 K container, that I'm told will weight 17K when I load it back on the trailer
very cool setting the witch's hat on a VOR!!
I set up a rental crane. I was surprised how many didnt have rigging and even advised not to have it,,,, ********. Having it all got it a lot of work. I even had a torch on the truck.
I just completed the 4 day course to get my NCCCO card, (hopefully, results not in yet). It was much more work then I had ever imagined, I have not studied like that since.....maybe never! Not for my pilot's license, not in high school. I got up at 3 AM 3 days in a row to study, and the days were 8-10 hours long in the classroom, then home and more studying. The last day practical test, using a Grove RT which I have never operated, and which had some controls in the "wrong" position was easy in comparison. I was taking the test with others who also had many years experience as operators, and we all agreed, it was much tougher then we imagined. I have not concentrated so hard ever, not even while making remote area mountain top off airport landings, but I think it paid off as I only tipped one tennis ball off the pipe, and that just barely, non of the stands got moved, or the barrels. Or crushed. One ball got tipped out of the pipe stand a bit, wobbled, and then dropped back into place, and I about had a heart attack. But....I did at least as well as the test crane's long time operator, and definitely passed the operator/practical portion, the written test results take up to three weeks to get back I'm told. The picture shows the pipe stands before the tennis balls were put on them, whoever came up with the ball on top the pipe idea is a sadistic SOB but it was an excellent test for highlighting smooth operation. All I can say, for anyone thinking that because they have years of practical experience and the course will be a breeze, guess again. I'm talking mostly about the book learning part, but also the practical test.
congrats!
Got an emergency call for transporting a broke down tracked skid steer, 14 K with the flail mower attachment. After the first 10 minutes of working with it's owner to get the right adjustment on the front rigging (using grade 100 chain rigging, shackles, and a sling) when we finally lifted it it looked real pretty. I told him if he had another one to lift we could now do it a lot quicker, but he only had the one. But the first thing I had told him when I got there was I was charging him my minimum no matter what, so no need to hurry, let's do it it right, as long as it didn't take over 2 hours, it took 45 minutes including setup etc. That reminds me, I had to call a heavy wrecker the other day, I was stuck in a high school's lawn, where for some reason it was 10 times softer then all the other lawn I had been driving on the previous 2 days, even though it was a high spot, real surprising. By the time he got there, I had already rigged an old (unused for my regular rigging) 4 ply 3" strap around my rear axle, trying to save him some time. He took one look at it and said "that ain't gonna work", asked what kind of axles I had, I told him they had wheels on the ends, that was all I knew. He looked and said "walking beam types, don't want to pull on that rear one". Then he went to a fair of trouble to rig two of his slings up on the frame (I don't have rear pull points I'd trust), and while he was doing this I thought to myself, he was just making more work so he could charge more. He got it out, and the bill was the previously quoted min charge, which just happened to be exactly what my min charge is dollar wise. I decided he knew more about heavy vehicle recovery then I did, and appreciated his expertise enough to give the company a glowing review on their web page. But I still wonder: anything about walking beam type axles that would preclude using the rear one to pull out a stuck vehicle?
It is breathtakingly easy to break a rig as heavy as yours, towing it out. As a big equipment operator we did everything we could to keep from hooking onto a stuck truck. Sure a D7 can pull a lot, but hooked to the wrong place I can tear it up bad. I imagine the mechanics of how the walking beam works is the downfall there. Glad you got a good guy to help.
A 3 hour drive, one way, to pick 5 logs, but coincidentally enough I had another totally unrelated job 3 miles away, for a fellow pilot on a large hangar home combo, setting a few glue lam beams made into trusses. both customers were happy as I split my travel time half and half.
A 3 hour drive to pick 5 logs, but coincidentally enough I had another totally unrelated job 3 miles away, for a fellow pilot on a large hangar home combo, setting a few glu lam beams made into trusses. both customers were happy as I split my travel time half and half. A few days earlier, due to a breakdown in communications, I flew into this pole barn job to confirm when they needed me, saving me showing up at the week earlier appointed time, and only then finding out THEY WEREN'T READY! That would of course really teed me off, and I was still teed off that the out of town contractor had dropped the b
After a long wait, I got my NCCCO written test results, I passed, what a relief to get that out of the way. No grade, all I know so far (or care) is it was over 70, the cutoff point and all that matters. I did get the grade on my practical (operating) test, 99 out of a possible 100, and that was a hoot. Now I am HOPING I get asked for a cert card by the super when pulling into a jobsite, instead of dreading it, of course that means I'll never get asked, but it was still worth doing. They tell me I am now certified (but NOT qualified, as least in my mind) to operate up to a 200 ton crawler crane. That's nuts, they ought to have lesser cert tickets, say for up to 50 ton boom trucks.
Congrats on the cert! Agreed on the certification, there is a world of difference going from a 25 ton boom up to a 200 ton crawler. Oh well I guess they have to start somewhere.
Not likely. Crawler is a different specialty than swing cab telescopic, so unless you took the separate specialty test, and separate practical, you can't run a crawler. You could run a 200 ton all terrain though. Congrats though, my renewal was this winter. The ones that get me are the stand off distances for power lines. So many feet for x number of Kva. Like I can look at a power line and know how many Kva it is? Nope, I'm calling the power company. And then (if I have to call the power company anyways) the idea that I should have the standoff distance memorized is somewhat stupid. There is also a separate chart for clearance driving under vs. working beside.
Count the bells in the insulators. The more bells, the higher the voltage. I have a chart somewhere if I can find it. Used to live in my shirt pocket when I was working…… It’s not handy tonight. May be in the shop somewhere. I will look tomorrow morning . Cam
Good tip Camshawn, but it wouldn't have helped in the test! Not only the power line stats, the amount of allowable broken strands in different types of wire rope, before it has to removed from service, was a mind bender also. Some answers were to be in how many rope diameters, some in how many lays. Some for RR rope, other for standing versus running, it was not a cakewalk by any means. I was really surprised by how tough it was, maybe because I went thru OSHA classes before that were basically, if you showed up you passed, this was a real test.
That would be the LBC on my card for the lattice boom crawler.
Becomes a badge of honor when achieved.
More 80' light poles, the type that fit on a tapered concrete pier. Seems our school district has a surplus of COVID related funds and is throwing money around big time. These are a bit tricky as the light fixtures are above the boom tip, so once over the pier it's not just winching down, but retracting, booming down, winching up etc. All why trying not to get the thing jammed up as the Sparky is rotationally aligning it while it's coming down, I had one spotter who sole job was to stand back and eyeball the boom tip and keep me out of the fixtures. Had to short jack the side towards the running track, tight quarters all around.
Those light poles are such fun. how did they rig it?
They came with rigging instructions, we used 20' slings shackled to the welded pad eyes about 30' up, then a 6' wire rope sling and shackles that went around the pole. Once in place the wire rope slid down to where a guy on a lift could unrig it. First one we used a round sling up top, and it choked up and didn't want to slide down but finally did, so we wised up and went to the cable. Out of 4 poles, the first one took us a couple hours, the last one half an hour, by the time we were done, we had it all figured out!
with the street lights, we would loop a 4' nylon through the wiring port at the bottom to carry the weight. Then we would attach a long nylon to that, and put a loop around the pole at the height we wanted to control it. I'd tape that spot so it would stay at the point we wanted, and then attach a light tag rope slightly above that point. It would break the tape and choke up, and when done setting I lined down, the rigger would tug now and then to keep the loop moving down the tapered pole as it got larger.
Sorry guys, I can not find my little chart with the number of bells for each voltage range. In my service truck, it was on a clip on the bulkhead. When I moved out ( retired) of my service truck, it went into the black hole known as a box filled with important things that is now stored in a safe place. Cam
This look somewhat correct? Pulled it from a manual on substations from the USDA of all places.
I have 3 trees to remove at my crane yard in town, one very near powerlines. I have decided to coordinate (rather then rent a man lift and use my general all around helper, who was relieved) with an experienced tree guy, yet to be selected. The first outfit never called me back, when I left a message talking about how I wanted to do the removal using MY crane. No one in tree work around here uses cranes, and this removal would be much more difficult (and expensive) without one. I am going to modify my approach to the next tree guy I approach, and not even mention I have a crane......I need the right guy willing to work outside his box (assuming I can't find one who has used a crane before) who will respect my knowledge and experience in running my equipment, while I also respect his. In my town of 60,000, there are a dozen or so "tree guys" advertising, I think most of them don't even have a bucket truck, we'll see how it goes.
Interesting about your local tree guys. Any reputable company here has a tandem boom truck like yours, bucket truck, CTL and tri-axle grapple truck. Hired a local company a few months ago to take a couple of trees down and they had one of those rubber tracked single man lifts - slicker than snot on a door knob, those guys know how to make money. One of the largest tree companies here will cut the smaller trees whole in back yards and fly them over the house with a large boom then chip whole on the street.
You should go see if any one locally is listed at the isa. https://www.treesaregood.org/findanarborist Most of the really good tree guys belong to the isa and are certified arborists. Not all of them will be well versed in working with cranes but most of them know each other. They will know who in your area does crane removals.
Got the right guy....doing it the weekend after next, we hit it off and seem to be on the same page re using my 30 ton rig where appropriate, and not, where it ain't. Should be fun for both of us, maybe even educational.
Tree work rules with a crane are different than construction rules. Ansi z133-17 is what governs tree work procedures. One big difference is arborist can tie into the crane above the ball with their climbing rope system using a wired shut shackle.
The tree work at my crane yard went great, it was boring instead of exciting, with no surprises. The tree guy was perfect, we got along great, and it opened his eyes to what having even a 30 ton rig on some of his jobs could do for him in future work. He estimated the weight of every cut, and then after I had ahold of it I told him what the LMI indicated...and with our picks all being 900 to 1300 pounds, he was within 2 or 3 hundred every time. I did have to give him the "I'm not sideloading my boom, blah blah blah" speech, which he immediately understood and didn't try and subject me to again. He was quite cautious and got his man lift clear out of the way before I'd apply the final pull to break it free, but I never had any bouncing boom or load shock, boring like I said. With a bit more experience working together, we'd get to the pint probably of making clear thru cuts and lift offs all at once, his way was slower but safer. I did all the cleanup, using my tractors PTO mounted wood chipper, and stacked all the wood up for next years supply for my home shops wood boiler. The only surprise was how much work it all was, and time consuming, even with plenty of equipment (forks on the tractor also), and a new Husky chain saw. That, and the fact that the tree guy is also a raccoon whisperer, and had two critters in his pickup plus a few more at home, I didn't see that coming, that's one on his shoulder.
I knew better, but I trusted the guy who said I wouldn't have any problem! Setting a 4500 pound swimming pool, which never got set, as the days work turned out to be just getting me outa there. Level ground, but for unknown reasons parts of the hayfield much slicker than the first part, so I happily drove way in, over 1/4 mile, before running out of steam. 80 miles from home, I was sure I'd be leaving it there overnight, and hoping it froze up. The CAT mini saved the day, never spun a track, but it was still nip and tuck the entire way, especially the two 90 degree turns we had to make. The plan now, near as I can tell, is wait for this early snow to melt and the ground to dry. Either that, or a crane big enough to set the pool from an estimated 130-150' away. Saw this, and had to see what it was. NOT a self erecting mini tower crane with a fancy paint job, but a carnival ride of some sort. Impressive nonetheless, taking 1.5 hrs for full operation I was told.
What's all that white stuff?
That's "fertilizer"!
Mmmm greasy.
I finally got my actual CCO card, and it says my designation is "TLL".??
What is That????
Beats me, and googling the term just gets me a bunch of sites offering training. I'm trained and certed, but for what I don't know! I am pretty sure I mentioned to the instructor at the start of the course, that my 30 ton National rider boom truck was what I was operating and needed to get certed for. No matter, I'm going to work Monday morning same as usual, just curious. I can always contact them NCCCO I guess.
I have no idea how, but that denotes Telescopic, Swing Cab.
It used to be "telescopic large" (TLL) and "telescopic small" (TSS) as two telescopic categories. Back when they only had 4 categories- telescopic large and small, and lattice boom- crawler and truck. They actually separate telescopic now by swing cab and fixed cab, but I think they kept the old letters. A cynical person would say that all the new categories are simply a money grab to make you have to get more certs and they can make more $$$ for each separate test they can make you take, but we aren't supposed to talk about regulation as being a scam to extort money from people trying to make a living. That would be bad. Because its definitely needed to separate Articulating Boom Cranes, and Articulating Boom Cranes With Winch, and Articulating Loader Cranes as all separate categories. Its about the children. If you would have turned over your card, they list all the categories on the back. Or at least they are on mine.
Darn, I was hoping to delete my post before someone here pointed out IT'S ON THE BACK OF THE CARD!! Bad enough I asked here, would have been even worse if I had contacted the NCCCO tomorrow.
Minor error all is forgiven
@crane operator they have actually pared down one of the categories, they no longer have the boom truck ( BTF ) cert. Now it is wrapped up with any neck bender. ( TSS )
They have 3 knuckleboom certs? I wonder what exactly they consider an Articulating Boom Loader.
the sheetrock fork guys. It is quite the operation. I could only test in the straight knuckle no winch, no forks. My card has everything from ABC on up. After December I am dropping the tower.
I'm curious hanging stuff(grapple, clamshell, forks) off a normal knuckle brings it into loader crane.
The forks swivel and tilt and add a whole level of complexity. the standard knuckle just gives you a fixed hook no winch. The winch equipped knuckles have obvious advantages.
I have not been able to find any further info on this incident, despite doing two different jobs today, within 5 miles of where it happened. I do know the company, and they are a good one, and very big time, with over 50 cranes in several states, not a small timer with a single boom truck, like me. https://www.idahostatejournal.com/f...cle_282a1110-919d-5375-9889-3e1c91ad86e7.html
This Costa Vida restaurant sign pole got jammed up, part way down, on a very rare Sunday morning job. It took some torch work and some finagling (and a 8 K pull) to get it free but once out the sign guys got busy with the torch and the next time it slipped right in as it should have the first time. One of those times I like to think "NOT MY PROBLEM, I'M JUST THE CRANE GUY." No shock loading occurred, up or down, my main concern, it weighed 6K. A good crew made it unexciting. Going back tomorrow for the sign set.
Several times, in doing my job, I have gotten access to areas normally off limits, I find this to be a job bonus, for someone like me anyway who likes to see how things work . Like this HVAC job at the Ma Bell big old brick building in town, jammed packed with rows of these servers or relay stations, or whatever the heck they are. No way could I see all this ever, if not for the fact I needed to get up on the roof, fun stuff. Even better, all my usual construction jobsites were all mudded up from the recent and current storms, and I was working on a level city street.
Crane can be good that way.
Since the new station right down the road 1.5 miles from my yard went in, with it's truck stop style dual pumping stations, I've been playing around with checking my fuel usage. 63 mph on the freeway, 5.5 MPG, which I remember from when I drove it back from Wisconsin when I bought it. But the latest check up really surprised me: I filled both tanks, drove the 1.5 mile to my shop, the next morning drove 1 mile further to my job (a rare close job) and than swung trusses from 7 to 2, with the engine on constantly. Then I drove back to the station, used the same pumps, and the same method to fill it. So, with 7 hrs. of working it, and 5 miles of 45 mph driving, no stops. LESS THAN 7 GALLONS OF DIESEL USED! 6.89 gallons. I was as exact as can be in how I determined it "filled", same flow rate, same foaming to same point in the filler neck, but even with a 25% error factor, that is still pretty amazing to me. I will NOT tell my customers this, none of their business, I do tell them about the 5.5 MPG though! 425 HP Mack. I was guesstimating more like 3-5 GPH for some reason....but since the vast majority of my work involves mountainous travel time, the on the road MPG was a known, the working it GPH not so much. Let's call it 12 gallons AT MOST (25% error), still only 1.7 GPH. If the 6.89 was accurate, about 1 GPH. Good news, with the fuel prices these days, $3.93 here.
On a 7 hr hour truss job yesterday, after setting the last few on a deck roof, that had one support beam temporarily supported (common here, the main house foundation done first, much later they will put the piers in for any deck support, in the meantime the framers want to get going, so you see 8 or 10' of deck roof bearing on beams, one end tied into the house, the other held up with temp support) and while I still had ahold of the sheeted gable truss, it collapsed. The two carpenters rode it down, while in the middle of the trusses, about 10', maybe 12' high, a bit of snow but not enough to cushion, uneven ground with some rocks. Meanwhile, the sheeted gable truss stayed where it was, suspended by me. One of their supports had failed obviously. They are older guys, well into their 40's anyway, and they didn't get hurt at all! Tangled up as they were on the way down....it could have got real ugly, not to mention a third guy on the crew could have been under it when it came down. And....if they had finished plumbing the gable, what they were doing when it happened, the next move would have been for me to cable down and unhook, and they would have had the extra weight of it to contend with on the way down. I told them they better buy some lottery tickets, they were lucky SOB's! The trusses didn't even get broken.
Unless one of them was the boss they should be getting two checks for free. That is some terrible corner cutting. Everybody I know who temps in something is usually paranoid about it and it is more better than the final product.
The boss fell, along with his buddy, call them co owners of the business. I think complacency got them, they've been framing houses for decades, not their first rodeo by a long shot. What would have really presented a legal nightmare, would have been if the hired hand was under it when it fell, and got hurt. Being that they are the bosses, they at least can keep it "in house." My best guess is, when they put one end of the microlam in the house beam pocket, they put one nail in it, and got side tracked leveling it and nailing the 2x4 support on, and than forgot to put more nails in the pocket. The support was on a 45 angle, so with a load on the microlam, exerting a bit of pull away from the house, and if memory serves me right, the part nearest the house fell first. When I go back they'll have it puzzled out. Call it sloppy work, or getting distracted, they for sure know how to do it right but slipped up (down actually...) here.
Did the math, because the carpenters on a job a couple days ago had me set a big sheeted gable first, and then every truss after had to be lifted up over it, I had to winch an extra 1000' more or less. That's counting up and down. No reason for this other than ignorance on their part. This drives me crazy, as a recovering carpenter myself. If the house is laid out, the top plates all marked as they should be I show up, just because they started their layout from the south end, doesn't mean we have to set the trusses that way! 4.5 hours job, the same subdivision but with a sharper crew, it's 3.5 hours. I work by the hour so I shouldn't' care, but I do, it offends my old carpenter common sense. Like when I see a guy fully nailing off (especially hand nailing) the truss at the plate, before unhooking me. DUDE..GET ONE NAIL IN THERE, GET YOUR TOP STABILIZER IN, AND UNHOOK ME! You think 4 more nails at the truss heel is going to keep it from tipping??! You can nail the heck out of it if you want while I'm getting the next truss, or even after I leave, 1 nail will keep it on layout just fine! None of my truss setting competition in my area were carpenters for 35 years like me, which sets me apart for better or for worse. Sometimes it's gotten to the point where I want to tell a crew, "I don't care if you ever use me again, you are doing it wrong, and if I was the bossman you'd be down the road!" I don't, they have no idea what I used to do, but I sure think it. My 300 th. job of the year is coming up this year, and I'm just getting cranky I guess.
time for a break
Hell we have a boom truck for setting trusses so we don’t have to deal with an operator and still try to go as fast as possible by putting two screws in the heel and one row of lathing down the center to get the crane gone. If we ever hire an operator, we won’t stop until the crane is off the job. On working over a gable truss, that’s just ignorance. On a job we have now, I had to keep setting cantilever trusses over the previous one and it drove me nuts but that was the only way. My new to me 20 ton could of done it better but thanks to tight quarters and semi traffic, still had to use a little national 400 since it’s footprint is smaller. Doesn’t help either that a half million in fertilizer hoppers are directly underneath us.
THATS a cantilever! After my whiny and complaining post yesterday, my first job today was with a crew that I grudgingly had to admit was ALMOST as good as I was, back in the day, ha ha. It's a joy working with the good crews, especially the good crews who pay cash. Things are going so good for me (I've never made more money, more easily) I guess I had to find something to complain about. I vaguely remember when I was pushing 50 and still framing houses, ("how much longer can I do this, and why don't I have any retirement plan") now I can keep craning until I drop, or can't find the keys. A couple years ago, I started leaving the keys in it, problem solved.
So many people work so hard, if they would only think a little more they could do the job much easier and faster. I set trusses with a skid steer with boom, sometimes in some very tight spots where it is impossible to see but what is in front of you. I only do it for our own building and couple friends. I am amazed at how they can't give you good directions when I can't see the truss. How they make an easy job so tough. I had to tell one crew, no because they aren't safe, and keep getting their workers hurt by doing stupid stuff.
I get that, Natman. They wanted me to start with a new crew putting up glass in the blind on the far side of a skybridge. That was a hard NO, we will figure out how to get the truck back there.
Getting set up yesterday, I had one outrigger beam seize up about 3/4 of the way out, just stopped. Retracting it didn't work either, it just moved about 1/2" and then stopped again. No hydraulic leak, hmmmm. I cycled it a couple more times and then stopped when I heard a "bad noise." I told the waiting carpenters we were done, ain't gonna happen today, and luckily got ahold of the heavy equipment mechanic I use and 30 minutes later he was there with his service truck. The first thing we noticed when the access cover was off, was that the hydraulic cylinder's rod was bowed, not good. After capping the lines off (after making a run to a nearby hose shop to get the right caps) we were ready to pull the cylinder, but first we had to get the beam in. After two of us pushing on it didn't work, we got the 1/2 ton chain comalong he had out and gave it a tug, still didn't move. Then I had the idea of using the opposite side beam's extension process to also help. Turned out that the comalong pulling down low, and the other beam helping on the top, did the trick. I really didn't want to leave the rig there over the weekend, but couldn't drive it as it was, so extreme measures were called for. We got our rigging bound up with it still out a foot, but figured that was good enough to get me down the road, so stopped there. We got the hyd cylinder to a great local shop we have here right before he closed, and I'll find out Monday if he will be able to straighten it or have to fab a new one (the rod) out of raw stock. It looks like, hopefully, the repair can be handled locally. I'm not worried about the hyd repair, so much as why that beam bound up, we could not see anything where it shouldn't be, but we didn't have the best lighting. I'm going back today with some spotlights and a borescope on a 6' cable and hopefully can snake it in there and really get a good look and see why the beam is so hard to move. Then I have to see if I can do my Monday thru Wednesday scheduled jobs by working off the opposite side of the bad beam and a bit of the front only, as the down cylinder works as normal, so if I can keep working in the meantime I will. All truss jobs, no weight but some with a pretty good reach. I also have to decide if I will try to get it in the rest of the way, or maybe get an over width permit and flag it. Luckily the upcoming jobs only require shorter drives on an interstate, I have no idea if I can do that legally.
my gut says box or outrigger got deformed. Not happy news, but if you don't have some removable wear pads inside the box or outside the outrigger, there is no other likely culprit.
I would be game to consider extend cylinder pin has shifted, into the side guide plates and got that boogered up. About the only real way to know is pull the Outrigger Box all the way out and Off.
I'm not sure how you got the cylinder out the other side. Pop the outer pin and then pulled out through the round inspection hole? I've always pulled the two bolts that hold the carrier side of the cylinder, disconnected all the hoses, then pulled the full box beam totally from the carrier, and then pulled the cylinder from the beam. Do all your box beams have those plates on the bottom, some online pictures have them and some don't. I've got a few theories- one is a big chunk of frozen ice or snow in it. One is a tangled hydraulic hose- or the steel guide for the hose. If either one of those got loose in there, I could see them tangling up. Then there is the possibility of a wear pad getting off one of the bolts/ holders and getting wedged in there. Either way- if you have the rod bent, its wedged up pretty good.
