Picked a manual leveling crane over a hydraulic one for a tight site last week

Had a job on a residential street in Denver where the lot was barely wide enough for my truck. I brought in a 20 ton with manual outriggers instead of the usual hydraulic setup. Took me about 45 minutes longer to get everything level and stable. But the extra control let me set a steel beam between two existing walls with maybe 3 inches of clearance on each side. The hydraulic one would have been faster but risked bouncing the load. Has anyone else had to downgrade to a simpler rig to fit a crazy tight site?

2 comments

2 Comments

burns.richard8d ago

3 inches on each side" reminds me of setting a tranny in a Fiero. Tight squeeze.

sullivan.piper7d ago

Read an old issue of Grassroots Motorsports that had a whole feature on swapping a Northstar into a Fiero (crazy, right?). They talked about how the whole engine bay is basically a geometry puzzle where you're measuring clearances with feeler gauges and praying nothing rubs. Three inches is actually generous compared to some of the horror stories I've heard about people trying to fit a 3800 Series II in there without notching the frame. Guess that's why I stick to working on my buddy's old Civic - plenty of room to drop a B-series in without getting claustrophobic.