John Deere

Yesterday I was able to take a 33 ton boom truck to the Morton Salt Refinery in Tooele, Utah. I love running the 33 ton boom truck because it has the great luxury of an air-conditioned cab and all of the gauges work perfectly. I showed up on site to help the maintenance crew rebuild an old John Deere excavator. We lifted the rebuilt engine from the back of a pickup into the engine department of the tractor. The crew had a tough time getting everything to line up and I sat in the cold cab for almost 3 hours while they tried to make this new engine fit into their old excavator.

I enjoyed the easy going job, the stress was minimal and I was hoping that this job would drag on all day. Luckily, after three hours of fighting the engine, they realized that they forgot to put a part in that allowed the radiator to function properly. We started the whole process over and my wish was granted. Six hours of gravy work in the middle of a salt plant far from the hard work of changing oil and loading counterweights in the shop. It was a perfect job to get the week started off right!

Double Lift

Wagstaff Crane is becoming very well known for its ability to make a large lifts with its two 550 ton cranes. These two sister cranes have made multiple double picks that are absolutely amazing and very delicate. The most recent double pick was at a refinery in the Salt Lake area, the load weighed 330,000 pounds and was handled quite easily by these two large mobile cranes. Each crane was dressed up with full counterweight and used our heaviest rigging slings to perform the impressive pick. 

The operators that were performing the pick were very talented and used an open ended cell phone call to communicate throughout the lift. The crew that was working to help set up the crane and land the load was very impressed with the versatility and power of the two GMK 7550 cranes. Below is a picture of the load in mid-air. Each crane was lifting close to 170,000 pounds once the rigging and hook are accounted for. Pretty impressive!

Car Sales

This week I was able to be apart of a very unique crane lift in North Salt Lake. Jerry Seiner GMC hired Wagstaff Crane to hold their promoted car on a platform 70 feet in the air as an advertising strategy to sell more cars. I lifted a Nissan Altima in the air for 3 days and watched people file into the car lot and test drive the many different cars offered in the 3-day promotion. I loved the easy duty job, I was able to get a lot of homework done while sitting in the cab for 10 hours each day. The only problem that we had was the wind. It was a little bit scary watching a brand new car spin circles 70 feet in the air because of the wind. Once the wind died down, the job went smoothly and as planned.

I hope other car dealers get the idea to advertise with a crane more often. The job was very easy and something out of the ordinary. I really enjoyed my job this week, I probably wont ever buy a Nissan, however, I would definitely hold one 80 feet in the air again!

Although the above picture is fairly low quality, you can still see the small strands of rubber that once was a belt in the engine of the 50 ton crane I was operating earlier today. I was driving towards Tooele, Utah and my crane began to over heat quite badly. I pulled over on to the side of the road and waited for the engine to cool down before I poked my head into the engine covers and see why my crane was running so hot. I opened the engine cover and found anti-freeze dripping onto the ground and rubber strands wrapped around many moving pieces. 

I described the situation to our mechanic and he could tell that the blown belt was going to be very difficult to clean up and replace. I was able to get the crane off the road and onto the job site where the customers saw my problem and were very understanding of my late arrival. Our mechanic is currently working to fix the problem so that the crane can be in use tomorrow morning, I will let you know how things worked out with 50-6 and its blown engine belt!

Pipe, Pipe, and More Pipe

My last blog entry was about my completely boring and unproductive day waiting for trucks and supplies to show up on my job site. I am pretty sure that I jinxed myself. Yesterday I made more picks in one day than I have ever made in the past. I lost count just before lunch, but I would guess that I made close to 100 lifts in one day! I was called to unload a giant trailer that was loaded down with custom fitted pipe for a new refinery in Western Utah. I was running a 50 ton crane and I was able to finish the load in just under 9 hours. Although very monotonous, the job was great practice for me and I am getting better and more confident as a crane operator. Below is a picture of all the pipe that I unloaded in the 9 hours that I was working for this crew. Each pipe was its own separate lift! 

Just Another Day...

