Custom crawlers

Boom truck maker Elliott was showing one of its 26105 booms custom-mounted on a crawler chassis from PowerTraxx. Scott Powerline and Utility Equipment, a Monroe, Louisiana, dealer, approached Elliott about developing a tracked machine for work in swamps.

Two units were developed by Scott Powerline and Elliott Equipment. The first was a 30 US ton (27t) Elliott crane with a 105ft (32m) boom and digger, rear mounted on a PowerTraxx 18H chassis or ‘tub’. PowerTraxx is based in Canada and represented in the USA by Scott.

Special components were designed in close collaboration with a range of Elliott suppliers to ensure the machines were built to withstand the special conditions. Extra twin cylinder outriggers were developed for the cranes, to make them suitable for use in the swamps. These could be pulled up high, so that they allowed good angles of approach and departure for the units, but could also give excellent deep ground penetration when needed.

The first unit is being used by North Houston Pole Line of Port Arthur, Texas, where it is used daily for powerline construction.

The second machine, on show at ConExpo, is a 26 US ton crane on a PowerTraxx 15SW-H chassis. This unit is working in the swamp for Dillard Smith Construction, again on a power transmission construction project. Scott Powerline executive vice president and COO Jeff Johnson told Elliott that as well as working in the swamp, the machine manoeuvres well around the alligators.

The track mounted cranes have open rear mounted seat controls which, Elliott says, give unrivalled access to the job site. Elliot has also designed and developed other track based machines, using chassis from Camoplast, also manufactured in Canada.

Also at the Las Vegas show was Jekko, the Imai spider mini-crawler crane brand. The Italian manufacturer was showing one of its SPD360 cranes, mounted on a compact crawler base from ASV (which was acquired by Terex shortly before the show). The SPD360 has a maximum capacity of 1,800kg, and can lift 400kg at 7.6m maximum radius.

Jekko has designed a new frame for the crane, allowing it to be installed on an ASV Scout ST-50 tracked chassis, normally used for compact loaders. The ST-50 undercarriage uses 24 rubber idler wheels, to spread the machine’s weight evenly over the tracks. This means that, in its original implementation carrying a utility vehicle, the unit exerts a ground pressure of 2.38lbs per sq in (16.4kPa). ASV says this is equivalent to about half of the ground pressure of a person on foot. Jekko predicts the new ASV chassis will make the SPD360 particularly suitable for pipeline installations in difficult rural environments.