Skyking: Everything eyeballs perfect, straight and no deformations etc. Dmiller: I want to pull it out on general principles, and make sure we don't bugger the repaired rod. CraneOp: Mine is slightly different, it has plenty of room to get it out once the inspection cover is taken off, without removing the beam. I really like the chunk of ice theory, (wishful thinking maybe, BUT...now that I think of it, it was left out on a job site the night before, with everything extended, and that never happens, it's always in my heated shop) and I will go with that if we can't find anything else. It sucked in easily today, fully retracted, with a comalong. so I don't need to get an over width permit, ha ha. Then I stupidly tried to extend down once I put the pad on, forgetting the lines were disconnected. We will figure which ones go where and hook them up Monday morning I hope to get my up/down working , and I can make my 1:00 job. Working from the curb, no reason whatsoever to swing to the street side, so safe enough, though I will need to move once or twice.
I had one while back get jammed up from some rock that found a hole to go down from up on the deck. Have another truck at the yard that I think has a shifted pin too, thankful that truck is getting torn down.
If thats a fertilizer house I sure hope those truss plates are stainless steel.
I built a fertilizer storage building a year ago- it was prefab trusses and they weren't stainless plates. Framers used all regular nails also. I believe they covered the trusses after I left with plywood and used some kind of super paint on them- supposedly to keep the fertilizer from eating it up.
I don't recall, seems like they must have been? Stainless that is I am contemplating taking the snowblade off my Kubota, and hauling it into town and using it's front end loader to pull the beam out. Problem is, this time of year the tractor keeps me plowed out and I really don't want to. I think I can scare a piece of equipment up in town, a forklift or the little crane on my mechanic's truck should do it. I have a burning need (the mystery is killing me, forget the business aspects of being down) to pull that thing clear out, eyeball everything real good, and absolutely confirm all is well before the repaired cylinder goes back in. Spotlights on both ends showed no obstructions, and a 4' straightedge narrow enough to fit the bottom gap with the beam up tight against the top, showed nothing either. I couldn't get my little camera in there, not quite enough room.
On the truck cranes I'll just pull them out onto a stack of blocks, but they are only a foot or two off the ground. Given your carpentry skills: Make a frame/ table out of 4x4"s and some 2x8's and pull it out, onto the frame, with your pickup. 4x4's up and 2x8 for table top and 2x4 bracing. Make it plenty stout, and make it wider than the box with the tops of the vertical 4x4's sticking up past so the box can't fall off. You can just use your comealong off your pickup bumper if you want to come out slow the last 1". Basically pull the box all the way out except the last 2", build the rack, and then pull it out the last bit onto the rack. If you find a forklift- just do the same thing only pulling the box onto the forklift teeth. After you pull the box out of the crane- drive the crane ahead so you can see down the box (leaving it on the table). After inspection- Back the crane up to reline it up with the beam (use your outriggers if you need some up or down), and comealong or shove it back in with your pickup.
A pile of pallets or a forklift and a pallet and a truck works. Nice thing with pallets if you have a real stuck one and give it a lil skinny peddle and it comes flying out the pallets cushion the fall, science. It's a lot easier to put them back in with a forklift and or service truck.
Good luck tomorrow on seeing why you bent the rod on your hydraulic cylinder. If I lived close I would be there if you wanted help. I have a hyd. crane on my work truck, that has been a real back saver. Wish I would of had it years ago, handy as a pocket in a shirt.
I've got just the thing, a couple pipe stands, 1,000 pound capacity, adjustable in height, and a scrap piece of 2" pipe to fit in the V the stands have on top. I'll pull it at my mechanic's shop, equipment to pull and push won't be a problem. I just checked out my Tuesday job, and it luckily is set so that outrigger won't be needed at all, that quadrant. With the hood being 12:00, I'll be picking trusses from a stack at my 4, and setting them from 11 to 3 or 4. I've worked short jacked enough to be confident this will be fine. Best of all, there is NO reason at all to for some reason swing over the short jacked side, in case I forgot.
Or you just 3 leg the boom truck and use the crane itself to pull the beam out. Not that I’ve ever done something like that in a pinch
I've been keeping busy, on 2 jobs since the breakdown I was able to scope out earlier, to ensure I could do them short jacked. This job pictured is only 1/4 from my place, my new closet neighbors, 1200 pounds on the hook, 62' away, and it felt rock solid. Not that I wasn't paying extra close attention of course, and proceeding slow and smooth. No one was to my left, until several minutes after I set it into place, and all were aware of the situation, hard to tell in this pic but my boom was about halfway over my LF front outrigger, not past it. Like in flying, how do you know the limits of your machine if you don't approach them a bit? Parts ordered, a new shaft, and I told the hydraulic guy I wanted the old one, (it's mine, after all) it's about 6' long and still a fine piece of high strength steel, and I will end up using it around the place for something I'm sure.
They were galvanized like always. Engineer didn’t want any screws in it and the nails are all 20d 4” HDG polebarn nails for the truss, 10d for the lathing and decking. Over 100 20d nails in each truss. After driving 800 by hand the first day I got smart and overnighted a nail gun to shoot big boy nails. The tail on those trusses was fun to set. We only cut a 3” hole for it and had to get an 1 1/2” tail through it 30’ up that roof.
Knepptune has the ticket here- and that's also what I would probably do in a pinch. You could do the same with a pickup or skid loader or whatever is on site. Slide it out and pin it and put your jack down. It would be way safer than what you are currently doing.
I don't know about the rigs you operate, but no way would I swing the boom around into that quadrant just on the rubber, especially with the low boom angle it would take to effect a pull on the beam, if that's what you mean?. I've done 5 jobs since the breakdown, and two things different is I fess up and tell the crew the entire situation up front, and make a pre visit first in my car. I have been fortunate, other then having to run out more stick, I haven't had to move, take longer, or otherwise slow the process down. With no out OR down, I pad up tight as possible with my dunnage on that side, first, and then once I run the others out and down everything is tight. Doing residential truss work, off the curb, off the side, there is zero chance of me forgetting what's up and swinging around to the street side. Monday morning's job will have me pulling in, with the rig on a slight nose down, and with the truss pile directly off the front, and the house they're going on at my 2 to 4 or so O'clock. BUT...Tuesday's job is one where the gradient and the way the site is set up, will be a problem, as I have no way to lift the rear and unlike the other sites, no way to set up to avoid that, level or nose down I have handled. I may have to pass on that job, but I also may be repaired by then. My personal, below the belt, LMI, has been on high alert on general principals, but with close to 4K hours op time on this rig, it's been in the low end of the green zone. Still, it will once again be a big relief to have full extension in all quadrants, as it makes my setup so easier, I just have been dumb lucky the jobs I've done have been laid out "right."
What he's saying is not to spin around on full rubber, but to put your front beam and jack out to full, and use the stick to pull out the rear one. If your front one is out full, and you were up straight enough to get ahold of the rear one, its not going over toward that jack. You wouldn't need to be out and flat to grab that back one. I would probably just pull it out with the customer's truck or telehandler,skid loader etc. because that would be a easier pull out- the crane will tend to pull up, rather than out. Wrap a round up around the jack and slide it at least to half and pin it. Its really not that big a deal if you don't have any boom telescoped out, and the front beam is out and jack set. When you get up and fixed, put your front beam out all the way and set your jack, then put out your rear beam, and leave the jack a inch off the ground. Boom up all the way, and swing over there and play around booming up and down, when it gets light, it will tip down onto the jack and pad. You don't want to scope out 100' and play around, thats asking for trouble. Don't get real rough- you don't want to twist the frame, but you would get a better feel for the machine. And as far as forgetting about the short beam- I know of two boom trucks that went over short jacked on the off side in a tight spot. No room for full span outriggers, so the operator set up short beamed on the "non working" side. And both forgot in a "hey, just swing over here and grab this" moment , and over they went. I'm not saying its going to happen to you, its just easy to forget after setting 57 trusses and they flop over the garage gable and 'hey we need this one yet'. Did you figure out for sure what the problem was in the beam? I wondered if you would have outrigger jack without your beam hoses hooked up- some of them use a common "return" line- jacks share a hose with the beam extension cylinder. With some creative hose work you should be able to get the jack to work.
I should also add- if you're not comfortable, don't mess around over there with the beam not out- I'd hate to see you lay it down and have a "those guys on the internet said I could do it". If you were closer, I'd come over and we could see what it would do- in a "controlled" environment. If what you're doing is working, don't let us mess it up.
Yes, the jack shares the lines with the beam, and if the situation continues, the waiting for the cylinder repair, I will puzzle it out and at least get the jack function back. Right now there are 2 lines in the beam, that were for the missing extension cylinder, and three capped off lines outside. We are waiting on the hydraulic shop to get the cylinder back to us, hopefully today, once we have it in hand I'll snag my mechanic when he has time and we will first off, extract the beam and see what's up with it, if anything. The great thing about the work I have been doing is, and it's just been dumb luck, the way I've been setting up there is absolutely no reason to swing over the weak side, nothing there to pick. So working short on that side has been less hassle then messing with using the boom to get that beam out, especially still not for sure knowing it wouldn't get jammed up again. My backup plan in the meantime, one I have not had to use yet, is if/when I get a job that I can't avoid the issue by my initial setup, I'll have to tell the crew that I will have to set up, and waste some time moving trusses around, and then move and set up again so I can then safely put them in their final destination. I'll knock some time off my bill, buy them lunch, do whatever I have to do to keep every one happy. And that, if it happens, seems like less hassle then getting that beam out right now.
Crane op has the picture. Set it up on the three outriggers you have and swing around and pick up slightly on the beam, with just a little out pressure. You can probably boom down and cable up just enough to pull that beam out. Then you can run the front jack down and get enough cribbing under the rear jack to level the crane on all four outriggers. Without having that beam out, I would only work it directly over the front or the opposite side. The issue separate from forgetting, is if it starts to lean that direction with much boom or load it will over power your swing motor real quick. And once it starts, it’s game over at that point. But I’m not there, so I can’t judge the pucker factor real well. I also know there’s been plenty of times I’ve done things that I would never tell anyone else to do. With the way those outriggers work off of return circuits it would be a little tricky to get the jack cylinder working without the beam cylinder. Possible but a bit of a pain. I’d just run it without until you get beam cylinder back.
The hydraulic shop determined that the rod was straightenable (?) and did so. I have no qualms about that, they know their business. So that's dealt with, meanwhile back at the shop, we failed to pull the beam out, just spun the wheels on a forklift. past 3/4's of the way out. Before we get a bigger forklift, or a dozer, we are going to see if at my mid point is within it's workable range, where it operates normally, if so the cylinder will go back in and I at least will have my mid point capacity and my jack back. That will be a huge improvement. The Allen wrench sockets on the lower wear pads are stripped, they are frozen in place, they are going to need to be burned out, but before we get too excited I am going to see if new ones are readily available and get some on the way, or....maybe fab some, near as I can tell the issue is on the lower ones, which don't do anything anyway except ease the extension process, they don't take any load. Worse case scenario, plastic wear pads like the boom has may be the way to go, as we will no doubt bugger the threads up getting the old steel wear pads out. I have the SLC National service manager giving me a call, maybe he has a magic solution.
Spotted on a ski plane flight yesterday, probably the builders own crane and cabin.
I got a call from a contractor wanting me to do 3 houses, while I hemmed hawed around trying to figure out my schedule he offered up that the trusses were all there, as the trusses not showing up on time is a common problem. I flew over this weekend, and this is what I saw. I bumped him back a day, over two little jobs I had let him cut in front of, and sent him a copy of this pic.
Looks like he isn't quite ready for you to set all three houses.
Yes, no kidding, not what he implied! I don't take it personal, as the truss plant tells them a date, the carpenters tell me, and then it falls thru. Often enough, another job will spring up and it all works out. The plane does give me a leg up though on who/what/where.
Working on house so big today, it has two basements, big and dug into a hillside. It occurred to me that though I often have worked short jacked, it's mostly when there are no picks that way. So I don't even reset my LMI, today, for the first time since my breakdown, I had to make multiple picks over the half out beam, so I did reset the LMI of course, and bottom line is it was all good, pretty decent capacity, more then I would have guesstimated, didn't impact the job at all.
Received my new wear pads for the outrigger boom today. When and if we get that beam extracted, we will have new ones on hand. The problem is..... the old ones are froze in place, the hex fitting is stripped out, and getting them fully out without destroying the threaded boss is going to be problematic. Best we can tell, one or two somehow backed out/came out of adjustment, causing the binding, leading to the bent hyd. rod. All will become clear once we extract it. I hope.
If the allens are all stripped out, just weld a washer to the head, then weld a big nut on it, and crank it out. Shouldn't damage the threads any. Is the neoprene just glued to that bolt? I could see ice getting in there and shearing that wear puck right off that bolt.
That is one of the options discussed, right now we are waiting for a warmer stretch as the work will be outside, and I've been busy as heck, having been able to set a lot of trusses, and just yesterday a 12K lb oil tank, without the short jacked outrigger being a factor. At least now I'm still working, once it's pulled out I'm 100% out of business. Times like this I start thinking I need a backup machine.
Get your outrigger fixed yet?
we looked at several nice rigs for my friend, he wants an RT but I found some decent trucks. Here is a 50 for 52K. https://www.cranetrader.com/listings/search?Category=1019&Manufacturer=GROVE&State=OREGON
Outrigger not fixed yet! We had our coldest weather so far of the winter, plus the guy I use was out of town. He had a window of opportunity last week, but I was booked solid with work. This time of year, no use fighting single digits, when the next weather system could have it in the 50's, this upcoming week looks good. To my surprise, it has been a minor inconvenience rather than a deal breaker, as most of the jobs I do I can set up so if I work that quadrant at all, it's minimal, and if I do I reset the LMI to babysit me. Not having used the LMI in that mode very often, I am now more familiar with my capacity and it is better than I'd thought. Of course, now that I am so comfortable with this workaround, I need to be doubly careful, and not do something stupid! So far no incidents even close, haven't forgot once, so maybe I should be triply careful. I just counted, 38 jobs since working in this restricted mode, mostly truss jobs and HVAC. A couple times the framers had to bring a stack of trusses a bit closer, but they had a forklift. Oh, and one time I was yakking with a contractor while extending the outriggers, and accidentally went all the way out with the bad one...., and it's extension was normal. I freaked and immediately pulled it back in to halfway, and that was also normal. But we will still tear into it, just nedd my mechanics schedule to jive with mine, and the weather.
I wasn't stuck, I just couldn't move! Super greasy mud, but at least I got the trusses set first. When I pulled in I put the odds at 50/50 I'd get out. Hoping it'd freeze up overnight, I got my e bike out, despite the contractor being more than willing to give me a ride to my shop, where my ride home was. Only 8 miles, all in town, piece of cake. Next morning, with no overnight freeze, I lifted up all the tires and put the microlams I use for cribbing under them, knowing I'd break a few, but I get the 36" long pieces for free anyway, too short except for my uses. That got me about 10' back, and at least out of the place I had tore up a bit. Then I got my hot tub rigging out, the only rigging I carry that is actually not certified for overhead lifting but IS meant for recovery purposes, them and my old rigging I use for tows, and jobs where I know it may be get tore up a bit (chunks of concrete, boulder work, things like that, and also not being lifted over anything or anybody, a bit over 100' all shackled together. That put the half ton pickup on dry asphalt, and that was all it took, to everyone's surprise once he ran out of road, I was able to keep moving. One guy had the presence of mind to unhook the strap from my rear hook before I drove over it or had to stop. The goat was a neighbor, real friendly, and lent a bit of comic relief. Off loaded a 11K metal brake today, off my "weak" side, with that left rear out only halfway, the LMI told me I was good for 15 K at that radius, but I still swung it around over my bed just to let the other 3 fully extended outriggers help out. I also point out to the homeowner, that put less stress on his asphalt, also why I was on the rubber, I have yet to mess up a residential paving job. Castle above is a job I did a few years back, looked pretty cool thru the mist, kinda rough up close though. Edit: pictures don't seem to be loading....
I got my outrigger beam issue resolved, by forgetting 3 different times and running it out all the way, and it retracted normally! I did spray some lube on the top and bottom (which I hated doing to the top, as that's where I walk out to yell at the dummy on the tagline/give helpful advice to the tag line person) and as of now.....lube will be the only thing I plan on doing. It ain't broke so I'm not going to fix it, I will be hyperalert though when retracting it, in case the issue re-surfaces. For now we are calling it a mystery gremlin, maybe ice, whatever, it's now working fine. Here's the pic I tried to post a while back, of the tow job. I do not want to give the impression I use my regular rigging willy nilly for yanking out stuck equipment, not so, the actual pull was so mild it could have been done with a half ton 2 wheel drive pickup.
A thought. When you had trouble with it before did you try running the outrigger jack down until the pad just touched the ground to take the weight of the outrigger beam off the bottom of the "tunnel" it runs in.? I saw that method used often with sticky outriggers until someone could take the time to lube the bottom of the beam up again. Might a dry silicone lube be a good option on the outrigger beam.? At least it wouldn't be sticky.
I didn't try that, and will keep it in mind. I already have some dry silicone spray, the best thing I have found for my plane's retractable wheel ski mechanism. Similar to the boom truck setup, just a beam within a beam. It sure takes a load off my mind now, when I pull into a job (3 today) and don't have to setup so I can baby sit that side, nothing like a 360 degree full chart! Set a 16 K water retention tank at a new hotel today, with a medical arts building going up below it. Two different out of town contractors, both with their own little tower cranes. I kibitzed a bit with the kid operating one of them, and was surprised at the line speed it had, even with the 2 part line, and of course it was quiet. I asked him why he didn't set the tank, as it was within his operating radius, (but way out there) and he just gave me the pig eye, good to see he was paying attention.
Those things are seriously weak sauce out in the last 25%. The one I was working under was pegged with 3/4 yard of pea gravel in a 400 pound garbo concrete bucket.
What I suggested was how I've seen a number of crane ops get "reluctant" outriggers to retract, and also how a lot of them used to set up the outriggers so that they could lubriate the bottom side of the outrigger beam, at least the bit that wasn't sticking out of the tunnel anyway. With the outrigger jack just raised up a hair there was enough space to shoot lube down through the gap.
Didn't you bend the rod of the extension cylinder trying to move it? I don't think no lube would bend the rod. But the extension cylinders keep getting smaller. My 100 ton will not retract the beams if they get too dry. I don't think I've run anything else that wouldn't suck them in dry, they may squeal something fierce, but they would retract. Glad you're working well now.
Yes. it got bowed pretty good somewhere along the line, but my local hydraulic shop straightened it, said if a bit more and it would have needed replacement. Keeping in mind it's common for me to do 2,3, even 4 setups a day, so my outriggers get a pretty good workout. Lesson learned, LUBE THEM!
Just your usual "why it's handy to have a plane for crane work" post : Well over a 2 hr. one way drive, but a 40 minute flight (nothing like traveling in a straight line, over the mountains instead of around them) to this job I'll be doing Monday. 70' duplex trusses for this big pole barn. I'll shuttle them in stages closer as needed. Later today I will see if I can use this overhead pic, using the 70' trusses to scale things, to figure out the optimum place/places to set up to get the max reach for each shuttle, I'm told they weigh 1400 pounds per duplex truss. Into the building where they will prep them as needed and I'll go back and lift them into place. I was assured that the mud is long gone..... but I did make sure that the excavator/tow truck seen onsite will still be there just in case. Bear Lake Utah, on the way back I did some ice skating and water skiing, with the plane's big tires just lightly touching the surface, great fun as long as the motor keeps running.
Duplex? Is that two trusses laminated together? you have some work ahead of you. An almost square building can be hard to brace well. I hope it’s a seasoned crew. Good luck.
Yes, some of the local truss companies are starting to nail the girder trusses together before delivery, first time I also have heard the term "duplex" truss . So... I pull in there this morning 15 minutes early, and after about 50' into the site, got stuck, with everything locked up as soon as I got off the pavement As soon as I stepped out, I had 5 pounds of mud on each boot, the extra sticky type of mud. I eyeball the rest of the area, and see a big excavator has just fired up and is clearly going to trench a sewer line line across part of where I will need to set up, IF I get unstuck that is. The mud also seems to get even worse further in. there is now way to do the job.... I go in to talk with the crew, who are busy taking down all the cross bracing on the posts, and they express surprise that I was stuck, and also inform me that the excavator and big loader onsite where NOT part of their crew, unlike what I was told earlier. The job foreman is still in transit, 15 minutes out, and then I had a epiphany: I don't need this stinking job, I'm outa here! I go talk to the X op, explain how we'll both be in each others way, and if he can jump in the loader and get me to the pavement I'd appreciate it. He does, and I drive off. I feel for the all Hispanic crew, they'd also driven some distance and had no other work to do on the site until the truss prep could start, but I did not tell them I was leaving, sometimes action speaks louder than words. The head honcho in the office 100 miles away starts texting and calling me, saying "where did you go? My foreman is there and he says there's no mud!" I ignored the texts and the calls, it's payback time I figured, if they can't figure it out they are too dumb to work with. I didn't even get mad, I'll eat the travel time, I'm just happy that I can afford to blow those idiots off/don't need the hassle. I did text the foreman once, "too muddy," that was it, after that I figured my best response to further calls and texts was dead silence. STILL not pissed, it was the right call.
As a general contractor myself the first thing I do is PUT A DRIVEWAY IN presumably if they’re going to use this building in the future they’ll need a driveway, so why not put it in so everyone can get in and out. As to you leaving “ good on ya” a crane guy I swap work with told me he was backing into a job and as in your case it was a mud hole. So he got out to have a look, when he saw the site super stomping towards him, no hello just, “get your hard had on” so he said yep it’s in the cab, then he got in the truck and drove away with the super chasing him trying to get him to stop.
Yes, we can always take our ball and go home! It actually worked out good that the foreman wasn't there yet, I made a clean getaway, except for the big clumps of mud I left on the highway for some distance. And he STILL insisted to the office guy that there was no mud and couldn't understand why I left. "Life's hard, it's harder if your stupid."
I hope you stopped to take a picture of your tracks after you bogged out of there. Worth at least a thousand not so pleasant words. I would have had a hard time doing your radio silence. I'm a work in progress though. Coming from 40 years of dirt work, that kind of site management is inexcusable.
110' of tower, 110' of boom (109.6' actually) and we didn't want to mess with the jib, which was on a trailer onsite, as I never travel with it as it puts me over 40K on my rears. The first sections were easy, but I had the idea on the last section to rig it so the load hook was actually inside the tower. I first picked it vertical and swung over by the tower, and the tower monkeys rigged it and kept on eye on things to ensure the important parts of the crane (the wedge and ATB weight etc.) stayed clear of the tower until it was lifted. Worked perfect, and saved the jib hassle. A few days earlier, for the same customer, for sure needed the jib this time, and almost it's stinger. An all sheet steel group of silos, kind of interesting.
Nice work. I’ve been thinking of getting a jib, but don’t want it mounted full time, because I quite often get within a few hundred pounds of my chart limit when setting roof sections on large houses usually the back porch that can be 90 plus feet radius. I only have two tower customers that do tower work that I have ever wished I had the jib for. So my question is how do you mount your jib off a trailer?
If you just haul it on a flatbed- you have to have a telehandler or such to put it on. I worked for a outfit that had a gooseneck trailer and a rear rack on the back. You could put a jib on it (rear rack to top of gooseneck neck), and have it high enough to scope into it and pin it up. That trailer was essentially like this that I put on my 450, and this rack would actually work if it was just a little higher. You can then add blocks in on the jobsite to angle up and down, and use the outriggers also to get the two even with each other and scope it in. Its a two man operation.
