Can we talk about how much a big crane actually weighs?

I was reading an old equipment manual from a Liebherr LTM 1300 and it said the bare crane weight is over 90 tons, not counting the counterweights. I always figured they were heavy, but that's like 20 elephants just sitting there before you even pick anything up. How much does your usual rig weigh, and does that change how you plan a lift on soft ground?

4 comments

4 Comments

aaron85417d ago

Forget the weight, the real story is ground pressure. Modern mats and outrigger pads spread that load so well the actual crane mass becomes almost irrelevant for planning. You can put a 90 ton rig on surprisingly soft ground if you prep the site right with the right gear. Focusing on the raw weight misses the whole point of modern lift engineering.

gray_morgan17d ago

Yeah, the ground pressure thing is key. We used some heavy duty timber mats last year on a soft site and it made all the difference.

ivan_murphy8017d ago

Totally agree, we had a boggy mess for a cell tower job. Laid down a proper base of those composite mats first, then the crane pads on top. That rig sat there for a week solid as a rock, zero settling. It's all about spreading that load out, makes the crane weight a non issue if you do the ground work right.

terry8357d ago

That 90 ton crane weight is just the starting price, like buying a car before they add the wheels. Ground prep is the real bill you have to pay.