Boom Truck/Crane Rigging?

rpseguin · Feb 20, 2019

Anybody have experience and rough idea on costs for moving machinery with small cranes? Can a boom truck crane lift 5000 pounds?

A place I’m looking at is on a hillside (not fond of that, but can’t afford other places) and doesn’t have a garage, but it does have a large concrete deck that’s about 15-20 feet in from the road and 12 feet down from road level.
I have a couple of lathes and a couple of mills and wondering what the capacity of a boom truck would be.
My heaviest machines are around 4500 pounds.

This idea is sounding crazy with high potential for disaster as I read what I’m writing... :-)

john.k · Feb 20, 2019

Just about any big truck crane could do that........something about 17 ton meter rating easily,or you could go bigger if you want.Truck cranes these days go as big as 30 ton /meter with incredible reach,often out as much as 30 meters.Just make sure everything is ready when you shift.I have moved lots of machines with a Palfinger PK 11500,(11 ton meter) and never had any issues,with considerably heavier and more bulky stuff.......if you want professional riggers ,the price will climb exponentially.....

rpseguin · Feb 20, 2019

john.k said:
Just about any big truck crane could do that........something about 17 ton meter rating easily,or you could go bigger if you want.Truck cranes these days go as big as 30 ton /meter with incredible reach,often out as much as 30 meters.Just make sure everything is ready when you shift.I have moved lots of machines with a Palfinger PK 11500,(11 ton meter) and never had any issues,with considerably heavier and more bulky stuff.......if you want professional riggers ,the price will climb exponentially.....

Thanks!
I forgot to mention that the roads are not super wide, but I think a boom truck should be able to squeeze through.
Will they rent to anyone, or do you need special licensing?

john.k · Feb 20, 2019

I think you misunderstand...........in my scenario ,you hire a crane truck on hourly rate.....this is an ordinary 6x4 tray body truck,with a crane either on the rear,or behind the cab.as you might see delivering bricks,or roof trusses,and comes with a driver who (hopefully) has a number of years experience operating said crane attached to said truck.The truck should be able to traverse any standard width roadway..(2.4m,truck width),and when the crane is in operation,said driver will need to deploy outriggers ,especially on the loading side ,and will need another 2 to 3 meters out from the side of the truck for them.Preferably hard ,and flat......but the outriggers can be packed up to allow for slope or soft ground.......But steep grades in either direction will greatly complicate matters.

john.k · Feb 20, 2019

All this assumes the load doesnt have to be lifted over an intervening house ,or some other structure......if you are in a very tricky situation,then you will need a small mobile slewing crane,which will have a rigger included as dogman ,and costs will spiral out of controll.......the hiring of a crane truck gets the shift done for only a few bucks more than hiring a truck without a crane............I might add,google street view is a big help in assessing difficult sites,and I always check before going to an unknown pickup.

m16ty · Feb 20, 2019

It all depends on radius. While a 15 ton crane can lift a 5,000 lb piece with ease if the load pretty close to it, it could take a 100 ton crane or more if you have to reach out a long ways.

I was at a job last week where they were taking a 265 ton crane to set 1,500 lb AC units on a building. They were pretty much maxed out on weight, but they were setting the units at well over 100’ radius.

rpseguin · Feb 20, 2019

m16ty said:
It all depends on radius. While a 15 ton crane can lift a 5,000 lb piece with ease if the load pretty close to it, it could take a 100 ton crane or more if you have to reach out a long ways.

Say 20 feet radius.
I said 15 feet in the original post, but just giving some more margin.

m16ty · Feb 20, 2019

rpseguin said:
Say 20 feet radius.
I said 15 feet in the original post, but just giving some more margin.

A 15 ton boom truck should handle that weight at that radius. Around here, that crane would run around $120 or so an hour, with a 3 hr minimum.

Also, keep in mind that most crane outfits charge the hourly rate port to port. So if the nearest crane outfit is an hour away, you’ll pay 2 hours travel time.

rpseguin · Feb 20, 2019

m16ty said:
A 15 ton boom truck should handle that weight at that radius. Around here, that crane would run around $120 or so an hour, with a 3 hr minimum.

Thanks!
Probably more than that here, but I’ll find out.

Frederick Harvie · Feb 21, 2019

Call a towing company that has a rotator for tractor trailer recovery. Towing companies are often cheaper per hour and often don't have the 3 hour minimum that crane companies have. A rotator is essentially a 40 ton crane but is not called a crane for licencing purposes

Ries · Feb 21, 2019

rpseguin said:
Thanks!
Probably more than that here, but I’ll find out.

You are right, its more. I have hired cranes a few times in the east bay- Usually a 4 hour minimum call, and you wont be finding any $120 hour cranes. More like $200 and up an hour. Strong Union, strong market.
Nobody has rented cranes, without an operator, to the general public, on the West Coast, that I am aware of, since the 80s. You used to be able to do it, but its been a long time since that was possible.

