How often with your accumalated experience does a crane crack a driveway? How much does plywood help? I'm in Florida where we have sandy soil and run-off. Thanks. 40 ton crane. I usually have them sign a waiver, but in this instance it is the neighbor and they want the opposite.l
Cranes and driveways
- Thread starter Dillweed
- Start date
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TreeClimber57
Addicted to ArboristSite
What do you mean "they want the opposite". They want you to sign a waver?
I am assuming you are renting a crane and operator. The operator should have some idea on what his crane will do to driveways.
But asphalt in driveways can vary somewhat. Mine is over 5 inches thick at thin spots, but some I have seen are maybe an inch at best. If it is a crappy driveway, and if the weather is warm you may not be able to do it without some marking.. but that is severe case (I have seen motorcycle stands punch through some asphalt driveways on hot summer day).
I doubt plywood would do anything significant, you are going to need something that is strong enough to hold weight of crane without significant bending and no breaking.. and something large enough to distribute the weight to a point where no damage is done. Depending on crane and what it is lifting this could be up to something maybe 3 ft square.
They do sell crane pads that can do a good job, and are designed for this, but seriously doubt plywood is going to cut it.
MarquisTree
ArboristSite Operative
Plywood works and works well. With that said be very careful about the driveway you are working towards owning. I wouldnt suggest you take responsibility for a driveway unless your sure you are not going to damage it.going by your post it sounds like you haven't done much of this type of work, and could be setting your self up for a very expensive lesson.
as far as asking a rental crane opp.... he is going to tell you 10 out 10 times the crane will crack the driveway, they want nothing to do with any responsible for driveways.
if you do decide to get some plywood don't get anything less then 23/32" 5 ply, its about $20 a sheet from lowes or homedepot.
don't #### around and buy a few sheets, get enough to really protect the driveway, if the driveway is really in tough shape or soft double up the sheets for more protection.
we have about 150 alturnamatts but I don't use them with the crane crews, they are not stiff enough to protect well under heavy loads, they work ok for the bucket crews.
I have put cranes weighing over 100,000 on swiss cheese driveways and manicured lawns leaving no damage using lots of plywood. Its not easy, or cheap but its better then pissed off customers and spending money fixing things.
as far as asking a rental crane opp.... he is going to tell you 10 out 10 times the crane will crack the driveway, they want nothing to do with any responsible for driveways.
if you do decide to get some plywood don't get anything less then 23/32" 5 ply, its about $20 a sheet from lowes or homedepot.
don't #### around and buy a few sheets, get enough to really protect the driveway, if the driveway is really in tough shape or soft double up the sheets for more protection.
we have about 150 alturnamatts but I don't use them with the crane crews, they are not stiff enough to protect well under heavy loads, they work ok for the bucket crews.
I have put cranes weighing over 100,000 on swiss cheese driveways and manicured lawns leaving no damage using lots of plywood. Its not easy, or cheap but its better then pissed off customers and spending money fixing things.
MarquisTree
ArboristSite Operative
View attachment 180569
Plywood party
(the picture is from the roof of one of our forestry buckets we used to move the extra plywood on)
Plywood party
(the picture is from the roof of one of our forestry buckets we used to move the extra plywood on)
TreeClimber57
Addicted to ArboristSite
Is that 2X8 sheets -- 4 X 8 ripped in half? Where person is actually look wider than that.. or are they full sheets.
MarquisTree
ArboristSite Operative
they are full sheets 4x8, you dont want any smaller then that. at 40 ton crane weighs around 60,000 lbs you want to spread the load out as much as you can. Watch the edges, turns, the front tires are especially damaging, make sure you dont turn the wheels unless the crane is rolling
TreeClimber57
Addicted to ArboristSite
Yes, for sure if putting crane on it want to distribute weight.. and do not want the plywood crumbling under weight. Is that single sheet thick.. you had shown as thickness of almost 3/4". Not sure if we have that size or not.. think our stores jump from 1/2" to 3/4". Having said that .. is what they call 3/4" really 0.75".
What do you use for the forestry trucks -- same plywood?
Nailsbeats
Addicted to ArboristSite
Looks like Oldirty in that picture.
treemandan
Tree Freak
I think its 28/32.
MarquisTree
ArboristSite Operative
The stuff we use is 23/32" 5ply (has 5 black lines painted on the ends) home depot and lowes will have it, I have bought pallets of it in nh,ma,ny,fl, and, ms.
I have never found true 3/4" plywood but I haven't really looked that hard this stuff holds up well and is reasonably priced and readily available.
Our forestrys usually have some alturnamats on them, that day in the picture we just used to truck to get the extra plywood to the job.
Blakesmaster
Addicted to ArboristSite
$700 lesson learned today in the form of a wrecker bill. Bought 20 sheets on your recommendation. After today, they will ALWAYS be on the truck.
View attachment 180632
prentice110
SpongeBob *** Pants
that sux. did you try jacking it out with the stabilzers before you called the wrecker?
Heh, heh, heh. Nice outrigger pads!
treeclimber101
UNCLE BUCK
OMG who cares about the 700 for the tug , you got all your tires muddy , I am sorry but thats a hard lesson learned not soon forgotten ....
Blakesmaster
Addicted to ArboristSite
Yeah, hence the DEEP holes we dug out underneath the rears. We spent about 4 hours doing our best to make it sink deeper. lol Called the pros with the right equipment before we found ourselves in China. Lesson learned. The only way I can. Hard...
treeclimber101
UNCLE BUCK
Listen not to tell you your business but I sliced 4x8 down the middle and put them over the driver side on the headache rack , that way when we pull in we can dish them right off and then when were backing out we put them right back up on top , I have a pic of them loaded on my facebook page but I cant copy it for some reason , you get double the length from a sheet and for turns you just stack them where needed ...And the best part there half as heavy ....
prentice110
SpongeBob *** Pants
Wow, 4 hours. Woulda handed someone a saddle and walked away from the truck after the first 10 minutes. What did the HO say about the lawn job? Just gotta fix it, or did they chew you a new one?
Blakesmaster
Addicted to ArboristSite
The job was already done by the time we got stuck. HO's cool, was a storm job and I told her we "needed" the truck back there and there might be some collateral damage to the yard. We'll fix it up with some fresh topsoil and she'll be happy. In hindsight I should have just climbed it, woulda been a simple rig it high, cut it low ordeal, we just wanted to make it easier...lol.
Blakesmaster
Addicted to ArboristSite
Not a bad idea. In my case the bucket is mainly the gear truck so having the box stuffed with full sheets of plywood isn't a big deal for the most part. Ripping a few sheets and sticking them on top of the rack so they're always there would be a good option for when we roll out with just that truck though. Thanks.
treeclimber101
UNCLE BUCK
well I guess that you've now learned that those trucks were designed to stay on the asphalt they are heavy and underpowered , and even if you have the small Cat its not meant to be worked in the mud , Tree MDS has the real deal with that puddle jumper , I want one so bad I would cut off a few fingers to have one ....
