Old foreman told me to stop using friction on the load line and I fought him on it for a week

He said I was killing my boom hoist bearings by relying on friction to hold the load instead of using the brake right... I always thought a little drag was fine, kept things smooth. After he showed me the bearing wear on a 50 ton that had been running my way for years, I switched to full brake control. Took me about 3 days to get used to it but now my swings are way steadier. Anyone else get called out for a bad habit they thought was fine?

3 comments

3 Comments

casey8188d agoMost Upvoted

I read somewhere that a lot of crane guys pick up that friction habit from running smaller machines where it doesn't chew stuff up as fast. That bit about bearing wear on a 50 ton really drives it home though. I bet your old foreman had seen that exact problem play out a dozen times before. Good on you for switching up, it sounds like it paid off quick.

charles8368d ago

Yeah, have you ever seen those old operator training manuals floating around? They actually mention that friction riding as a bad habit specifically with eight-wheelers, not just the big stuff. @casey818, your foreman probably watched a dozen guys burn through brake bands before he started preaching about it.

phoenixk647d ago

That bit about eight-wheelers in the old manuals is interesting, I wonder if the bearing wear is worse on those because of the extra weight distribution. Did your foreman ever show you the actual cost difference between replacing bearings vs brake bands over a year?