I would think a pretty bog-standard Stinger style boom truck, which is a nominal 15 ton with around a 45' boom at full extension, would do the job just fine, and they would be the most common and cheapest to hire as well. Depending on the truck, they might even be able to move the machines as well.
Where I live, I have been able to hire flatbeds with Palfinger style articulating boom cranes, which have a longer reach, and more flexibility, but usually lower load ratings, to move and load/unload tools and large objects. They often will have 100 feet of stick at around 3000 to 5000 pounds, depending on angle and model of crane.

wheels17 · Feb 21, 2019

Here's a video of a big "rotator" in action.

YouTube

woodsrider845 · Feb 21, 2019

Here's digger doug helping out the home shop guys:

Maybe he can help?

Rob F. · Feb 21, 2019

This is a short rotator video that is not as painful to watch. Unloading ocean containers off a flatbed semi trailer. This guy (Ron Pratt) has lots of rotator videos on his youtube page.
YouTube

Peter from Holland · Feb 21, 2019

A 15Ton/meter boom can lift a 5000lbs (is about 2,5 ton) 6 mtr from his center of rotation With a truckdeck of about 2,5 mtr it can lift a 2,5 ton load less as 5 mtr away from the side of the truck That is absolute max just above groundlevel
A 15 ton/mtr is a very light one I would get a 30Ton/meter at least to be safe
Here we have 100ton/mtr articulated boomtrucks or palfingers or whatever you name them
Renting a 60ton/mtr cost about €100/hr over here
Most of them have a wireless controle and some have a winch build in so one could drop a lathe behind the hous with just one operator

Peter

ewlsey · Feb 21, 2019

Yep, call Jamie Davis. He was getting $600/hr for his 'tator before he sold it.

Ries · Feb 21, 2019

Peter from Holland said:
A 15Ton/meter boom can lift a 5000lbs (is about 2,5 ton) 6 mtr from his center of rotation With a truckdeck of about 2,5 mtr it can lift a 2,5 ton load less as 5 mtr away from the side of the truck That is absolute max just above groundlevel
A 15 ton/mtr is a very light one I would get a 30Ton/meter at least to be safe
Here we have 100ton/mtr articulated boomtrucks or palfingers or whatever you name them
Renting a 60ton/mtr cost about €100/hr over here
Most of them have a wireless controle and some have a winch build in so one could drop a lathe behind the hous with just one operator

Peter

The US market for crane work is completely different from europe.
We have far fewer small cranes, much higher prices, and very few of the modern euro style remote control Palfinger or Hiab style cranes.
We have very expensive Union wages for Crane operators, and most crane companies here have a minimum 4 hour charge. Some, in congested areas, have 8 hour minimum charges.

It is just not comparable.

I am lucky enough to have had a couple of different very reasonable crane owner operators in my area, who run articulated boom Palfingers, but the last 2 times I needed to rent a crane in San Jose, the company sent what they sent- in both cases, 100' boom non-articulated cranes in the 35-50 ton range, mounted on 40' flatbed trailers, pulled by a semi tractor, with 4 hour minimum calls- each time, a few, relatively simple lifts, unloading a flatbed truck, ended up costing close to $1000. Thats Cali-fornia for ya- I used to live there, and I called it the Pay Me State. Luckily, they also paid me, when I lived there.
I used these guys at least once. Very professional, well maintained and safe- but not cheap. 4hr/8hr min. depending on size of crane. San Jose Crane Rental | Northern California Crane Rental | Operated & Maintained Crane Rental

Here is a lift, in Milpitas, a few years ago- cause everybody loves a bit of crane porn, eh?

Milacron · Feb 21, 2019

Ries said:
The US market for crane work is completely different from europe.
We have far fewer small cranes, much higher prices, and very few of the modern euro style remote control Palfinger or Hiab style cranes.

Perhaps it's a moot point but I don't know that we have fewer truck cranes here as I see Palfingers and Hiabs going down the road with nearly every interstate trip. The difference is we have way less for hire. Plenty of them for "in company" use unloading building materials, utility work, heavy pipe, etc. ...just not many in the general for hire rigging business.

Suspect part of the issue with for hire use is they are so heavy, the truck equipped with one doesn't have a lot of weight bearing capacity left to haul a machine tool. More common to just rent a forklift at auction sites or wherever.

ewlsey · Feb 21, 2019

Another part of it is insurance. When you say "crane" to an insurance agent, they get $$ in their eyes like Scrooge McDuck. My insurance company will insure me to do anything I want with a forklift. They won't even consider a for-hire crane.

Don't ask me why.

john.k · Feb 21, 2019

There was a Volvo tandem with a Palfinger PK 17000 crane parked outside just a hour ago.......20 foot tray,10 ton legal load,very easily handle a 2ton load at 20 ft radius.(17 ton meter)...........when he came back,I asked his hourly rate.....$70 an hour......that equates to around $55 US.......he says .....he will do a 10 hr day for $600....about $460US.

Boom Truck/Crane Rigging?

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