I store it at my yard with the mount end up in the air, a steel support in a concrete pier with a saddle supports it. The tip is at ground level, on a block of wood, so it's at a 30 degree or so angle. I have the right set up area noted, and then it's just a matter of my helper (it takes one) to help get me lined up enough to put 2 pins in, then I boom up and stow it as normal. In this case, (the silo antenna job) I "made" the customer come get it, he just dropped his car hauler trailer off in my front area, it's right on the way into town so no biggie for him, and the next time I returned from a job I picked it and loaded it on his trailer, no helper required. They had a forklift on site. On the antenna job, being pretty sure I wouldn't need it, we had a skid steer. As it was still on the trailer coming from the silo job, and right on the way back to my yard, it was no hassle. First time I used it in two or more years I think. IF I had to buy one, I don't think I would, but it came with the rig so I'll keep it. Let me take a wild guess Tradesman: to buy one, with a stinger, new.....18 to 28 K? Using my usual crane parts pricing program: I think of the highest possible price, and then double or triple it it, to get in the ballpark. IF I bought a 14127 National (33 ton, 127' 5 section boom, next step up from my 13110) I'd for sure not have a jib. But one of those 33 tonners have a 26' outrigger wingspan, a big hassle on my tight sites, my 20' is trouble enough. I think you and I have the best rigs for residential work, narrow span and our counterweights to help.
Today, when I hit the Mack's dash switch that transfers control of the throttle over to the op cab, and also engaged the PTO, something weird happened. After about 20 seconds the usual idle increased 300 RPM, and stayed there. Thinking one of the two manual throttle locks (one in the op cab, one underneath) had somehow caused this, I checked, nope. Maybe my water bottle or something up against the cab foot pedal, nope. Plus, no joy with the foot throttle at all. I shut everything down and booted it up again (like you sometimes can fix a phone or computer issue) no luck. The high idle speed was just fast enough to get the trusses set with no one being the wiser, and at one point when I had a few minutes time I called the company whose name was conveniently located right on the foot throttle, "Williams Controls", and was told it was most likely the sensor, and to get the # on it and call back. After taking off the access panel and following the wire loom out of the pedal, into the rats nest of the cab control panel, I made a second call and found out the sensor was on the bottom of the pedal itself. No problem, but than I discovered it is seemingly secured with either a Allen head or Torx screw, on the backside, with little clearance, most difficult to get at, of the pedal. I'm bringing those tools out in the AM from my home shop and will see if I can get the thing out to look at. Also a mirror so I can maybe get the # without removal. Just now thought, maybe my phone camera would work..., I hate to leave National out of the loop when buying parts, but I remember my lost pad quote of $1500.00 and at least 6 weeks, but when I contacted the outfit who made it, direct (can't recall their name) got it in 5 days for around $600.00. Hopefully it's the sensor, that'd be the most simple fix.
I wonder how I survived working in dark/cramped placed before the cell phone camera... I've lost count of the number of times I've been able to save a lot of disassembly to get at a part number, or just be able to figure out how to disassemble it by sticking the phone in there and snapping pictures blind. I've even got a little cheap borescope that I can plug in the phone when the phone is too big to fit.
I've got a few machines I use it to read hour meters
I too have one of those cheap borescopes, didn't think of that! I'll take it and the inspection mirror. I just recently started taking pictures of things, including something on my computer screen, rather than scribbling something down on a scrap of paper. It's hard to keep up, I almost wish I hadn't bought that set of encyclopedias last year.
I used my phone on a stick, and a headlight on a stick to illuminate it to check these Dressler couplings for leaks after I got the pump going. https://youtube.com/shorts/6SRtMViH3mo
Probably going to need something like this: I don't know what particular part # from williams that national used, so your going to need to know what engine you have and possibly the wire plug numbers and voltage- 3 wire- 5 wire etc- and there's usually a range that they output for different ecm's. And just so I understand- the throttle from the driving cab is fine, just the throttle in the upstairs cab is goofy? Does it have a throttle control at the rear for outriggers- and if so- does it work correctly? And does the rear throttle work with the upper throttle or the lower driving cab throttle. Just trying to figure out where the problem is exactly at. https://www.ebay.com/itm/3137860866...m55pLDlc%2Bfp2t2w%3D|ampid:PL_CLK|clp:2047675
Got it out, (looks just like that) read the numbers on it off to the Williams rep in S.C., and was told "no such number!" After the usual voice mail, on hold, dropped calls thing, all while swing trusses, we finally figured out there were two groups of numbers on the thing, one set (that didn't compute) must be the plastic mold number or something, the parts guy was puzzled, the set I needed are stamped in the that lower rectangular section, and they are a series of dots, that comprise the number. Zoom in on that Ebay picture, see what I mean?! I showed it to several people on the storm tank run off job I was on, "here's the part, what's the number?" They all did like I did, got the easily visible number and never noticed the dots.... screwy deal, you had to hold it just right in the sun to discern them. All part of the fun of a breakdown, $139.00 plus postage, (bit more than the Ebay price crane op posted, as expected.....) and it's on it's way. No way could I have read those dot numbers upside down with a borescope, so worth taking it off. Only after ordering the part, on my third job of the day, I noticed that even without the PTO engaged, soon as I flick the switch in the truck cab to the crane throttle, after about 15 seconds the idle climbs and levels off at 800, normal is 600. No throttle action in the op cab via the floor pedal or the hand set throttles. The issue may be in the device/switch/relay, that's up in the truck dash (or wherever it is), and the op cab sensor I just ordered may not be the problem, but if nothing else, after replacing it I will at least know IT isn't the problem. Short of extending the boom, which is usually the only time I rev it up as that mode is so slow anyway, once at work swinging trusses the 800 rpm is about fast enough, winch speed is good, boom up/down, rotate. The last job of the day no one even noticed. I set the 18 K storm tank all at normal idle speed, this morning I may try a work around: PTO engaged, truck throttle still on/engaged, so truck floor pedal working, and with me in the op cab extending the boom, have someone else in the truck cab with their foot on the throttle giving me about 1500 RPM to get that boom shot out, once out the work can be done just fine at 800 or even 600 rpm.
A 2x4 cut the right length makes a decent makeshift high idle switch. It is annoying as hell when you stop using the crane and the engine is still idled up.
A lot of trucks you can use the cruse control to set the idle
Yes, I can do that, set any RPM, but not below 950 (not 900 like I said earlier), nonetheless, I set an I beam today in a basement, then trussed a different home, and then a 30' fiberglass swimming pool 20 miles away, done by 2:30. Booked for much of next week, I don't being (partially broke down if I can still get the work done, more an annoyance than anything.
Got my new throttle sensor in, and the old one was indeed the problem, all better now. Sure is nice having throttle control back. I got screwed on the price, buying where I did without knowing any better, but at least I made a new friend at Williams! Rotten SOB's anyway....
Spring time in Idaho, after near 70 degree temps, the last week it's snowed about every day. I couldn't make it up this paved driveway, taking the curves too slow lost traction, hitting them with some speed I just blew out of them. I stopped, and had to borrow a pickup to run back to my yard (10 miles) to get the chains, that I had taken out a month earlier. There will be a swimming pool under the roof, a shotcrete built in place one, after the first one cracked due to the site being built on fill. They would be better off with one of the Fiberglas ones I'd imagine, but too late now. I installed a solar water heater for them (neighbors, more or less) 15 years ago, it cost less than 3K, and saved them 4-6 hundred dollars a month in propane costs
The big real high dollar homes in my area are all in the upper part of this mountain town, for the views. So the new subdivisions are doin a lot of major cutting into hillsides and making fancy retaining walls. This one was, using big pre cast blocks, over the top, and probably cost more than my house. Check out the 3 garage windows, with a great view of the blocks 2' away, what happens when they take a house plan and plop it down without any fine tuning. This nail bender tacking down the truss stabilizer was totally out of my view, the camera came in handy as I could watch him get it secured and immediately cable down to unhook me without any yelling and signaling from the rest of the crew. He didn't know I had a camera....must of thought I had my X ray goggles on I guess.
WHY even have windows on that side!!!! Arckytechs, too stupid to actually Design a House. Rate right up there with Enganears.
Hey I resemble that remark LOL I'll have my 50 years in with the county road department as an engineer on June 26th.. Did 2 afternoons of new employee training last Fri and today with my daughters engineering company. She been assigned to be my training buddy It should be fun. They recruited me, not me looking. I'll bet the windows were a cut and paste. Still time to board up the holes and install siding
Back in the day, if I had been framing that house, I would have called it out to whoever I was working for, as STUPID. I also more than once pointed out a great view that was being ignored by no window, same deal, a pre bought plan built house, totally ignoring the site it was actually being built on. Nowadays, I just keep my mouth shut, NOT MY PROBLEM! Just something to keep myself amused while onsite.
Nothing wrong with good ones, yourself, my older brother and a few I have worked with yet there are over edjumacated idjits that have degrees in Enga!! Had a female Enga we were doing a test on the dynamic ventilation factor of the radiologic buildings, essentially shut down all outputs then the input and watch a magnahelic(analog) gauge read that dynamic pressure flow and ebb, kept telling her the Control Room wanted her to be done, she was trying to be persistent in that the gauge HAD to stabilize before took a reading. i finally gave the RO a reading and she had a fit, ventilation was restarted and she stated test was failed. Went to CR and explained to the Supervisor who then looked at her went to the test port in the CR wall attached same gauge and explained to her the ‘Sensitivity’ level of a analog Magnahelic Guage, she resigned next day. Idjit with papers, she now works for the NRC, typical.
Those blocks look exactly like the blocks the local concrete ready mix sells for $30 apiece. I think it's a racket they've got. They sell the same concrete twice. Once, in the truck to a job. When the truck comes back to the yard, they dump any remaining concrete into a form. After a few hours, they strip the form for the next batch. Then sell the concrete again as blocks ...
Started out as Mafia Blocks where the waste concrete was no longer just dumped. Actually just about recover the haul out and back expense where that waste gets a use rather than dumped to a ditch. A yard of concrete here is close to $200 delivered, finish is extra and forms still cost money only lasting so long. These new blocks are actually designer geade and cast as precast pipe is so more uniformity as well color and viability where the concrete has not been excessively watered or mix time run. So long as a base pad prep is done adequately these can last a serious long tine just standing in place. Concrete yard we currently deliver sand to has a ‘engineered’ washout waste recovery shstem where roughly 80-90% of the cement is washed out of the aggregate making it suitable for use in base fill, compacts well, hauls so-so, has a purpose beyond again just landfill dumped. Recycles the wash water refilling only enough to keep the pit sections in liquid, and often just refilled with carried washout water the drivers added to yard return.
Two 'glas swimming pools already this year. I'm over a dozen of the things now, close to 2 dozen.
I had a little excitement today, working on a cell tower, very tight quarters, and at one point when booming back with just a 8' length of 1 1/4 pipe that was rigged with a very small round sling, it fell out of the my hook and dropped about 80', landing 35' away from me. It bent a bit of structure (cheap, re-bendable) above an equipment (expensive and sensitive stuff inside) container, but turns it that the structure was there for just that, protecting the gear from dropped items, including ice. My first thought was to blame the tower monkey's and a **** poor rigging job by them, I made this clear by throwing my hard hat out the op cab (working on a lawn) but refrained from yelling. Good thing, as after we all calmed down, I saw their rigging was still attached to the pipe....seems that when I boomed back a bit, and hit the stop at 78 degrees I think it is, the bit of a jerk got a little slack in the rigging (with such a little load) and it hit the hook gate just right and opened it up. Wasn't a big jerk at all, but with no weight to speak off it jumped up and out. A good spring on my gate, but it IS getting a bit weak, but in the future (tomorrow) we will be safetying the gate with a pip pin thru the locking hole, when working at my max boom angle and with such a light load. At the end of a long day, I usually say "nothing got bent and no one got hurt", couldn't say that today. I am glad to still have a windshield, etc. Nearest crew, beside me in the cab, were about 75' away, all wearing hard hats of course. The perf metal walkway steel took the hit.
20 hrs in two days, and since I don't have a tilt cab we quickly arrived at a system of them yelling at me when they needed me, as no way was I going to stare up there constantly. Turns out they are used to doing so. They went 5 hrs once without climbing down, impressive bladder control. We had other pipes to bring down, like the one that jumped out of the hook, unlike that one, which was end rigged (and when the guy let go of the end he was holding onto, it swung right at the exact time I hit my boom stop thus the whiplash effect of the rigging getting slack and after looping over the gate, opening it) they rigged them level with two slings, much better! I put this type of tower work right up there with setting the taller atheletic field light poles, lots of obstructions in the way potentially of the boom tip and a good crew makes all the difference, they were, we parted on good terms.
Discovered this bent over chunk of iron the other day while manuvering at 1 MPH in a tight area, all focused on what was going on behind me, the first clue was a loud POP. Tore open the sidewall of the front ($1100.00) tire slick as could be. Rather than get upset, I consoled myself with the the fact that I gotten 60K miles out of it, and at least it didn't just slightly damage the sidewall, and maybe causing a more serious blow out at highway speeds. I called my usual tire chain I use, and again they came through like champs, getting me on my way less than 90 minutes after it happened, greatly appreciated as I was still able to do my truss job that day, that I had driven 60 miles to get to. I helped out by having the front end up in the air using the outriggers, and staying out of his way.
yes that was a hazard for everybody and whoever is in charge there who walked and drove past it without addressing it was the tool in that scenario. It was the same as walking by a 2x6 with 16 penny nails facing up, IMO.
I feel your pain years ago I was backing into a site and cut my Front end around into an I-beam and bang up she went. It was on a Saturday morning and I phoned the only tire shop I could get a hold of and they had me fixed within an hour. I have used them religiously ever since.
Got my 4 pools in the ground, the first three by 11:00 AM as that pool guy has his act together in site prep. The last one, for a less professional crew (putting it kindly) got a bit interesting. All the same size, and weight (4K+) more or less, the last one weighed 1 ton more.....seems that the crew hadn't mentioned it had at least 250 gallons of water in it (did the math.) The issue was it was all in the deep end, so the load was a tad out of balance, not to mention almost out of my chart. I suggested to the crew that just maybe next time I should be made aware of any standing water before making the pick, as I couldn't see in there while it was on the trailer (sides too high) and they were fully aware, good help is hard to find for sure. I have two more to set for this crew in a couple weeks, now I will not assume anything. It was interesting though watching the LMI count down the weight loss as the water drained.
Tanks were always the worst. I don’t know how times I went to pick up a tank and it wouldn’t budge. Then come to find out there’s only a couple ft of liquid but that really shouldn’t make any difference. 2 ft of water in a 18 ft round tank makes a big difference on weight. Always drove me crazy.
Carpenters and iron workers cannot do high math.
what’s the length of a rafter on a 28’6 building with a 6 on 12 pitch with 24” over hang. Or maybe lay out a hip rafter and length of jack rafters. how many cubic yards in a 12’6 in round column 14” wide It’s the wrong side of the square but the first picture of one I could find. But I think my point is made.
Pythagorean theorem simple triangle formulas Try figuring the mass energy release from a nuclear fuel assembly by reducing the moderator saturation of Boron from 2300ppm to 2200ppm and adding ten degrees temperature reduction. Q.mu delta T Formula
Not hacking on Nukes but real carpenters work all day with math. I’ve worked in and around all the trades my whole life and there is no room for dissing anyone that is a master of any trade. Most trades are as much art as they are just a job.
I’ll get a $1,000 dollar cherry door and a pile of rough sawn cherry boards and sit back and watch while you hang it and get it to do that sweet click when it closes perfectly.
Let me tell you about the cut lines I've seen on doors.....
And if not actual fluid of some sort, a lot of sludge will not help either. I had a double walled 1000 gallon concrete tank to move at a auto dealers a while back, heavy to start with, even heavier when it turned out to be full of gasoline, when I was told it was empty! Turns out it WAS empty the day before, when I was told it was, but the fuel delivery truck had just came around and didn't get the memo to not fill it.
Yup, we need a framing square to help do the math! And a concrete volume calculator! My favorite example of carpenter math, is: you want to know how much 43" from 80" is, to solve this mystery you put the hook end of the tape on the 80" mark, read down to the 43" mark, and it will give the right answer every time! Watching guys struggle to find center on a beam I'm picking can be a hoot too. And we don't even want to talk about the half dozen or so jobs a year I do, where they are short one truss, or have one extra, and they'll leave the extra one on the ground rather than have me put it up as a doubler just to get rid of it, evidence they mis ordered. I have a thick carpenter book, printed in 1898, and it is loaded with real math on how layout turrets etc. on victorian houses, heavy stuff. For sure, I use less math booming than I ever did building.
Good bye!
I seem to have started a Rumble!!!
the cut line is not the problem. Either they hung the track above wrong, or that old floor is really out of level. My bet is the floor is needing jacked and he cut it to keep the level hung door equal distance. any old level would tell that tale.
The old floor is all out of level, its actually tradesman's picture from a remodel job he did years ago. He didn't have any choice on the job, except make the worst of a bad situation. If you look through his pictures, they do some beautiful work. I however shouldn't be allowed anywhere near finish carpentry work.
hehe I enjoy it myself. I have pictures of the kitchen I did here, but thankfully did not have to deal with much out of square or level conditions. They can be extremely trying. Sometimes you fudge grout lines on tile to fix out of square rooms. There is always some way or another to fool the eye.
I have moments Wrench bending, wood butchering, iron smoking, farm mutilation and meats burning where have a good time at all but any attempts are generally practices in futility and self punishment.
Speaking of doors, I have a 3'0" man door framed in to my big hydraulic hangar door, (an unusual deal, in my defense) and in the last 15 years since I installed it it very gradually sagged a bit, enough for the latch to not fully engage. I realized this, always making sure it was latched before raising the big door into the horizontal position, and put it on my list of minor homeowner types things to do when I got around to it. It never occurred to me that it could fall open when I was pushing the plane under the big door, until I landed one day (I leave the 36' hangar door open if I'm coming back in an hour or two) and saw it had opened itself. LUCKILY not while I had the plane underneath, fabric airplanes are tough where it counts, structurally, but a steel insulated door slamming down on it would require some major fabric work, plus no doubt some rib replacement, re-painting etc., and be an all around huge PITA. The door is working properly now, plus, as a backup I have a dead bolt I also engage whenever the big door is raised. With 3000 hours of off airport mountain flying without a scratch (a few on the wingtips, that doesn't count...) or any damage to the wings, and that door almost got me. It'd be like wrecking the National by not putting the parking brakes on, I dodged a bullet.
Amazing what time and a heavy door will do... I had to replace the hinges on the door to my folks garage a couple years ago. It was a heavy steel door, and my father had made it worse by adding 1" thick barn siding planks to it. That door was always a bit of a pain, but after 45+ years, it had managed to wear down the barrels of the hinges almost 50% so the strike didn't catch any more. 3 New hinges, and the door was ready for the next 40+ years... Sold the house in March, I'm sure it is in the dumpster by now...
The rare job, where the load weighed LESS than I was told, fiberglas fuel tanks for my school district headquarters. I got a tour of the entire facility, 84 buses, food prep area etc., etc., good to see where my property tax money goes. Looked at the front view mirrors on the buses, and then simply bought another camera for my existing back up camera system, small enough to hose clamp it to my driver side mirrow, took about 2 minutes to install, no more right front blind spot. MORE 4 plexes, this town, besides all the big custom houses, is going crazy for 4 plexes, guess they pencil out the best for the money boys. Then a super insulated custom home, 1.5" foam bonded to the OSB, 2x8 LVL studs,, lastly another 2x4 inside wall. This house will be so tight, if the dog farts you'ff smell it a week later, they will probably have an air to air heat exchanger, which I understand is the in thing on super tight houses.
Cities of St Louis and many of its original burbs had loads of four plexes, we call them Quads here and date into late 1800s. Row houses all looked alike except a main entry door gable or small porch change, lost favor in the early 1900s to full scale single family homes and became our minority housing regions. Almost all are brick as STL was a brick capital for forever, clay is everywhere.
A very intermittent thing seems to be getting worse, my boom wants to retract....just a 1/4" at most or so at a time, felt as a small bump in the op cab, too small to see, no one notices but me. Of course after a few minutes I need to winch up to hold the load, cycling the extend and retract functions a few times seems to be the way to stop it, once stopped I can work all day with no problem, more of an initial thing. No leaks anywhere, I suppose the issue is the holding valve, but I have no idea where that is or if there is even such a thing, I've just heard the term somewhere. I'd like to think its some small, cheap, and easy to get at valve (right...) than something requring pulling the boom apart to get at the main boom extention cylinder.
Perhaps receiving a stray signal?
Hope not, next time I'll try changing the sat radio station and see if that makes a difference! I had a short notice job today unloading a trailer loaded with concrete forms, and it didn't do it. Seems to only do it with very little weight, and even then, rarely.
look after that. I had the packing on my boom truck let go during a pick. I left it boomed up high to see what was up and it retracted ~20 feet over lunch. I'd do the same thing, stick it all out and boom it up steep and measure it after an hour. If it is the packing, you won't like what happens next so don't delay figuring it out.
I had an hour between jobs this morning so I got the ebike dingy out and rode over to our highly regarded local hydraulic shop. Running redlights and stops signs, traffic permitting, way more fun and quicker than the Mack, no diesel used also. Told the symptoms, the hyd. guy said "rod packing going out, and/or maybe water in the hyd fluid, water being more able to get around the seals. When I mentioned a check valve, he just looked at me....don't know where I got that concept from! He told me to check for water, (last Blackstone Labs report showed none) other than that, keep working it. Two setups today, worked perfect, officially on the back burner.
Nice to have a dingy on the deck. I delivered the sweeper and boom truck several times with my bike on the deck, and rode off to catch the train home.
It won't be water in it. Its possible that its the check valve, but in my experience its usually the piston seals. Is this a cold weather thing? Your hyd. oil coming from the tank is 200 degrees. It will cool to outside temp as it sets. In cold weather you can see up to a couple inches of tip creep inward just as the oil cools. The check valve should be right on the bottom of the telecylinder. You could try a new one- you don't have to pull boom to swap them. You will have to pull boom if its the piston seals. Better get that 2nd crane bought so you have something to pull boom with.
Better yet, it's completely concealed in it's own custom weather tight storage box, in otherwise wasted space between the truck cab and hyd. tank. Having it out of view makes it more fun, when I pull it out and ride off 30 seconds later, at 30 mph.
I'll look for that check valve, and see if I can get one coming. With just the one rig, when I breakdown it's the missed work that really costs, for sure. 5 jobs today...., but it's not doing it now and may not for a few months. I hate these intermittent type of issues that come and go, on any piece of equipment, much harder to trouble shoot.
It was easy enough to find, this sure looks like a "holding valve-complete assembly", as it's called in the parts book, to me. One rebuild kit, on its way. Thanks for the heads up CO. Didn't do it once yesterday, on 5 different setups.
So turn it out by the hex that is closest to the block. The outer allen and hex is all for pressure adjustments. You should be able to turn it out by that hex, and it will pop out like a full "cartridge".
Yours may the newer style where they don’t want you taking the cartridge out. It probably will be the whole block. Four bolts on the top to change it out.
What's a good source for a new complete turntable bearing/slewing ring assembly, asking for a friend....., symptoms are: not good noises when rotating, sometimes. $8500 to 10 K through National. I remember a while back when I was whining here about the price quote I got for a missing outrigger pad of $1500.00 and 6 weeks out, and ended up getting one in a week or so , for $600.00, thanks to a tip from someone here! I do know that one for a Manitex 28 ton was recently bought for $3500.00, complete with new bolts.
I saw this giant spreader bar at a local used equipment place along the interstate, and eventually I noticed it was gone. A year later, yesterday, i saw where it ended up, as the top of a gate post entry. The vert posts were there for years, the owner never found the right thing to cap it off until now I guess. I know he's not a crane op.
