Crane Size

  • Thread starter Sep
  • Start date
  • Replies 98
  • Views 10K
I'm with Bivy on this, I like playing the Crane Card cause it gets me out of there faster, usually with more money in pocket.

And always another job cause someone saw you doing that with a crane.

And it is much less wear and tear on the climber.8)

Not so much for the groundies. :whine:
 
I'm not John, and it's been a few years, but about the only driveway damage I ever had from a crane was from outrigger pressure.

I take that back. We had one once where we had to get a 35 ton AT into a back yard via an old driveway with lots of roots and air pockets under it. Driveway damage was expected and the release was signed, and that crane popped every single section of that slab all the way from the street down the side of the house. POP! POP! POP! POP! :lol:
 
did that once with a bucket truck tire.
my first crane job after i went on my own the crane guy rolled a tire onto an acid washed slab and broke it:dur: cost me 500 bucks. makes me nervous enough i often decide to do a tree old school if theres nice driveways around
 
We snaked a 100T down a 10' asphalt drive and it busted about 6-8' right before the driveway met the parking area.

The third tree I removed with a crane the operators didn't look at the layout sheet and drove right across a 2 car parking pad they were suppose to straddle with the outriggers. They said it wouldn't fit, the manager and I already looked and insured that it would. They destroyed the pad and busted a water meter.

With the 175 we drove across a commercial concrete parking lot, and while we technically broke the concrete, it wasn't obvious. Standing on the pad as the crane rolled on you could feel when each section broke under the weight, but these were hairline fractures that aren't noticeable 2 years later.

When I subbed Asplunds (abridged spelling) knuckle boom truck the outrigger pad broke through a city street once.

With an 80' JLG (36klbs on 4 tires) I busted a potting shed's foundation all to hell. They had tore the shed down and were going to remove the foundation after I broke it up. Ironically the only thing I broke with the 120' (48klbs on 4 tire) was some bricks in the column of the garage when the steering went wack. ($150 to fix)

I've had the rollers of a roll off box groove a city street or two. 45klbs on 2 8" wide 6" diameter steel rollers with square edges tends to do that.

Best I can remember, that's it.
 
Aside from the $150 for the bricks, the customer's were indifferent with the "damage" or the damage wasn't my fault.

The customer where I broke the bricks spent another couple-few grand this past year with me, which is when I busted their dranage ditch and fixed it back good as new and they're still happy as clams with me.
 
I couldn't care much less about the city streets. The parking pad was on me but the crane company came to bat right away and took care of it.

The 10' driveway was a job I was a sub on. The homeowners were paying for the crane, and we nearly used a helicopter instead to prevent damage to the drive.
 
Been wanting to start a thread on useful cuts for crane picks, but I need to get some photos first. Crane jobs suddenly became scarce.
 
Yes sir Crane work dried up around here as well. I haven't removed a descent sized tree in a while. Mostly small dead trees or perfectly heathly live tree that folks are taking out to redo some landscape or home repairs.

Mostly pruning and leaving. Which works for me Hourly rate no Cleanup:D
 
What is a self errector?
124.gif
 
erector.jpg


Some specs:
Transport weight: 42klbs
Counterweights: 68klbs
Stowed deminsions:52'x8'x13'
Outrigger Footprint 13'9"x13'9"

Max lift capacity: 13.2klbs @ 40'
Max radius: 148' @ 91' of hook height 2.4klbs
Max hook height: 162' @ 128' radius, 2.4klbs
Capacity @ 100'=5.5klbs.
 
It's just a crane, it doesn't care what the weight is as long as it's in chart.

It sets up in the same footprint as my Genie, but has the reach and (extended) capacity of a 150T crane. You could park it at the 50 yard line of a football field, set up in an area the smaller than my living room, reach to one end zone, pick up my Civic, and 60-70 seconds later have it in the other end zone. The crane and counterweights could be delivered with 2 truck loads (3 would be more ideal), set up in an hour, and be able to cover over an acre and a half from that one setup.

It could do any tree I've done with a crane.

It's not perfect for normal tree work, but it'd be hard to not make money with it. Everyone has boom trucks, the self erector market is brand new and growing like a bastard. Nothing says you can't have more than 1 crane, and if I was in the market, that's the style I'd get first.
 
I'm moving in a different direction. If I would have known about them when they first started coming about in 06, things may have been different.
 
Still in trees, but not a 6 day a week caption barron. More along the lines of a 1-2 day a week, and (in theory) get another job to fill 4 days a week, (in theory) 75k+ a year on a 5 day week before taxes.

The 4 day a week job would cover my annual expenses, the tree money would be cream. Cures the 4 months of winter blues and opens new possibilities while minimizing the roads it closes.
 
I must admit I am intrigued about setting a base for this machine to operate off of, where the hour setup time comes from, as well as the cost.
 
Back
Top