Grove has launched its TMS 900E truck crane with a 1,500 mile (2,400km) road trip down the east coast of the USA from Shady Grove, Pennsylvania to Pompano Beach, Florida. Scheduled stops were made at Grove dealers JW Burress and Southeastern Crane, to give customers the chance to get behind the wheel.
As reported in October 2002 when plans for the new model were first announced, the 75t (90 US ton) class TMS 900E combines the chassis of the TMS 875C truck crane with the superstructure of the GMK 4075 (4090 in North America) all terrain crane, complete with five-section full-power Megaform boom that extends 45.8m (150ft).
The Twin-Lock boom pinning system uses a single cylinder in the boom base section, which keeps the centre of gravity lower, eliminates multiple cable drums mounted on the boom and reduces travel weight. The Grove Electronic Crane Operating System (ECOS) works in conjunction with the EKS4 load moment indicator (LMI) via Can-Bus technology and controls pinning and extension of the boom sections to the selected boom configuration.
A 10m to 17m (33-56ft) bifold lattice swingaway extension, provided as standard, is manually offsettable at 5°, 20°, and 40°. With this extension, machine tip height is 62.3m (204ft). As an option, a bifold swingaway can be hydraulically offset from 5° to 40°, with luffing controlled from the crane cab. Two 5m (16ft) inserts can be used with either extension to achieve a maximum tip height of 72.3m (237ft).
Overall crane length is 13.0m (42ft 10in).
As with the TMS 875C, the chassis has air suspension front and rear, and a maximum speed of 104km/h (65mph). When lifting over the rear without outriggers deployed, the air bags are deflated to provide a stable platform. The outrigger system is the Grove hydraulic telescoping, two-stage, double box beam outriggers with inverted jacks and quick release floats. The outriggers feature three position settings: fully extended, half way, and fully retracted. Controls for the outriggers are located in the superstructure cab and also on either side of the carrier. The machine is powered by a Cummins ISM450 six cylinder, turbo-charged and after-cooled diesel engine, developing 298 kW gross at 1800 rpm. Roadranger transmission provides eleven speeds forward and three reverse. Drive is 8x4x4.
