Truck Crane + Heavy Tree = Damaged House...

No biggie....that'll buff right out.

 

Crane operator was very lucky he didn't get pinched under there somehow too. "If" the mounting bolts and washers were ever large enough to begin with (oversized for any crane load)... corrosion could have weakened them over time. Either way, I doubt the homeowner is gonna care much. New roof... coming up.

 

the bolts broke in tensile strain not shear, sheesh get it right reporters.......

 

I thought the same, but could they have been mounted horizontally? Probably not.

Greg

 

possibly, can not tell from the picture, I'm just being a smart a$$

 

I'm with you, it was about the first thing I thought as well.

Many reporters are "technically challenged," I cringe when they report on aircraft accidents. They will inevitably mention that the aircraft was flying "without a flight plan," which, despite its dark undertones, simply means the pilot did the same thing you and I do every time we go out for a drive without telling the government beforehand (it is supposedly a free country, right?). Or "the engine stalled" - the engine fails, the wing stalls.

Somehow they think that using the technical language they don't understand makes them sound more informed, it makes them sound like idiots.

Rant over (see what you made me do!)

Greg

 

I agree, my background is in aircraft R&D work. Grumman navy planes.

 

Just playing devil's advocate here, but is it possible the crane could have twisted on it's base and did in fact 'shear' the bolts? I guess we'll probably never know.

There's a right way, and a wrong way to take a firewood delivery. Too bad they weren't from New Jersey - it would have been bucked to length and dropped on the driveway, instead of the house.

Those truck cranes are designed for rooftop delivery of shingles and stuff like that - not hoisting trunks of trees over houses. The insurance company is going to sue the pants off of that guy. I guess Life can be really hard when you're really stoopid.

 

The main mounting bolts on a properly attached crane base should never fail before the boom does, under any load.

 

That's about 10 miles from me. I'll have to remember to watch the news at 11.

 

It never does and won't change. I asked the paper about it once and they said they were not responsible to get it right. Just report what they see and are told. Jerks!

 

Yeah I have zero expertise in crane design applications - I was just thinking out loud. But that guy had to be just as illiterate as the reporters if he thought that little crane was going to handle that kind of load.

 

"Hello....... Prudential ???"

 

I wish they'd had a pic of the size of the section of the tree he was lifting behind the garage and how far he was reaching. Cranes are rated for loads at all angles of the boom and it's up to the operator to know them. In this case however, the crane itself didn't fail. The mounting bolts did. Not sure any operator could have seen that coming. The mount bolts are supposed to more than handle any load put on the crane, at any angle.

 

We'd need to know the species too... If it was freshly cut oak, one big round could probably contain like 10,000 pounds of water!

 

"properly attached" are the key words. who knows when the last PM was done on the rig and if the bolts were inspected to ensure they had correct torque spec on them

 

Wow,
That had to be a pretty heavy load of wood. We have many times boomed up a full bunk of OSB 5/8" roof sheathing to set it on the roof because we don't have a Lull. So, before the crane leaves from setting trusses we have him boom up the sheathing. I have thought that if that load gave way what would happen. Now I see. Stay out from underneath the crane boom.

 

yes i grew up on LI and worked in Bethpage mainly but did a short stint in Calverton. also the family picnics were held there.