They don’t call them “all-terrain” cranes for nothing. A smaller AT from Dawes Rigging & Crane Rental of Kaukauna, Wis., a member of the ALL Family of Companies, traveled over wood, dirt, rock—and up a steep incline—during a recent project to replace two transformers at a hydroelectric power station.
“This was a remote location,” said TJ Brownson, sales representative with Dawes. “Our challenge was to find a crane with enough capacity to handle the load … yet small enough to fit within the space we had.”
Brownson and his team specified the 95-ton Grove GMK5095 AT. Normally, cranes this size get workaday assignments and eschew glory, but it was the perfect fit for this job and met the moment.
First up was crossing a small bridge that had recently been re-decked in pine. Even with an AT’s roadworthy-rubber tires, the sheer weight of the crane makes it a poor match for such a soft wood. Instead, temporary steel decking was put down. After crossing the bridge, next came a steep climb up a hill to reach the job site at the McClure Dam Power Station on the Dead River near Marquette, Michigan.
“This was a percent grade that had thwarted other equipment the general contractor attempted to use,” said Brownson. “It was the key aspect of the job where the Grove AT demonstrated its value—its ability to easily get to the top of the hill where the lifts were to take place.”
One might wonder, why all the fuss?
The Marquette area is seeing an increase in population and associated residential, business, and health care construction. The project owner, Upper Peninsula Power Company (UPPCO), is undertaking a complete rebuild of the power station to generate more electricity for the region.
Once at the lift site, the Grove was tasked with first removing two existing transformers. After which, the Grove GMK5095 was configured with 66 feet of main boom and 59,700 pounds of counterweight to pick two new transformers, each weighing 38,000 pounds and measuring 13 feet across and 10 feet high.
The transformers took a journey of their own to get to the lift zone, first being loaded onto a Goldhofer trailer in a parking lot east of the pine-decked bridge. Each was transported by the Goldhofer trailer across the bridge and along a path similar to that taken by the Grove AT.
The Grove required two setups to get each transformer to its destination, first picking each from a Goldhofer and setting both near a safety fence lining a mini “cliff.” Next, the Grove moved closer to the edge of the cliff and picked each transformer again, this time setting them over the fence and down into an elevation 38 feet below.
All in all, it provided a showcase for everything a seemingly modest all-terrain crane can bring to a project.
“This was an unusual job site, in that there were two entirely different levels, separated by that 38-foot vertical distance, where work had to be done,” said Brownson. “The Grove was able to handle the limited pathways to the work zones, traverse the varying terrain, and had the muscle to perform the needed lifts at the prescribed radii.”
