That cold morning when my load line felt off

I used to just crank through the first lift of the day without checking anything, but after a -10 degree morning last January in Fargo where the cable was stiff as a board I almost dropped a steel beam on a foreman. Now I always run the boom up and down a few times with no load to warm the hydraulic fluid and check for any funny vibrations. Has anyone else had a near miss because they skipped a warm up on a freezing day?

1 comments

1 Comment

robinmason12d ago

Got caught in a similar spot last February in Minnesota. Was moving some heavy I-beams on a flatbed with the crane and the hydraulic oil was like syrup. Skipped the warm up because we were running behind and the load line felt sluggish right from the start. Took the first lift real slow and the cable started vibrating funny about 8 feet up. Set it down fast and ran the boom empty for a good 5 minutes. After that everything smoothed out but I still think about how close that was. Now I do the same as you, run the boom up and down a few times and check for any weird sounds before picking anything heavy. You ever have trouble with the swing brakes locking up in that kind of cold?