July 28 - A Terex
To show the new truck tractors in their best light, the manufacturer chose a couple of extraordinary display areas. With the help of the AC 100/4L, Blankenheim-based crane service provider Kurth-Autokrane lifted the tractors (which weighed up to eight tonnes each) onto a stage and onto the Nürburgring pit lane's roof (pictured below).
"Normally, lifting a few eight-tonne loads is nothing out of the ordinary for us, but in this case we had to overcome a few unique challenges," comments Kurth-Autokrane project manager Frank Rodert. On one hand, the pre-production vehicles were extremely valuable and could not be damaged in any way while being secured and lifted. A team of specially-trained slinging experts was put in charge of tackling this issue, and did so with the help of a Krauserecovery system that uniformly transmits lifting forces to the
axles of the vehicle.
The job took place with a lack of space and significant time pressures. While the first lifting operation was taking place, a series of preparations for the Truck-Grand-Prix were already taking place, and the paddock had to be closed off for the second lifting operation.
Terex says that its compact design meant that the AC 100/4L proved to be the ideal choice for the tight space conditions at the site. "Most cranes with this kind of lifting capacity have a vehicle width of 2.75 m, but the AC 100/4L is only 2.55 m wide - in this particular case, every single one of those cm counted," emphasizes crane operator Josef Drodten. Its design enabled the Terex crane to lift the truck tractors to heights of up to 18 m while working with reaches of 12 to 16 m using a standard configuration with an additional ballast of 10.1 tonnes.
