Question about using a tagline instead of a load cell

At a job site in Houston last month, I saw a guy judging his lift weight just by feel and the boom angle. Everyone else acts like any load over 20 tons needs a calibrated cell, but he was spot on every time for 4 loads. Has anyone else worked with older operators who just know their machine that well?

3 comments

3 Comments

henderson.hugo11d ago

Hell yeah! That old school feel is real. Some guys have been running the same crane for 20 years and they know exactly how it reacts. Its not guesswork, its thousands of hours of muscle memory. Ive seen an old timer lift a 25 ton beam without a cell and hit the weight within a few hundred pounds just from the boom angle and engine strain. Dont get me wrong, I still use a cell for anything over 30 tons or sketchy shit, but those seasoned guys can read their machine like an instrument. Theres a difference between being reckless and being dialed in. That guy you saw was probably the latter.

the_jason11d ago

Jumped into a crane one time with a guy who'd been running it since the 80s. He didn't even look at the load chart, just eyeballed the block and said "she's good." And he was dead right every time. @henderson.hugo you nailed it about that muscle memory thing. It's wild how they can feel a difference in the engine note or the hydraulics just from the extra weight... I've seen them shut down a lift before the alarms even go off just because something felt "off." The new guys are all about the sensors and the screens, but those old timers have a sixth sense about it. They'll save your job more often than you think too, catching a bad pick before it becomes a problem.

robinl9011d agoMost Upvoted

Best tip is always trust your gut, @henderson.hugo knows what I mean.