News Release

July 27, 2005

MEGA-WING LIFT Broadens Horizons for Grove’s Giant All-Terrain

MEGA-WING LIFT offers greater lifting capabilities throughout the GMK7450’s load chart by stabilizing the main boom and allowing the addition of more counterweight.

Grove’s flagship giant, the GMK7450 all-terrain (GMK7550 in the US), has proven its popularity around the globe ever since its introduction in 2002. One company that needs no convincing of the 450 t (550 USt) all-terrain’s benefits is Armstrong Crane & Rigging Corp, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US, which took delivery of the very first unit produced, through local Grove dealer Hayden-Murphy Equipment. Earlier this year the company fitted the crane with Grove’s MEGA-WING LIFT attachment to further increase capacity.

MEGA-WING LIFT offers greater lifting capabilities throughout the GMK7450’s load chart by stabilizing the main boom and allowing the addition of more counterweight. It is particularly effective for lifts when the boom is at a steep angle. One job that demonstrated the benefits of MEGA-WING LIFT saw Armstrong place a pair of 8.2 t (18,000 lb) chillers on the roof of a high-rise building in downtown Minneapolis. According to Dan Gmach, president of Armstrong Crane, winning the job was a relatively straightforward process.

“There were not a lot of alternatives for the mechanical contractors on this job,” he says. “Because of the urban setting and the requirement for a crane with a fast set-up and quick-picking ability, our GMK7550 was the only real choice. We were also able to offer a very competitive quote thanks to the seven-axle crane’s ability to travel to site with limited additional transportation.”

The job required the air-conditioning equipment to be placed 15 m (50 ft) inwards on top of the 96 m (315 ft) tall building. The best position to set-up the crane was 30 m (100 ft) from the building giving a total radius for the lift of 45 m (150 ft). To handle the lift Armstrong configured the Grove with 55 m (179 ft) of main boom and fitted a total of 67 m (220 ft) of luffing jib at a 22° offset. Maximum capacity for a standard GMK7450 in this situation is 5 t (11,200 lb) but with the addition of MEGA-WING LIFT that rises to 12 t (26,400 lb). MEGA-WING LIFT also allows up to 160 t (352,000 lb) of counterweight to be accommodated, but on this lift only 99 t (220,000 lb) was required.

The actual lifts were completed in less that four hours and the whole job would have been completed comfortably within three days were it not for high winds over the safe maximum of 21 km/h (13 mph) which delayed the lift one day. As a fully self-erecting unit, the GMK7450’s set-up and tear-down takes less than a day each. The crane’s exceptional mobilization is proving to be very popular with Armstrong’s clients, as the GMK7450 was booked on another job the very day after it left this downtown site.

High Resolution Photograph (3.4 MB)

About The Manitowoc Company
The Manitowoc Company, Inc. is one of the world's largest providers of lifting equipment for the global construction industry, including lattice-boom cranes,tower cranes, mobile telescopic cranes, and boom trucks. As a leading manufacturer of ice-cube machines, ice/beverage dispensers, and commercial refrigeration equipment, the company offers the broadest line of cold-focused equipment for the foodservice industry. In addition, the company is a leading provider of shipbuilding, ship repair, and conversion services for government, military, and commercial customers throughout the U.S. maritime industry.

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