Picked a 40 ton over a 55 ton for a tight job in Tacoma and it paid off

Last month I had a gig putting up roof trusses for a warehouse build down in Tacoma and the site was squeezed between two existing buildings. I had the choice of renting a 40 ton or a 55 ton, and the 55 ton had a better chart at radius but it was wider and I wasn't sure it would fit through the gate. I went with the 40 ton because the operator before me on that site said the gate was only about 14 feet wide and he scraped his counterweight on the 55. Turned out the 40 ton walked in clean and I picked everything from one spot without having to move the outriggers once. The chart got tight on the far picks but I was only lifting 6,800 pounds at 60 feet so it was still in the green. The 55 would have meant setting up outside the fence and booming over the building, which the GC wasn't going to sign off on anyway. Sometimes the smaller machine is the right call and you just have to trust the guy who was there before you. Anyone else run into a gate or tight site where the bigger crane was actually the wrong pick?

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sage_moore371mo ago

Your story reminds me of a thread I read on a crane forum a while back where a guy turned down a bigger rig for a similar reason. He said the chart numbers on paper don't mean a thing if you can't get the machine to where it needs to be. The setup and teardown time alone can eat up the whole day on a tight site. Plus you have to figure in the cost of bringing in a bigger truck and possibly a second trailer just for counterweights. A lot of guys forget that the 55 ton penalty isn't just the gate, it's everything that comes with it. Sounds like you made the smart call and saved yourself a headache.

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