DMiller
Senior Member
Seems boom trucks have short lives, have seen a few rough terrain Cranes dumped by poor operator choices and a few where width being really wide on narrow roads caught a edge ending up flipped as well. Just not as prevalent.
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Why I hate boom trucks
- Thread starter crane operator
- Start date
oarwhat
Senior Member
How did they crush the cab on the roofing company one?
Any day now we will get some snow, and ice, time to throw the tires chains in one of the rigging boxes. Keeping them upright is pretty easy on dry pavement. I don't know what the problem is with these drivers pictured here, but I like to think if I wreck mine, it'll be for a good reason, like black ice on the 12% grade I'll be driving on to get to an upcoming job. Forewarned of course, I won't, or will chain up. Or working on uncompacted dirt maybe. The other day I had a weird one, I could see the entire setup area was built up dirt, and when getting out to only about 75% of my chart, I felt "that feeling", when I eyeballed my pads, expecting them to be sunk in a bit, I saw there weren't..., and by the time I finished the truss job, I decided the feeling I was getting was the dirt mass under the top more compacted layer giving a bit, or something like that, my pads never did so any signs of subsistence. I've never had that happen before, safe enough I suppose, but new to me. There was about 20' of fill, to get a more or less level area on a steep hillside.
hvy 1ton
Senior Member
I believe that's a freightliner badged Unimog.ove this short stout all wheel drive high rail monster knuckle boom truck.
Welder Dave
Senior Member
It's set up for railroad to boot.
skyking1
Senior Member
That was in my initial description. " high rail" is the common term for any rail equipped road rigs.
Welder Dave
Senior Member
The high rail trucks can be a pain to work on. My mechanic friend had to pull the V10 engine out of a Ford Superduty with the train wheel assembly. Said it made the job even more of a PIA and he had to be careful not to bang his shins on the extra brackets and crap hanging off the front. Even more of headache to remove the rail assembly.
skyking1
Senior Member
You got to hit the brakes pretty hard to shoot the boom like that!
crane operator
Senior Member
Big iron can go bad also...
2016 with not very many hours on it. Looks like they were all on fill setting the sound barrier walls. In the one picture you can see where it left a pad sit in the dirt. No outrigger mats at all.
There was a genie self propelled manlift that got squished by the lower cab, you can see the basket under the boom. I don't know if anyone got hurt, but its a miracle that basket wasn't squashed.
Looks to me like they were not pinning outrigger beams, no mats, just skipping down the row in a hurry, almost like sitting on rubber. And they got bit.
2016 with not very many hours on it. Looks like they were all on fill setting the sound barrier walls. In the one picture you can see where it left a pad sit in the dirt. No outrigger mats at all.
There was a genie self propelled manlift that got squished by the lower cab, you can see the basket under the boom. I don't know if anyone got hurt, but its a miracle that basket wasn't squashed.
Looks to me like they were not pinning outrigger beams, no mats, just skipping down the row in a hurry, almost like sitting on rubber. And they got bit.
crane operator
Senior Member
crane operator
Senior Member
Welder Dave
Senior Member
Wow! To miss the car and no others in the parking lot is a stroke of good luck in a bad situation. Would the crane be a right off or just a really expensive new boom and other repairs?
crane operator
Senior Member
Is it repairable? Yes. Is it cost effective to repair it? Probably not. Swing bearing took a heck of a knock. Could even have twisted frame. Certainly outrigger beams and boxes are all bent. New cab. Maybe twisted upper works by the winch mount. Three quarters of a million in repair work on a million dollar crane and six months to fix it all.
I would imagine they either flipped it up into a wall or alley, or clear on over. Could have dropped something on it.
Silveroddo
Senior Member
Boy this thread brings back memories of a winter spent as a rigger in the Bakken. Only did it for 6 months but saw plenty. Seemed like the smaller the crane, the less experienced the operator they sent with it, and the closer to capacity, or just straight up over capacity the task. Spent quite a bit of time rigging for a boom truck putting together portable water tanks, 2nd day out on one of those jobs the laborers running the tag lines on a big tank panel lost control of it and let it spin into the truck cab, smashed the heck out of it.
I forget what the story was on this one, happened during rush hour in Watford City though.
I forget what the story was on this one, happened during rush hour in Watford City though.
Welder Dave
Senior Member
I'm curious if major mishaps/fails like this are covered by insurance? I'd imagine insurance is pricey to begin with.
crane operator
Senior Member
You're covered the first time. After the second time, you're insurance is most likely cancelled, and you will have a hard time getting anyone to insure you.
hvy 1ton
Senior Member
Local company couldn't get any insurance after hitting a cross country petro pipeline without calling 811 and taking quickie saw to a fiber line the KU engineer said was abandoned in 18 months.