National 13110a, new to me

I am comfortable now, after a very busy two work weeks on a wide variety of jobs immediately after buying this rig, with the new to me outrigger pads. I am still using my old system of 12" micro lam (may be called LVL in your area, the laminated heavy plywood beams they use for headers in framing nowadays) planks. 32" long, the longest I can carry in the under bed racks. I always have a min of 2 of them under each pad, usually three, more depending on the "mission", ground bearing etc. I also carry a couple 6x12 solid wood beams, plus the 4x6 oak beams that came with the truck, using all of this in various ways I can quickly get a footprint as large as 11 sq ft under a pad. I've been using the LVL/micro lams for over 10 years, and the main advantage I see over carrying a few of the plastic pads is when setting up on the hilly terrain I constantly have to deal with, I can stack them as needed to gain the necessary height, to get the required outrigger down travel, to get leveled up. Yesterday was a good example : pulling a 21,000 lb well pump, working directly over the rear, the front tires were about 30" in the air after I got leveled due to the slope I was forced to set up on. Working on slopes is just a fact of life here. It goes without saying I don't work over the front when set up like that.

Though the National's outriggers hang down lower while traveling (and I have just gotten used to taking the pads off EVERY time I travel, not that big a deal and no worries then) then my old Manitex, making it not as good "off road", the advantage is they have a lot more down travel. Only once have I run out of down before getting level, it happened much more with the Manitex as they started out higher above the ground.

I am just now sending out my first round of billing statements, reflecting my new price increase of $20.00 per hr, additional, so $115.00 per now. As I hoped and figured, my bigger corporate/industrial customers could care less, they fully get it, and have absolutely no problem with the increase. The truck's appearance (and increased capability of course) does the convincing, it looks so damn good all I say is "it cost twice as much as my old rig, so I'm charging 20 bucks an hour more, and besides, I haven't raised my rates in 8 years ". I did set trusses on one house, and did it at my old rate of 95, the nickel and dime, just getting by framer (I used to be one!) was happy with that and besides he could have got someone with a small boom truck to do the job, I was overkill. My closest local competitor, with a 33 ton National (owned by a steel yard, who dabbles in taxi crane work, but mainly they have it for their own needs) charges $135.00 an hour. Once I get my remote I will further leave them in the dust behind me re local crane work, I also carry a lot more rigging then them, plus a man basket, and all of it certed, unlike theirs. My overhead is much lower so that helps me out price them. Got some pictures coming.
 
It came with the dunnage racks (stainless steel framed, that's also stainless making up the bed siderails, the underbed framing, and the rear custom bumper, all stainless steel with stainless bolts! Those are my aluminum sideboards I kept off the Manitex. The first one dropped into the side pockets almost perfectly, as did the other three. What are the odds of that? Then I figured I had made them to fit the stock bed on the Manitex, and this new rig has a custom bed, making the fact it had the same spacing pretty amazing.

The flatbed he built (the owner of the metal fabrication business, lot's of dairy and food plant work, thus all the stainless, they probably had it laying around!) is flush with the top of the crane torsion box, so when you walk on the center of the bed you are walking on the t. box. This is opposed to a standard setup having the pre made flat bed sitting on top of the t. box. This has the effect of giving more headroom under the boom, and a lower bed height, both positives. The t. box is coated with anti slip bedliner, as is the rest of the bed. That a ladder rack between the cab and hyd tank, all stainless of course! The rear bumper is built to serve as steps also, and though it's more of a stretch then the Manitex it is possible to step directly onto the truck cab step from the flatbed. A minor item maybe, but it's more convenient then climbing down off the bed and then back up into the cab.

The big heavy gauge aluminum tool boxes are all supported by, of course, more stainless steel! 2 on each side, ditto with the dunnage racks. I put the pickup style toolbox behind the hyd. tank, elevated for storage of traffic cones and other crap, as high as possible without blocking the view out the rear window. Which is already mostly blocked by the hyd tank anyway. I got my 7" color moniter backup camera installed ($250.00, a bargain for the technology, about 2 hours work to install it) and now can stick the crane's rear end out in the highway in front of the crane yard as I back out with complete confidence, I have the camera a little skewed to favor one side. If needed I can get another 2 cameras and choose which one I see through, probably won't do that as I have the blind spots pretty well covered now.

