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Wrecker wishlist of mods

red

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Also saw this picture on the forum, pretty well confirms how underrated these cranes are. That's one of those heavy ammo trailers (12k pounds?) with no outriggers, no supports, and looks like he's pretty close to full extension.

2014082995112554(1).jpg
 

fuzzytoaster

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Those M989A1s are 11,000 lbs according to the dataplate. I've lifted 14K without outriggers at etc but it took low range to get it to move through the wet soil and steering was severely hampered. I can say I've pulled close to 20,000 on a static line but the wrecker began to tilt before the object moved. They are stout cranes.
 

zebedee

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Wouldn't that be too much strain on the rigging, since the angle would be really shallow? Considering the relatively short height of the boom I'm trying to think of a good way to rig it up as a spreader bar as close to the crane hook as possible.

Red - have you ever seen roof trusses mounted up the other way at an angle for a single pitch lean-too roof, using the normal base chord as the roof? Just flip the setup and make up a couple of sets of cable tethers as necessary, of suitable cable size. [Theory; cables for tension, tubes for compression.]
M 816 spreader.png
IMPORTANT:
Until the load is applied, it will want to flip the other way up, hence the 'torque resisting plate' (which DOES NOT actually attach to the hoist cables). If you prefer, you could replace this and move the crane hook up near the 'cable tethers' then make a solid leg that connects the crane hook down to the lower eyes of the travel legs. Or, using a large pear link on the crane hook, attach both the cable tethers and a third - short one, to the travel legs.

M 816 spreader 2.png
 

red

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I like the way you think red but you don't have to weld anything to them to make them work just use two cables going up to the hook or whiffletree and two cables hanging down from the loop ends.



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Had a lightbulb moment. Instead of welding tabs to the boom jacks/travel legs that would be pinned to the wiffle tree, why not weld in tabs that will just prevent the tubes from moving? Use 2 short chains that wrap around the tube, connected to the wiffle tree pins using those short chains. Then weld on the tabs to the right/left of where the chain is wrapped around the tube.

That would prevent the tubes from possibly sliding/potentially dropping the load. The weight is held by the tubes, so even if the weld is not perfect the weld is not holding the weight.
 

snowtrac nome

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no you really need them , with that much weight that high,wouldn't take much wind or movement to topple things over. my opinion as a licensed small crane operator,is this is displaying an unsafe act.the one thing about these trucks is that they are stable enough to swing the boom at full extension with out tipping the truck with no weight on them,letting you move and get set up with out monkeying around with the out riggers. you should always deploy out riggers before lifting weight.
 

Csm Davis

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no you really need them , with that much weight that high,wouldn't take much wind or movement to topple things over. my opinion as a licensed small crane operator,is this is displaying an unsafe act.the one thing about these trucks is that they are stable enough to swing the boom at full extension with out tipping the truck with no weight on them,letting you move and get set up with out monkeying around with the out riggers. you should always deploy out riggers before lifting weight.
The TM even list the weights you can lift without outriggers so you do not always need them before lifting. Does he have to much in the air maybe I don't know how much that trailer weighs or what he is doing with it. This thread is about wrecker mods not lifting practices so let's get back on track.

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red

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no you really need them , with that much weight that high,wouldn't take much wind or movement to topple things over. my opinion as a licensed small crane operator,is this is displaying an unsafe act.the one thing about these trucks is that they are stable enough to swing the boom at full extension with out tipping the truck with no weight on them,letting you move and get set up with out monkeying around with the out riggers. you should always deploy out riggers before lifting weight.
I didn't post that picture (not me lifting it) saying it was a good/safe lift, I posted it as an example of how severely under rated these cranes are. Fuzzy mentioned that the trailer weighs 11k, and as seen in the pic the crane is at full extension with no supports or outriggers. Per the plates, that's just shy of 4 times what the crane is rated for at that extension, with no outriggers.

The crane itself is not the weak link, it's the stability of the vehicle. That's where outriggers come in by providing the extra stability. The higher rating of this crane in civi models supports that as well.

The stock outriggers are very narrow compared to other mobile cranes and rotator wreckers, just about absurdly narrow. They only add maybe (being generous here) 3-4ft total width for stability. Outriggers on civi units add 6-10ft which makes for a much more stable platform and would safely (after certification) increase our side lifting capacity along with how much weight the crane can handle.

IMG_20170405_184549311.jpg


Will be going to hydraulic outriggers on the m816 hopefully next year. Tie them into the on chassis hydraulic conversion that will be done this summer.
 

Rescue101

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no you really need them , with that much weight that high,wouldn't take much wind or movement to topple things over. my opinion as a licensed small crane operator,is this is displaying an unsafe act.the one thing about these trucks is that they are stable enough to swing the boom at full extension with out tipping the truck with no weight on them,letting you move and get set up with out monkeying around with the out riggers. you should always deploy out riggers before lifting weight.
Proper craneing and Wrecker craneing are two distinct animals. When kept in line with the Long axix of the truck you CAN,Safely do things you should not anfd would not attempt with a proper crane. Same applies to commercial rotators,they do jobs every day that should NEVER be attempted with a Crane.
 

73m819

Rock = older than dirt , GA. MAFIA , Dirty
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Proper craneing and Wrecker craneing are two distinct animals. When kept in line with the Long axix of the truck you CAN,Safely do things you should not anfd would not attempt with a proper crane. Same applies to commercial rotators,they do jobs every day that should NEVER be attempted with a Crane.
Still there is a reason for ratings, stress acts funny, again just because you can get away doing something does not mean you should do it or that it will not come back and bit you in the a$$ later, doing something because you can not how you should is how equipment gets tore up and people get hurt/killed.
 

Rescue101

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With Crane work you KNOW exactly what you are lifting..........or you don't lift.......In Towing/Recovery those absolutes don't exist at Odark thirty on the side of the road. You make educated projections based on what intel you can glean. I suspect the individual lifting the trailer knows exactly what he's doing but I could be wrong. I know what I've done with a Vulcan 882 which a Crane guy would say wasn't " Safe"........but it was done within equipment limits by an experienced operator. Two totally different arenas even though there are equipment similarities. I'd love to see the angle/load chart on a 816/936....not saying it doesn't exist but I haven't found one yet. I did find the load chart but no angles. Always nice to hear from the "other" side.
 

73m819

Rock = older than dirt , GA. MAFIA , Dirty
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With Crane work you KNOW exactly what you are lifting..........or you don't lift.......In Towing/Recovery those absolutes don't exist at Odark thirty on the side of the road. You make educated projections based on what intel you can glean. I suspect the individual lifting the trailer knows exactly what he's doing but I could be wrong. I know what I've done with a Vulcan 882 which a Crane guy would say wasn't " Safe"........but it was done within equipment limits by an experienced operator. Two totally different arenas even though there are equipment similarities. I'd love to see the angle/load chart on a 816/936....not saying it doesn't exist but I haven't found one yet. I did find the load chart but no angles. Always nice to hear from the "other" side.
OK what ever
 

Rescue101

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Location
Bridgton Maine
Since acquiring my 936 I've been trying to figure out how to use the Drag winch and crane at the same time. As I seldom go out staffed as the vehicle was in original service. Friday I installed a Lodar remote and it does exactly what I wanted to do. I can run the Drag from the crane station or run it up to 200 plus feet from the truck.
 
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