Today was a very uneventful day at work for me. I was dispatched to be in Yard 1 at 6:15 so that I could take a 30-ton boom truck to a job site on 9000 South and State Street in Draper, Utah. I woke up early and made my way to the job site about 15 minutes early. Once I saw the 12,000 pound unit and where I needed to put the large air handler, I was certain that I was in the wrong crane. I called dispatch and explained that my crane was not going to be big enough for the task and that they needed to send a 50 ton. Luckily, we had a 50 ton available and a co-worker took care of my job. I was called back into the yard to go on another job in West Magna on a 50-ton. I drove the slow crane for almost an hour to the new job and got everything set-up and ready to go. I waited from 8:00 am to noon before the the job foreman decided to cancel the job and send me away.

It was noon and I had not accomplished a single thing. Unfortunately, I didn't get much done from noon to 6 pm either. I spent the afternoon looking for lost rigging that was never found and chasing company trucks across the valley that had been left of job sites.  Hopefully thing will go a little better tomorrow!

Sunday Emergency

Last Sunday, as I was getting ready to go to church and teach my nursery class about baptism, I received a call from my Dad and was asked to go into work for an emergency crane job at a local gas refinery in North Salt Lake. Luckily, my wife was able to cover for me and teach the young nursery children about baptism while I went and helped a crew of 18 guys fix an expensive mistake at the refinery.

I was working with another employee of Wagstaff Crane in order to set the crane up and make the pick as quickly as we could. We used a GMK 4115, 115 ton crane to pull a 18,000 pound motor out of a tight spot inside the large refinery. We learned that each day that the motor is out of commission the refinery loses 550,000 dollars. We were excited that the lift went exactly as we planned and the repairs began immediately. Our crane will be on site for almost a week to finish the project and get the motor running again.

I was sad that I was unable to go to church this last Sunday, however, I wont complain about being paid double for working on a Sunday!

Never Seen This Before...

This week I was working on a construction site and I saw something that I have never seen before. I was driving off the job site in a 50 ton crane when I stopped at a traffic light and saw a man working on the light pole about 20 feet in the air. The best way to explain what I saw was with a picture.

As you can see in the picture, this crew was using a track-hoe to lift a worker above the light pole and do his job. I found this technique to be very funny. Using a track-hoe as a man lift was very popular in the 50's and 60's but very rare in todays construction industry. This crew was very lucky that they didn't receive a surprise visit from OSHA. They would have been fined and punished for their unsafe acts.

Being apart of the #cranelife, I have seen a lot of interesting solutions to very unique problems. These solutions are sometimes unsafe, sometimes funny, but always creative. I love working with cranes and being on a construction site; there is something new each day. The construction life is what makes me happy and I love to be apart and see something new each day!

Memorial Day

This Memorial Day weekend was a hard and busy one for those working at Wagstaff Crane. With multiple big cranes being needed throughout the weekend, Wagstaff employees were not able to take a "vacation"like the majority of people living in our great nation. 550-1 was working on the windmills near Boise, Idaho and traveled all weekend. 550-2 was busy taking down a tall tower crane at the Ogden Temple in Northern Utah and the GMK 5275 was working around the clock on I-15 near Payson, Utah, putting together a new bridge for the interstate. Each crane required an operator and around 5 truck drivers to complete these weekend jobs. Again, not much of a "vacation" for those in #cranelife.

I was able to work with many of the employees throughout this long weekend. I was expecting complaints and bad attitudes for the excessive work load, however, I was surprised that each person I worked with had a great attitude and worked without a single complaint. I have realized this last week that Wagstaff Crane has some of the greatest employees that a company could ask for. Each operator is skilled, smart and talented. Everyone on the payroll is hard-working and willing. I really do enjoy working with the fine employees that work for Wagstaff Crane!

New member of the family...

Today Wagstaff Crane added yet another member to the large and growing fleet of hydraulic cranes that service the Western United States. Jim Wagstaff, CEO of Wagstaff Crane purchased a 90 ton Rough Terrain crane at an auction earlier this afternoon. The crane is a 2005 model and similar to our other 90 ton Rough Terrain crane that was bought in 2008. This crane marks the 4th 90 ton RT crane purchased by Wagstaff crane in the last 5 years.

