Compact Carrydeck Crane Redefines Robust
June 28, 2006 — If you're not familiar with
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Image 1. The Shuttlelift 3339 carrydeck crane.
Before getting down to the details about this capable machine's versatility and performance, it's interesting to take a short walk down memory lane first. I learned from visiting the Shuttlelift website (www.shuttlelift.com) that Carrydeck cranes were originated by Drott Manufacturing of
Shuttlelift, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Marine Travelift, has become the fastest growing line of industrial cranes in the world. Of course the agreement it struck with Manitowoc Crane Group to produce its line of Grove Yard Boss™ cranes has helped in many ways. The added business has allowed Shuttlelift to ramp up production and introduce new and improved products at a faster rate.
The 3339 is the latest addition to Shuttlelift's expanding line of industrial cranes that now numbers six models with a variety of boom options. The 3339 is the culmination of suggestions made by customers and dealers on how to improve its predecessor, the 3330. It will be sold by Grove badged as the YB4409-2.
As with just about any piece of equipment these days, product is shipping as fast as the paint dries. I was fortunate enough to find two ready-to-ship units available for my inspection recently. Waiting for a truck and headed to
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One of the more noteworthy capabilities of this crane is its ability to pick a 9-ton load and swing the boom throughout its 360 degrees of continuous rotation while on outriggers. Note that the independently operated outriggers (Image 2) are now standard equipment. In addition, the pad size has been increased to reduce ground pressure when on its toes. The 3339 comes with a three-section, fully hydraulic main boom that extends to 31 feet and offers two jib options: One is a fixed 12-foot tapered tube; the other has a rectangular slide-out 6-foot stinger for 18 total feet.
Image 2. Four-point, individually operated outriggers are now standard equipment.
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Kurt Minten, industrial Carrydeck crane manager for Shuttlelift, explains that the boom head can be easily pivoted into one of five different positions. That's Minten in Image 3, demonstrating just how easy this task is to accomplish. The offset angle of the head can be set at zero, +30, and + 80 degrees. The offset is achieved as a function of the pivoting head plus it can be adjusted to -15 and -30 degrees. As shown in Image 4, you can see the improved tip clearance that can be achieved. The one on the left is in the normal operating position while the other is set at the maximum +80 degrees.
Image 3. Pivoting the boom head is an easy one-man job.
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This pivoting head design allows for lower head profile on a wider range of operating boom angles. Maximum boom angle is 72 degrees. In this position, the dimension from the tip of the boom to the base of the hook opening is a tight 41 inches.
Image 4. Boom head can pivot up to 80 degrees to increase under tip clearance by as much as 10.5 inches.
Line pull has jumped from 10,000 to 14,000 pounds, and the standard 9/16th-inch diameter EEIPS wire rope can be reeled off at a brisk 120 fpm. A nice feature is “Quick Reeve” style rigging (Image 5), which allows you to change back and forth between two parts to single part line — without having to disassemble the wedge and socket.
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Recognizing how important it is to limit the amount of tail swing for a machine used predominately in tight quarters, Shuttlelift has worked hard to hold tail swing to just 52 inches. Overall height has also been reduced to 7'3”. This not only allows improved access to low overhead jobs, but it also enables the unit to be containerized in standard hard top containers for export — something Shuttlelift seems to be doing more and more of lately.
Image 5. “Quick reeve” style rigging allows changing back and forth between two parts to single part line — without having to disassemble the wedge and socket.
Watch for the follow-up on this nifty little product in Part Two of this Equipment Review in our next issue of Lift and Access 360. There I will discuss this compact crane in more detail, offering my firsthand impressions of the construction and operation of this little powerhouse.