New three axle Grove suits Canberra crane business Concept Cranes recently took delivery of the first Grove GMK3060L in the country

GROVES FIT CANBERRA CONCEPT

Canberra based crane hire business Concept Crane Hire, recently took delivery of a Grove GMK3060L, the first crane in the range to be delivered in Australia. Cranes and Lifting reports.

The new GMK3060L features a 48 m boom and significantly stronger load charts.

DANIEL WHITEHEAD AND DAVE TAYLOR,

owners of Concept Crane Hire, had worked in the industry for 12 years before they started the business almost six years ago. Both started in the crane industry as trainees with a local crane company, B&D Crane Hire.

According to Whitehead, Concept Crane Hire started as a result of the closure of B&D Crane Hire.

“We both had the opportunity to start in the crane industry with Bob Taylor and Daniel Phillips at B&D Crane Hire here in Canberra. They decided to close the gates at the end of 2014 and sold most of their machines.

“There were a couple of cranes that didn’t sell, and we saw an opportunity. We bought a 60t Tadano and a 15t Franna and kicked off the business with those machines,” he said.

For the first year, the business consisted of Whitehead, Taylor, a small team and casuals when they were required says Whitehead.

“It was hands on for the first year but at the end of it we bought our first second-hand Grove, a GMK5130 from Metcalf Cranes, Melbourne. From there we’ve pretty much bought a crane every year and we now have seven machines in the fleet including a new 20t Tadano City Crane and the Grove GMK3060L long boom,” said Whitehead.

Brand loyalty and business relationships has been a major reason why Concept Crane Hire have purchased Groves says Whitehead.

“For five years, I operated a Grove GMK5130 at B&D before we started the business. I’ve gotten to know Andrew Gray, Sales Manager for Manitowoc over a long period of time and I’ve developed good relationships with a couple of the technicians at Manitowoc.

“The machines are user friendly and

Daniel Whitehead and Dave Taylor with the new Grove GMK 3060L.

parts are easy to get hold of. We operate two GMK5130-2s and the GMK3060L. We’ve only had the GMK3060L for a couple of weeks. It’s small and compact but the extra boom is unbelievable, it’s got excellent charts.

The new GMK3060L features a 48 m boom and significantly stronger load charts. It is available in both Euromot III/Tier 3 and Euromot V/Tier 4 Final engine emission standards.

The new GMK3060L offers the strongest taxi load charts in its class and features the most compact dimensions in the three-axle segment, enabling it to access tight job sites, manoeuvre easily around city centres, and even work indoors.

The chassis is almost as compact as a two-axle model and up to 1 m shorter than competitive three-axle cranes, with a carrier length of only 8.68 metres and a minimum overall height of 3.48 metres with the suspension fully lowered.

The new model features a longer, 48m seven-section TWIN-LOCK

hydraulic pinned main boom and boasts significantly stronger load charts.

“The GMK3060L was developed in accordance with The Manitowoc Way and is a result of ‘Voice of the Customer’ feedback, a methodology whereby cranes are built in accordance with customers’ needs and wants,” said Andrew Gray, sales manager, Manitowoc.

It features Manitowoc’s Crane Control System (CCS), as well as a boom configurator feature. This enables operators to input basic lift parameters, such as load, radius and load height, and the system automatically provides optimal boom options for performing the lift. This saves time at the job site and makes the setup process much easier. Like all GMK cranes with CCS, the GMK3060L also features the MAXbase option for variable outrigger settings and increase load charts in certain working ranges.

The GMK3060L is powered by a Cummins QSL9, a 254 kW (340 hp) sixcylinder in-line diesel engine for reduced fuel consumption. The QSL9 combines high strength with a compact footprint for one of the best power-to-weight ratios in its class. The crane includes a ZF TraXon automatic transmission, giving it 12 forward-speed options and two reverse.

“The GMK3060L has been out on a couple of jobs and we’ve been really impressed with its performance, it’s a great little machine. It is ideally suited for smaller residential and commercial jobs which tend to have tighter access. The crane is also spot on for the road restrictions around the greater Canberra area with 12t per axle” said Whitehead.

“We chose the new crane on spec. We heard it was being released at last year’s Bauma and we were looking to update the Tadano 60t Truck crane to a Grove three axle All Terrain enabling better access to tight construction sites. We knew the GMK3060L was the machine we wanted. We ordered it through Andrew and haven’t really looked back,” he said.