The Mack mutt logo is everywhere, embroidered into the upholstery, the heated mirrors, on the hood of course, and I keep finding more places. Another unique to Mack feature is a hand brake on the panel, a big lever that you can use to lock up the rears (or to give as much brake as needed, unlike the pk. brake all or nothing), I use it when on a hill and needing to start up, like a hill holder brake on a Subaru. I drove on the trip home for several hours before noticing it! Power windows and door locks, of course (ha ha), and I built a center console between the cab seats for Ted the dog to ride on plus paperwork storage. That's a dark midnight blue color on the cab. My sign guy is due to do his thing with my logo as soon as I get the jib off , more on that later.IMG_20150404_172250_443.webp
 
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Nothing I love better than a well thought out, well executed truck. A place for everything, and everything in it's place! Work is soooooo much easier when you not only have everything you need (ladder, cones, dunnage, etc) but you also know exactly where it is. I'm a big believer in the idea that a little extra time invested setting it up properly when you first get it will pay dividends down the road.

Nice rig, Courier!!
 
My helper and I took down an elm tree in my crane yard the other day. As most of you know I'm not a tree guy, I just do straight crane work. Using some tips I got here (spider legs!) my biggest pick of 2100 lbs went perfect, that sucker just gently levitated off with no excitement whatsoever. By the time I got everything cleaned up and hauled off, all I have to say is you guys who do this every day have my utmost respect! Even geared up equipment wise like most of you are, it is labor intensive, just thought I'd let you all know that, ha ha.
 
Here ya go Josh. The back angle is more then sufficient to keep them in place on the road. The bungee is just to keep the State troopers and the port of entry pukes happy. That is stainless steel BTW, like all of the bed substructure. That is insanely expensive but the guys who built this rig up "had it laying around". Unreal to see it used for things like this dunnage rack, but I'm not complaining!IMG_20150522_125249_698.webp
 

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dbl612 said:
even if you have a rock hard surface under the pads i always like to put a softener like a square of 3/4" plywood under the aluminum pads to keep from hurting them on a rough surface. (they are about 900$ ea.) and congrats and good luck on your new rig!
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Altough not now but it also keeps the turf from freezing to the pads in the winter.
 
Courierguy said:
I am just now sending out my first round of billing statements, reflecting my new price increase of $20.00 per hr, additional, so $115.00 per now. As I hoped and figured, my bigger corporate/industrial customers could care less, they fully get it, and have absolutely no problem with the increase. I did set trusses on one house, and did it at my old rate of 95, the nickel and dime, just getting by framer (I used to be one!) was happy with that and besides he could have got someone with a small boom truck to do the job, I was overkill. My closest local competitor, with a 33 ton National (owned by a steel yard, who dabbles in taxi crane work, but mainly they have it for their own needs) charges $135.00 an hour. Once I get my remote I will further leave them in the dust behind me re local crane work, I also carry a lot more rigging then them, plus a man basket, and all of it certed, unlike theirs. My overhead is much lower so that helps me out price them. Got some pictures coming.
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When you do trusses again with the remote let them know you will be raising the rate for them and let them see how much better your accuracy will be. I bet they will be happy to pay it. Of course I don't know your market but it is worth feeling it out.
I went from $75 per hour with my old crane 7 years ago to $200 per hour and most framers stuck with me. Of course I have the luxury of doing tree work if someone doesn't want to hire me so this is just a suggestion. My market could be totally different. Around here I'm $50 per hour higher than others setting trusses.
 
We have real low wages here, and all the framers cut each others throats in trying to outbid each other. Short sighted? Sure buts that how they roll. No way can I raise rates overall, but select jobs, sure. When I had my remote for the Terex 3470, I didn't charge more, for the same reasons, but like to feel it got me a lot more work and further separated me from the competition.

I just got a job for next week, setting trusses on a monster 3 story 10,000 sq. ft house. Little room to work so I'll be right close, too close to eyeball things, all I'll see is walls. The remote would be great here, and it's a job I could charge extra for it, unlike a lot of them.

I have a certain big financial issue due to be determined one way or the other in a week, if it's determined in my favor, I will be back on track to hustle up a remote ASAP. In for a dime in for a dollar, I want a remote, again, I continue to really like the crane!
 
Hey you guys with Nationals..... I'm SURE this front stab is supposed to be angled back like this, but will ask anyway: it's supposed to be that way right?? Why?? More room for the hood to open?IMG_20150622_131141_897.webp
 
I've worked with quite a few Nationals (13110s, 14127s, 18142s, etc.) and they all angle back. It's certainly not enough of an angle to allow the hood to open, so it must be for another reason. What that is....?
 
