Another fatal boom failure.

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ddhlakebound

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When I was up in a bucket all the time a mechanical failure was my #1 fear. We greased and visually inspected the boom regularly, and each truck went in for service and inspection yearly. Still always had a little worry, failures happen.

Other than abuse and neglect, how can these things fail?

My condolences to his family

Article link
 
Trust Your Equipment?

HI YA ddh just a quick comment on bucket trucks .I still have a hard time having total connfidence when im in the bucket trucks .Im still kinda new to the field.Im thankfull that we dont have the old reach alls any more (lots of turret slack ). Funny i feel safer tied off in the tree than working from the bucket truck. The link you have doesnt have many details ,is thepicture of the truck the one that failed?,How old was it?Maintenance history etc.
 
boom will fail for simple reason, that why when you get on boom bring life line and saddle in case if you had to get urself down if it get suck up there with boom.worse case i see is hydralic leaks or busted cause upper boom lowering slowly itself down and messy but can't control it, got to swtich hydralic power to truck ,so guy on ground can steer and lowering boom safety.cautious is... don't push bucket into tree limbs where hydralic lines, it will busted the lines. make sure you have enought clearance for your bucket
when i see line clearance guy raise upper boom over primary line, they are stupidity.noway my life i ever go over primary lime becuz what if upper boom had failed...
Treeman67
 
Treeman67 said:
when i see line clearance guy raise upper boom over primary line, they are stupidity.noway my life i ever go over primary lime becuz what if upper boom had failed...
Treeman67
Are you drunk?, use spell check, how else do you trim above the primary with a boom truck? I guess I am stupidity. A well maintained boom with a curent non-destruct and dia-electric test sticker is good. Dry run it in the morning, look after it, check the fluid, do drift tests, etc. Boom failures usually occur because of neglect or misuse, other causes are very rare, have a little faith.
 
Hey!!!

clearance said:
Are you drunk?, use spell check, how else do you trim above the primary with a boom truck? I guess I am stupidity. A well maintained boom with a curent non-destruct and dia-electric test sticker is good. Dry run it in the morning, look after it, check the fluid, do drift tests, etc. Boom failures usually occur because of neglect or misuse, other causes are very rare, have a little faith.

hey Mr SmartA**
No i ain't drunk, and ohh did i misspelled, jezz i am so sorry that offend you?? yea, you are probably one of sputidity if go over primary, i guess you haven't got Zap yet..ohh so you say you never neglect or misuse the boom Uhhh??? becareful what you said people are watching you... have alittle faith,??? you better check bible again, Clearance.....
if you have tree nearby primary line, don't you agreed that tree consider as hazardous within too close and jeopardized public safety???
treeman67
 
Last edited:
You started it, calling people stupid that use the boom for its intended purpose. Have you ever seen utility guys work? Do you have much training, or any training on boom use? What is your problem, or do you just want to argue? Why not start a new thread- "using boom above primary stupid".
 
clearance said:
You started it, calling people stupid that use the boom for its intended purpose. Have you ever seen utility guys work? Do you have much training, or any training on boom use? What is your problem, or do you just want to argue? Why not start a new thread- "using boom above primary stupid".
yea i used to watch guy do line clearance, just one of few guy willing to take a risk take upper boom over line and boom failure does happen. i only use boom for pruning tree and removal only but no line clearance.. i have seen enough accident climber got injuried becuz of power line with my own eye. Again do you think if the tree is to close to primary line is consider as hazardous and jepordize public safety??? if that a yes , then why don't you guy removed all tree away from primary line instead just pruning every 3 to 5 yrs. therefore i am sure you know other options work around the primary line than go right over...
Treeman67
 
Personally I'd rather be above the primary than splitting through it andthe neutral, not every county will allow you to remove a tree just because it's close to the wires, this is where Knowledge training and experience comes in, if you ran a boom on my crew, and wouldn't go over primary, I'd tell you to get down and grab a rake. it's part of the job, like it or lump it.
 
Komitet said:
Personally I'd rather be above the primary than splitting through it andthe neutral, not every county will allow you to remove a tree just because it's close to the wires, this is where Knowledge training and experience comes in, if you ran a boom on my crew, and wouldn't go over primary, I'd tell you to get down and grab a rake. it's part of the job, like it or lump it.
Mr komitet,
give me a rake, that part of job at least i ain't stupid to go over primary line, you know, what is odd are when boom does fail,even though you make proper maintence on boom truck??.last year 3 Summer ago we got 3 boom failures.not just work power line , pruning trees only... the line busted on bucket no life threathening ever occur.
when i said give a rake, i told my boss noway i work this tree with primary line, why??? i'm noncertified line clearance,under OSHA law noncertifed do line clearance with 12 feet from primary line.. my county, any tree is hazardour nearby primary line can requested to takedown by property owner. i surley not wanted take training to do line clearance, i had alot repected those line and i had no business to be around it..
Treeman67
 
Tree(perhaps)man67 said:
hey Mr SmartA**
No i ain't drunk, and ohh did i misspelled, jezz i am so sorry that offend you?? yea, you are probably one of sputidity if go over primary, i guess you haven't got Zap yet..ohh so you say you never neglect or misuse the boom Uhhh??? becareful what you said people are watching you... have alittle faith,??? you better check bible again, Clearance.....
if you have tree nearby primary line, don't you agreed that tree consider as hazardous within too close and jeopardized public safety???
treeman67

and THAT was EDITED???
 
cord arrow said:
and THAT was EDITED???

