My new knuckleboom

The mechanic for BIK ran an entirely new line today from my lower controller all the way up through my track system and into my diverter valve. Apparently the couple of quick connects that p.m. has on their boom reduce the size of the conduit too much. It was reducing my voltage to close to 8 V instead of 11 to 12 like the diverter valve needs to operate properly. He installed 10 gauge wire. He did a good job doing it And he still installed a quick connect kind of like a trailer plug so that when I take my fly jib off I can still fully disconnect.
 
That’s good info there. Thanks. Amazing the weight capacity difference on the 160 and 220 and for only 2”s more cutting capacity

Ever seen one side by side? I love how small the 160 is. How much bigger is the 220?

I hired a crane operator I have been using over the years. I’ve probably flown on his ball more than any other operator in my career. I was real honored to have him come work with me.

After spending all of this week with me, he came to the conclusion that his 20+ years experience running cranes was almost entirely useless when in came to my k boom.

He is going to pass on the job cause he feels it would be a disservice to me to pay him his rates to learn to run my k boom.

It’s not the operation really that has him caught up. It’s the cutting. He’s not a tree guy. Despite years of flying wood, he still doesn’t see the tree the way a climber does. He fumbles around either cutting too small or pointlessly or he makes cuts that would break the wrong way and jam him up. I’m constantly having to redirect him.

Ever watch a new guy with a saw breaking brush? It’s like that. He just wants to cut in the weirdest places and doesn’t understand he’s wasting time and going to get bound up.

For now, I’m still the operator. Wish I could find me a seasoned climber to run it. I’m tempted to go Mike Poor style and just do it all myself. My payroll payout was $29,000 this week! Too much if you ask me.
 
Yeah stick cranes and k booms are totally foreign to each other. The saw work is essential to have someone experienced in tree work. There are a few little tricks with the saw that will keep you from getting jammed up.
 
Awesome! It's hard to imagine the capacity of The 100 when I'm only 37 ton. How does that compare to like a 30 or 40 ton stick crane?
 
Also I completely surround my Outriggers with cones. One on each side of the Outrigger, you can never have enough of them. I can't tell you how many times even with the cones I almost get people hitting my Outriggers. It's my worst fear when I'm operating on the street.
 
I appreciate the advice on the cones. I would’ve liked to of put more around my out Riggers but I had five freaking trucks on the street. I guess I just didn’t have enough cones to go around I should probably put some on my crane full-time. The hundred Ton is crazy. I really don’t quite know how to explain its capacities. I’m good for more at 80 feet than a 40t stick crane. Beyond that I’m obviously good for More because they’re not going past 80’. Up close I know what my chart says, but I just have not really been pushing it. I did fly a 2500 pound log at 100+‘ radius today on my Grapple Saw. It was wild. My controller was reading 90% but My Crane felt super solid and the truck wasn’t moving a bit.

I’m such a huge fan of the Grapple Saw, that I really don’t take the stuff that big. Even though my crane is good for tens of thousands of pounds in some positions, I know that the Grapple Saw is not. It doesn’t seem to me like it would be saving time to take to Grapple Saw off just to take a huge log then put it back on to start disassembling another tree. I guess if it was my last lo of the day and I just needed or wanted to take it very big I could but there’s no point in me taking itMore than five or 6000 pounds anyway. I need to leave it in manageable sizes for my grapple trucks.

Does that answer your question?
 
