Capital Equipment News

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS

MARCH 2016

compact design and powerful perfor-

mance characteristics – this is the

combination that makes the compre-

hensive AC all terrain crane series by Ter-

ex the best choice when it comes to work

sites with limited space. This was clearly

the case when Wiesbauer GmbH & Co. KG

erected a tower crane at a work site in the

Swabian town of Kornwestheim, a project

for which the company used its brand new

Terex

AC 700 crane in order to take ad-

vantage of precisely these assets.

The decision to use the latest acquisition

in Wiesbauer’s fleet for the project was not

only based on the AC 700 crane’s technical

characteristics, but also on logistical con-

siderations: “We had the crane stationed

at our headquarters in Bietigheim-Bissin-

gen precisely at the right time, and Bi-

etigheim-Bissingen is only an hour away

from the work site in Kornwestheim,” ex-

plains General Manager Thomas Wiesbauer,

who manages the company together with

his brother Jochen. This meant that travel-

ing to the site with the AC 700 crane was

relatively easy, requiring only the appropri-

ate travel permit and what in Germany is re-

ferred to as a “BF-3 third-generation escort

vehicle.” In addition, the unit was accom-

panied by an assist crane and four trucks.

Just like the trip, setting up the AC 700

crane at the work site took a short time:

The seven-person Wiesbauer team, as-

sisted by two Trinac employees, required

only five hours to do so despite the tight

space conditions. “Like every other Terex

crane, this unit was clearly designed with

ease of assembly in mind, which is crucial

to our ability to deliver when it comes to

short assembly and disassembly times. In

addition, this ease of assembly also plays

an important role in the outstanding cost

effectiveness of the model, as it makes us

more competitive,” points out Jochen Wi-

esbauer, who definitely speaks from expe-

rience – after all, the AC 700 crane he is

talking about is the fifth crane in the series

in his company already.

In order to reach the lifting height of up

to 70 meters required to erect the tower

crane, the Wiesbauer assembly technicians

configured the Terex AC 700 crane with an

LF main boom extension measuring 26.40

meters, an SSL system with a 30° offset,

and 100 tonnes of counterweight. Once set

up this way, the AC 700 crane was perfect-

ly prepared to lift all of the tower crane’s

components.

These components included not only a large

number of relatively lightweight and com-

pact mast sections, but also significantly

more unwieldy elements, such as the slew-

ing unit, the two-piece jib, and the counter

jib. For example, the lift for the largest load,

i.e., the 20.5-tonne slewing unit, required a

hook height of 70 meters and a radius of 24

meters. Meanwhile, jib unit 1 was slightly

less heavy at exactly 20 tonnes. However,

its overall length of 40 meters made it much

more difficult to handle, requiring it to be

perfectly balanced. The lift for this unit re-

quired a hook height of 70 meters as well.

In contrast, the hook height when lifting jib

section 2 was slightly lower at 66 meters.

And although this 8.5-tonne component

was considerably lighter than the first jib

section, it was also longer at 45 meters.

In addition, the corresponding lift was per-

formed with a maximum radius of up to 40

meters. “When lifting loads with these types

of dimensions, it’s not enough to just rely on

the crane operator’s expert touch. You also

need a crane with extraordinary precision.

And with its easy-to-use and tremendously

responsive controls, the AC 700 proved to

be the perfect machine for the job,” reports

crane operator Günther Mühleck.

This was one of the important advantag-

es that enabled the Wiesbauer team to

complete the job on schedule within the

required time frame of five days, which

included setting up and disassembling the

AC 700 crane. “Of course, we’d already as-

sumed that we wouldn’t be running into any

problems – after all, we know exactly what

the Terex cranes in this series are capable

of,” summarizes Thomas Wiesbauer, who

is more than satisfied with the debut of his

company’s latest acquisition.

NEW TEREX

AC 700

all terrain crane erects tower crane

LIFTING