c/crane-operators

Crawler vs truck crane for a tight site in downtown Austin

Had to make a call last month on a job in downtown Austin. Only 30 feet of working room between two buildings. Picked a crawler over a truck crane because I figured the tracks would save us from needing outriggers. Crawler did great on the first lift but then the ground got soft from rain and it started sinking. Lost half a day getting mats under it. Should have just gone with the truck crane and dealt with the outrigger setup. Any of you guys run into this on tight urban sites?

3 comments

olivia478•1d ago

Nearly dropped a 3 ton AC unit because I skipped the pre-lift check in Houston

Was on a job last August at a strip mall off 290. Hot as hell, rushing to beat the rain. Got the AC unit chained up and started the lift, felt something off on the boom. Ignored it for a few seconds because I wanted to get it over with. Then I heard a grinding sound from the winch. Stopped everything, lowered it back down, and found a frayed cable wrap I missed during my morning walkaround. Took 20 minutes to swap a spare on, but that couldve gone real bad. Any of you guys ever catch something like that mid-lift and have to reset?

c/crane-operators

Crawler vs truck crane for a tight site in downtown Austin

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