8
I was setting up my 300-ton crawler in a tight Philly site for years before a guy from Texas pointed out my whole approach to outrigger pads was backwards.
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
elliotadams17d agoTop Commenter
Well ain't that always the way, the guy from Texas shows up and knows more than the locals.
2
spencerm461mo ago
Man that Texas guy probably saved you a ton of headache. I learned that lesson the hard way on a job near the river where the ground was soft and I kept sinking pads because I had them oriented wrong. The trick is to think about how the load transfers through the cribbing and into the ground. If you set your pads with the grain running parallel to the machine you get way more bearing capacity than crossing them. Most guys just throw them down without checking the soil or the slope and wonder why they get a tilt halfway through the lift. I still double check my setup every time now even on sites I know well because one bad pad placement can ruin your whole day.
1
michaelchen1mo ago
Wait, parallel to the machine gives more bearing capacity? I always thought crossing them was the way to go for spreading the load out wider lol. @spencerm46 that river job story is wild though, one bad pad and you're basically rebuilding the whole setup.
7