21.02.2012
Transport Risk
Spotted last week, travelling south on the road from Aberdeen to Dundee near Forfar, Scotland, a boom lift on the back of a truck.
As our correspondent points out the basket and articulated jib should have been tucked under and secured to truck bed, as a) The superstructure is not restrained and b) The basket is the highest point on the vehicle. Possibly worst of all, in light of the above, the slew pin was not installed.
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Higher than truck, nothing to restrain it slewing over the side - a transport Death Wish
We assume that the machine made it to wherever it was heading, without incident? The boom could have easily swung out and caught and ther vehicle or it coudl have bashed a low bridge.
It definitely has a place within our Death Wish series.
dave979
im guessing the driver is unfamiliar with this machine as its not a plant body and the jlg 660 basket will tuck right under the boom in that position with the overall height about the same as it is here unless the cage level function is inoperable
vertikal editor
You may well be right on the superstructure tie down, although our reader suggested not and we certainly could not see it.
We certainly did not deduce anything about the slew pin from the picture, our correspondent stated it, possibly deduced from a motion of the superstructure??
As to a proffessional driver knowing his route, hundreds of bridge bashing cases happen every year - almost all of them by proffessional drivers. The most common are done by those who are very familiar with the normal height of their truck, but forget the extra height they have inadvertently added.
You have a very valid point on taking photos from a moving vehicle, although it might just have been a passenger on the camera??
I also think that the jib pivot points and brackets would be subjected to additional vibration and exagerated shock loadings by transporting in this position - depending on how far it was going and how bad the road surface was.
However you may well be right the driver may have had good reason to do it this way.
Chas
I would like to point out that the driver is responsible for his load and their might be a reason why the basket isn't tucked under the machine. If you look close enough the super structure is secure at least 3 points and I would suggest 4. How someone could deduce from this picture that the slew pin isn't in place I find amazing.
I would suggest that a professional driver would know his route and avoid any low bridges.
What could be more of a death wish is the person taking the photo. From the angle it seems to be taken from near the outside of the carriageway which would say that the driver is possibly taking the picture while he is driving and overtaking.