Spent 4 hours trying to level a mobile crane on a slope in Houston

Everyone says to just use the outriggers and go slow, but that muddy slope near the job site took me forever to get stable. If you've dealt with soft ground before, did you end up using cribbing mats or something else?

2 comments

2 Comments

hayden_butler2729d ago

The thing about soft ground is it never fails to remind you that the whole world is basically just waiting to swallow your equipment if you look away for a second. Its the same reason why sitting on a wet patch of grass with a cheap folding chair feels like you're balancing on a trampoline - the ground underneath is always lying to you about what its capable of holding. I've noticed that no matter what youre doing, from parking a truck to setting up a tent, the second you assume a surface is solid is the exact moment it proves you wrong. Cribbing mats and gravel are the only truth in a world of muddy lies, honestly.

kim1911mo ago

Oh man, "muddy slope" is the worst, I feel your pain. I spent a whole day trying to set up a crane near a drainage ditch in Tampa, and the ground just kept giving way under the outrigger pads. I finally gave up and borrowed some big 4x4 cribbing mats from a buddy, and that was the only thing that got the crane level without it sinking six inches every time I adjusted a leg. Even then, I had to put them on a layer of gravel just to stop them from sliding downhill. It's amazing how something simple like dirt can ruin your whole schedule.