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My uncle told me to always level the outriggers on soft ground. I thought he was being dramatic.
Back in March I was setting up for a job at a construction site near Nashville. The ground looked solid enough, packed dirt from all the trucks driving over it. I figured I could save some time and just set the pads down without the cribbing. My uncle Frank has been running cranes for 30 years and he always yells at me about leveling proper on soft ground. Well about halfway through lifting a 12 ton steel beam I felt the left rear corner start to sink. I set the load down quick and spent the next hour digging out the pad and fixing the setup. That hour cost me $350 in overtime for the ground crew. Has anyone else had a close call like that from skipping a step you thought was unnecessary?
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harperp2410d ago
Your uncle's right about the outriggers on soft ground, but the real issue here was skipping the cribbing. Packed dirt can look solid but still compress unevenly under concentrated weight, especially with a 12 ton load. Spreading the load with proper cribbing would have saved you that hour and the $350 overtime.
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zara_sanchez10d ago
$350 overtime for not spending 5 minutes throwing some cribbing down? Sounds like the real problem was the operator more than the dirt lol. I've seen guys run 12 tons on packed ground with nothing under the outriggers and walk away fine.
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