I did this real odd job the other day, a 12,000 sq. ft. house with all 12' ceilings, a real monster. It had some kind of real elaborate landscaping in back, more then that, I'm not sure what to call it. The net effect was it looks like some of stage set, a very high dollar stage set, lot's of pillars and stuff made it look like Greek ruins, or something.

The weird part was before putting up the 3 rd story trusses, I picked up an antique horse drawn hearse, complete with coffin, and put it in what I was told would the owner's "Dracula Room." Combine that with the backyard staging, and it was odd enough to make me NOT ask the owner what was up.......I just did the job and got outa there. Pictures coming next.
 
60'+ plus span trusses, over a open floor plan, so lots of air between the floor and the nervous carpenters, lot's of wind and some thunder and lightening also. A spooky job all around. The hearse!IMG_20150709_123211_265.webp IMG_20150709_111425_120.webp I used the truss hooks so I could self unrig, seemed safer all things considered. I wasn't working anywhere near over the front, obviously not, but off to the side and mostly to the rear. No other options for set up but this!
The last weird thing was the run of bad luck this job had had, just a lot of things going wrong, people getting hurt, including the suicide of the wife of 25 years of the lead carpenter, that weird enough for you? I was super careful and glad to get wrapped up and out of there. I should have saved this for Halloween maybe.
 
I set some kind of new record today, my contractor customer told me he had a fuel tank at an auto dealer, empty, and around 8K pounds, to pick up and move about 20'. 1 hour later, and now with a 4 part line and a move closer, I set the 28,300 lb. tank into place.

I also just bought a new concrete crane bucket, I will be the only crane service in the area with one (1.5 yards), and as our area is grossly under served by the only concrete pumper (an old beater with not much reach, high dollar also) it will be interesting to see how much extra crane work I get as a result of having it available. Anyone else every swing one?
 
Courierguy said:
I set some kind of new record today, my contractor customer told me he had a fuel tank at an auto dealer, empty, and around 8K pounds, to pick up and move about 20'. 1 hour later, and now with a 4 part line and a move closer, I set the 28,300 lb. tank into place.

I also just bought a new concrete crane bucket, I will be the only crane service in the area with one (1.5 yards), and as our area is grossly under served by the only concrete pumper (an old beater with not much reach, high dollar also) it will be interesting to see how much extra crane work I get as a result of having it available. Anyone else every swing one?
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Courierguy said:
I set some kind of new record today, my contractor customer told me he had a fuel tank at an auto dealer, empty, and around 8K pounds, to pick up and move about 20'. 1 hour later, and now with a 4 part line and a move closer, I set the 28,300 lb. tank into place.
make sure you get paid for the use of the crane bucket. some body has to pay for it.

I also just bought a new concrete crane bucket, I will be the only crane service in the area with one (1.5 yards), and as our area is grossly under served by the only concrete pumper (an old beater with not much reach, high dollar also) it will be interesting to see how much extra crane work I get as a result of having it available. Anyone else every swing one?
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Part of the problem was the tank had been filled, and it was one of the newer above ground double walled ones with I believe concrete in the middle. They are built to survive a car hit so very heavy.

Yeah I need to figure how I am going to "market" my crane bucket capabilities, first off I'm going to make a flier, with some numbers as to how many yards (or a fraction) I can put X amount away. Concrete guys were never potential customers before, now they may be. The Joe Sixpack homeowner may see the crane bucket being easier then a wheelbarrow, for small 2 or 3 yard pours, the kind that can't justify what the local pumper charges.
 
Yes classictruckman I have a bucket, swinging crete is "way cool " . A bit intimidating at first but once you get in a grove its a lot of fun. I have a 1/2 yard aluminum bucket and a full bucket rigging in is around 2,700 # . Ive done a few small walls but mostly I do silo tops like in the attached photo. you aren't going to get out very far with a full 1 1/2 yard bucket likely around 6,200 # of concrete. Is yours steel or alum. the best advice i can give you is get a pump sprayer and spray the bucket before you use it with chemical form release , and wash it off perfectly every time you use it because there is no getting it later also check your rig as soon as your done for concrete splatter, it comes off real easy now but it comes off with your paint latter
Good luckIMG_0482.webp
 
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