Failure of forestry crane

[john burgess]

Has anyone heard of forestry crans failing underload. I.e. the casting at the base of the post failing crane was approximately 4 years old looks like a floor in the casting will give further information later and possibly photographs. But it may be a good idea to check your crane.

[Robert_S]

i hope no one was hurt mate that could have been serious:thumbdown:

 

Was it a fault in the metal?

[Brushcutter]

Not hurd of a case. What crane was it? Has the king post cracked? catastrophic boom failure is listed as a risk on my risk assessment but i hope never to see it.

 

I've cracked a grapple through stress/wear and tear. Also had a few of the ram bearings crack, but my trailer is very old and had a hard life before i got it.

 

Useless to speculate without more info/pictures but have you been excedding the SWL a lot?

[john burgess]

Can't name the crane yet for obvious reasons it was a flaw in the metal where the cast bolts to the trailer frame the casting gave way. I don't think the crane was working anywhere near it safe working load it is only used to load manure luckily it gave way with the crane in the back of the trailer

[skyhuck]

I know of a Botex that snapped on the weld on the king-post, it happened a couple of days after it had passed its LOLER inspection:001_rolleyes:

[robbo 110]

metal fatigue, is very difficult to spot, especially on cast.

it usually gives way under a load without any noticable cracks, another reason to never ever work under anything suspended by a crane, hiab, 360, etc, any inspection is usually visual & will not show 'stressed' regions

keep a safe distance & stay safe.

[Big Bolt]

even big firms are trying to save a buck here and there cheap nasty metal ? or a friday machine .

[robbo 110]

even big firms are trying to save a buck here and there cheap nasty metal ? or a friday machine .

 

your right, todays metal is rubbish, it shears like you wouldnt believe, we see more failures than ever due to crap metal, i think it's down to the amount of recycled iron thou, some batches we get in seems to have the right ingrediants, it cuts nicely, it welds nicely, the next delivery can be the opposite, soft horrible stuff that you could almost solder rather than weld!!!!!

[MattyF]

My mates crane snapped , these things happen with metal fatigue and I suppose the whole reason why you should be guarded up and not wondering around under loading machines...

[john burgess]

I will load some photos which will show the manufacturer should have picked it up. But first could someone tell me how to get photos on here.