Tie in to nifty lift

For over three years I worked where we had a JLG 600 lift.

http://www.admarsupply.com/Default.aspx?RD=2375

HEAVY machine with a 500# platform capacity.

I wanted to use it for a mobile TIP too so i emailed their tech department and explained my ideas.

In no uncertain terms I was told this was not allowed. Their concern was that I would bounce or move out of plumb and put a sideload on the machine. This might tip it over.

I never did use it for a mobile TIP. That said, it was really hard for me to think of a configuration that I would make that would have made a load large enough to tip it. Look at the specs...at 60' extension it can operate with the platform 5' lower than the ground. I put it in that position a few times to see how it operated. VERY stable.

Ohhhh...and I could drive this one from the bucket too in most configurations. There were leveling safety switches that would stop movement if the machine got into the wrong position.

If JLG says 'No" with a 21,800 pound machine...I pay attention.
 
treebing said:
That's exactly what I was wondering if I could tip it over
Click to expand...
A Nifty lift or similar small machine could go over it seems. Anyone who has been in one feels the wobble When I was doing removals with a helper in the basket of the JLG we hardly moved no matter how high or out-reached. But...I wasn't going to test the design. The tech person at JLG shared a couple of stories about tipped machines. In the stories the machine was used for lifting something. The load was over two hundred pounds and not lifted plumb like a crane. The load line was out at an angle. Not really an apples to apples illustration but I let the matter sit
 
Tom Dunlap said:
For over three years I worked where we had a JLG 600 lift.

http://www.admarsupply.com/Default.aspx?RD=2375

HEAVY machine with a 500# platform capacity.

I wanted to use it for a mobile TIP too so i emailed their tech department and explained my ideas.

In no uncertain terms I was told this was not allowed. Their concern was that I would bounce or move out of plumb and put a sideload on the machine. This might tip it over.

I never did use it for a mobile TIP. That said, it was really hard for me to think of a configuration that I would make that would have made a load large enough to tip it. Look at the specs...at 60' extension it can operate with the platform 5' lower than the ground. I put it in that position a few times to see how it operated. VERY stable.

Ohhhh...and I could drive this one from the bucket too in most configurations. There were leveling safety switches that would stop movement if the machine got into the wrong position.

If JLG says 'No" with a 21,800 pound machine...I pay attention.
Click to expand...

JLG really seems like the 600 pound gorilla of the industry. Amazing machines, amazing engineering.

Check this version of one of their lifts out.

https://www.jlg.com/en/equipment/engine-powered-boom-lifts/telescopic/ultra-series/1850sj
 
Nifties also have the 28mph wind rating, and all their ratings have a margin of safety, just like (almost) all lifts.


Nifty does make SP/HR models that can drive with the boom in any position. The largest is the SP85, a 91' working height, 62' of side reach lift with a 620lb capacity weighing in at 32,300lbs and being 8'2" wide. I'm hoping they make an SD version of that machine... with a 500lb capacity and a 14' outrigger spread, it looks like they could get the weight down to 15-16klbs (quick napkin math). 62' of side reach would be great for a lot of my work.
 
Still haunting me;
Local crew of 3 brothers; 1/untied thrown out of bucket while rigging off it.
.
i, found myself standing there few months later closing a job at end of day;
With 2 brothers from neighboring job,
1 brother telling me how he watched his brother on fully extended bucket 60' arm
rushing to get done on under quoted 3 day job,
rigging thru pulley off the bucket he was in(which they did a lot);
He cut the large limb, when line took hit of fresh cut timber,
The 2/1 snatched hard down on bucket;
until line itself broke,
recoil flung the one brother upwards out of the bucket/wasn't tied in...
.
My ears where whistling shrilly as i listened to this man talk about watching his brother:
Being flung upwards, then streaking downward quickly,
Landing 20' from them,
head first,
eyes popping out,
body squishing as it liquefied when hitting ground,
until carcass devastation stopped at pelvis / like small throat chipper does.
.
Didn't seem like good time to scold,
or teach about ground control running rope as force relief.
("Take 2 wraps..."/ the Peter Donzelli story?)
.
Whatever you ride, ride it safely;
you are playing with power, just not always electrical!
 
Last edited:
I was at a rock climbing event once and they had a JLG lift there. They had built two 'jib' arms out of 2x6 and had them extended parallel with the floor of the lift out both sides about 4' (?)... They were using them as belay points for a crate stacking competition. The platform was only about 35' high I would guess. I made my obligatory head shake and oh shit thats crazy comments and then got into a rock harness and stacked some crates.

I would have never done it had I not seen a bunch of people go before me. That said I dont think people should tie into or rig off of mobile man platforms for any reason.
 
TheTreeSpyder said:
Still haunting me;
Local crew of 3 brothers; 1/untied thrown out of bucket while rigging off it.
.
i, found myself standing there few months later closing a job at end of day;
With 2 brothers from neighboring job,
1 brother telling me how he watched his brother on fully extended bucket 60' arm
rushing to get done on under quoted 3 day job,
rigging thru pulley off the bucket he was in(which they did a lot);
He cut the large limb, when line took hit of fresh cut timber,
The 2/1 snatched hard down on bucket;
until line itself broke,
recoil flung the one brother upwards out of the bucket/wasn't tied in...
.
My ears where whistling shrilly as i listened to this man talk about watching his brother:
Being flung upwards, then streaking downward quickly,
Landing 20' from them,
head first,
eyes popping out,
body squishing as it liquefied when hitting ground,
until carcass devastation stopped at pelvis / like small throat chipper does.
.
Didn't seem like good time to scold,
or teach about ground control running rope as force relief.
("Take 2 wraps..."/ the Peter Donzelli story?)
.
Whatever you ride, ride it safely;
you are playing with power, just not always electrical!
Click to expand...
I'm sorry man but that is pure stupid on several levels. I don't mean for this to come off the wrong way but that "accident" was a lot closer to natural selection than it was a accident. Dynamic rigging off a bucket without. Being tied in is just asking for it.
 
RopeShield said:
Are these lifts designed to tip over before a failure will occur to any one part of the boom system?
If they are, that seems nuts
Click to expand...

Forgive my slow mind, I'm not sure I understand the question. I don't think these lifts are designed to tip over at all. Tipping them over is something that might happen when you use the lift in a way that is not in accordance with the rules of operation, I think.

These lifts have controls on them that will cease to function if you begin to hit the limits of it's balance points. For example, if you have the boom way out to the side of the lift, say 90 degrees off of the long axis of the wheel base, at some point the lift may not allow you to go any higher or further out. The controls simply flash at you and will not do anything. You then need to bring the booms back in until things are more stable, and reposition the lift in a way that puts the weight over the long axis of the wheel base. This will allow you to get higher or further out.

So the machine has built-in safeguards that prevent an inexperienced operator from inadvertently tipping the machine over. Rigging off of the machine, or using it as a tie-in point and then taking a hard fall that jerks on the machine, are both things that go against the rules of use. The machine cannot protect a user from himself in situations like this, as forces of this nature are not accounted for within the machine's programming.

I hope some of what I just wrote makes some kind of sense.

Tim
 
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