Shoutout to the old timer who told me to stop trusting crane load indicators blindly

Been running a Grove RT540E for about 3 years now and always thought the load indicator was gospel... until I had a 12,000 lb beam lift near the edge last month and the thing said I was fine but the outrigger started lifting. That old guy from the yard who warned me about calibrations drifting finally made sense. Any of you guys ever had a load indicator lie to you on a pick?

3 comments

3 Comments

murphy.mason6d ago

...and the funny thing is that same old guy also told me once that he saw a load cell fail from a bird just landing on the cable and throwing everything off by a few hundred pounds. I've had a machine alarm go off for no reason on a light pick before, so I figure it can swing the other way too. Better to trust your gut and a good tape measure than a green light blinking at you.

emma_flores6d ago

Better to trust a tape measure for sure.

william_harris6d ago

Ha, that's a good one. I gotta admit, I used to be the guy who'd stare at the digital readout like it was the gospel truth. Thought my tape measure was for amateurs, you know? But after spending a whole morning chasing a phantom overload that was actually just a sensor with a loose wire (driving me crazy), I came around. Seeing it in writing like that, especially the bird thing, really drives home that the machine is just a tool, not the final word.