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That conversation with a retired tower crane guy made me reconsider load charts
I was talking to this older operator named Dave at a supply yard in Newark last week. He said he never trusted the charts past 80% of capacity because of wear and tear on the steel. I always thought those numbers were gospel after 15 years in the game. But he pointed out how a 20 year old crane has been through storms, constant swinging, and metal fatigue. Idk, maybe it's just me but that stuck. Has anyone else adjusted their limits based on the age of the rig?
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olivere309d ago
That 80 percent rule for older cranes, how do you actually factor that in when the load is already within chart limits?
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wells.morgan9d ago
Whoa wait, hold on. Are you saying people just ignore the 80 percent thing on older machines? I gotta stop you there because that's exactly how you end up with a crane folded up like a lawn chair. That 80 percent rule isn't a suggestion, it's a hard limit once a crane hits a certain age or condition. If the chart says you can lift 10,000 pounds, but the machine is old and hasn't been recertified, you're technically supposed to take 80 percent of that chart number as your real max. It's a safety buffer for metal fatigue and corrosion that the original chart doesn't account for anymore. You don't just check the chart and go, you gotta look at that machine's service record and figure out if it's still got the original strength.
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