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Crane operator license

I picked up an old JLG 40H manlift 10 or 12 year ago for $5K off eBay (also happened to have been located in Chicago area altho it was a rental turn-in and the broker/seller was in FL). It's been _extremely_ handy around the place altho I got it when was getting started with reroofing the old barn not long after we had come back to the farm...it had the advantage or any of the bucket trucks I've seen of the larger basket that allowed hired hand and I to be able to load up w/ shingle bundles (went back w/ cedar shakes rather than convert the open-slat roof to solid to maintain original character) and still be able to get both of us in there....that would be enough to keep us going until we needed a ground break and saved schlepping them up and finding/making storage platforms on the roof. The disadvantage comparatively is its weight (12000 lb) and less maneuverability and not being "roadable" but for use just around the farm place that's not a real restriction. Now that I've had it, it's been handy enough for many other tasks I'd really miss it if it weren't around.

It needed some maintenance for some leaking cylinder seals here a couple months ago and I looked some with the idea given its age of maybe just finding a newer one instead but in a short window nothing came online that wasn't quite a lot more expensive. I'm sure if one didn't have a time frame deadline and kept watching bargains are there periodically still. There was on 60-ft that was "almost" but I decided to spend the money on this one at least one more time before finally retiring it...

Reply to
dpb
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Shouldn't take long, with one under each arm. Are you wanting to mill them into long sticks, or could you saw some down to size to facilitate their movement? (Never mind, I just read the next para)

I couldn't have afforded nearly the amount of gear I have bought had I been restrained to brands such as Fluke, Starrett, SnapOn, Milwaukee, etc. Chiwanese stuff does just fine for many, many things.

Oh, cool! Timber framing can be tremendously beautiful, strong, and efficient. Have you built a hydraulic peavey yet? Are you using a manual timber boring machine and chisels, or a chainsaw-based mortiser?

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Yabbut, any chick requiring that to be picked up would be far from my radar, duuuuude. (Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww!)

Reply to
Larry Jaques

I'm not a purist on rough sheds. The ones I previously built from tree trunks are lag-screwed together, their pressure treated timbers are attached with small screws in metal plates to minimize damage if/when I reuse them elsewhere. The sheds will be largely a place to store the wood, like in closely spaced 6x6 rafters.

-jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

One of the guys who does maintenance for me, knows how to rebuild cylinders. It is not difficult.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus23199

The crane is 18 short tons.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus23199

On 06/26/2015 6:37 PM, Ignoramus23199 wrote: ...

_Rebuilding_ the cylinder is pretty much trivial, yes; getting the main lift and level cylinders out _to_ rebuild is a major effort.

Reply to
dpb

As long as the cyl bores are not all pitted from water contamination in the fluid, or the cyl rods are not all pitted, or on chromed shafts

- pealing. - and assuming they are rebuildable cyls, not cheap all-welded construction. Threaded on ends or through bolted cyls are rebuildable if you can undo the associated threads.

Reply to
clare

It would be easy with a crane, but ................

The cylinder rebuilding shop where I get my scrap steel cutoffs has a rack of large telescoping tubing to make such cylinders. It might be useful to get to know a shop where you are.

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Pretty easy if you have a crane to help!

i
Reply to
Ignoramus23199

W/ working farm I know the hydraulics folks in town _quite_ well... :)

I don't have the facilities to handle these larger cylinders, though...the "extend" is almost 20' single stroke 2=1/2" bore; the main lift isn't huge but need enough shop area to support the boom and crane to lift and extract horizontal as it is enclosed inside the boom and has to come out lengthwise; I have neither of sufficient capacity.

I took it (well, actually, they sent the float to take it to their shop) to the Deere shop in town; they ended up unable to get the end caps off the main lift and took it to the hydraulic shop. He needed most of a day to finally get it apart to replace the seals....

Turned out it also was a major effort to remove the link pins for the main lift cylinder as well...after almost 30 years (its an '88 model lift) they had "growed" in place and were buggers to drive out. The much smaller slave lift (one that keeps the basket level with varying boom height) wasn't that bad; if it were only it I might have tried it but figure wasn't any point in doing one w/o the other given the age; if the slave was already leaking it wouldn't be long before the master also began.

Meanwhile, the seal kits were only $40/ea or thereabouts.

I'm not at all upset over the shop charges; it's part of having such. I can and do deal with most routine stuff, but that one is beyond what I've the capacity to handle and have other things that need doing anyway...

PS. After it was finished, loaned the lift to a local non-profit riding stable that works with developmentally-challenged kids so they could work over the tension rods holding the frame of their arena (it's one of the soft-cover over metal support type). The Deere dealer contributed the haul over to their place and will go pick it up and deliver it home when they're finished...

Reply to
dpb

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