If it was not tagged then that is as good a use as any
I did something I maybe have not done before, in 22 years: After a 45 min. travel time, we started at 7, and worked until 5:30, in 90+ heat, I quit. Thing is, the truss job should have taken 4 or 5 hrs. but these amatuer builders (with a couple hired "carpenters", who were worthless, one talked on his cell phone for several minutes BEFORE unhooking me, I wanted to take him aside and tell him how much a minute that cost the homeowners), the same guy put the truss stabilizers where they did the least good, and way too many of them, all before unhooking me. Girder trusses on each side, with trusses going between, once in the hangars and with a single or at most dual stabilizers at the top, I was ready to swing the next truss. But no...., they would fill each and every hole in the hangars first, before cutting me loose. Then they would stand there doing nothing while I got the next one. Don't get me started on the guy rigging for me, after telling him twice "once you get me hooked up, get your hands outa there," but several times he'd reach back in to fiddle with the rigging after I started winching up, totally unneeded, he just didn't understand that the chain (lifting grade) I use on the end of a sling (the headache ball never gets closer than 6' while they're unhooking me) will slide up as the truss is lifted, doesn't matter a whit if it's not up tight against the top chord, it will be as soon as it's upright. He also didn't get he didn't need to choke up on the tag line as the truss was lifted off the pile, he'd have his face right by the truss as it lifted off the stack, instead of standing the heck back and letting me get it airborne without getting in the way. Of course, he didn't know when to let go of the line, and when to get me parallel to the other trusses. Anyway, at 5:30 with only half the house done, and after finishing one type of truss up (all braced) and while they were studying the truss sheet to figure how the stack needed to be shuffled to get at the next ones: I called it. I told them (it wasn't up for discussion) I'd had it for the day, and explained if we worked until dark I'd still have to make another trip out there to finish up. They did have the good sense to agree with me, everybody was getting tired. I'll go back next week, in a better mood (four 10-12 hrs days in a row last week, all in heat) and will grin and bear it, and give them a bill 3 or 4 times more than it should be, if they had competent help. I'd rather knock out 4 houses with pro crews and make the same money. I hate feeling guilty over profiting from their ineptitude, but they knew my hourly rate going in.
A customer wants me to move an older boxcar, no trucks/wheels, long used at a school field for storage. "Only" 10'. My gut feeling is it's maybe 30 to 50 K? I'm passing on it regardless. No easy rigging points like a connex box. I can only rig for a 3 part line, and that's 9/16", so only good for 22,500 pounds, not going to waste my time.
sometimes dumb idea is just dumb. you could dillyfart around and pick one end and end up side loading your rig for nothing, trying to walk it over. Best to jusst say no. Them other yahoos? be sure to make a note of who they are and turn down any future jobs they run/show up on. Going stupid slow like that is also dangerous.
About knocked over a porta pottie today! The bottom chord was right against the thing, and it was one of those trusses that had 2 different vaults, an offset peak, and a "mystery" CG (until you picked it up) , and a one of a kind. Just a gentle tap as it came vertical and we acheived liftoff, BUT the crapper was set on a tilt to start with, you could push it over by hand, and it tettered, came about as close as it could to tipping over, and then tettered back, crisis avoided. Too bad no one was in there. 101 degrees today, no one got excited.
Back in the day, over 20 years ago anyway. My old beater Goldwing with Buster the dog riding along as I unload it. He rode a fair bit in the Goldwing's trunk, never any problems at all, he had to teach me it was just like riding in the pickup. He's standing up, being some kind of short legged mutt mix, he eventually passed on, at almost 18 years old. This was my first boom truck, a 10 ton JLG with 55' of stick, and a home made 18' jib I copied exactly off a factory one. The CraneSmart wireless load indicator above the ball was money very well spent.
The 400 pound motor up top needed to be changed out, the savvy contractor eyeballed it pretty good, said we MAY need the jib.... I don't haul it around all the time as I need it so rarely and it puts me over the 40K limit on my rear tandems (39,820 pounds is how I cross the scales!) so we hauled it on a trailer and turned out with all 109.4" of stick out, I over reached by about 2 '! We figured hauling it even not needed was better than needing it but not having it. 65' diameter silo didn't help. It may look like I was playing in the nearby mountains, but I'm always on the lookout for work. Looked up the log truck driver in the cafe, and got a promise from him he'd pass on my info to the log home builder if they need some crane help, the job site was 10 miles away. and any lifting equipment at least 100.
Got my new holding valve assembly, will install it tomorow.
Seemed too good to be true, easy access (sitting on the counter weight), just four 5/16" bolts that go into threaded holes. Then, when I loosened the last one and the O rings unseated, there was just enough pressure to give me one good squirt of hyd. oil, not in the face but on my shirt and pants, more of what I expected, especially for a Monday morning. It took maybe 5 minutes, and though I didn't raise the boom/ set it all up, I did start up and run it back and forth a bit while still in cradle, appears to be all good. Flew over this ICF block project on the way back from a Sunday morning breakfast flight across the Wyoming border, only later did I remember it's some kind of a meditation learning center (whatever that is), and I wondered if anyone got un meditated by my fly over, but the guy I'm dealing with just laughed when I mentioned it, cars on the highway make more noise he said. The plane IS quiet, even quieter then I think sometimes. There will be some truss stack moving probably, especially if those walls get higher, and they will. My next work related flight will be to a 60' by 120' farm building, with 20' high walls, and the farmer, who I don't know or have met yet, happens to be a former though inactive pilot. This came out when I mentioned I fly out and would eyeball his project first chance I get. Left unsaid, is that I will also land there if possible. I don't ask, that puts them feeling liable if I screw it up, this way it's all on me, been doing it that way for a long time, works. No extra charge!
The new holding valve assembly is working perfect, it WAS causing the extention cylinder's issue it seems, which makes it's $800.00 cost more bearable. Got a rare callout for Sunday work, a Piper Saratoga pilot forgot to put his gear down. He was annoying me and getting the way while I was setting up, so I told him it was like getting "help" in pre-flighting your plane, an unneeded distraction, and he took the hint. It was fun mixing the crane work with my plane stuff, like when the one bystander was convinced we should rig to the lifting lug on top of the engine, which is intended for lifting only the engine itself and would put a lot of stress on the rubber engine mounts. I instead suggested we rig to the firewall section of the mount, which is bolted solid behind the rubber mounts. Also, I made sure the rear 4" sling was directly under a fuselage station, so we didn't oil can the tin. 2600 pounds, lifted perfect, then he put the gear down and I was done. Small town strip, no media, no other traffic in the hour the job took, and no TV coverage of the incident, perfect, no scratched paint even. I hate to see a wrecker do this job, they cause more damage. He told me to make sure I charge plenty as he is fully insured, oddly enough my own liability coverage on my plane is due, so his bill will pay for that with enough left over for the next 13 hours of airtime (3.5 GPH, $4.35 per gallon), so everybody is happy. Well, the pilot's wife didn't seem real pleased, not my problem.
Isn't that a Cessna? 210 maybe?
I'm a experiemental/LSA pilot, all factory made planes look alike! But it was a Saratoga, made by Piper I believe.
How did he manage to not destroy the prop or was he landing with the engine off? Or is there damage that doesn't show in the photo?
No, that's a cardinal RG. Made by Cessna. Nice pick !! He had the power on and you can see each prop blade took a hit. The engine will have to be torn down and checked but It is probably OK.
Not the way to make a Q tipped prop, a very expensive mistake. Must of not heard the horn-buzzer for the gear not down.
What is the experimental plane that you fly Natman? I went to the Stearman fly in last week and got a couple rides with pilots I have met over the years. Sure lots of fun and always enjoyable meeting some of the pilots!
I fly a RANS S-7S, my second one, my fifth homebuilt/kitplane. Think Super Cub, with a lower gross weight. Just like cranes, one machine can't do it all, I should have several of both.
Wow, that led me down quite the rabbit hole of researching kit planes, and other planes, getting my pilots license, etc etc etc
Your plane is perfect for what you do and how you use it, for your personal strip and those off-airport landings you like to make. You would have to spend high dollars to get a production plane that wouldn't do it as well anyway.
I am getting a bunch of work on real long buildings, this storage shed was 120' by 50', got two more 120'ers (unrelated) plus a big "meditation center" to do in the next couple weeks. Plus the usual residential work. I had to move twice, could have done it in one move but I shorted myself, but it worked out better due to where the trusses were, and the wind direction. As I told the guy on the tagline, it's hard to push on a rope.
I did something today I very rarely, almost never, do, turned down work! This meditation center building (don't ask me what that is, don't know) is in a resort area on the other side of the mountain range I live on, 8 miles away by air, 45 minute drive via boom truck. After the third time they re-scheduled on short notice (no reason other then they didn't have their act together, yet) I texted them back today "I'm overbooked, get someone else, sorry." Man that felt good! No regrets, those days are already filled with much more "enjoyable" type work, working on a hangar at an airstrip for a pilot for one thing. I got the impression there were going to be a lot of volunteer labor on this job, and just had a feeling.....it could get dangerous for all involved. Big span trusses, vaulted no less, lots of them, tall walls, truss stacks far away, on a hillside, etc., etc. I will sneak fly over in a few days and see who took on the job, I wish them well.
I had a 70' 3 legged tower, non guyed, to take down yesterday, weight unknown but I estimated about 3K. A strong gusty wind, more then 20, less then 30, call it 25 mph, and a direct crosswind to the boom with no other setup options. After a bit of mental waffling, I told my customers, a husband and wife team ( the first female tower monkey I've worked with, blonde no less, and they being married I was able to overhear their squabbling once they were up top, pretty funny) that I was reluctantly going to pass on the job. But then they mentioned that the plan was to break it down into 20' sections anyway so they could haul it to the scrappers, so the game was back on. They geared up and scampered to the top, and we pulled the first 10' section down, then a 20', and the last 40' in one piece. No drama, no sideloading the boom, and rather then them being annoyed I didn't want to take it down in one piece, they tipped me $100.00! I've gotten some tips before, but never a hundred bucks, what a fun profession I have lucked into.
They had closed one lane of a busy local street, but the traffic control guys were not pros, (we have a good outfit in town that I have worked with before) but turned out to be just grunts of the construction outfit I was doing the pick for. Poorly marked, way too close to my outriggers, I hauled more marker barrels over myself to partially solve that. It was 9 at night, and snowing heavily. I was there to lift the 15 K trench box out of the hole, and put it on a lowboy. Earlier that day, the contractor assured me it'd be broken down to 6 pcs., with the heaviest being 6 K or so, so I showed up rigged with my usual one part line. It was still all in one piece, and I waited while an excavator tried to separate it, just putting a bigger bind on it, so then it came to me to lift it, to unbind it. I pulled up to my 7500 single part line limit, and then a bit more, and that didn't do anything, it was bound up. That's when I told them I'd have to rig for a two part line, and if they would have had the thing separated as planned it wouldn't be necessary and that's why I showed up rigged for a single part line. So, I drop the boom in the only area I had available, forcing me to climb into and out of the slippery trench, after getting my load block out, all while being blinded by the works lights and the heavy snow and wind continued. Just as I'm reeving the block, the contractor comes over and tells me we are getting shut down, the head honchos on the project wanted to see my CCO card, a lift plan, and a diagram showing how my tail swing wouldn't get in the way of traffic (all they had to do was look, it doesn't). I said, "OK, climbed back across the trench, put the load block away, caged the boom, sucked in the outriggers, got my CCO card out of my wallet and walked over to the two guys and showed it to them, and said "you guys have a nice night now, and good luck with your project," and drove off. While I was doing this the contractor asked about the next night, I just told him I was busy, he called twice today and I didn't pick up. I don't mind filling out a lift plan, but to get it sprung on me, in a snowstorm, at night, with cars whizzing by too close, nah. Plus the low boy had a bunch of crap already on it, which would had forced me to reach over it and maybe out of my chart, everything was screwed up, I have no regrets in driving off, in fact it felt good! I took my ball and went home.
Sounds like a real **** show. And a good way to get hurt. I hope you billed them for showing up, setting up, and trying to lift the whole thing.
Amateur hour, Most guys that have ever worked around trench boxes at all can break them down fairly quickly. Forks on a loader or skytrak to load the pieces. Though these guys may not have had the room for that operation.
It's OK if the general wants to take control of a lift, but they need to do that from the get-go. Asking for docs and all that in the middle of work was a good sign to drive away.
I had a "retired boilermaker" send me a email the other day. It had two lines and a distance on it. He was going to write out all the lift plans and make out the JSA for the whole crew. He was going to do all the legwork so I didn't even have to visit the site- my hypotenuse would be 100'. After he listed off the 14 different 3 letter cards he had in his pocket, I had the full info on what kind of a job it was going to be. My lift plans that get written after I show up at a jobsite, are the most vague lift plans ever written, and I sign and date them. If they aren't happy with my vague numbers, the safety man can make up his own numbers. I don't mind making lift plans- if I know about them before. Invariably, the actual work rarely resembles the lift plans that were written.
Pulling wall forms out of a concrete water tank being built from a out of town outfit, I was given a heads up the day before that a lift plan would be required, cert card, etc. NO PROBLEM, except I didn't know what I was picking, or how far away. After showing the super my CCO card and my annual inspection placard, we did the lift plan in less then 5 minutes. Then I lifted the deck/roof forms in, and I see when I flew over the other day they got it done, I will be heading back there to pull them out in a few days. The camera will come in handy for working thru that access hole. I never did tell my "signal guy" (he was a joke at that but a nice kid,) I had the camera. After setting the overflow pipe directly (+- a couple inches) onto the drain from 60' away, with no line of sight, and with NO signals from him, he probably thought I was some kind of ninja operator. We had some rain, so I flew back Sunday (beats driving, a lot) to check the soil conditions.
Guy I know has a few of his own cranes, said he was on a job ready to set an ac unit. Everything was ready to go when the safety lady showed up and asked about his lift plan. His response. “Well, my plan is to lift this here unit onto that there roof. Every time I hear lift plan, I think of him telling me that story and I have to chuckle.
My camera has some kind of light enhancing ability, the pic inside the tank is one example. Late yesterday we were hustling to set the last of the trusses before it got dark, and in my camera view it looked like 2 in the afternoon, while my eyeballs saw "darn near dark, real dusky. " This is a surprise, also the few times I've been caught out in snow or rain (it's not waterproof or even intended for outdoor use), it didn't bother it. At less then $150.00 I have more then gotten my money's worth out of this one already, and should probably get another in stock just in case, as the biggest issue of having this system is it has spoiled me.
Your camera has to put many a smile on your face, setting something in the blind. When they have no idea, how you can be so talented, best operator they have ever seen.
This is another job I was able to fly into first, but since it was at an actual airstrip, it doesn't count, too easy! A new hangar going up, we used the welded in pad eyes on the trusses to rig to, that's why they are where they are we figured. Once both ends were bolted down, I eased off while a guy eyeballed it from the side, and it was obvious they would need to lash it from both directions to keep it from bowing. The boom truck on the left, a 10 ton'r, was bought for $500.00 by my customer. He asked me to tell him if I saw anything scarey about it, and I just said other then the lack of a ATB device, while using a manbasket, not a thing.... Turned out all it needed to get it operating, was hydraulic fluid, it was out, go figure , as it doesn't leak now. As an old framer, I don't get these steel buildings, don't like them, the way they go up and the finished product. I'd gone with wood trusses, 24" O.C., same with the wood studs. A conventional foundation, Easy and effective to insulate, all the materials available at the local lumber yard (no trucking fee for the steel building kit), and then you can sheet the ceiling and walls on the inside quick and easy as everythings on 24" centers. My shop, crane shed in town, and hangar all have sheetrock on the ceiling, (painted bright white) and OSB on the walls, making it very handy for screwing anything into the walls, and if I need to find a stud for heavier stuff, that's easy also.
Natman .. Just an ignorant question.. How did they "lash it" to keep from bowing ? Guy lines to the floor on both sides ? Seems too tall for something rigid.
This customer is one who does grain mill/elevator work for a living, so his work truck had plenty of comalongs, rope etc. on board They snagged it from both sides, secured to some foundation bolts, and a guy eyeballing it from the side told them when it was straight.
The pictures speak for themselves I guess, a fun one. Barely made it up, even chained, then had to deal with the slope. The one good thing was the forklift (that wouldn't start and wasn't supposed to be there) just by pure dumb luck happened to be exactly positioned just right to safety my most critical outrigger. I still tied off to a tree behind me just in case it started sliding downhill, it made me feel better anyway. The trees added to the fun, times like this make me glad I don't have a bigger rig.
The stack of cribbing under your front really makes the image.
Thing is, even without the front outrigger, with the 1400 pound counterweight I'm told by a guy who runs 5 of the same rigs I still have a full 360 chart. I've never maxxed it out over the front but have worked enough without it down to semi believe him.
You love them heavy attic trusses too, got them big bottom chords. Did they have to nail a couple together for a girder by the stairwell too? That's the best- especially if its in the far corner.
Yup, tripled no less. Today I get a call, and it seemed wonky enough for me to go get a look see before driving up to the job. Homeowner builder, don't know who he got for the first part, he mentioned something about "big cranes to set the beams". I got done early enough in town to get home and fly out and do some snooping. I've done pole barn picks before, with all the purlins in btween the girder trusses, this would appear to be a bit different from what I could see. Looks like all the bottoms are framed out, but not the top, weird. He didn't mention anything about needing a spreader bar, good thing I saw this, now I will bring it with me. Just unloaded it yesterday. 45 minute drive 1 way, 20 minute flight, going in a straight line makes the difference, plane only flies 75-80 mph. Landed a few ridgetops on the way, on the skis now. I really do use the plane a lot for crane work, no fun at all.
Makes it tax deductible...
Yeah, but it's a "red flag" raiser. Next thing ya know, you're filling out paperwork to justify every flight claimed as business, having to keep a separate logbook, etc. I went thru that decades ago, never again! Like trying to get back the road tax I pay for the car gas I burn in the plane, just too much hassle.
I was just running the outriggers out after an hour drive to the jobsite, and just as I stepped around the front I smelled something, expensive. Then the smoke started pouring out from under the Mack's hood, that really got my attention, figuring the smell and the smoke were related. I jumped in the truck cab and shut the key off, and when the engine kept running my first thought was the wiring was burned up and I had a runaway diesel, though still at idle. Then I remembered I had started it from the op cab, which meant that was where I also had to shut it down (I knew that, guess I got a little excited.) That was the worst part, from then on it got nothing but better, once i realized my truck wasn't going to burn to the ground. A broken serpentine belt jammed up and was the cause of the smoke. Plus, it didn't happen on the interstate but parked a secure rural site. I pulled the remnants out best as I could, with the hood only partially open as the boom was still in travel mode, started it back up and real quick ran enough boom out to fully open the hood and shut it down again, no overheating took place, not even close. In a couple minutes it was clear that the alternator, water pump, and idler were all fine, spun freely, but the air conditioning compressor was locked up tight and the cause of the Monday morning snafu. 10 minutes later a new belt and compressor were located, in a town 150 miles away, and since I all of a sudden had nothing better to do the rest of the day, once back in town (the contractor gave me a ride back, as he also had the time....) I jumped in the Prius (I actually can drive it cheaper then fly the plane, besides I had a headwind and would have been making about 70 flying, 85 driving, it's a great parts runner) and by late afternoon was at my mechanic's shop dropping off the parts and man am I glad I took him flying last fall, I'll be back in business by 10 tomorrow. I feel like a sissy everytime I use him but luckily he's so damn good and quick I also always feel like its money well spent, as in it was his advice over the phone that had me check to see what was froze up, not mine. The compressor was "only" $396.00, 110 K total miles seems like a bit early to fail but what do I know.
I used to have a bunch of Mack's from the mid '90s, I only 100,000 miles out of each A/C compressor, used to drive me crazy. I should have just replaced them all each March instead of letting them go out at the worst time each summer. You would have thought I was asking the drivers to cut their own throats to tell them to finish the day so the customer wouldn't be left hanging.
On the way to a truss set job in a few days that I wanted to eyeball first (steep access road) I saw this on the interstate that runs a few miles away and 1200' lower from my place: 70 mph gusts, at a direct cross wind direction, plus a slick road was the cause. I couldn't have timed it better, the two rotaters were right at the point where the trailer was either going to flop over center, or not, if they were doing it correctly (I watch those TV shows, Heavy Rescue, Highway to Hell, etc., so I'm an expert now). I could not have timed it better, and the moment of tip over was right when the shows usually cut to a commercial, but not watching it for real. Not much stick on those things, and I'm not sure where the line is on a boom truck like mine and a "rotater." Their dual winches on the boom of course is what makes them more appropiate for that work, plus it seems like their operators are not shy about sideloading their booms, I assume they are built for that.
They usually 40-75 ton rated, and much heavier boom than the same size crane
And when they get done setting the first guy back up, they just move 1/4 mile down the road to the next guy. Must have been quite a wind gust.
Yeah, when I was flying back they were on to the second one. The thing I really would not like about that type of work, would be dealing with the traffic hazards
I've looked at the wrecker game, I kind of chuckle at their "ratings" because they will rate a rig at what the winches all added together will pull, not what it will lift, and act like they are huge machines. I have pulled back every time from the wrecker game, simply because I don't want a 2 am phone call, when I have a crane job the next day. And I'm not real fond of crawling under hooking up and dropping drivelines. I've helped with some accident recoveries, and I enjoy the figuring out of how we're going to recover something, but I don't think I want to do it everyday.
My Mack MP8 ate the alternator belt on a job site. Mack dealer did not have a belt but NAPA around the corner did. Put the new belt on and drove it home. The next morning at startup it ate the belt again. Had to go the 2 NAPA stores to get 1 belt, idler, and tensioner. Mack had the fan belt. Put it all on over the weekend and it looks like all is well. Double check your fan belt, it will be next.
Will do!
This is somewhat of a trend in my rural area, "shouses." Combo of a house and a shop. I think the rancher/farmers have discovered maybe some kind of property tax loophole, where an ag building is way cheaper asessed than a residence, just a guess there and maybe indicative of the way I think ! This one was 120' by 60', out in the high desert and liable to get high winds, so the very experienced builder had me set half the first day, and he sheeted it and a few days later I came back and set the rest. Two days of dead clam weather, we lucked out for this time of year here. 2x6 top and bottom chord, 4/12 pitch, no spreader bar needed just extra long rigging to fool the trusses into thinking we were using one, that's the theory anyway and I've had good luck with it . I noticed the 2x6 framing was 12" OC, and they had 4 top plates, not the usual two, as it was engineered building I was told, interesting to this old framer.
Working across the valley from my property, which is centered in the attic truss opening. I'm 1200' above the valley floor, which explains why I don't keep my rig at home but have have a yard in town, and also why I can take off in the plane with quite a bit less then full throttle. That ridge is a bit over 9 K, the Grand Tetons are 80 miles away and visible on a clear day, heady stuff for a Detroit native! This truss was not rigged for setting, we were just moving it off the stack.
I hadn't billed for this job yet, I was waiting to see if they were going to drag the top trusses doublers up by hand once they sheeted it, or call me again. After texting this pic to the builder, we got up to speed, I'm going back Tuesday, this is where the plane comes in real handy, if I had seen it was all wrapped up I'd just have sent the bill, now I'll wait.
