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Why does nobody talk about how sketchy rented cranes can be?
I had to use a rental from a place outside Houston last week for a 3-story beam lift, and the load chart was faded so bad I could barely read the boom angles. The operator they sent out kept joking about how the swing brake was 'temperamental,' but I was the one rigging under it. Has anyone else had a rental go sideways on a job and just walked off site?
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tessa3681mo ago
That 'temperamental' swing brake comment would've been my cue to walk, honestly. I once had a rental from a place in San Antonio (never again) where the outrigger pads were just stacked 2x4s glued together, like homemade plywood pancakes. The operator said they were 'fine for light stuff' but we were setting 4-ton AC units on a roof. I stood there for a solid minute, looked at the sky, and just told the GC I had a stomach bug. Ended up losing half a day's pay but my back still works, so I call it a win.
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joseph9321mo ago
Walked away from a similar setup last summer out in Phoenix where the crane's load chart was literally taped to the dash with duct tape (and I'm not joking, it was flapping in the breeze). Told the foreman I had to go pick up my kid from school early and drove home with my tail between my legs, feeling like a paranoid idiot. But then I heard through the grapevine that same crane tipped over three weeks later on a job in Mesa, so now I just tell people I got a sixth sense for sketchy machinery. Half a day's pay beats a lifetime of explaining to my wife why my spine sounds like a bowl of Rice Krispies.
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