TIL my crane's load chart lied to me for 2 years

Was on a job in Dallas last month setting AC units on a rooftop. Been running this LTM 1050 for about 3 years now. Decided to double check my radius with a tape measure and realized I was 4 feet off on every lift I'd done since I started. Feel kinda dumb but now I verify everything twice. Anyone else ever trust a weird gauge or indicator and end up way off on your numbers?

3 comments

3 Comments

lunab972mo ago

Loaded a 50-ton heat exchanger three feet past my charted radius last spring because I trusted the boom angle indicator. Turned out it was reading 4 degrees high. Felt like a real genius when I ran the actual numbers later and realized I was practically doing curls with the boom. Crane didnt tip but my pride sure did when I had to re-rig the whole job.

noranguyen2mo ago

Those little angle errors add up faster than you'd think (in cranes and life).

jana_ellis9520d ago

Wait, I used to think boom angle indicators were pretty reliable too. I mean, they're digital and all that so how bad could they be? Then my buddy had a near miss on a crawler crane last summer because his indicator was off by 2 degrees. We ran the numbers after and realized he was lifting way past his safe working radius without knowing it. That story about the heat exchanger is scary because it shows how small errors can snowball into something dangerous real quick. Now I double check with a physical inclinometer on every setup.