SECTOR REPORT Ӏ ALL TERRAIN CRANES
travel, at the lowest possible axle loads, and highest possible speeds. That has shaped the
development of cranes by the only Western manufacturer with an all terrain factory outside Germany: Kentucky’s Link-Belt. Since 2008 the company has been making use of its own boom forming machine and turned out more than 1,000 booms a year, producing its 10,000th boom in 2017. The company’s self-formed
booms were at the core of the design of its five-axle 275USt (250t) ATC 3275 and are now being used in the largest all terrain in its line-up: the five axle 300USt (275t) 300|AT. This is the highest capacity five axle all terrain on the market and carries a 72.5m main boom, the second longest on a crane in this class. A key focus of a crane like this
is its roadability and, as Link-Belt product manager Andrew Soper told Cranes Today at ConExpo, this has driven its design in many ways. “It offers excellent mobility with
just four overflow loads needed in America,” Soper says. “In North America, the typical payload for one truck is 44,000 lb. We design and optimise our counterweight splits to maximise counterweight on trucks.” Around the world, mobile phone companies are increasing data transfer speeds by installing new 5G masts. Compared to their 4G predecessors these typically transfer data faster but over a smaller area. Old cell towers must be upgraded and new ones built. That’s perhaps not such a challenge in cities but will demand frequent travel between sites for crane owners serving this market in America’s rural and ex-urban communities. “Cell towers typically have a
very restricted work area,” Soper continues. “Where we're from, they're always on the top of a
mountain and they're hard to get to and it's hard to get trucks up there. So not taking a lot of trucks is a good thing. Being able to take one truck and do long boom, tight radius, high tip height work is a big advantage for this. “A crane operator in Texas,
for example, has the ability to carry the counterweight tray on the deck of the crane, which is going to improve their flexibility and efficiency in transportation because they’re now carrying more counterweight in two trucks than they would be otherwise. In other markets where they can't carry counterweight, it's still very efficient. Some of our competitors in this class require five truckloads to take all their counterweight.” Maximum counterweight is
just over 73t with four overflow truckloads, and for improved mobility and efficiency for a variety
Link-Belt’s
300|AT on display at ConExpo 2023
of job site scenarios the 300|AT can be set up with two overflow loads and 33.6t of counterweight. With its maximum boom and
jib system, the new AT|300 can reach a height of 112m. This is slightly more than that offered on Manitowoc’s GMK5250XL-1, but the five-axle 250t Grove has, as the name suggests, an extra- long 78.5m main boom. The next highest capacity crane in the segment, Liebherr’s LTM 1300-6.2, also has a longer boom, at 78m, but only reaches a slightly higher maximum system height of 114m. Those long distances and the need to navigate multiple jurisdictions at low axle loads, helps explain this different approach to boom length. European cranes typically carry their main boom over the cab, allowing them to handle tighter corners. But this adds to axle
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