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Warning: inspected a Liebherr yesterday that had a cracked turret bolt, check yours
I was doing a pre-hire inspection on a LTM 1090 out in Odessa, Texas on Tuesday. The guy selling it said it ran fine, no issues. I climbed up to look at the slewing ring area and spotted a hairline crack running along one of the turret mounting bolts. Not the ring itself, but the bolt head and a bit down the shaft. He had no idea. That bolt takes most of the twisting force when you swing a heavy load. If that lets go mid-pick, you're looking at the whole upper coming off. I've been running cranes for 14 years and I've only seen that once before, on an old Grove from the 90s. That one snapped during a test lift and threw the boom about 20 feet. Scary stuff. I walked away from that deal, told him to get it magnafluxed before anyone else touches it. How often do you guys actually inspect those bolts versus just torquing them to spec? I know most of us check the pins and the wire rope, but those turret bolts are easy to overlook since they're tucked behind covers.
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