D C Crane Services Inc. of Lake Worth, FL, is utilizing the newest addition to its stable of Link-Belt cranes in the construction of the new seven-story Jupiter Yacht Club Condominiums in Jupiter. The Link-Belt LS-218H II with a new luffing attachment enables D C Crane to reach higher and further, and work in confined spaces. The LS-218H II, which is set up on the seven story, 120-ft. (36.5 m) deep by 235-ft. (72 m) wide, Jupiter Yacht Club Condominiums, is equipped with a 110-ft. (33.5 m) luffing boom and a 140-ft. (43 m) luffing jib. The machine is positioned about 25-ft. (7.6 m) from the new building. When lifting the .75-yd. (.7 m) concrete bucket, the crane makes a 120-ft. (36.5 m) radius, 100-ft. (30 m) high lift, and has the luffing boom at a 74-degree angle with the luffing jib at a 55-degree angle. The heaviest pick on the job is the cage for the buck hoist, which weighs 9,000 lbs. (4,082 kg). Another heavy lift is an inside elevator form. This weighs 6,000 lbs. (2,722 kg) and is lifted at a 75-ft. (23 m) radius. “’The reach is great. I don’t have to move the crane as often. l was able to reach 135-ft. deep to the back column from where I am sitting. That’s a long boarding house reach,” said Terry West, LS-218H II crane operator. West, a 15-year crane veteran, said the new D C Crane Service Link-Belt LS-218H II, with its luffing attachment, is very operator friendly. “The new LS-21 8H II has a great reach. The earlier machines were true tower cranes wherein the mast had to remain in the vertical position. Because the mast of a luffing attachment can tilt forward, the crane’s reach is greater,” said Dan Conner, president and co-owner, D C Crane. D C Crane’s specialty is in working on poured-in-place concrete shell buildings. The company does some buildings employing the flying-form technique. “We can handle the weight of those forms. We pour ’crane and bucket’ concrete, and lift building materials, rebar and floor joists. We stay away from tilt wall and heavy tunnel-form construction projects because we don’t own any of the heavy lift cranes,” he noted. D C Crane has 14 cranes in its rental fleet, all but one are Link-Belt machines. The company has a lift capacity range from 18 to 100 tons (16 to 91 t). It owns 10 Link-Belt lattice boom cranes and generally works in the tri-county area of Dade, Broward and Palm Beach. The company started under tumultuous circumstances. In August 1992, Hurricane Andrew left millions of dollars in damage to South Florida in its wake. As much devastation as that storm brought on thousands of residents, it was the start of a thriving business for D C Crane. D C Crane had just purchased its first Link-Belt crane, a pre-owned LS-108B. The Conners were living on Janet Conner’s salary. They were trying to keep up the payments on the crane with the income that he was bringing in. Pickings were slim in those early days and they faced stiff competition from more established crane rental companies in the area. Janet Conner also was keeping the books for the young start-up company. “When Hurricane Andrew did its damage, we were unaffected up here [in Lake Worth]. Almost every large crane or heavy equipment rental firm headed south. That opened an opportunity for us to step in here and take advantage of the situation. Business was so good, we were able to purchase two more Link-Belt cranes by the end of the year. “By the time the South Florida crisis was over and the equipment rental companies returned home, the economy was booming and there was enough work for everyone. By then, we were up and running at full speed. We never looked back,” said Conner. About 70 percent of D C Crane’s business is in long-term rental, three months or more at a time. The other 30 percent is short-term rentals. Often these firms will finish one building and, when they begin the next one, will request the same crane and operator for that structure. “Companies are paying thousands of dollars to rent our cranes. They don’t want poor equipment or service,” he noted. “They expect us to furnish modern, safe and reliable equipment that they can depend on for day-to-day service. That goes a long way in explaining why we have been Link-Belt crane customers from the beginning, and why we still buy them today,” he said. Another very important consideration for standardizing on Link-Belt cranes in the company’s rental fleet, according to Conner, is the interchangeability of many parts. By stocking those parts known to wear out, as all parts do, it is able to increase the machine uptime by having an effective preventive maintenance program. “This is where a good equipment dealer, like Kelly Tractor, our Link-Belt dealer, and our salesman, George McCoach, are vital. We know that we can depend on them to have spare parts available when we need them or to access them from another of their branches, or the Link-Belt factory in a timely manner. With their knowledge and insight to the Link-Belt factory, they have never let us down,” Conner said. “Why all the Link-Belt cranes in our rental fleet? When I was a young operator, like many other young operators, I had the opportunity to run a number of different makes of cranes. I always liked the Link-Belt cranes for their ease of operation. I felt more productive on them. Today, since I depend on my operators for production to keep our business profitable, I want to stick with what worked best for me and my operators agree with me. “For a small company like ourselves, to have a new Link-Belt LS-218H II, I’d have to say that we are overjoyed. We were eagerly anticipating for them [Link-Belt] to come out with this new luffer design. It is doing an excellent job for us. I just can’t say enough good things about it. It’s just what we have needed to stay competitive in a highly competitive market,” he commented. For more information, call 606/263-5200.This story also appears on Crane Equipment Guide.
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