Helping "The Man"

[TheKid]

I dont know what it takes to get over my fear of hrights but the older i get the worst it seems to be. I sat in the in crane with 113' in the air at 74degrees looking striaght up and three knuckle-heads start climbing like its the think to do. I can see the tower swaying because of the wind. Apparently this tower is the new communication tower for the city police station. The day before this job, i was pulled over in the same crane from the same city cops this job was for. I hope the tower guys missed a bolt or two.

 

[liebherr1160]

LOL yeah not doubt miss a ..and on the corner towards the garage..

The hieght's all i can say is this ...the older we all get the more we lose that ability ..I worked for years with lineman crew's on tranmission tower's (500Kv ).. no high scaler will finish his carrer on a tower .... but as a groundman .... if one does its rare..very rare ....
take alook a steel erector's its young men walking the iron ..the old hands are keeping them fed ..and planning the next move ....

the legs ,the back ,that lack of fear ,,and the ability to hold your pee as you get older all contribute to this ..

so its not you its all of us ..

 

[td25c]

That look's like the towers in my area.I was on a job where a tower was going up.The tower crew used a boom truck for the first 80 feet,then instaled a portible jib on the tower.The jib was moved up to the next section each time.They had cable reeved thugh the jib down to a drum on the boom truck.The crewmen climbed the whole tower.It worked fine ,but you wont catch me up there.The tower was over 180 feet tall!

 

[td25c]

Hey TheKid ,were you able to reach the top of the communication tower with the crane?

 

[TheKid]

Had to add the 32' Jib and had to cable up to real tight to the tip. Im sure i was within 2' of running out of jib. But that jib i have on there also has a slide out but its a pain in the butt to drag in or out so i never use it. did it once and was a pain, i actually had to keep the boom level over the rear and back into a block wall and use the crane to push itself back together. but that would have gave me another 22' but only 900lbs compacity and you can watch the whole main boom twist and turn and moan like an old woman. not a pretty site.

 

[td25c]

Have you ever seen a tower put up the way I described In Post #3?

 

[liebherr1160]

that pull out pin you mention Kid ...

Getting it back in is always a pain ...heres what i do on a few models ...
boom up 70 degree's plus ,,,scope all the main in ..drop the ball either by the jack or the rear tow lugs ...lay the boom down taking away most of the excess cable ....pull the pin on the jib fly...attach a nylon strap to the ram of the jack or the tow lug,boom to 0 degree and gently hoist up until the pull out is fully retracted ...re-install the locking pin ..release the ball and carry on as normal ...

saves alot of humping ...

 

[td25c]

that pull out pin you mention Kid ...

Getting it back in is always a pain ...heres what i do on a few models ...
boom up 70 degree's plus ,,,scope all the main in ..drop the ball either by the jack or the rear tow lugs ...lay the boom down taking away most of the excess cable ....pull the pin on the jib fly...attach a nylon strap to the ram of the jack or the tow lug,boom to 0 degree and gently hoist up until the pull out is fully retracted ...re-install the locking pin ..release the ball and carry on as normal ...

saves alot of humping ...

On my tm250 grove ,I retract the "fly or dead section" of the main boom by 2 blocking the cable in the sheve.I helps to keep the dead section well greased.

 

[liebherr1160]

On my tm250 grove ,I retract the "fly or dead section" of the main boom by 2 blocking the cable in the sheve.I helps to keep the dead section well greased.

No offense..but on that ol girl you can do that ...
the light steel in the keeper's may get ripped of if you did that on that pull out jib if it binded up just a little....

 

[N.CarolinaDozer]

I think since you have the crane beside the office, I would place one of their patrol cars on the roof.

 

[td25c]

No offense..but on that ol girl you can do that ...
the light steel in the keeper's may get ripped of if you did that on that pull out jib if it binded up just a little....

I know what you mean liebherr.A jib is not the main boom.

 

[liebherr1160]

:usa

I know what you mean liebherr.A jib is not the main boom.

 

[td25c]

My operators handbook dosent show the swing out jib with the pullout section.I wounder how grove says to extend & retract the pullout?

 

[liebherr1160]

My operators handbook dosent show the swing out jib with the pullout section.I wounder how grove says to extend & retract the pullout?

Muscle...in and out ...grunt and hump.. theirs no where in the manual thats gonna tell ya to hook on to something ...and as far as booming up ..if it gets away its gonna get broke....
after doing it a half dozen times by the book ...i had a few of the more experienced guys give me the heads up ...and go that route ...like anything on a crane you have to pay attention and treat it like your first encounter with a lady friend .. take your time dont get ramming and dont hesitate to get out and look around ...espicially if the ball is getting of the ground and the sag is comming out of the hoist line ....means shes bound up and may need a wiggle or the pin wasnt removed ...big thing is pay attention ..

out is easy for the most part gravity is on your side ...some have roller's others have teflon pads... alot of guys make the mistake of greasing those ...there best left dry and an ocassional light oil applied to the contact points in the belly of the section.....the rollers arnt always metal and are nylon,or teflon ...have to watch they dont get stiff and make a flat spot on them..again light oil or white grease inside the bushing saves a world of frustration.

Now some of the GMK models ...in particular the GMK 6350 ,it has a pull out in its swing away..but its run by a small hydraulic motor coupled to a chain drive...power in and power out .... sweet deal..

Im sticking my neck out either on a fact or a fanatasy ...but i do believe that terex(75T persay) has a lug to attach the becket to retract the pin section ......im almost certaian of that

 

[td25c]

I thought grove might have a system other than muscle to extend & retract the jib.It may not be as heavy as I thought.The rollers&Teflon pads would help.I guess you could mount a small hand crank winch on the jib to pull it out and back in.I have a wrecker bed that has manually extendable booms.same problem,I lay the boom down on the bed but its more than I can do to pull out the extention.I am going to put a small hand winch to the outside section to pull the inner extention out.

 

[liebherr1160]

But dont forget the GMK 6350 is a 350 T unit ...the pull out aspect of the jib probably weighs upward to 1800lbs(?) so the power drive is pretty much a must..

 

[TheKid]

i tried the boom up trick but the dillhole that had the crane before my time ruined it by bending it some. The owner knows about it and just laughs and asks how i did it, then giggled and said thats what he used to do. so i guess at least him and i are on the same page then everything is ok. Just a pain to mess with. last week i tried to rebend it the other way with a tie off to a tree and a forklift trick but someone made it out of spring steel because if went right back in the same spot. The main boom all the way out does the same thing sorta and the only way to get it in is 60+ degrees and retract easy for the first 10'. someday in a perfect world it will work right.