Grove All-Terrain Crane Helps Courthouse Remodel

Enlarge Image Grove GMK6350

September 27, 2010 – A Grove GMK6350 all-terrain crane, from Manitowoc Cranes, Manitowoc, Wis., is helping remodel a section of a federal courthouse located in downtown Milwaukee, Wis. The crane, owned and operated by Ideal Crane Rental, is working for all subcontractors on the job. Ideal purchased the crane from American State Equipment, a Manitowoc distributor with branches throughout Wisconsin. Dan Kueht, manager of Ideal Crane Rental’s Milwaukee branch, said that the GMK6350 is performing very well on the courthouse job. “We’ve had this crane in our fleet for just over a year,” he said. “This is the longest that it has been at any single job, and it is a very impressive piece of equipment. Equipped with a luffing jib, this crane is giving us the reach and capacity needed for this high-profile job.”

 

The remodeling project, which is being managed by KPH Construction, involves the demolition and reconstruction of a courtyard area on the sixth floor of the eight-story building. During the first demolition phase, the crane lifted 10,000-pound pieces of concrete beam up and out of the center of the building.

 

Then as reconstruction began, the crane lifted 8,000-pound steel beams as well as other construction and roofing materials back into the center of the structure. The project is scheduled to be complete this fall.

 

For this project, the GMK6350 is configured with 159 feet of main boom, a 200-foot luffing jib, and is using 176,000 pounds of counterweight. This allows the crane to lift the loads up 130 feet over the building and then 153 feet into the courtyard area. In the second phase of the project, the crane will be reconfigured with 220,000 pounds of counterweight to increase its operating radius to 190 feet to deliver beams and other construction materials to the other side of the courtyard.

 

This project involved strict security checks, since the companies are working on a federal building. Kueht said that all his employees underwent background checks. “The crane is positioned within 30 ft of the entry and exit for federal judges,” he said. “So even the worker fueling the crane had to be cleared by security. We have an operator, an oiler and two riggers on-site while the crane is working.”