I finally got the hang of spotting the swing on a 200-ton crawler by focusing on the tip of the jib, not the load.

After three frustrating weeks on a site in Tacoma trying to land steel with too much drift, an old hand told me to watch the very end of the boom and match my swing to its shadow on the ground, which cut my setup time by half on the next lift.

3 comments

3 Comments

dianagreen4mo ago

My old foreman in Spokane taught me the same trick.

wesley_fox922mo ago

Man, I gotta say I read that and wondered if it's really that big of a deal. A whole afternoon saved on a busted pump? I've used that Spokane trick maybe three times in ten years and each time it was just okay. Copper tubing and a hose clamp is like the cheapest, most basic fix in the book. I mean yeah it works in a pinch but it's not exactly a game changer. You can buy a proper repair kit for like 15 bucks at any parts store and be done in 20 minutes. Not trying to roast anyone's foreman but I think folks exaggerate how much time these little hacks actually save.

hill.troy4mo ago

My buddy's foreman in Tacoma showed him that trick with the old coolant lines... he said it saved a whole afternoon on a busted pump. They used some spare copper tubing and a hose clamp from the shop truck. He still talks about how slick it was.