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Picked a lattice boom over a hydraulic truck crane for a tight job site
Last month I had to choose between a lattice boom crawler and a hydraulic truck crane for a job in downtown Nashville. The site was cramped between two buildings with barely 15 feet of swing room on one side. I went with the lattice boom because it had a shorter tail swing and could sit stationary without outriggers on that compact pad. Set up took about 4 hours extra compared to the hydraulic, but I lifted 12 tons of HVAC units over a roof without touching a single wall. The operator I was training with asked why I didn't just use the truck crane for speed. Honestly the precision on the lattice boom made up for the setup time on this one. Has anyone else had to pick between these two for a tight urban spot and regretted their choice later?
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jones.grace7d ago
OH man I used to be ALL about hydraulic truck cranes for everything because of the speed factor. But reading this totally changed my mind. I remember one job in Charlotte where we squeezed a lattice boom between two buildings and it was the only thing that fit because of that short tail swing. The hydraulic would have needed 20 feet of outrigger space we just didnt have. Youre spot on about the precision too, that cable control lets you inch things over a roof way better than the jerky hydraulics. I used to think lattice booms were old school and slow but now I see theyre the right tool for these tight downtown spots.
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lee.cole6d ago
Didn't you hate how the outrigger space always kills a good spot?
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