A Grove GSK55 trailer-mounted crane traveled to a remote mountain village in Germany for a recent job. The crane’s operator said the GSK55 negotiated the mountainous roads with ease, but said the same journey with a normal all-terrain crane would have been much slower.
The 55 t capacity GSK55 is a trailer-mounted AT on a carrier that can be towed by any standard truck. In this instance it was an Iveco Stralis truck with 4 x 2 drive and powered by a 309 kW engine.
The crane journeyed to a sintering plant in Mensinghausen to make a series of lifts as part of a repair project. Mensinghausen is a small village in the Rothaargebirge mountain range, where the summit reaches 843 m above sea level.
Dirk Bracht, managing director of Franz Bracht KG, which supplied the GSK55 to the job, said his company chose the crane because its design does not require special permits to travel to the job, unlike other cranes.
“For this job, the difficult part was not necessarily the lifting, but getting a crane to the job site in the fastest and most cost effective way,” he said. “We took the crane up winding, narrow roads that an all-terrain would struggle to cover and would also require a special permit. Because the GSK55 can travel as a normal truck, we reached the site with no problem, and it easily performed the job.”
The GSK55 offers good maneuverability thanks to an independently steered third axle and retractable first axle. Franz Bracht KG was also able to position the crane’s counterweight directly on the goose neck, a recent design improvement, which gives the tires improved traction.
With a 10.6 t counterweight, the crane lifted loads of up to 3 t at a radius of 15 m with the boom extended to 35.77 m. The work took four days. Each day the operator drove the truck home, leaving the crane at the project and saving the requirement for alternative transport. At the end of the job, the crane had used just 20 percent of its fuel.
The GSK55 started working for Franz Bracht KG at the start of August and immediately went to the Mensinghausen project.
The GSK55 has the same lift capabilities as the Grove GMK3055 all-terrain on which it is based. It sits on a specially-designed chassis that acts as a standard trailer, improving the crane’s turning radius and reducing operating costs. The 55 t crane has a 43 m telescopic boom with an optional
8.7 – 15 m swingaway jib, bringing the maximum available tip height to 60 m.
Franz Bracht KG is based in Erwitte, northern Germany, and is one of Germany’s largest crane rental companies. It has over 40 years of experience and 200 cranes in its fleet. The company was testing the GSK55 during a road trip for the crane through Germany, arranged by Manitowoc agent KranAgentur Werner.