I got a call to unload two 25 K containers in a town an hours drive away, yesterday I met up with the truckers, one who had already spun out pulling the hill, no terrain features were given on the jobsite, the rest of the area is flat, and it had snowed the night before. We all quickly determined that due to the terrain, the ice and snow, the confined space, and the overhead power lines it wasn't going to happen. The guy who set this all up was in Fort Meyers Florida, where it was 78 and felt like 82 degrees. It was 20 and felt like 18 where we were. The homeowners wife handed me the phone to talk to her still in California husband, who started in on me, justifiably so somewhat so I let him vent for a bit. After the third or fourth time he used the phrase "if you don't feel it's safe" I had to correct him. I told him if it just wasn't safe, we'd still carefully try, but it was IMPOSSIBLE, a big difference. That got his attention and he chilled out. Getting the truckers back on the road was, as always, job one, so I suggested we unload at the airport, 3 miles away, knowing as I did there was plenty of room, with flat and leveled plowed asphalt, no one would care, and they'd be secure. So our convoy started out for the short drive, the fog got worse and worse, and that's when I realized I, the convoy leader, had never driven to this strip, just flown into it. The fog was so bad I missed the turnoff, though I was looking in the right area, I couldn't see parked airplanes 150' away, and when we looped back to the highway I realized we (I) had screwed up, so I had to break the news to the truckers, now faced with a hairpin turn on icy banks, on a busy slippery highway with real poor visibility. I had to call a pilot friend who lives in the town to give me nav directions, the fog was by far worse, exactly where the turnoff was. Once they were unloaded, I ended up as the hero somewhat for coming up with the airport idea, everybody calmed down, and no one got stuck or hurt. Meanwhile, the guy in Florida was calling and texting me thoughout, he just couldn't understand what the problem was. This pic was after the fog largely lifted, earlier it was so bad I wouldn't have been able to see the crane, just barely the semi hood maybe, so bad it was vetigo inducing.
25k is a pretty good load for your national. Helps with that turntable right on the rear, to get close.
Indeed, not to make light of it! I only do a few pics that size a year, or else I'd get something bigger. I think my radius was 14'. They told me the crane in California that loaded them, was $300.00 an hour more than me. One was 21 K, one 26, and I should have rigged for a 4 part line instead of 3, for the heavier one, but was told they were both around 21.
I thought it looked like a 3 part and knew you were over on line pull. I prefer a little extra line pull as too little. The winches get jumpy up around 7,000.
The winch cooperated, nice and smooth, the LMI squawked though, as I had it set for a 3 part line, but not until one end of the container was airborne so I knew just a little more....... I don't like posting about going over limit, don't want anyone to think I do so recklessly, cheated a bit here though for sure. Rigging for a 4 part line is quick and easy, which I've only done a few times in the 6 years I've had this rig. I use my 8 ton snatch block, pinned to the top of my single sheave 15 ton load block, so the rope goes over my boom tip, thru the big block, back up thru my second boom tip sheave (I only have two), down to the snatch block, and finally to the boom tip pendant (or whatever it's called. Next time I'll keep in mind, that the biggest hassle is rigging for the big block/3 part line (never carried on board, left in my shop unless I know I'll need it), taking off my usual headache ball etc., but once I do that, getting to a 4 part line is so quick and easy.....10 minutes and a helper for a 3 part line rig, another minute at most I can do myself to get to a 4 part line, I may as well forget about 3 lines and go right to 4 in the future, as I doubt this will be the last time a load weighs more than I was told!
80' span girder trusses (doubled up, so lots easier to pick/less floppy) and I think he said 200' long riding arena to do next week. A 60 mile flight in 5 below temps got me to the jobsite, where I texted the contractor this pic plus told him where and how to arrange things before my arrival Monday. I am not sure how many of the purlins they will install while I'm on site, enough to tie it all together I'm sure, but they told me expect 2 or 3 days of work. I'll drag my TOAD vehicle up there, a beater RAV4 Toyota I don't mind getting dirty, and make the commute in it. I'll charge a bit for that but not near as much if driving the National back and forth. A secure site, plus I can plug it in.
Looks like you can get inside to set them, but that truss pile is a long ways away.
The contractor said they would move them wherever I felt best, pretty much giving me the impression he realized they were too far away to just pick and set them. I see the posts on the left side, where I plan to setup, looks like for a leantoo, I'll crowd them as much as possible, run my outriggers between them, to reduce my needed radius. The winds come from that side also (most likely anyway) so the tagline should be on the downwind side, oops, make that the upwind side....,can't push on a rope though I have seen guys try. I probably will need to move 2, maybe three times, but level ground so it'll be quick and easy, while they are messing with the purlins. I should be able to put them about 80' to 90' away, guesstimating their weight at 800 pounds or so. I am always aware of the cost effectiveness of a bigger crane V my 30 ton boom truck, and think this will pencil out good for the guy writing the check. I had not considered setting up inside, but will keep that in mind. The job is pushed back again a few days due to below zero temps, which doesn't break my heart! My crane shed is kept at 50 degrees (radiant floor heat) but after driving for an hour in below zero temps.....
they've got the inside shoveled, that's where I'd be. I like it if the trusses are laying just outside the building, and I can set inside but not centered, cheat toward the truss pile side. Set up so you can just reach the first one, and work tight to yourself. Move, and then finish from the outside. Lots more swing, lot less booming. Fast and easy, and a lot closer to them.
Inside, that's an option normally not avaible to me due to height restrictions, so I didn't even think of that. I can see that working most of the way, but it'd get a bit awkward towards the end, as in not possible, no? Some combo of in and outside maybe. I have another job north of this one today, so I am going to cheat and if I have enough daylight left stop by and eyeball it.
Yes, I finish from the outside
Started the 230' long by 81' wide horse arena today. Doubled up/girder trusses, (2x8 top chord, 6 bottom, about 2200 pounds a pick) they fly good, the single ply gable end we pretty much hoisted right up along the wall with no problems. I turned the rig around after this pic was taken, next set was at my new setup area, comfortably at the upper end of my chart, so I counted how many poles away I was so next move I can again start long as possible than suck in my boom as I work closer and closer , and than move again. NO 6x6 poles in the entire engineered structure, all pressure treated 2x6's nailed together, guess straight 6's are easier to get than 6 bys. And like a glu lam beam probably stronger also.
I read in a Morton building systems flyer, years ago, that they use 2x boards nailed together because the Pressure Treatment is then at the center of the post. Unlike a solid 6x6 where the center is barely or untreated against rot. Their current flyer touts the laminated posts along with concrete post bases. See here > https://mortonbuildings.com/our-materials/foundation
The portion in the ground and at least a foot above should treated for in ground use and not standard pressure treating. On my building they dumped 2 bags of quick Crete in the holes with some water to make cookies for the posts. The holes were 24" dia. and filled with 3/4" washed rock for drainage. Never cement the posts in. That's what will rot them. If the building site is built up and has some drainage you don't really need cement posts in the ground. 4 2x6's is apparently a little stronger than 3 2x8's. Some posts are 3 2x6's too.
50 year warranty for the lam 2x6 stuff, 30 for the 6x6, interesting. I did something today I never even considered before, took my Kindle e reader to work! As I set these girder trusses, and make sure the crew (a good one) is happy, I shut the Mack off, as it's going to be at least 20 to 45 minutes before the next pick. I was getting real bored, even with the Sirius radio and my smart phone (probably over my limit on the phone, I thought about asking for the wifi password of the home owners as I was right there and getting a strong signal, but passed on that idea) and after lunch I got the Kindle out and kept myself alert, instead of dozing off. With the engine off, the carpenters good with it, I didn't feel too guilty.
25-45 minutes per truss? You're going to be there a while....
Yes, by the time they hand pounded in the 20 d ring shank nails into the on edge 2x4's used for the purlins (nothing toenailed, just big spikes clear thru, the long way), moved the hyd. manlifts multiple times, it took a while. they went a tad overboard in their bracing, but big as the trusses are probably not. All this crew does is big pole barns like this arena and I got the impression a little, or a lot, of extra crane time was no big deal. A bit under 40 hours total, counting the 2 hr drive there and back, 8 hrs just in travel time. Wrapped up today, I am glad to be outa there, one of the most boring jobs since setting municipal well pumps.
Setting these pipe lattices the other day, the iron workers were making fine adjustments to them with a 10 lb sledgehammer, seems they were a very tight fit. Light taps turned into hard as they could smack it blows, (did I say they were ironworkers), and the guy on the left lost his grip. The sledge pinballed thru the top lattice, and the lower one, and missed all that expensive glass. It was the most entertainment I've had on a job in quite a while.
Sent this pic taken today to the contractor, told him the bill was in the mail, he responding with "I'm in Mexico for 2 weeks." 6 above this morning here, go od timing on his part. About an hour per truss of my time, but that's also counting 2 hrs of travel, per day, over 4 days.
Back to my usual work, NOT picking small buildings up. First chance I had to fly in almost 3 weeks, been a rough winter, so I mixed a little fun with eyeballing my first two jobs of the week. The big project is a new charter school, we set half the trusses a few days ago, the other half should be up by Tuesday. The second is kind of a post and beam building, except the beams are all steel, and it's 35' high, I'll be picking the 4 roof segments up one at a time. The contractor was all hot to have it picked in one all put togther section, but I talked him out of that right away, pointing out all the extra work for me to rig it and for crew to stiffback etc., 1 at a time will be easy/peasy, and quick. The silos contain beans I'm told, not sure what kind.
Pretty self explanatory, and yes, it was a Monday.
Hitching a ride, it appears to be a might tacky. Between the soup holes.
It got a bit scary when the crawler tractor spun it's tracks...., as in NOW what do we do?! This site has foot deep wallows and is a bog. We got it done by showing up early after a cold night, though driving over the frozen ruts was hard on the equipment, and leaving the rig there overnite once. The other time I got pulled out. Third time I was able to drive out, barely. I have to go back to set the red iron trusses, but it should be better by then I hope. Tomorrow's job is on flat, level, pavement, but I'll make a mess by the time I leave as my pads and dunnage are all mud caked from the last job. there's a chance this next job will be out of my chart, (pre-fabbed roof sections, not sure how far away) and I'm so glad to be out of the mud I told the guy if I can't do it, no charge, just glad to be here! It'll be like a day off.
A big housing project, closely packed small duplexes, going to be 30 or more of them. The contractor has it in his head that framing the roofs on the ground and then lifting them will be quicker and easier than lifting them piecemeal. From my perspective, and hour meter, it didn't save any time over what it would have taken me to set them 1 or 2 at a time, but what do I know? I supplied the rigging, but let them guesstimate where to rig it. I picked it up and then asked "you sure, you like it?" My way of absolving myself from blame if it fell apart, though of course a good lawyer would have a different attitude. I made sure ( I had to tell them several times, DON'T GET UNDER IT) that if it did pull apart no one got hurt. Even then, one guy, while it was still 3 or 4' above the plate line, gets up on a step ladder and rests his arms on the top plate, no frigging common sense. I didn't really feel it was going to collapse of course, but why take the chance and get under it? It went well so now I'll be getting the call to do them all I suppose. When I made a trip there previous just to eyeball it, I made a big deal about the distance from my center of rotation with the head guy and he nodded knowingly, then when I showed up they had framed the garage walls (green) forcing me to set up further back. No big deal as it didn't weigh 7,000 pounds like he estimated, but 2900, but I told him next time (I think they are all identical) get me in and out before the garage goes up. I just noticed, the same dumb a** who had his arms on the plate, was the same guy who popprd up at the last second with the snow shovel, just as I grabbed this pic, he got yelled at twice.
That drive me nuts. Put a couple of tags on it and stay back, you idgits. When I get it almost down, then get up your ladder and place a hand on it.
I wonder if the compound cuts to make the second roof line are easier to measure & make while on the ground. I imagine there's some adjustments to be made since the trusses and lumber all add their tolerances to the required angles
Speaking as a recovering carpenter, I'd say the opposite. I don't want my joints opening up due to the pick stresses. But it gets better: I just got a text from the super saying his big honcho wants to do the next duplex in 1 pick, and did I have another crane, one that could handle about 7K at a 50 something radius? Told him no, out of my chart, but even if I could I wouldn't, too much of a hassle to rig right, as in 5 times more hassle then lifting two. Not a capacity issue alone, more a rigging one in other words. Also, his next step up in my area cranewise would cost him more in travel time alone than my entire bill for doing two at once. And, the site is so tight, a bigger rig would have a harder time and may end up out of his chart if too far. I don't care if they call me back, but I'd like to see whoever pick the entire roof, watch them rig it, see what crane it was, and then run the $ numbers. Not saying it couldn't be done at all, just saying it'd cost way more, and to no advantage.
So, with your billing a wash ground assembly vs piecemeal, there's some sort of advantage to building it on the ground and lifting the roof. An interesting question... With an interesting answer. Maybe the super doesn't like heights when checking the job Could the reason be weather related ? Or perhaps more hands to finish the assembly quicker vs limited space working atop the walls and among trusses? Maybe a clumsy non-agile workforce in danger of falling at height. You already know some of the crew is unaware of hazards. Much like building housing in a modular factory. All the workers that I saw at height had fall protection on. The height was a dozen feet at most. The roof was built folded flat, to be unfolded on site.
It is likely much easier to build components on the ground but being made of wood and complex shapes introduces a whole new set of variables when you have to lift them. They built an 820 tonne vessel longer than a football here in the shop and moved it because it was so much easier. A big part of why it could be moved is because it's made of welded steel. Modular homes are built stronger because they are designed to be hauled in sections from the shop to the building site. A standard roof assembled on the ground may not hold up to being hoisted.
99.9% of the several hundred houses I lifted the trusses for last year were built in place, not on the ground. These guys are tripping over a dollar to save a dime. I didn't get a hint of something going on that would make me think they were operating on a level so far above what I could fathom, that they were so advanced in residential construction! More, a crew below average in all aspects, starting with their site prep in getting me in there, you'd thought I was going to show up driving my frigging Prius, for all the room they left me! Not one knew to NOT crank the shackle bolt down tight, to not try and stuff 5 slings into my load hook, getting under the load, etc. etc. So, the crew is nothing special, what's surprising to me is the boss man's action. This site is an easy 10 min drive for me, they'll be looking at a 1 hr one way travel time for a big enough crane to do it in one piece. I charged them my min 2.5 hr fee, port to port, and we got it done in less than that. It will be interesting to see how it plays out for sure. Luckily I don't need to stress about it/don't need the work, so can just sit back and watch it play out.
They may be playing a workmans comp game. Typically the underwriters want a percentage estimate of time spent working at height vs working on the ground. The rates on the comp are scaled by that percentage. It’s not a big deal for small companies, but if they are one of the huge developers, it would make a $ difference for building 3,000 homes. I’ve done the pre building on the ground more with steel than wood. It’s easier for the lifting with steel, because of its strength. Most of my job sites there’s just no room to pre build anything.
I didn't know that .. But, then I'm just a HE hobbyist. Is it to allow the shackle or pin to flex when under lifting load? Crane Op's post is the sort of answer that may explain why contractor wants to build on ground level. Natman's billing is a wash so something else is driving the decision.
The back porch of our house got set as a Unit, Columns were up and interior walls to connect to, set that then the remainder of the roof truss. Built it in the Living room floor.
Some people say not to back off the shackle bolt a tiny bit but then you can't loosen it without a wrench. It could be a pain if unhooking off the ground in awkward or potentially dangerous positions. If it's a more permanent thing then tighten it up.
building something with that much windage is just looking for trouble, IMO. A mouse fart is going to wreak havok with it, let alone a decent gust at the wrong time. It is backwards thinking. You could do 20 of them with no issues but that 21st one taking the crane down and hurting some people would wipe all that out in the blink of an eye. You don't want to go out of your way to make something into a critical pick. On our house build I am building those little cupolas on the ground, but I will leave the sheeting off to make them super simple to rig up.
Always back the shackle off a 1/4 turn, if you don't , the weight of the load will cause the choker to act like a pipe wrench on the pin, and you're going to have fun getting it back loose.
Nuke Safety Idiot pushed the tightening of the Shackle pins on our fuel lifts, Just KNEW the strap eyes would unscrew it those six to eight full threads. Showed her SEVERAL Times Hoisting Rules and recommendations where she INSISTED or we would be written up. SO, as Lift controlling Operator Informed her she HAD TO STAY while made a Fuel Cask lift and swapped to remove assemblies, she initially refused but Supervisor noted SHE ould be required to as I demanded it. She awaited the lifts satisfied she was correct UNTIL Time to Remove Shackles and straps. Mechanics had to be called as the pins as Wedged in too tight to remove. Damaged Shackles was inferred by Mechanics where had to be replaced, she would not budge on tightening down even as mechanics informed her otherwise, Second Shackle SET ended up SAME Conditions, Management called her into Office. She not ever returned while fuel handling was being performed. She quit following year.
If she wanted positive securement, they could have just gone to bolt type shackles, with the nut and a cotter pin. Its hard when the person making the "rules" really doesn't know what they are doing. The bolt and nut shackles are a pain if you are attaching and unhooking all the time, but in the liability frame of a nuke plant, they would be a great alternative.
At the time were offloading fuel, then reloading empty casks. So were swinging two to three off and then loading as off loading. Working inside cramped quarters of fuel building with truck bay door open until truck allowed to leave. 5ton hoist hook, Shackle, four matched length 10’ straps off first shackle to four corner shackles. Two men on truck, two to four 46’ above on fuel handling floor, myself and two supervisors plus three rad protection techs. Send one cask to side of truck loading area, before backed in, snatch first cask off truck to upper deck send second empty down aside pick another from front three pyramid, next one down to empty slot on trailer pick loaded one send next empty where that one lifted pick a rear top off front three empties. Another off rear up last empty available from above down to trailer pick last full send hook down lift last two to trailer truck out door. Rad Prot techs got really antsy with door open, unprotected release path for zoomies. Shackles stuck techs panic, safety idiot panic, supervisors in bad mood. Me, I would shut off crane and just watch, nice break. Cask on hook up or down unable to do squat as could not remove lift rigging. Awaiting Mechanics even more supervision distress, RP techs Impatient RP supervisor into clown show, lots of strong language!!! Time of essence to get trucks in and out. Limited numbers of Cask, multiple sites getting fuel deliveries and timing important to fuel supplier, our site, other sites, bad day!
Almost forgot. Operations on 12 hr schedule, RP on 8, security watching over Everything limited as to officers anyway pissy as to men tied up, and then truckers!!
Sorry on the bolt shackle CO, nuke requirement cotter pin changed any time removed as well any loose small parts in Fuel Building TABOO!!
I should have known. No reason to make it easy.
NOTHING easy at a Nuke.
That's the first thing I look for when working with a new crew, it's a good indicator as to how much time they've spent around a crane. Like loading the shackle "sideways," or putting the tag line on the downwind side, or all three at once!
They told me to bill them, giving me the impression I won't be called back, which didn't hurt my feelings at all. Weird job, a bit odd, anyway, from the start: I got 2 or 3 calls from "Dave", when I stopped by in my car to eyeballs things a guy walked up, "you Dave?" I was told no, he was in the jobsite trailer, but he'd tell him I was onsite. After waiting a bit I started talking it over with the nail benders I'd be working with, Dave never appeared, and I had other things to do so I left. Day of the lift, still no Dave..., finally while I was putting my rigging away, I noticed an older guy lurking around but keeping his distance, I guess that was Dave? Still don't know.... Last I heard, via text, the reason "Dave" gave me for wanting to a single pick was that the "owner" (not the project engineer, head honcho, Bossman, or other commonly used terms on a job to denote the top man, but "the owner") wanted to challenge the carpenters. OK...., he acomplished that! The site is in the middle of town, easy for me to drive by in the car, or fly over, and hopefully I get to see how it all works out.
Cleaning up my desktop, some pics from last summer: the big concrete water tank job I was on, lifting formwork out thru a 4' sq hatch, including sheets of form ply. The guys in the tank had to rig the loads so they hung almost vertical in order to fit thru the opening. Working 65' away, the camera came in handy, again. Bean warehouse, 35' tall truss assemblies.
With that "we want to set it in one pick" job just a couple blocks off the main drag as I mentioned, today while in town picking up my taxes (my accountant agreed, my fuel bill was a lot higher last year) I swung by in my car and took this shot. I have a very full day tomorrow, on a real job, if I didn't I'd make some popcorn and a thermos of coffee and sit in the car and watch. I've decided, that if I drive by at the end of the day and see its all good, I'm going to text old Dave and (not caring if they ever call me again) and ask how it went, and if the crane bill was less than my bill. I have no doubt it can be safely lifted, question is how long it will take and how much it costs.
If that was completely covered with plywood how would you rig it so you could set it down in place?
I did an HVAC job a couple blocks away yesterday, and did a drive by afterwards and saw they had got it up. In talking to the carpenter, I was told they did it with a forklift! I was amazed and told him so, but then he said NOT in one lift, but two, and with their forklift. More power to them, that makes a lot more sense that trying to lift it as a single unit, with a bigger crane, an hour's drive away. I kind of like seeing the crews that get max utility out of their reach forklifts, it takes them a bit longer but saves them some crane $$ probably. Mainly..., I prefer seeing it done that way rather than one of my competitors getting the work!
A Sawzall! Once it was guesstimated where to rig, patched later I imagine. Crude but effective enough I guess.
Two unrelated jobs, miles apart, but both needed 18-20' high 8" LVL walls stood up. The unsheeted one was further than I could reach, but as I was tilting it towards me I rigged it that way to make it easier for the crew, thinking they would be fighting the headache ball otherwise. It wasn't needed, I end up closer to the top plate than I figured. I told them to block the bottom plate to something solid so it would just pivot up and not slide as I was tiliting it. The camera came in handy as I could sight down the load line and know when it was plumb. We have a great plumb bob on every job! Second is a monster house, and this had to be picked up but I was close enough. This place has a 10 or maybe 12 car garage, depending on their size, it took two trips (just 3 hrs. each) just to set the trusses, for the garage! I'll be setting the house this week.
Where are all these monster house owners coming from? Joe H
California
There goes the neighborhood. Joe H
I usually ask that first thing, didn't yet on this job. When I do, to my surprise, most are more or less local. I think this place may be what we call "spud money." The rich farmers here, who love to poor boy it, like their big houses!
Seems everything in the grocery store has doubled or tripled, but I didn't notice and golden potatoes. Have to ask DW, she talks about meat and eggs but spuds have not made the list that I know of. Joe H
That was supposed to be "I didn't notice any golden potatoes." Although what they get now for an order of fries at McDonalds or the rest maybe there really are gold potatoes. Joe H
Taters------UMMMMM------Slice um thin ----Fryum-- Let drain and lightly salt , did i say UMMM Better half fixed some at lunch
I got a call from a homeowner, seems the tub company recommended me to set his lap pool. A 1 hour drive away, I quized him pretty good as to my access, where it was going, etc. The minute I got there, I about turned around and just drove off, it was going under a deck roof, no way for my loadline to get past the overhang. But..., the wheels started turning, and I figured if I could not set it right where it needed to be, I could at least get it a heck of a lot closer. I had noticed there was a fair bit of lumber around, and after sending the homeowner's kid to get some more plus some nails, I made a support for it so I could get it up on the deck and unrigged. Some 1'' PVC pipe was laid down on the supports, and after I got unhooked it was easy enough to push it (2000 pounds) sideways. BUT, it still needs to be lowered about 3' into it's hole, and I told the homeowner a good carpenter could figure out how to do that, using the trusses above, some beams to spread the load, some comalongs. Or a temp bridge crane could be erected over it. Either way, he could kiss the tub companies rigging goodby, it was going to be trapped. They of course should have planted the lap pool before the addition's roof went on, what we had here was a failure to communicate, but it "wasn't my problem," and the homeowner was happy with my solution to at least get it off the lawn and over the hole, a Saturday job no less.
Last picture from the hot tub under the roof set: no spreader bar, my usual way to lift these, this was quick and dirty, with the pipe on the temp supports underneath, I had the homeowner and his kid push it in while I cabled down, with the rigging tight against the roof overhang. That got it in far enough, way past it's balance point, to where I could unhook, and get the heck out of there. Next day, a big pool, easy, and I got my biggest tip ever $95.00, cash!