So your grapple will only grab and hold 4000lbs for the 280. Also if your saw is on a manual pull out extension the rating of that extension is all you are good for no matter what your load chart says. Lots of people pushing limits really hard with the manual pull outs, either that or they were never told the chart for the crane is worthless when the manual extension is out. So if your pull out is good for 2000lbs then even if you are sucked all the way in on all your booms you are still only good for 2000lbs. The weakest link in the chart has to be figured. There is no extrapolation on charts. If you have 5 1/2 fly extensions out, you have to use the chart for 6 out. If you are between 70d and 45d you have to use the 45d chart. Now if you have the 280 on a hydraulic section then you are good for chart minus 880lbs. It weighs 880 full of bar oil and hydraulic fluid with a 20" bar on it. I see guys all the time lifting thousands of pounds with the grapple and I know what their manual extension is good for. It's just a matter of time before these guys start breaking off manual extensions. The trend started when Bluestone started doing it. Perfectly fine because their manual is good for like 3 or 4 thousand pounds. I see guys doing similar with 30 and 40 series booms and some 50's. You won't see me pushing those limits. I feel like its careless and unnecessary punishment to an investment and jeprodizes lives and property. Bluestone has the equipment to do it safely. Its not them I take issue with. Look at all these IG and facebook videos. Look at the guys taking huge shit with a manual extension rated for 1440lbs and a saw head that weighs 880lbs. You do the math. I'm not mathematician but 2000lbs isn't the remainder when you work the equation. Maybe it's just me but I think the load chart is there for a reason and it should be understood inside and out before anybody goes out and plays crane with their new toy. Mark my words. It's only gonna take one huge fuck up and the powers will be up the ass of the grapplesaw crane so far the corporate officers of the companies making them will hurt to sit down. Its a false sense of security. If you overload a stick crane it tips over. When you overload a kboom it bleeds off pressure and goes to the ground or snaps the boom. So please know the chart and know if the configuration you have your crane in is good for the capacity based on how its set up, not necessarily the load chart. This is all stuff the manufacturer should explain and because there is no LMI these guys have no idea how far over limits they are. Thats why I have a load pin and a load block. I can't afford to buy one every 5 years because it beat the shit out of it.
 
And not criticizing you but the OSHA and ANSI standard is to pick no more than 70% of your load chart. When you're at 90 to 100% you have no margin for error. You pick it and you own it and if you can't do anything with it but set it down, then what? Trust me, a lot of this I know fro hard lessons learned.
 
Steve Connally said:
And not criticizing you but the OSHA and ANSI standard is to pick no more than 70% of your load chart. When you're at 90 to 100% you have no margin for error. You pick it and you own it and if you can't do anything with it but set it down, then what? Trust me, a lot of this I know fro hard lessons learned.
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I picked a felled log off the ground. I was at 80% before I grabbed it. It bumped me up to 90%. So your telling me when my controller shows me 80% I shouldn’t do anything?
 
4000 squeeze pressure is what I was told and can find in my book. Look on the mecanil site and tell me anywhere where it says lift capacity? It’s not there. Not slamming Todd but his site is the only place I’ve ever seen a number. So to figure what it can lift you need to know how much it can squeeze -4000lbs, what’s the rotator rated for and the bolts holding it on. Also what’s the pin good for? Formiko has rotators from 1t to 6t d pending on the model. Honestly I’ll have to look it up. My dealer told me it squeezes at 4000lbs pressure. That’s all I need to know.
 
CanaryBoss said:
I picked a felled log off the ground. I was at 80% before I grabbed it. It bumped me up to 90%. So your telling me when my controller shows me 80% I shouldn’t do anything?
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No what I’m saying is you should plan your pieces so you don’t exceed 70% if you have the option to do so. If you always shoot for 70 then you have a 30% margin for error. If my load cell told me I was at 80 or 90 I’d know I made a mistake and will try to judge better next time. When you pick at 90% you don’t have that grace percentage. As long as I am below 100 I’ll still eat what I bit off. The point is not to bite off more than 100%. 70% is the recognized number for the crane industry as a whole. I’ve been doing trees for quite a while and I can get in the ballpark on weight guesstimates but rarely perfect. Hope to god I can hit a 30% margin of error.
 
CanaryBoss said:
I picked a felled log off the ground. I was at 80% before I grabbed it. It bumped me up to 90%. So your telling me when my controller shows me 80% I shouldn’t do anything?
Click to expand...

This is where it gets tricky with knucklebooms. Unless you are using a load cell, you remote is only showing you percentage of Hydraulic pressure capacity. It is not really a weight reading. You can be 90-100 just due to having the cylinder over extended, or not having it in the best position. Yes you can use it as an approximate scale...but not as a weight reading.
 
So if you had a 60t stick out there and he was at full radius and extension and the chart was 4000lbs 100%. That was it. Would you shoot for a 38/3900 pic and bet you could guess the weight that close? Hell no. Why is a knuckle boom and different?
 
climbhightree said:
This is where it gets tricky with knucklebooms. Unless you are using a load cell, you remote is only showing you percentage of Hydraulic pressure capacity. It is not really a weight reading. You can be 90-100 just due to having the cylinder over extended, or not having it in the best position. Yes you can use it as an approximate scale...but not as a weight reading.
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True but if you go by the load chart and it says 100% is 3000lbs then 100% is 300lbs on weight. The rest is configuration. Boom configuration doesn’t give you the ability to pick more. Boom angle and radius does.
 
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