Yeah i find his posts very difficult to read:bang:

Sorry Treeman but can i ask, is english your first language?
If not that might explain your grammar. Its not so much your spelling but your sentences dont make much sense to me.
I'm not slinging sh_t at you, just curious to understand you better.

Trev
 
Does anyone know what caused the boom failure for this poor guy to die?

Sad case, harness on and all.
 
Quote tweeman67: when i said give a rake, i told my boss noway i work this tree with primary line, why??? i'm noncertified line clearance,under OSHA law noncertifed do line clearance with 12 feet from primary line.. endquote.

So, you're not certified to be near the lines and therefore not experienced in it but us line clearance guys that have some years in it are stupid for taking the boom over the primary. I can appreciate your respect for the line but it almost sounds like you are terrified of bucket trucks.
 
trevmcrev said:
Yeah i find his posts very difficult to read:bang:

Sorry Treeman but can i ask, is english your first language?
If not that might explain your grammar. Its not so much your spelling but your sentences dont make much sense to me.
I'm not slinging sh_t at you, just curious to understand you better.

Trev
Trev,
English is not my frist language. my frist language is ASL (American Sign Language). i alway had difficulties with english with writing because ASL is alittle different than english
i am deaf.... i been in therapists many years when i was young to bring myself normal function alike anyone else.
Treeman67
 
matthias said:
Quote tweeman67: when i said give a rake, i told my boss noway i work this tree with primary line, why??? i'm noncertified line clearance,under OSHA law noncertifed do line clearance with 12 feet from primary line.. endquote.

So, you're not certified to be near the lines and therefore not experienced in it but us line clearance guys that have some years in it are stupid for taking the boom over the primary. I can appreciate your respect for the line but it almost sounds like you are terrified of bucket trucks.


i like bucket, it make my job whole alot easier and quicker than climbing to finished the job. let me ask you one question....if you are certified, does your training course teach you go over primary line??
Treeman67
 
Hey treeman67 I don't know why everyone had to make a big deal about how you write, its not like its being read by the president. On another note thats sad what happened to that guy but stuff happens and sometimes theres nothing you can do about it.
 
Inspection

Could someone give me some pointers on inspectin my LR 3 . If i leave it sitting for say an hour it will very very slowly lower down . I recon its because one of the out riggers leaks a tiny tiny bit.I check the cables weekly but there is a lot of plumbing you just cant see . What could cause catastrophic failure in a altec LR 3. IT LOOKS TO ME LIKE IT WOULD ALMOST HAVE TO BREAK BOTH CABLES. If a hose burst it would seem to me that it would still work briefly and certainly wouldnt crash.Pointers please:chainsaw:
 
jazak said:
Hey treeman67 I don't know why everyone had to make a big deal about how you write, its not like its being read by the president. On another note thats sad what happened to that guy but stuff happens and sometimes theres nothing you can do about it.


Jazak
hey , no worries... everyone talk or write different, some may understand each other , some don't. Sometime i had hard time understand as i read or hear and take few time before i can understand.
it is sad what happen to that guy and got me very curious , how and why, i probably can think 100 things what may go wrong but i'm not go there with my own imagination. the more i hear about guy fallen from tree, i just wanted retired from climbing or tree works, sometime i felt it not worth my one life and $$$$$. i think i almost had enough of it and do something else...
Treeman67
 
Treeman67 said:
Trev,
English is not my frist language. my frist language is ASL (American Sign Language). i alway had difficulties with english with writing because ASL is alittle different than english
i am deaf.... i been in therapists many years when i was young to bring myself normal function alike anyone else.
Treeman67

Ok, thanks for sharing that. I appreciate the efforts youve made and well done on making a go of things in the Arb industry. Coincidently there is a deaf tree guy working in my area.
 
darkstar said:
Could someone give me some pointers on inspectin my LR 3 . If i leave it sitting for say an hour it will very very slowly lower down . I recon its because one of the out riggers leaks a tiny tiny bit.I check the cables weekly but there is a lot of plumbing you just cant see . What could cause catastrophic failure in a altec LR 3. IT LOOKS TO ME LIKE IT WOULD ALMOST HAVE TO BREAK BOTH CABLES. If a hose burst it would seem to me that it would still work briefly and certainly wouldnt crash.Pointers please:chainsaw:
a lift is your airplane, inspect it daily, LR III rotation bearing bolts ,check top bolts often, the boom is drifting down, there is a time limit for checking drift it is all in the manual all cylinders have lock valves,if you blow a hose the lift can not fall as long as the valve is good .as far as cables go the bottom cable is hooked to the bottom upper boom cyl this cyl and cable have load on them as soon as you uncradle the upper boom, this cyl is doing all the work intill youare straight up that is win the top cable and cyl take over!all the way to the ground over the back Understand learn about this lift read the manual inspect daily fix all hyd leaks the fall doesnt hurt a bit it is the sudden stop!!!! good luck
 
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