The Rough Terrain crane market has really helped Wagstaff Crane grow and obtain new customers. Prior to purchasing Rough Terrain cranes, Wagstaff was limited to renting purely operated equipment. This limitation hindered the rental of smaller cranes without operators on long-term projects. Since management decided to enter this market, it has been a very successful and profitable strategic move. The Rough Terrain crane has been an imperative component to the expansion of Wagstaff Crane in recent years.

The RT890E

Digester Lid

Today Wagstaff Crane completed a lift that was very unique and challenging. At a water treatment plant in Davis Country Utah, our 550-ton crane equipped with Mega-wing and full counterweights picked a digester lid that weighed 125,000 pounds at a 70' radius. This unique lift was planned weeks in advance and according to the lift planner the lift went, "as perfect as we had planned". 

I was able to capture some pictures of the lift along with this video. The video is a short clip of the pick in action. The complexity of the rigging was what made this specific lift so special. In order to ensure that the concrete lid would not crumble under its own weight, we rigged the dome in 38 different spots, distributing the weight equally throughout the lid.

Wagstaff Crane has prided itself on experience and safety for over 50 years, today we were able to see a safe lift completed safely because of some very talented and experienced employees!

Vacation from the #cranelife

The #cranelife can be very difficult at times. There are many tasks that are physically demanding and long hours that can become burdensome. This winter has been very hectic for Wagstaff Crane and its employees. Wagstaff Crane was hired to man many cranes around the clock and night shifts were common. As a student and employee I was working a lot of hours and juggling 20 credit hours at the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University in Provo. Needless to say, I was in dire need of a vacation!

I spent the last week in Hawaii relaxing on the beach and staying far away from cranes and equipment. I spent the week with my family on the island of Oahu where we rented a vacation home on the North shore in the small city of Haleiwa. We had a great time snorkeling, swimming, cliff-jumping, and just spending time together as a family. My favorite part of the trip was visiting the Polynesian Culture Center and entering the Laie Temple. I was able to visit an old mission companion at the Polynesian Culture Center and go to the temple with him the next day. It was a great experience!

Our week in Hawaii really did go too fast. We loved the weather and the lack of responsibility. However, I am excited to back in the operators seat tomorrow, living the #cranelife.

Ogden Temple:

Last week was a very cool week to be apart of the #cranelife. Wagstaff Crane was hired to place a giant steeple and the Angel Moroni atop the newly renovated LDS Temple in Ogden, Utah. The steeple weighed in at about 63,000 pounds and was set with Wagstaff's Grove GMK 7550 crane. The 550 ton crane was equipped with luffing jib, Mega-wing and over 300,000 pounds of counterweight.

Their were many bystanders that came to watch this important lift be made. Many residents of the Ogden area were standing outside the barricaded construction zone, taking pictures and celebrating the new 14 foot tall Moroni being bolted into place on top of their temple. The placement of the steeple and Angel Moroni was important enough to draw many news agencies to the site. You can read the complete story done by the Salt Lake Tribune by clicking on the following link:

Salt Lake Tribune: Wagstaff Crane and Ogden Temple

I love to be apart of the #cranelife for projects such as this. It was a very neat experience for me as a member of the LDS church and crane fanatic.

Introduction:

This blog is dedicated to the #CRANELIFE. My experiences as a crane operator and employee of Wagstaff Crane are very unique and interesting. I will try to capture some of them through pictures, videos and entries that can be found on this blog. In order to understand the crane life, it is imperative that we start this blog by going back 50 years to 1963, when my grandparents founded Wagstaff Crane.

The company was founded by H.R. and Evelyn Wagstaff. They started with one small crane and a firm desire to serve in the Rocky Mountain area. As years passed, the company kept growing and growing. Hard work and perseverance prevailed and Wagstaff Crane Company has evolved into one of the most respected, and safe crane operations of its kind.

Today, Wagstaff Crane is being run by the two sons of H.R. and Evelyn, Jim and Ron Wagstaff. Wagstaff Crane currently has around 50 cranes and nearly 80 employees. Every day is different and definitely worth documenting.