That doesn't look very well planned out Going to need a running start to get from the trampoline into the pool
Good catch, I missed that!
I got ANOTHER big tip , somewhere between 150 and 500 bucks, depending on how I figure it. A half hour drive, to unload a container off a trailer, they were late, it was almost dark, plus thunder and lightening all around, when I pulled up. We all agreed it wasn't going to happen, I asked if they had a car I could borrow, if so I'd leave the crane there and come back in the AM, that'd be a Saturday. So, I made the 45 minute drive (further to home), and was due to be back on site at 5:30, so I got up at 4. Right before I walk out the door, at 4;30, I got a text, they had pulled it off with a loader, as they were tight on time and had already headed back to SLC to pick another one up. I had other work so needed to pick my rig up. They told me to leave the car in the garage, and check the inside door for a note: pinned on it was 500, cash. I had told them $350.00, (yeah, we're low out here) so, anyway you slice it pretty generous., especially considering I never picked it just drove there and back. Went back a day later, unloaded the next one, and without me saying anything they handed over $375.00, no mention of a discont because of the earlier payment, that just never happens!
I'd guess they didn't want to **** you off if they needed you again. Kind of a good faith gesture for you since you took the crane there.
It just was a heck of a coincidence that I got my two biggest "tips" in 23 years, a couple days apart, a day after my birthday no less! When they call me back to final set them where they go, I will tell them they were too hard to work with and to get somebody else, as they disrupted my usual routine of billing for a job, and then waiting weeks or months!
Checked out Wednesday's upcoming job on the way back from a fly-in across the desert, it's right on the bluff above the Snake River. Looks like a pretty simple set, judging from what I could see, and that I'll be looking into the sun. This info will be helpful if I get a call for other work that day, this one will probably just be a half day. A lot of times a contractor will want to tie me up all day, for what turns out to be a few hours actual work, so I like to take a sneak peak ahead of time and draw my own conclusions. Just a couple miles away, a big expansion at a big spud packing plant, with some real big iron.
The townhouses crew has called me back several times, after their first overly ambitous roof pick (out of balance, not built right to be picked, not cost effective, etc.), and they now have it dialed in. ONE roof, not with a out of balance portion, nice and balanced. built leaving me room to get exactly where I, should be, and a reasonable weight, about 500 pounds. In and done in a hour, no drama, only thing they need to work on, from my perspective, is to NOT tell me to let off on the load, while they try and move it into it's final position. And then take it back up..... Better, the way I do it if no one is telling me how to do it, is to set it down just enough so it's not moving, but still light enough enough to fine tune it by hand. Seems obvious but I try and make them think they are in charge, while I also try and do it the way I think it should be done, as an old carpenter. Like today, on another job, I watched the guy on the man lift grab ONE stabilizer, crawl up on the truss, nail it, then crawl back onto the lift to grab another stabilizer, back up on the truss, to nail the second one (we were setting two at a time), if he was working for me I would have told him to grab two, make one trip, but I kept my mouth shut. Got my river job done, another barndominimun, my third this year: huge garage with a house, all one structure, more "spud money," at least they are locals. Lot's of iron in this one, all engineered I was told. The big iron across the river didn't move all day on the plant job, 3 big rigs just sitting there, doesn't seem right, then again they can't pack up and hit the road to the next job like me in 10 minutes.
I got a bit of a scare today in the crane shed! Not a rattler, no rattles anyway, but a very agressive 6' long bull snake, or so I'm told. While wrestling it out with a couple sticks, it kept getting away from me but I finally corraled it and dropped it over the fence. I DID NOT want it dissappearing somewhere under the Mack chassis and surprising me again.
That would freak the **** out of me. I hate snakes. About a year ago there was a snake found in a Ferrari dealer's showroom. Apparently it crawled up in the undercarriage of a car on a company road trip. It had a ring marking on it and the people that came to get it were able to locate it back to exactly where it came from. I'd bet it really freaked out the women working there.
It seems I go a long tie without seeing a snake then this week I saw two. One over 3' long crossing a gravel road. A small on yesterday in the wood pile as I was cutting up some for firewood. I don't like them, but yet they don't bother me, usually.
I forgot to mention, the first time I managed to get it out of the shed (built like a house, full foundation, tight sealing man doors etc.) I got it about 15' away and thought "problem solved, it'll wander off," closing the man door behind me of course. 15 minutes later, it was back in the same corner! My big roll up door was open, but it was around the corner from the man door, so it had to really want back in that corner, which I have checked every time I'm there since then.....
A rare "twofer," two homes with a single setup. With trusses scattered on both sides of me, some 100' away, but I was able to snag the stacks and pull them closer. Yet another job right on the edge of a still active farm field, when I told the carpenter I didn't want to leave tracks in the field, they told me not to worry, the farmer was also the developer. The "starter" homes (only 250 K or so...) were only about 10-15' apart, and I live on 70 acres, almost makes me feel guilty.
Littlens she wanted Back with the Littlens
Should make you appreciate what you have all the more, not being squeezed together. Having your plane right there where you can jump in for a quick flight, has to be close to perfect. Years ago we were building a new office at the airport. I was finishing my airmen's certificate, just needed a cross country trip. The boss stopped by at 9:30 said he had bought a new Piper in Florida go home grab a few clothes, as I was flying one to pick it up. I had soloed in a helicopter so took that home landed in the field near my place. Grabbed a few clothes and that night was in Vero Beach, and flew home the next day. Of course the fellow I flew down with got to fly the new plane but, it was still a great change of pace and what a cross country, to finish my pilot's license.
I think I'll jump in the plane this morning, no work today yet, and fly into town to check on a 60x100 warehouse job I got a call about a few days ago. I do that a lot, much better I've found than believing what I'm told, "we'll be ready Friday," and I see the walls aren't even up yet! I fly with binoculors and the plane is real quiet, so I can play spy plane with no one being the wiser, all part of the job.
Did the above, once over the site it was obvious why there was a delay, NO trusses on the ground yet. 10 minutes after I landed back home, I get a call, trusses were delivered just minutes after I was overhead, setting them Tuesday. Supposedly.
A day off, after a very busy week, including one 14 hr day, counting the driving. Then I had to be at a job the next morning at 6, and it was 2 hrs away. So, for a break I set some iron with the Kubota at home, using a jury rigged stinger lashed to the forks. A LONG RV storage build, we finally got to the truss we were all waiting for, the gable. 5 trips out for me, the carpenters sheeted it in sections as we went, smart.
Then clear out in the desert, working for the National Weather Service, where the guy with the new HVAC unit showed up 2.5 hrs. late, no explanation, and I had 3 other jobs that day. I didn't say a word, no use, I'll get even when I bill them. Then a hour drive to set a single beam, that the carpenters had built the addition around, laying on the floor under the beam pockets, it took a half hour to finagle it out of there and into place. I could have asked them, why not leave it outside the building, a crane is coming anyway? But I didn't. Then another 1hr+ drive to a truss job I was told would take 3-4 hrs., it took 7, 73' span scissor trusses, and me with no spreader bar, as I was not forewarned and had to go thru the port of entry. The bar puts me right at my 40 K rear axle limit so I don't carry it unless I know it'll be needed. I told the carps we needed to make a stiffback up, and clamp it on each truss, it was the only way to handle those trusses, we did, and it went slick after that prep work. I saw two of these big ladder trucks next to my beam set job, they are owned by an outfit that does cell tower work, and are perfect for that application. Plus they still had the sirens and flashing lights on them.
Lifted this 16,500 lb. generator off a semi, then straight down, last time they used a 80 ton truck crane with no spreader bar, and had some issues with the turbo I was told. The weight was verified, and at my steep boom angle and a 3 part line, my LMI was telling me it weighed 19,500. Better it reads heavy then light, but that for sure it what it does, displays heavy. I blame the 1400 lb counterweight, installed after the LMI and crane were put together/certified. Or maybe it's just screwed up, I've reset the tare weight and it seems more accurate at lesser weights with lower boom angles. The gen set was emergency power for when the grid goes down, on a 50,000 head feedlot operation (750,000 GPD of water needed , at least) one building was over 1/2 mile long, such a huge operation I flew back today (no washboarded gravel dusty roads, like yesterday) and took a few pictures.
Looks like quite the big operation and very well organized.
Spotted this modest little vacation cabin under construction on the shore of Idaho's Bear Lake this morning, that little tower crane looks perfect for the job, plenty of reach it appears.
We saw lots of those small tower cranes in Switzerland when we went there in the late 90’s. Now we see them here around Vancouver BC on large house projects and small multi family projects. Cam
I drove the Prius up to a jobsite I got a call about today (a bit better mileage than the boom truck, a better sound system also), and saw the trusses stacked on the street directly under a big tree, plus a power line (secondary, insulated at least) over the building. Told the guy I could do it, and he could move the trusses first or I could, or we could cut down the tree. We can work around the powerline. Over 100' reach from the street, I'll get in his driveway, short jack my non working side (narrow driveway) and knock that down to 60' or so. The camera will earn it's cost, again, as most of the building will be invisible to me. Pictures tomorrow.
How does the Prius mileage compare to the plane?
It depends...., going 80 mph, the Prius burns less gas per hr, I have fuel flow meters on both. If the plane was racing the Prius on a straight road, into a head wind, the Prius is twice as cheap to get somewhere. I burn E-0 premium mogas in the plane, about .50 more per gallon than the regular E-10 gas for the car. Going straight across mountain ranges the car has to go around, maybe with a tailwind, the plane wins. Just yesterday I flew a 1.5 hr drive I had made in the boom truck the day before, low level, and the next time I drive it I'll be remembering the flight, once I drive and low fly the same route, I really know it, it makes the drive more fun for some reason.
This job, after a little tree trimming went better than I would have thought. The attic trusses at least were real solid to fly and there was no wind. I picked them from under the tree, with the load hook in the clear and a little dragging by the rigger as they came off the stack. Had to short jack one side due to the narrow drive. This guy (gable shot) was a "grabber", as I was booming down/cabling up as it's nearing the building edge, he walks out on the plate 10 or 15' to meet it, so now I'm babysitting him as he walks backwards. Every truss after, he walked out, and "helped," rather than staying back at the last truss, one hand on it (solid) and then reaching out to grab the truss when it's 30" or so away. I'd had had a little talk with him but it didn't seem worth the hassle, as I won't be working with this crew again. It interrupted the smooth flow of the truss moving out while descending, and was not needed at all. Since I had the camera, the first truss was dead nuts on the building edge, 76' away, no signaling required, sighting down the load line and lining up the bottom and top chord to the "plumb line" is easy. Then, since I was sitting square to the building, I just knocked off 24" every set, except when the girder truss went in, on 44" O.C., and every set was perfect, no "tip it out, or bring it in, again using the camera to check that it was all lined up. It was one of the smoothest/no motion wasted jobs I've ever done, the kind when I get done, I get, usually or often anyway, complimented. This guy were no fun at all, when he handed me the check, he just walked away, and if you don't think a personality conflict on a job site doesn't matter to me, you'd be wrong, he's on "my list", with NOOO!!! after his name in my contacts list. He took pains to mention that their usual guy was broke down, so they called me, that right there can be a deal breaker with me, ha ha. If their usual guy could have done that job better or quicker, or even nearly as good, (no camera, and he'd been out of his chart setting that sheeted gable, by 15') I'd kiss his A**, and if he doesn't realize that, he'll stay on my list. I can afford to be picky. My list, in 23 years, is nearing 8 or 10 contractors, who know never to call me, works for me. A 8,000 pound asphalt tank being unloaded, during the same time the crane op was scouting around for an asphalt chip seal outfit, a perfect match for both of us, I had him come up to my place the next week.
There must be times where you have to shut the job down because it either isn't safe or someone is doing something very dangerous? I guess you have the final say on safety during your lifts?
For sure, if it's a job of longer duration, this one was short enough, and the danger was minor enough, to just put up with it. A few times I have shut the rig down for a little safety talk, that gets everyone's attention real quick!
I can see all the blame shifted on you if someone got hurt because of their own stupidity. Dealing with guys who won't listen and keep doing dangerous things must really get on your nerves.
Yup, if he tripped while walking backwards, I'd be to blame most likely, good thing it pays pretty good and is easy work, and I of course have insurance, or I wouldn't do it at all! It actually offends my old carpenter common sense more than my modern legal sensibilities and fear of liability, there's just no need for it.
Another all in one piece roof set, then a steel beam set 20 miles away up a mountain, then a truss job on the same mountain a few miles away, plus an HVAC job back in town all in one day. The next day a big custom house set an hour and a half drive one way, with 8 hrs of work once there, in 98 degree heat. I thought I was supposed to be retired by now, almost all of my contemporaries are, but my customers have different ideas.
Diesel fuel has gone up $1.00 per gallon in my area the last few weeks, (paid $4.47 today) so just because I could, I filled both tanks, drove 54 miles round trip, and picked a container, just straight up while a trailer puller underneath, maybe 30 minutes, 45 at most, with the engine running/PTO engaged. Stopped by the same station, pulled up to the same pumps, used the same re-filling method (one click on the pump handle, inserted in the fuel tanks the exact same way, real slow, to keep any foaming to a min., and just let the auto shutoff do it's thing). I was all set to get upset, but.... 5.9 gallons, divided by 54 miles = 9.15 MPG INCLUDING the PTO engaged/operating time! Even throwing in a 20% error rate, that's still much better than I thought it'd be. I'm at a loss to account for it, I know for a fact the mileage is correct +- 1 or miles. After the auto shut off stopped I eyeballed the fuel level distance from the filler and it looked the same both times. I know from my ferry trip from when I bought it in Wisconsin, 5-6 mpg was the norm for highway travel, but I'm not complaining. I have two jobs this upcoming week involving 2 hour one way travel times, and now will enjoy the drive more, knowing I'm still more than breaking even. 62 MPH is my travel speed, makes it easy to do the math, 60 MPH/mile a minute is what I bill for. I must have been pushing 70 on my ferry trip, remember I'm a Prius driver so am used to being picky about my mileage. Did NOT expect this, it's like free money.
I am always surprised at how much my mileage varies on the hwy with speed. My pickup and camper will get 19 to 21 mpg (Canadian gallon) at 60 mph and much closer to 17/ 18 at 70 mph. Cam
I think most vehicles are designed to get the best mileage in the 55-60 MPH range. Maybe even at 50 MPH. Some vehicles have a sensor or display that tells you when your getting the best mileage. My F150 does and it's around 55 MPH/90 KMH. Unfortunately I usually drive 100-110 KMH on the highway.
I built my water tank roof in the shop, including putting the tin on, then I thought, why not the ridge cap too? Some slits for 3 lifting tabs to stick up thru, a little leak won't matter as it's just to keep the sun off. Rolled it outside, used a chain fall to get the right length on the center rigging point, and after finding my helper was out of town was able to set it into place with just 3 or 4 jump offs. Got the walls all closed in now, using oil field pipe again for that, and salvaged tin siding, and have been pumping 4000 + GPD of water using solar, from a spring 1/2 mile away and about 270' higher, then all gravity flow from the tank.
Set some glu lams on a ranch house an hour and a half away, the cut hayfield came right up to the house, so I flew in the next day to drop off an invoice, which they were fine with. No one there, texted the young lady who set the job up and seemed to be in charge, told her where to find the invoice, and as I was cruising along flying back home she said she was at work at the scrap yard that day. ! This was fortuitous as I had been looking hard for some 6" pipe in my area with no luck and was a day away from buying new, and didn't even know about this yard. She checked, had 27' of it, so I drove back the next day with the Prius and the utility trailer, cut it down to 20', and charged it against my bill. A win/win for both of us. She was also in charge of the scrap yard, I had figured her in the office behind a desk, but it was an old school yard and she was in greasy overalls, with her long blonde hair tied up, cute as heck, about 5'3", but no doubt who was the boss there, quite the character! One of my most enjoyable jobs of the year.
Where's the pics. of her? The plane looks pretty neat but nobody cares about the house. We want to see the cute girl who keeps the guys inline at the scrap yard. She'd probably kick all of our a$$es. LoL
I was there to work...., not to take pictures of a cute lady,(!) but IF I had had the opportunity I would have. Didn't happen, in the course of the job anyway. Same at the scrap yard, she's a fast mover and I had to keep up with her and didn't have a chance, maybe she's camera shy too.
Sometimes little distractions can be good.
Moma might sabotage the plane if she finds pics of pretty ladies on phone "just sayin MIGHT"
Yet another aerial delivery of the invoice for work done (don't ask why I don't fill an invoice out while still onsite, the answer is obvious) setting the trusses, 2 hrs "work" and 1.5 hrs of driving, each way. I flew back the next morning, after a 8 AM HVAC job called me at the last minute and apologized for pushing the job back to noon, giving me time to go fly, perfect! Nothing better than flying a route (at low level) I've just driven in the boom truck, to say it's more fun is an understatement, maybe safer too. That reminds me: https://www.rexburgstandardjournal....cle_c63c72a8-5952-11ee-9c23-1332b69c2b1f.html A bad deal for the Equinox driver (but his fault) but the boom truck driver came out OK. I have not been able to find any other info on it, it's near my area but not really local to me. View attachment 295559 View attachment 295560
My 7 th. complete roof pick, and I think the last, worked myself out of a job again. A spa job, the camera letting me set it with zero guidance from the crew in back of the house, just my own, as I could SEE.
On a commercial building job yesterday, swinging flat trusses in 20 + mph winds, 10 hours pretty much not stop. This crew is very hard core, working "overtime" on their jobs is expected, as is not really stopping for lunch. BUT...., they also provide lunch, and pay promptly! Easy enough to eat while still swinging trusses, if the carpenters can do it while still working I can do it. Note the bundle of trusses behind the forklift, they got broken before I got there while they were moving them around with the lift, the truss company came out and tsked tsked over them, (he looked disgusted, don't blame him) and then told them how to repair them on site and still pass inspection. When my lower window got broken out at a truck stop, I replaced it with 1/8" aluminum deck plate, and a foot rest, which has worked out great for a shelf also, in this case a pizza shelf.
Have spoon will travel
Somebody stole a piece before delivering
The long handled spoon is a critical piece of my onboard equipment. Past experience has shown that it's needed for properly stirring up the Starbucks instant coffee in my cab's travel mug. Nodding off after lunch on some jobs is not good. I always carry plenty of coffee, a JetBoil stove, and some really Costco good trail mix. Not a joke or anything, it makes me a safer operator if I'm not hungry or sleepy. Another swimming pool, for a competing company to the first pool company I did a lot of work for in the past. It seems one of his employees quit and started his own business, and I think there was some bad blood involved. All I know for sure is the first pool company dropped my services immediately after I did the first pool for the new guy, I somehow got caught up in their rivalry. I guess I was supposed to not work for the new guy, or something, it kind of hurt my feelings, but I'll get over it. The new guy pays the same day, the other outfit took 6 weeks or more.
If he's not paying you for 6 weeks I can only imagine how he was treating the guy who quit
I've had a rash of big lifts (for me anyway) all coming in within a few hundred pounds of 11 K, the last one being (no pics) a good sized broke down CAT skid steer that needed to be loaded onto a trailer. The others were a 10,000 gallon fuel tank, 2 big chillers, and a cement tank (made out of steel) for a new precast business. They had a big loader, which I had them use to control the tip over as I stood it up, it went perfect, super smooth. I was working with a bunch of farmers and those boys know heavy equipment and have common sense. The one big chiller I was told HAD to be lifted in 6 places, making the rigging a bit more complicated, but I used my chain fall as a load balancer and what the heck, I charge by the hour anyway. The old one we picked in 4 places, 6 was overkill I thought. Then I got an emergency call, a 2000 pound computer for a new data center had fallen off a truck, and needed to be set back upright. There was a bunch of serious looking guys standing around when I got there, no joking around on this job, someone had potentially screwed up bad obviously. It had big casters so I rigged to a fence post to keep the bottom where it was while I lifted the top end, not wanting to drop it again. When I left they were just booting it up to see if it would work, still no joking around, I was glad to get out of there!
Inside the data center, no one would tell me what it was all about, some kind of secret, I was just the dummy who knew how to pick the fallen computer back up, so probably wouldn't have understood even if they had told me.
This camera system has me and my steady customers spoiled. This example shows my view from the op cab, and then the view from the monitor. Minimal help on site, for sure no one handy OR qualified rto give me signals, with the camera I'm able to not only set it where it goes, but watch them nail the stabilizers on, and then when they reach for the rigging I cable down like magic! I had what may be the best sandwich in my life on a job recently, thanks to my customer's wife. Homemade bread for starters, and then lots of other stuff going on, it was a taste extravaganza and I made real sure to compliment the chef later. I had the dog onboard that day, and he managed to get fed also. Maybe it's something about getting paid to eat (I was swinging trusses the entire time) but like my other job with the real good pizza I was given, it works for me.
A first taste of winter, it made me think that when I'm finally ready to hang it up, it will be during the winter. This road was so icy it was very tricky to walk on, most of the crew fell that day at least once, and it was dumb luck I first pulled up to the jobsite where I did, after driving by it a fair bit. After I got out I realized I had one shot on backing in and getting to work, if I missed the narrow area left to me I would not be able to re-position, I'd be spinning my wheels, plus I'd be blocking the entire road. I nailed it luckily, got the job done, and with the usual delays by this crew (good guys but not real sharp carpenters) by the time I was done it had melted off just enough to make it outa there.
My grampa retired in the late fall from hauling gas and diesel. He said he just couldn’t face another winter of snow and ice and those hoses weren’t getting any lighter.
This happened the other day, 2 days after I drove that same stretch of interstate at the same time, but right at the start of a high pressure system, so the inversion hadn't settled in yet. Tough to know what to do....., other than slow or stop, but than you get rear ended, maybe pull way off the road, but you still may be rear ended. I'll get the full story when I hear back from the guy I was working for on that job when I go back there. https://www.eastidahonews.com/2023/...e-say-caused-the-crash-involving-30-vehicles/ .
Your pup would probably be better on the tag line than most carpenters.
One of the "skills" I've learned is how to deal with a ignoramus on the tag line. Depending on the job, time of day, whether or not the job site is in view of others or not, and my mood that day, I'll either shut down, get out, walk over, and give them a quick run down on how I want it done, or else not say anything at all and just deal with it. I'm pickier when the job, like yesterdays, is in view of two other large homes under construction, because I don't want the tag line guy to make me look bad! My favorite complaint is when the tagger races me to the next layout, while I'm still 30' from getting there, swinging the truss tail over to the carpenter standing on the plate line, he grabs it, so he has while the truss is still at a 45 degree angle to where it's going, and while I'm still booming down/cabling up to get at the anticipated final radius while also still swinging, and now the carpenter holds on to it tight...., screwing up my perception of where I'm at until he finally eases up on it. Some crews may do this a few times, I give them time to figure it out themselves, if it looks like it's going to continue and I'm looking at a few hours of dealing with it, it's time to have a little talk. If I was smart, at this point (getting old and grouchy, but also not financially needing every job that comes down the line), I should just pass on work with unknown crews, I have enough long time regulars to keep me busy enough. But old habits die hard, never passing up work!
A 2 hour drive to some of the best scenary in Idaho, by it's highest mountain range, and I got paid for it! Working on a dam's outlet gates, they were replacing the machinery that raises and lowers the gates and controls the lake behind. Pretty interesting to see how it all worked, all I did was place a few new shafts and the brackets that hold them in place. If there was ever a case for wearing a harness while in the manbasket, this was it. They were 40' high, and anything or anybody dropped from the basket would have instantly been sucked out of sight and under the dam's outlet, kinda spooky, especially when the one guy needed a bit more reach and stood up on the handrail.
