# Cranes cracking driveways?



## GarethVW (Sep 11, 2011)

I am thinking about buying a crane truck that weighs 28,000 lb. What do my concerns need to be about driveways cracking and things like that? Concrete? Blacktop? I know I would put something under the outriggers. But what about just driving on it?


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## chainsawcircus (Sep 11, 2011)

my service truck wieghed about 25,900 and it did some concrete cracking. For my outriggers I used 4ft square mats made from 2x4 and 3/4plywood. For my company, if I had to go on private property, the customer had to sign a release of responsibility, and they always would say "I know my driveway can hold that. Sometimes, I could see small cracks before I even left.
Set up was rough to, homeowner says "nothing buried here, I guarentee it. I guess maybe they really didnt know where their field beds were, but i found them.
Just be smarter than the homeowner/customer and you will be ok. This is free advice, so it is worth what you paid for it.


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## deevo (Sep 12, 2011)

GarethVW said:


> I am thinking about buying a crane truck that weighs 28,000 lb. What do my concerns need to be about driveways cracking and things like that? Concrete? Blacktop? I know I would put something under the outriggers. But what about just driving on it?


 
Pavement we throw down 3/4 inch plywood across for the crane, and the operator puts down his own wood/cribs for the out riggers. Concrete, especially the older thicker stuff is solid for cranes. But yeah newer pavement will for sure crack or leave wheel marks if you don't plan ahead! This was from a storm we took a tree off a house.


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## epicklein22 (Sep 12, 2011)

GarethVW said:


> I am thinking about buying a crane truck that weighs 28,000 lb. What do my concerns need to be about driveways cracking and things like that? Concrete? Blacktop? I know I would put something under the outriggers. But what about just driving on it?


 
The crane at my work weighs something like 40K pounds (Sterling with a 23.5 ton national crane), so it is a heavy unit, but if the driveway is installed right, it leaves no damage. Older driveways (especially older blacktop) get torn up pretty easily.

That said, we have a clause on our work papers stating we are not responsible for any damage to driveways. I would suggest adding that to your contracts as well, regardless of a crane or not. It is standard procedure in trucking for the homeowner to sign a waiver before entering the property.


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## TimberMcPherson (Sep 16, 2011)

Fixing a damaged driveway must be pretty heavy on the $. You would think the money/time saved on the crane would be wasted on driveway repairs, wouldnt they?


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## Rookie1 (Sep 16, 2011)

epicklein22 said:


> The crane at my work weighs something like 40K pounds (Sterling with a 23.5 ton national crane), so it is a heavy unit, but if the driveway is installed right, it leaves no damage. Older driveways (especially older blacktop) get torn up pretty easily.
> 
> That said, we have a clause on our work papers stating we are not responsible for any damage to driveways. I would suggest adding that to your contracts as well, regardless of a crane or not. It is standard procedure in trucking for the homeowner to sign a waiver before entering the property.


 
Good advice Andy. When I was younger I drove a dumptruck and hauled topsoil. The bill had a disclaimer on the bottom and we made the customer sign it before we backed in.


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## no tree to big (Sep 23, 2011)

we run a small crane that weighs 26K give or take a bit. we have it on driveways all the time and it has never cracked a drive we broke a sidewalk with it but it was like three inches thick and was all eroded underneith and was being torn out... we never put wood down on pavement either, we can get away without anything under the out riggers but we generally use something just so the pavement dosn't get scuffed up


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## tree MDS (Sep 24, 2011)

no tree to big said:


> we run a small crane that weighs 26K give or take a bit. we have it on driveways all the time and it has never cracked a drive we broke a sidewalk with it but it was like three inches thick and was all eroded underneith and was being torn out... we never put wood down on pavement either, we can get away without anything under the out riggers but we generally use something just so the pavement dosn't get scuffed up


 
Sounds interesting. What are the specs on the crane?


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## no tree to big (Sep 24, 2011)

tree MDS said:


> Sounds interesting. What are the specs on the crane?


 
its just a little guy we use for real tight stuff its mounted on an international 4700?? chassis it has 63 feet of boom plus the jibs which are pretty much usless for picking pieces off of trees (too low of weight rating with the jibs) I think its rated at 12 ton 
only down side to it is cause of the short boom you need to back up right to the tree it. works good for all the muni work we do which is right off the road 63 feet might sound short , which it is, but for our app it works good we take picks as big as would fit in the drop zone anyway so a bigger crane would not do us any more good untill we are blocking down the trunk. with a short boom you just need to get a little more creative with how you make a pick but its making the co big money so it must be a good setup


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## superjunior (Oct 3, 2011)

I just picked up a 14 ton manitex 1461 mounted on a international 4700 with an 18 ft bed. whats nice about these smaller trucks/cranes is you can get them in some tighter areas where you might not a bigger crane. sure you don't have as much reach but the trade off can be worth it. plus I worry a little less about cracking driveways. if possible I'll load wood in the street when off the driveway. having a disclaimer on the contract is an excellent idea though and will be going on mine
http://i591.photobucket.com/albums/ss352/superjuniordan/IMG_1857-1.jpg


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