Mackay Reservoir! The farmers will be happy next year. In the meantime I guess the fishing is really good below the dam!
Working at the UP railroad switching yard, standing up 100' light towers, for an outfit that does only that. They travel all over the country, and told me every time they call a local crane outfit up they have to work thru resistance to how they will lifted. No drama at all, most important no banging at all against my boom, or interference with the boom tip on the top light fixtures. The trickest part was sliding the rigging down the pole, because it had brackets for cameras sticking out, but it was also kinda fun.
your scruffleface looks like Peanut's brother. Shotgun on a night dump run.
Ha! My vet laughed when I asked what breed he was, "terrier mix" is the best she could do. The UPS guy probably has another name for him.
A bit over 6000 hours in the 13110, just operating it, plus all the driving time, my second home, so seems only right to take the dog along sometimes to show him what I'm doing when I leave. That sticker on the cab door bottom window is now gone, when I realized it was blocking his view from his usual lay down place. Wonder what OSHA would say about this?
He's definitely paying attention... careful, careful.
Now you just need to train him how to work the levers while you do the rigging!
I had them all set and was outa there, got a call that night, oops, 10 of them were backwards. Not a rare occurance, more so with some crews than others. Pick them up, swing them around 180 degrees, set them down. This may be the first time with bonus room trusses though. Foggy day.
After our first winter thaw, I had my muddiest job of the year yesterday. The picture doesn't do it justice. So muddy, on one end, the last truss (which was on the bottom of the stack) was balanced perfect, whereas the preceding trusses were not due to the vault on one end. My tag line weighed twice what it did when we started. Slippery mud, and it drizzled the entire time. I almost felt bad for the crew, almost. I did the whole job from the paved street, sitting in my heated cab, while listening to the sat radio, it was so muddy the crew had a good attitude, comically muddy. The 25 year old lead carpenter has a 85 K pickup he has to payoff..... HVAC condensers at a local Wally World, nice level pavement, what a treat for a change. The mountain subdivsion near my home, I hate to see it built up but I may as well make some money off it. 110 K for 2.5 acre lots. I took the dog that day, another dog on the job, that weighed about 125 lbs., wanted to get in the cab also, but that wouldn't have worked. It's been a really winter so far, but I haven't had to chain up once.
Dad are we there yet Dad are we done yet Dad im hungry Dad I gotta go pee But look at those eyes an see the love an devotion, that's why their mans best friend
I have an unusual job coming up next week, timewise that is. At a large chain grocery store, lifting big condensors that are for the frozen food bins I think. I off loaded them a few weeks ago. They want me to start at 9, PM! There's 3 of them, and we'll be doing 1 per night, lifiting the old one off, and new one on. Probably be wrapped up and back at my yard (1/2 hour drive away) by midnite. For a big HVAC outfit that covers several western states that like using me for some reason. I am struggling a bit as to what to charge..., I'm thinking time and a half, 1.5 my usual rate. Comments?
yes. they ruin your ability to be dispatched on those days.
Last night, working on my night job, it took me a bit to figure out what was going on, my first thought was my rotation bearing had ate it, as it was hard to swing, but not too bad, so I blew it off, got the job done and was home by 1:00 AM. Today, setting trusses in a good wind, on a 2 story duplex with FINISHED exterior walls (pre finished foam/stucco panels, the last time I worked on a building like that was for the same guy) I got as better handle on what was happening. The rotation bearing is fine, as is the brake, but the foot pedal itself, instead of having a little freeplay and then progressively less give, just like a car brake, was rock hard. So if I depressed it, it'd stay depressed, but if I hooked my toe around the backside and pulled it'd release the brake as normal. It acted like the pedal hinge itself was binding up, so I sprayed some lube on it in between lifts, no change. Now my thinking is it's the seals in the cylinder itself, that the foot pedal actuates. I finished the job by not touching the pedal, just using right swing to cancel out the left swing, or vice versa, a bit tricky and more work in that wind but it worked. When I hit the switch that shuts the pilot controls off, as usual eveything locks up just fine. I am waiting to hear back on the price and availability of the a rebuild kit, I have the proper part #/ and parts book, but meanwhile remembered seeing a burned up National 1400 series boom truck in a town about 80 miles away last summer, at what looked like a salvage yard or a tow service. I managed to find the pciture I took of it, zoomed in, googled the logo I found, got a phone number, and called them. Turns out, he was driving the interstate in July 2019, it was hot, and blew a front tire, he had steel wheels, and the sparks caused a several hundred acre brush fire and somehow got the crane on fire, and it only had 4000 hours on it, and it's a 2007, same year as mine. I then googled Earthed that part of town, trying to nail down where I saw it, but the Earth pic was dated 1985..., but I have enough clues to make some phone calls tomorrow morning and see if I can locate the business I saw it parked at, and IF they are selling parts, if so I'll take the whole pedal assembly, and a couple hundred dollar bills (as high as I'd go, maybe 1 hundred and 2 fifties would be better) it'd take about 3 minutes to pull. If I can't track it down by phone, I'll drive there, even though it may be a waste of time and gas, I don't like the looks of mine (rusty), the donor rig, maybe. I sh
I was able get pointed in the right direction via a couple phone calls and tracked down the current owner, and he is salvaging the rig out, and once a new truck cab goes on it will be operational, so I can't scrounge any parts off it. So, I'm back to waiting to hear back on getting a rebuild kit.
The rebuild kit is only $220.00, plus freight and tax of course, for what will most likely be a couple of O rings and a seal or two, what a deal! I am real tempted to take it out and down to my local hydraulic shop.
It is possible that the problem is in the swing brake, not the pedal. But it won't take much to rebuild your pedal, likely just the orings. in that kit- be much cheaper at your hyd. shop.
If you want to to you it yourself, McMaster carr has orings and seals by size. Here we get it next day if ordered before 4. Usually you'll at least end up with a bag of 5 or more orings so you may have some for next time. Hercules hydraulics also has a bunch of stuff by size.
If I think I have a day or two with no work this week, I'll pull it and take it to my local shop, I'm lucky to have a good one in my town. I also have a coolant tank issue to deal with on the Mack, and will do that also.
I pulled it today, and out of the three lines, just one had a very small dribble of fluid, so small I figured it was just the residual in the line itself, but just to be on the safe side I stuck in a 1 qt container while I ran across town to my hydraulic shop. The hyd. guy took one look at and said, just buy a new one, it's a Mico, get the number off the data plate. I had not noticed that it had one, as it was pretty dirty. On the way back across town I made a couple quick stops, got back to my town shop and saw the dribble had continued, and overflowed the qt. jar, of course. I grabbed another container, and cleaned up the data plate as best I could, without a brush handy, (now I remember I had a spare toothbrush in the car, carb cleaner and a rag didn't seem to help much) they were very hard to read but I gave it my best shot, now I'm told the numbers don't jive. The data plate is unseeable with it installed, and I needed to hook it back up to stop the dribble, like right now. I've contacted a couple of MICO distributors but am being told it's something they don't stock, and to order it would take up to 30 weeks. This all makes paying the $220.00 for the "official" National rebuild kit a bit more attractive, though I bet if I could find a entire new cylinder it would be around the same or less, and more to the point I would not have to take it all apart to install the rebuild kit, only then finding if I had the right parts or not, though that SHOULD be easy enough, you never know. I may take it off once more, to get at and remove the soft aluminum data plate and take it home and subject it to some FBI type forensic inspection, like they do on filed off serial numbers on guns. Once removed again, I could just cap all three lines leading to it, to solve the dribble issue, but I am unsure as to whether or not that'd be a good idea, anyone have thoughts on that?
Just after I posted this, I realized I could zoom in and eyeball that data plate better than I could see it before, something about the way the light hit it, but now it looks like : 06-4166-124, I had it down as 06-166-124.
Plug the lines, take it apart, if the barrel or piston is scored it is done regardless what kind of wamadyne kit you receive.
Looked up your p/n, MICO does not show the above numbers but does show a 06-466-124 Hyd Brake Actuator. Is now a ZF Company, states VOLUMES why hard to find. Service Instructions | ZF MICO www.mico.com
There's two ways the pedal brakes work on the spring applied brake packs. Some, the hydraulic goes through this pedal, then to the spring brake piston, pushing the spring brakes off. When you apply pedal, it dumps the hydraulic oil to tank, allowing the spring brakes to come on. The other style, the pedal has its own piston that it controls separately of the spring brake pack, the pedal allows hydraulic flow into a separate piston applying the brake. If its the first style, you will need to hook up two of the hoses and cap the third, in order to be able to swing. In the second, you could cap them all. Without a hydraulic schematic or some pictures of your disassembled brake pack, I'm not going to guess how yours works. Looking at your picture, the part # you need is the one DMiller posted 06-466-124. Not 06-4166-124 like you posted.
Going by those numbers I found this kit for $89.22 and it says they have a dozen in stock! Mico 06-400-148 Valve Repair Kit Check out the deal on Mico 06-400-148 Valve Repair Kit at AnythingTruck.com www.anythingtruck.com And this one:
Maybe, and this one is a big maybe. There are valves that work each direction, this one looks like what you need, but I don't know for sure. 06-466-110 ZF Mico Pedal Modulating Valve | eBay This high-quality valve is perfect for a wide range of industrial applications. With its reliable solenoid operation and compatibility with oil media, it is a versatile and efficient choice for anyone in need of a valve that can be trusted to perform consistently and reliably. Made by the... www.ebay.com
I mis typed, agreed, it's 06-466-124, NOT 4166, my bad. I re-emailed MICO and anythingtruck.com (who I had already talked to earlier) and fessed up to giving them the wrong number, and should hear back from them tomorrow. That pic eyeballs at least exactly to what I have CO, thanks for that link, if worse comes to worse. My pedal assembly is fine of course, if I go that route I'll see if that seller can cut me a deal on a pedal less part. $89.22 sounds about right, double it, and add some more, to get it up to buying the same parts thru National! This all reminds me of the way my plane engine parts supplier works, an "official" Rotax 912s sparkplug cap is $54.00, or I can go down to my local motorsports shop and get one for less than $20.00. I just bought a new cam for it, the Rotax listed price is $2450.00, I got the same exact cam for $500.00 thru another source! I'll gamble the $89.00 and when it arrives I'll see if the cylinder is a rebuildable, or not. I've done old truck master cylinders before, like 40 years ago.
I have a rebuild kit on it's way, anythingtruck.com, for $77.00! Still a lot of for what you get, but way better than giving National $220.00!
The reservoir is filling, and one ice fishing shanty on it today . I'm curious about whether the Kokanee survived.
I've got a campsite I fly into, at the 8600' level, off screen to the right, about 3:00. In the morning I can make it into Sammy's with engine almost at an idle. But my engine has been out of the plane for 2 weeks, getting cam work done, for a persistant problem that took months for me, and others, to get a handle on. Luckily, I've been real busy on the National so that helps. So yeah, I know exactly where that picture was taken from, thanks!
From passing by it looks like they have a pretty good gathering of gliders there just south of Sammy's once year. Do you know anything about that?
A bit, those are all or mostly out of state glider pilots who visit because the Lemhi's are one of the best soaring sites in the country. They are a big buck crowd so it's a good boost to the local economy I'm sure. I quit working for the local Mackay developer that had me going there a half dozen times a year as he took so long to pay, and I started getting a funny feeling, as in he was about to go bottoms up. Turns out I bailed on him just in time, he got way over extended I was told, too bad, but I will still get a few jobs in the area I'm sure, just not from him.
Here's what nearly $100.00 gets you in parts these days, about what I expected, what really tweaked me was they sent it in a box via UPS, $18.00 freight! Two O rings, two seals, and a rubber bootie (of course the old bootie was in perfect condition), but at least it beats the $220.00 plus freight National wanted. Got it all put back together, feels like it will work but I'll find out tomorrow on a job, I didn't want to start it to build up air pressure, to engage the PTO etc., just to find out. Almost forgot, they also threw in two new 5/16" bolts.
Yeah it really sucks these days as to parts costs.
Yeah but at least it gives me something to complain about, making me feel less guilty for what I still feel is real easy money for sitting on my butt, drinking coffee, listening to the SAT radio, while watching others REALLY work as I used to! Plus it's another part of the rig that now holds no mysteries, I learned something.
I KNEW better, but did it anyway, backed into this site just to show my customer (who I set a house for about twice a month, and have for years) that it wasn't going to work. To my surprise, once I cleared the outriggers, ran them out, lifted the rear up, and filled the tire ruts with scrap lumber, I walked right out of there, never setting one truss, just glad to be not stuck anymore. A 50 mile round trip drive total, I'll nick him for my fuel cost on the next bill, he should have known better. I thought it would take multiple attempts but it was relatively easy, though a bit messy. Meanwhile, right across the road, this forklift crew had their own little drama going on, it seems they ran out of boom and maybe couldn't back up, but they raised this wall (check the rigging job they did) and then couldn't get it up further and were stumped, but by the time I left they seemed to have diverted disaster. If you zoom in, you can see their top plate pulling off the studs, spooky as heck.
Old Terex!! Why the Super Tall side walls? And Applause on getting out on own. Dunnage does have its place.
Nat are you expanding the Co. with the big RO ??
Going to have to pass the hat to get some duals on the back.
I have no idea why the tall walls, don't know the crew, but did ask my guys who they were, in case they ever call me, I may pass, it looked like a REAL sketchy operation. Worked on asphalt today for another long time steady customer, unfortuneately for him and his crew the trusses were scattered about in ankle deep mud. NOT MY PROBLEM! He had already heard about the other job, where I got stuck, and he told me the crew pulled off that job and are on another until it dries the heck up, that was good to hear!
Another muddy jobsite today, but I avoided wading around in it by craftily suggesting to the kid on the tag line, since he was already covered knee deep in the stuff before I even showed up, that I'd REALLY appreciate it if he could throw out my pads for me, while I stood on the rear bumper running the outrigger beams out and down. I had put my outrigger floats on out on the paved street, he also took care of me when leaving, I felt like giving him a tip.
So, a couple weeks later I get a call to go back to the same jobsite where I got stuck in the mud. As I get a couple minutes out my phone rings, seeing it's the contractor I ignore it and continue on, I should have turned around. This time though I didn't even get out, just rolled down my window and told them to let me know when it dries out and drove off. A steady and long time customer, I'll cut him some slack, and will just charge him for my fuel cost, about $50.00 each trip
I had a coolant leak on the Mack, looked like a plastic fitting on the plastic coolant tank, that had a brass fitting on it, with a length of 5000 PSI hose going to the radiator. Why they didn't use silicone hose I don't know, the weight of the heavy duty hose, stressed the leaking fitting I figured, and it was unclear how the fitting was secured until I took it apart, so I found a "exact" replacemant on EBAY, and once it came in pulled the tank off. The non pipe thread brass fitting I now saw, achieved it's sealing by an O ring, that looked deformed, so as I installed the new tank I of course used new O rings. Instead of a standard radiator cap, it had a screw on plastic cap, and while I'm sure I put it on right, it went missing after a few miles. Turns out that cap is unobtainable, to get one you have to buy the entire package, about $65.00 with freight. So, I ended up putting the old tank back on, as it's bad 0 ring was the only thing wrong. Total cost $1.00, or about $85.00 if I count the unused new tank and a few gallons of anti freeze. While this was going on, over 2 or 3 weeks, leaking coolant, I made sure to tell everyone that if they saw leakage when I left the jobsite, it had nothing to do with the crane, a lot of them wouldn't know the difference between hyd. fluid or coolant. The pic was a tricky setup job, worse than it looks, questionable ground, one outrigger right near the foundation wall, but in a puddle, a drain field on one side, but we got it done. A small 5500 square home, with a big shop planned for next year, I don't know where some people get all their money, 9' ceilings in the basement of course, 10' elsewhere.
You don't want to have a coolant leak if there are any animals around. Any leaks enough to puddle on the ground aren't good on a job site. Sounds like a cheap way of connecting the hose.
My plane has been down due to installing a electronic fuel injection system, no more dual carbs. I knew I missed having it flyable but now that I'm flying again I'm using it several times a week checking out jobsites and paying attention to new work happening. Today I flew over this high dollar huge home I worked on about 4 years ago, I remembered it as it took 3 months to finally get paid plus the setup area was sloped enough (hard to tell in this pic) to be a bear setting up. It looks like I may be going back, maybe, burned out, not sure when but wow! Just googled it: a better pic: https://www.idahostatejournal.com/f...cle_72fa0d76-8265-11ee-bbff-9b67e7ad764c.html
Wonder if they ever came up with a reason for the fire? Seems strange that a pretty new house would just burn for no reason. They sure the mortgage payment did not get too close to a source of fire?
Not politically correct but clear sky or often undeterminable fires were from ‘Jewish Lightning’. Dates from the days when that community owned quantity of tenement housing and limited function small business. Would be miraculous fires of no life lost but a structure nearly completely consumed, oh and was FULL of valuable materials for the insurers to pay for.
I never did get a handle on the people building this place, in a very small rural town, not a high dollar neighborhood by any means. They were mid 30's in age, and took forever to pay me, THAT I clearly remember! The threat of a lien works really well on heavily financed/mortgaged properties, I'm not sure on a place that was being built with cash, and don't want to find out. The lending instituion is the best friend of a contractor trying to get paid and making noises about filing a lien I've found, about a half dozen times in over 20 years. I only have gone all the way twice, the others just the threat got me paid.
Argon concentrators I think they called these, the work being done by a special crew all the way from Arizona. All they do is travel around the West doing gas supply work. Lot's of stainless steel and another metal I hadn't heard of, that is so expensive a few sticks on the pickup rack can cost over 30K. The tanks in back were double walled, with a vacuum between them, not active/pressurized while the work was done, I asked. This all explains why an argon mix tank refill costs so much!
Little unit in foreground is a Vaporizer, takes a liquid COLD Supplied concentrated gas that is semi liquid turns into full gas with atmospheric ambient heat, simple passive system we had on our N2 and O2 systems at the Nuke. Alloy probably Monel. Think SS Coffee or beverage containers we have all had for work, Vacuum allows the Cold to remain COLD as no air with any heat to cause liquid boil off/heat ups of these gases or cool downs for our coffee.
Somebody forgot to put their beams out.... Its was probably the "don't block the driveway" nonsense. It always irritates me when they want you to bring in crane, counterweight truck, semi with a chiller unit, but "we need access for the customers- so you can't block anything." WELL here's a news flash, we're blocking a whole bunch of this area, because it ain't a VW we're putting in here.
Hillmann Crane in St Peters once had a Woman walk up and request the crane be moved from the sidewalk area where it was, she was totally serious as noted her Dog preferred that area to do her business and needed the crane out of its way. Old man Hillmann reflected on that as I replaced a leaking rotary joint, he snickered, 'told her to carry the dog elsewhere to make poo!"
Bet you suffered keeping that belly laugh in until she got away
I had to short jack that side to keep their driveway open for their own trucks, only after I asked what the vaporizers (you got it right DMILLER, monel also) weighed, not much. Everytime I do so, short jack one side, I appreciate not having the A frame types like on my previous 3 BTC boom trucks. I have a shed move Monday morning, on a 2 lane road, I'll block one lane only, making the lift shortjacked directly over the rear (18' radius from the road, just over their backyard fence) possible, otherwise I'd be picking a 8'x16' shed from a 66' radius, doable, but I'd be set up on a steep narrow driveway with my pads on their lawn, and swinging the shed over the house. I'll do that if I have to but with that nice level city street right there....., I suppose I should get permission from the city, but I've found flagging with the proper official looking traffic stands and putting my flashers on pretty much lets me briefly park where I want, 30 mph limit on the street, wide shoulder, good viz, and I'll have my spreader bar rigged, pads on, should take 15 minutes max. Late yesterday I get a hurryup call to unload a excavator's 24 K counterweight, no problem I told them BUT I have to be right close to the trailer, simply lift it up and hold while the truck pulls away, and set it right down. That'll work they said. I get there, rig my 15 ton load block, and the guy on the phone, the trucker and I all agree on where to set up, we rig it, and just as I'm starting to winch up, a front office guy comes out and says "actually, we need it on that loading dock" and that's about 45' away and not going to happen, classic! The trucker and I looked at each other, disgustingly, it being 5:00 F riday by then, the two Kamatsu guys talked it over some more, and I ended up setting it down as originally told, all good.
I got curious, so I've got a camera/ display set up on the way. I'll let you know how it works. The camera's are magnetic mount, solar panel and batteries, supposedly go to sleep when you shut off the main monitor. We'll see....
One thing to watch for...., I think I mentioned before that once when working totally blind, watching a sheeted gable move towards the end wall, everything going good, my boom bottom contacted the framing on a 2 story home, didn't even scratch the paint luckily. It's a bit of a learning curve on how to divide your attention between the LMI, the monitor, and looking out the window as usual! Getting your visual cues from the screen rather than directly thru your eyeballs is the same but different, but once you get some time on it it's business as usual, but better, you can do precision work. I just did a couple HVAC jobs, for crews that know they don't need to have a guy stand at the roof edge while giving me bad directions (like telling me to extend when all I need to do is boom down more, or the opposite) it's fun to lower the hook dead nuts over the center of the units, watch them rig it, and then cable up, all without seeing anyone first hand, BUT still seeing them better but thru the screen.
I did two shed moves yesterday, just lucky on the timing as they were unrelated, so I had all the needed rigging out already. Had some wind and a very tight area on the second one to deal with.
Working for a new precast company, setting up some 7,000 pound water gates on a new irrigation project, I helped set up their equipment at their plant, run by the same big family that is also the biggest farming operation in my area, and who I bought my home 70 acres from, they have hired some good help. The delivery truck driver, asked me what I had for rigging, I told him a lot of stuff, but I was told they would supply the chain rigging, with the open hooks, to work with the pickpoints on the concrete. He said they did, but he didn't like the 45 degree or so rigging angle that resulted, the water gate opening really potentially weakened the precast. He must be an old carpenter also I thought, I totally agreed, and luckily one size of shackles I had were able to fit in the rigging notch they left, barely, and so I rigged to my 12' slings and a much less stressfull angle. I told him I could use my 20' slings to get an even better angle, but as I expected, he didn't see the need. It sure is a pleasure to work with a crew that has their act together, they are out there, and so are the other types, making me appreciate the good ones even more.
After a 15 minute drive, involving several hard turns in both directions in town, and a 6 mile run on the freeway at 60 mph, after pulling up to the job site I found the new unopened tube of grease I was looking for back in my crane shed. This may beat the time I drove clear across town, with my checkbook on the cab side step, just dumb lucky and hard to imagine they both stayed in place! The grease would have been a messy bomb if someone drove over it, doubtful it would have have caused an accident but I'm glad it stayed on my cribbing, right where I put it for a second and got side tracked by something else.
Its good to see Vetch's bunch haven't been around your rig
I had 105' of stick out, first pulling an old, then setting a new 2,000 pound condenser on a supermarket roof, for a 2 man HVAC crew. The walk from my setup area to the unit took about 5 minutes, clear around the building and thru some hallways etc., then mutiple different roof heights/sections, but as the old unit didn't have built-in pick points I had to get a bit creative with the rigging and wanted to eyeball it closeup. Once I told them how we would rig it, I went back down and watched thru the camera, earlier having already lowered the hook directly over the unit, without any direct signaling on their part, (which, with just two of them and the way the roof was laid out, would have been a real hassle/impractical) which never fails to amaze a crew I haven't worked with before. I always ask, especially when they are from an out of state big city (SLC, Boise etc.) if they have worked with a camera equipped crane before in their area, and the answer is always NO.
I flew into West Yellowstone this weekend, and the tie down area was setup up for much bigger planes than mine, so my usual tie down ropes I always carry wouldn't reach. A nearby fire fighting helicopter outfit didn't have any rope I could borrow either ("when it gets windy, we just put the chopper in the hangar"), and the FBO was closed. But then I noticed a crane boom sticking up down the line, turns out they are building an addition to the terminal, so I rode my folding ebike I carry over to the keep out fence, waited for a bit of a lull, and went over to the Grove RT operator and after showing him my CCO card and business card and BS'ing a bit, told him I really needed some rope, bad, and sure enough, he had an old tag line I could use, worked out perfect! Earlier that day, Friday, while in the air halfway there, I got a call from a trucker needing a 10K piece of drilling equipment loaded, way back in town. For once I decided to blow off work and told him I couldn't do it until Monday morning, he said he'd be there, as he had no other options and the drilling equipment manufacturer wanted to use me and no one else I was told as it was a fairly tricky pick to rig but I'd done it a few times before for them. So, Saturday morning, back in the air, cruising west, still feeling a bit guilty about passing up the work, I had to make a decision to either hang a right/ north and head up to Butte MT for a fly-in and car show, and remain overnight there as afternoon thunderstorms would make leaving no fun at all, or hang a left/south towards home. I texted him, he had no idea I was airborne, thinking maybe he was locked in for Monday, turned out that doing it in a few hours would be very much preferred, so I blew off Butte and peeled off towards home. 3.5 hrs later, still before noon, I had him loaded up and got paid in cash. The punch line is this morning, low pressure and wind has moved in, and I would have been stuck in Butte all day, so it was a win/win, not sure if that story is too much about flying and not craning but they get mixed up with me!
You can add all the flying you want with me, but don't forget to say something about a crane I guess.
Doesn't anything to do with a crane involve flying?
If I was younger I would have a camera for me excavator. Sunday I tore down a house, Monday loaded it on semis. When I was on top of the pile you can see in the semi, on the ground you can't see in the semi to tell if you have a hole that needs to be filled. Plus when waiting for the next truck I have a 5-10 minutes to clean up and pile more to load. You can never see the last little bit in a basement when cleaning it out. Sometimes you get a customer who understand and gives you some directions. This father and son stood and watched even asked me why I was getting in and out of the excavator to look to see it I had all the wood out of the basement. This was a very old house so the basement was limestone so you couldn't drag the bucket teeth up the walls.
Yeah I can see where a camera would be handy for your application also. Here's a shot of a HAVC unit I was picking at a Pizza Hut the other day with zero direction, as far as a conventional signaler anyway, the two man crew were visible to me when I picked the full weight, giving me the cable up sign. I can see good enough to, after guesstimating the weight, my boom angle, and how much stick I had out, to compensate for the boom deflection when I had the full weight on the hook, what you see is where I started the pick.. As a result it just floated right up nice and straight, not away from me, in a fairly tight area.
Why fertilizer costs so much: this entire staircase at a fert plant expansion job was 100% stainless steel, except for the fiberglas stair treads. I was going up to the top while waiting for the crew to secure a 29,000 gallon acid tank I had just set, but changed my mind halfway up, figuring if I really wanted to get that high up, I'd use my plane. The tank was fiberglas, and it sure looked tilted to me, but after one guy put a 2' level on it and called it good I refrained from any further comments, like "I have a pretty good plumb bob right here, after you unhook me, let me drop the ball/winch line alongside it and let's see." Could be an optical delusion. I set the 8 stainless mixing tanks, on chalked out lines on the slab, a 10 hour day, plus the 2 12,000 lb. mixers, then oddly enough, after that I had another 10,000 fuel tank to set at a farmer's place just 5 miles away.
Looks like a great place to set up lots of room and level. Another plus they had it marked and knew where things were to be placed. You could get spoiled having those kind of working conditions.
No pictures, not much to see at this point, but I just set a glu-lam beam on a house that a teenager who was running from the cops at over 100 mph on a 2 lane road ran into. He got big air, 20-30 up and 50-60' distance, before hitting the attached garage about 10' high. It cracked drywall on the other side of the house, cracked the old beam, buckled the siding. Not sure who had the insurance, but the contractor told me they are paying for entirely new siding (can't color match to the old) lots of drywall, new carpet (also can't color match,) etc, probably 150 K damage, easy. Kid lived, hardly hurt. The homeowner woke up, thought it was a home invasion, (his wife thought earthquake) ran out with his pistol, to see 5 cops with weapons drawn in his front yard, luckily he saw them first and put the gun back in the house, quite the interesting beam set!
A 14 hr. day working alongside 340,000 volt lines, about 30' away. The utility rep grounded to my outrigger and to the grounding grid that is under the entire substation. Picking up new coolant radiators that go on giant transformers, swinging them around to a enclosure so they could douch them out ,getting gunk and shavings from making them cleaned out, they come dirty. I had quoted my usual hourly rate when I first got the call, I was busy and just blurted it out, usually when I get a call from an out of the area I jack it up 10 bucks an hour. When I billed this outfit I told them I was charging more than the agreed rate, and why, and if they had a problem with that they could just pay the lesser amount, so $140.00 extra for "hazardous duty" or "after hours", for a project that in total (a major upgrade to the biggest sub station in the local grid) was $6,000,000.00, I think I'll get it without any comment, no big deal if I don't. Halfway thru the day I saw we were not going to get done by 5, I was booked elsewhere the next day, and told them that, and all hell broke loose. The crew thought they had me for 2 days, my initial contact said "we'll need you for all day" and said nothing about TWO days, which still strikes me as sloppy on their part. I got a phone call from back east and had a heart to heart talk with the big boss, and the 6 million buck thing was tosssed around several times by him, really putting the pressure on me, I tossed back I had a crew of local carpenters expecting me in the morning, sorry! I've since heard from the big boss, they have no problem with my rate increase etc.
You would think on a project that big they would have a better idea of how long they would need a crane.
If you kind of know that its two days, but could maybe get done in one, and the crane guy says he only has one day available, then you take the one day. And hope he just shoves the other guys a day out. They are from out of town, only going to use him for two days, and don't care if his framer customer is pissed. They are on down the road to the next job. The typical guy from out of town, always wants a discount also. Because "they are a big dog". Well if you are such a "big dog" you can probably hide my standard rate in your 6 million dollar project. Or just call someone else.
His repeated mention of it being a 6 million buck project didn't help him at all, I never get calls for a job, WITHOUT an additional mention/discussion of it possibly being two days. Probably 99% of my work is one day, average maybe 3-5 hrs, with a lot of 30 minute jobs thrown in (HVAC). His neglecting of telling me it could easily be a two day job by no means obligated me to blow off my other work, but the great thing is we got it done that day after all the drama. So, I went from being a zero to a hero! A couple hours before sundown, the foreman told me he doesn't work past sundown, I concurred. As I set the last unit down and started stowing the boom, the sun was just halfway set, we looked at each other and noidded, pretty funny actually. A 9 hour no break job started the next morning at 7, as planned.
Carport roofs, you'd think, I did anyway, that they would have more than a single center support. Turns out, after we set all 6 of them while I struggled to keep my mouth shut about the single support, I heard one of them say that after lunch they'd put the two vertical legs in. We had a apartment complex carport collapse last winter, trashing several cars, so I was REALLY questioning the single support! I suggested rigging it at the pitch angle it was going to be final.
The second 50' by 100' building, where they had the trusses ganged (8) together, INSIDE, tails sticking thru the framing. I never did ask or figure out how they got them in there after framing the walls, the only way I could see would be to carry them in one by one. The first one took me 5 hrs, 4.5 hrs for this last one. I could have set them one at a time and saved them all that prep work in a couple hours more. Doesn't make sense to this old carpenter, but this crane guy liked it, just a few picks, with time off inbetween, about 3000 pounds per lift. Three of the guys there were driving 80 K+ tricked out pickups, one a 1000 hp electric Rivian that does 0-60 in 2.5 seconds, kinda interesting. An HVAC job on a burger joint, with a parapet wall blocking my view. Before the camera I would have sat there wondering what the holdup was, now I could see the gas line was the problem, it keeps me more informed and not just sitting there on high alert, lets me screw off/make phone calls or whatever, knowing I have downtime. Without it I would have been clueless, as they didn't bother to tell me it'd be 15 minutes or so. Turned out to be 30 minutes.
This '46 Federal truck in a farmer's junk pile gave me the idea I could buy it for scrap price, and put it up on piers behind the 6' wood fence at my crane yard. I'd put my almost never used jib on it, with my signage on it, and call it advertising. On the way back home I spotted this log cabin going up, and after driving over and meeting it's builder, got the work to put those ridge logs you see up. That money, as it came from having the plane (he had already scheduled someone else, canceled them and used me, and a good thing as the other guy couldn't have reached) will all go towards the plane, not that it takes much to keep it flying, I made enough $ to pay for the next 36 hours flying time of gas. I offered the farmer $500.00 for the truck, no response, a week later $2000.00, still no response, guess he wants to keep it. In the meantime I ran across this '46 GMC dumper just a few miles from my yard, he wanted $2500.00, I offered $1500.00, then $2000.00 and that's as high as I'll go, and I'm waiting to hear back still. It would be easiest to set the jib on, the needed structure already there, I'd just secure it to keep it from sliding (and pad it first), and still have ready access when the jib was needed. The GMC is drivable I'm told, at least enough to get to my yard just 8 miles away.
NO callback on the '46 GMC dump truck, the deal was "by noon, yes or no." I guess he's holding out for the full $2500.00, ain't going to happen, not by me anyway. No work today, but I think I just made/saved $2000.00 For a few bags of redi mix concrete and using steel I already have, I could mount my jib in the same area and get the same advertising, I just really like both of these old rigs, and I guess others do also thus the price.
You thinking the poles will be the right height, that you can drive up, swing main over, and pin it to main, then swing it and stow it? That way you don't have to have a forklift or anything to put it on and off the rack?
That's the setup I have now, in the back of my yard, it's still requires me to have a helper if I want to re-install it on the main boom. I did it once or twice by myself, but it was a still a hassle. If I had a remote, it would be a piece of cake, like my 17 ton Terex had. Luckily I don't need it more than once every couple years it seems, and the last few times I did need it, my customers had a forklift onsite, and a trailer to haul it after I loaded it. I pretty tell them if they want me to jib up, they have to help! If I use an old truck as a jib rest, I'll do similar:crane it off onto a trailer.
I checked out 4 ongoing and future jobs this morning, in one flight. Here's pics of two of them This one is at 7,000', in a mountain resort area, and I think I'll drive past the truss stack to set up, picking over the trees won't be a problem if needed, with the cameras help. The one thing I don't want to do is set up right near the trusses, and have to boom way the heck up/cable down every time, I want to drive past them and have more of a even radius as possible between the house and the truss stack. The second one is a fire station, I set all the wood trusses and glu lams, and the steel erection company that just bought the new 40 ton National boom truck set the steel. 85' radius with 2800 pounds, and he said he was about all done, that's with no counter weight on it, not sure how much stick he had out. The other two jobs I flew over are coming up, one is way out in the boonies, now I know how best to drive there, the other is still waiting on trusses, which I could see. I really should see about claiming the plane as a business tool, but I don't want the hassle.
In the 1st pic. the owners sure better hope there's never a forest fire building amongst the tree's like that. A wildfire went through my property in 2010. I didn't lose much but there was a house lost that was built in the tree's. It looks cool building in the tree's but there's always a risk. Same with people who build on the edge of a cliff. Quite a few years ago some million dollar houses were lost when the embankment gave way. One house had to be torn down. A D8 was used to anchor the excavator that tore the house down.
New jib stand.
A flying buddy called me and said if I had time I ought to stop by the airport and see a new bush plane that was passing thru. I MADE time and eyeballed it, then went on to my job. 3 hours later I get a call, "HOW FAR CAN YOU REACH?" And a text pic that showed the same plane half submerged, half on the riverbank. It looked like a 300' reach, and by the time I got done with work they had rounded up 4 paddleboards and enough help to float the 1000 pound plane across the river to a gravel bar and then into a farm field. Pilot error, gusty winds didn't help, but error nonetheless. The only damage was one prop tip, a borrowed prop got him on his way. Another job I missed out on, because I don't have a big enough crane!
I recall an Air Tractor having a problem when swooping down to scoop up water for fighting wildfires. Can't remember if the lake got too wavy or what happened but the prop. hitting the water isn't good. Air Tractors are super cool complete with a full roll bars for the pilot. Watched 4 of them fly over my property at less than 200 feet fighting the fire that did go through my property. I was somewhat lucky I got the edge of the fire and wasn't right in the middle. 3 Cat operators were even luckier. An idiot from the county sent them in to make a fire break. Problem was the smoke was so thick they couldn't see. One operator said if my track wasn't there to back onto they might not have made it out. The flames went right over the 3 cats. One of them was an open station with no cab. Fire boss reamed the guy and the county fire chief out.
A grain silo operation asked me to lift a 1800 pound roll of plastic tarp material, while I was doing so, I noticed a group of Hispanic women walking over from another area of the complex, and they proceeded to just hang out. Two guys climbed up and proceeded to unroll the tarp, at a 90 to the grain pile, still folded. Must be breaktime I thought, while 45 minutes went by while the rest of the male crew got their act together. A really long break I thought, then I saw why they were there: 8 of them dispersed up one side and down the other, and while hollaring back and forth, all 8 pulled at the same time and darn if they didn't get that tarp unfolded and spread out, over half the length. I moved, and the second time was the same, while the men watched from below. All while sinking knee deep into the grain, those ladies kicked butt. Got an aerial view the next day.
I rigged this porch roof to what seemed the best place on the trusses, strength wise, due to it's odd shape we all were amazed when it lifted to find it balanced out PERFECT. The micro lam beams out the rear acted as counterbalance, sweet.
Sometimes you get lucky. LoL
Or the experience kicks in.
I'm coming up on 25 K hours of mostly residential truss work, probably 90% doing just that, but this was just dumb luck!
A good job for a Monday morning, not only less weight than they said, but the trailer was modified with built in lifting lugs, and they provided most of the rigging! A standing seam roof panel machine, $120,000.00, that forms the panels off a 2000' roll of flat metal, after the desired length is entered into the display, pretty cool. I had most of the weight, just let down enough to keep it fixed in place, billed for 4 hours, had my engine running for about 40 minutes total, the rest of the time I "looked busy." Then a 45 mile drive to set a glu lam beam on another job, done for the day by 3, this business still beats working for a living.
Forgot this view of the trailer, that's their chain rigging. I told the guy who called me first, that he gave me the impression it was a standard work trailer, meaning the rigging would be figured out on the spot so I brought more than my usual stuff, and in the future when talking to a crane guy he should stress it's a super easy pick, it was easier for me to extend their chains with 4 slings than to get my spreader bar out.
I'm guessing you checked all of their rigging and attachment points on the trailer. Would want to ensure the lifting lugs on the trailer were properly welded.
You maybe, me, not sure I'm qualified, as I'm strictly a farmer type welder (but I've never had anything fail in it's intended purpose that I've fabricated, maybe I'm an experienced farmer welder)! I did of course look at the general situation and maybe the chain rigging fooled me into thinking they had it all figured out, as it looked good, so I assumed the welds and attach points were good. Not a lawyer either, but if their welds failed during my lift thru no fault of my own, I'd like to think it'd be their problem, but that's probably just wishful thinking, as their lawyer could claim it WAS my responsibility of course.
When **** goes wrong any body that ever touched it or had anything to do with it can and or could be called in to court. been there done that, luckily putting a cable on a RT does not cause a crane to layover a year later.
They bought the high dollar / high grade chain. That blue chain is expensive, it takes its own special hooks and hammerlocks too, because it's thicker links.
Yes, it looked like a first class job, I use the same type hooks on my truss rigging, because they are ALMOST snag proof. The tip of the hook is flush with the body, most others they stick past a ways. Quick one, no pictures, but last week watched a husband and wife trucking team back into a jobsite I was loading a container at. Very tight quarters, lots of yelling back and forth between them, he guided, she drove. Adding to the fun was the FOUR dogs they had in the truck, no one got pissed, it was just how they worked and it was a long wheel base rig and a screwed up area even for me, fun stuff.
Setting new all steel stairs using a chainfall as a load balancer. The old stairs had concrete treads and landings, that trapped the water and the salt used in the winter and rusted them out, right thru the channel iron runners in places! Can't take them in for scrap probably either, though they were going to try.
Not my rigging or even a job I was on, sent to me by someone who thought it was "interesting."
What kind of chains are those? Look like someone tried to braid them or something.
Looks like after going thru the shakel they then wrapped the chain around itself and hooked it back in the ring
I believe thats an oh **** waiting to happen
Chain was too long so they twisted them up to shorten them?? That can’t be that great of an idea.
I had done a job for the outfit that sent this picture, that required chain, with grab hooks, in a 4 point lift. An out of balance load, so asymmetric (?) rigging lengths, plus due to extremely limited overhead room (working inside a plant) we had to rig it super short. The grade 100 chain and the bridles with grab hooks made this easy, easier anyway, no twisting required! This guy was my rigger today, a simple truss job, 34 degrees out there and a slight drizzle, but him wearing just a T shirt didn't bother me, what did was his constant tension on the tag line, as in two hands. If this a long job I'll take the time to tell the tag line guy to "give me some slack, let me put it where it goes, and don't race me there." For trusses anyway Ilike slack in the line except for the final side pul, maybe.
Some people can make a lot of work out of an easy job. Some can be busy all day, and never get their little bucket full.
I went back up (a 1 hour one way drive) to a job site that had the trusses collapse on the 26 th. It was a real windy day, and they were bracing them as we went in the usual fashion. At one point I commented "looks like you're getting a bit of a lean there," and the head guy (who frames about 25-30 houses a year and uses me exclusively, even when my travel charge would make it cheaper for him to use someone else), said somethin glike "yeah, pretty windy, we'll put another brace in soon." 10 minutes later, now with just the 4 car garage remaining, while I was turned 180 degrees away with my hook over the next truss in the stack, I heard a loud CRUNCH. Sad to say, but my first thought was, NOT MY FAULT....., only second did I wonder if anyone got hurt, as we were on the garage, no one did. I'm not sure what gave way, possibly the truss clips/stabilizers, even with a 12 d nail in them them failed, but I do know extra "high wind" bracing on the top chord, herryingbone style, would have helped a bunch. Today, to my surprise, all the trusses were in intact as we stood them back up, just a couple needed a field repair. As I commented on this to the second in command at one point, he agreed they got real lucky, but sometimes things just happen. That was the wrong thing to say...., they screwed the pooch, but before launching into a long winded story about how COMPLACENY is the #1 thing I fear the most as a pilot, and they got complacent, I shut my pie hole and re-adjusted my thinking as to how i was going to bill for this second trip up there. 2 hours of freeway driving (better than any town drive) 3 hours of work, and have decided to just bill them at 50% of my usual rate, as I wasn't booked today anyway.
Could sure use a Knuckle unit here AND the Shed to go with it.
This is one of my own buildings. If I was going to do this regular would get a Nat 600. But for a farmer truck this is handier than a pocket on a t shirt and didnt put a crane on my service truck.
The thing about those steel frame buildings that gets this former carpenter, is I assume the bolt layout has to be pretty much dead nuts? I guess there's a little waffle room, but as compared to a framed structure, where the first thing I'd do is check for square, and then if needed compensate when I snapped lines for my bottom plate on top the foundation walls, so at least MY work was square. If I was going to put one up, I'd get the very best concrete guy I know, for a frame building I wouldn't be so picky, as I know how to make even a lousy bolt layout work. Speaking of knucklebooms, here's a Palfinger on a built from scratch RV, he uses it to lift a good sized (16-20') boat onto the roof, not shown here obviously. I slow down every time I drive by, as I'd like to meet the person who put it together, I'd be surprised if he didn't have a operator and/or a construction background.
I did the concrete and layout. Pulled string down the bolts before the pour.
I get that, how to do it, and that's just a bit more demanding than setting j bolts more or less in the middle of a bottom plate every 2 or 3', where an inch or two either direction wouldn't matter a bit. Nice job!
I hope Natman is doing ok, his profile says he was last active May 13th. I used like reading his posts and hearing about his adventures.
He was active 4 days ago on a Facebook crane operators group. He's been active over there a bit this summer. Looks like he has been staying busy.
Hope he pops back in, always enjoyed his posts, a lot.
Been busy! The other day, while setting a elevator on a big fertilizer plant job, (where the super got on me for wearing shorts, but let me slide after I told him I had no idea I was going to be on a major construction site that day, and after seeing my CCO card and my annual inspection sticker) I was sitting in the cab waiting for things to be bolted up, when I noticed a large hill in the background. 4 days later, I flew 80 miles, eyeballed it close up for the usual hazards when landing off airport, saw none, and landed it. The plant is right off the plane's nose, if you can zoom in. The other day, on a 1 hour flight, I had 4 jobs to check on, the ones where I get a call from a contractor trying to lock me down weeks in advance, when he and I know things change, so I'll just fly over "secretly" and see anything from they haven't even got the foundation in yet, all the way to they got someone else (rare), industrial espionage they call it I guess. I did a 160' by 85' steel building, part brewery and part hangar, a few weeks ago. Two part steel trusses, bolted together at the peak, I rigged the first where I thought would be best, but then a rep for the steel building showed up and told me the engineers had already figured it out and had pick points all welded in and to use those. So, we re-rigged, and just as it cleared the ground it folded in on itself. The rep gets on the phone (a Saturday), gets hold of the engineer, and determines he had used rigging specs for a different building, his bad, so we re-rigged to my original points and it all went good. Then a week later after the folded one was repaired, I drove back up (120 miles one way) and set it, payment for that I was told was coming out of the engineers rear end. Yesterday, on a big apartment job, turned out the wood trusses had the bottom chord bowed DOWN, (a huge truss plant screwup, I had never seen before) so the load bearing ends were up an inch or more up in the air while the middle of the 50' truss rocked on the not meant for load bearing interior partitions. The carpenters spent 3 hours thinking they could overcome the truss's strength and force the ends down, then after the bigwigs came out and they all conferred, they had me take down the 8 trusses we had set, and told me I was done for the day. Their next move is to snap lines on layout and notch out the partitions so the trusses sit like they were meant to sit, the truss plant is paying me for my wasted time. Offloaded a 26 K piece of farm equipment a few hours ago, I took 19K of it and a big forklift took the rear end, just so the semi could pull out from underneath, a dual pick, sort of.
Been busy! The other day, while setting a elevator on a big fertilizer plant job, (where the super got on me for wearing shorts, but let me slide after I told him I had no idea I was going to be on a major construction site that day, and after seeing my CCO card and my annual inspection sticker) I was sitting in the cab waiting for things to be bolted up, when I noticed a large hill in the background. 4 days later, I flew 60 miles, eyeballed it close up for the usual hazards when landing off airport, saw none, and landed it.
I passed on this tower and generator set, when asked to bid on it a few weeks ago. On a ridge at 8 K' about 60 miles away but at least a 3 or 4 hour drive. Thanks to all the nearby mining not quite as isolated as I thought it might be, but with my capacity and the weights involved, no way could have set up as needed on the narrow ridge. Curious as to the site, I flew over yesterday and was glad to see I made the right decision, I saw several 50 ton and up RT cranes at the nearby mines, that's probably what they used, good on them. On the way back, saw this big mining truck's bed getting changed out, it seems they get flat worn out after a few million tons of overburden gets run thru them. I also recently passed on a shed move that was a good 20' out of my chart, and I got a call from the shed company, who I've moved several for, and it took me a while to understand that the shed guy couldn't understand the simple physics of the situation! The customer had already bought it, so he was looking at giving him a refund and wasn't happy with me, boo hoo.