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New Kato city crane to Pfeiffer Cranes
NEW KATO CITY CRANE FITS TASMANIAN FLEET PERFECTLY
Pfeiffer Cranes are a long established and leading Tasmanian Crane Business. The family-run operation recently took delivery of a new Kato CR-250Rv city crane.
THE NEW CRANE WAS SUPPLIED BY TUTT
Bryant equipment and is the second Kato city crane in the fleet. Company Director Dan Pfeiffer explains the reasons behind the purchase and the company’s experience with the brand.
“We bought our first Kato City Crane in 2009. It was a second hand 13t Kato KRM/13H model. We saw the crane in the yard of another crane busines, we liked what we saw, and we haven’t looked back.
“The Kato city crane is a great machine offering terrific flexibility. It is ideal for work with some of the smaller builders and for job sites where the access can be limited and the tolerances very tight. When it comes to getting a crane into position and lifting, the Kato city crane is ideal,” said Pfeiffer.
When it comes to the smaller lifts around town, it has added a completely different dynamic to the fleet says Pfeiffer.
“We have also been impressed with the performance of the crane, and that is in every sense. Kato’s are not expensive to run because they are so reliable. Over the 12 years we’ve been operating the 13t Kato city crane, we haven’t had a problem, nothing has ever gone wrong with it.
“The local Tutt Bryant operation has been great for parts and accessories but to be honest, we haven’t had to buy any parts for the Kato, they just seem to keep going and going. If you service and maintain them properly, you won’t have to buy parts for them, that’s our experience anyway.
“We’ve just purchased our second Kato city crane from Tutt Bryant. It’s the new CR-250Rv model purchased through Tutt Bryant’s Peter Lawgall and then delivered by our good friend and Tutt Bryant representative Phil Chadwick.
“The family know Phil Chadwick very well. We first started working with him over 25 years ago and he sold us the KRM/13H. He was working for a crane company who was bringing in low hour Japanese cranes, converting them to Australian standards and selling them from there.
“We are really pleased with the performance of the CR250Rv and given the performance of the 13t machine we expect to have it in the fleet for quite some time,” said Pfeiffer.
“We’ve clocked around 8000 hours on the Kato and it hasn’t missed a beat, it’s been a great crane and a major reason for us investing in the 25t model. It’s been perfect for the ‘run around’ type of work and fits our business perfectly.
“We’ve purchased the new CR-250Rv mainly because it offers a big step up in terms of capacity. It’s a bigger capacity machine but it’s still nice and compact for the smaller sites where access can be an issue. It also provides significantly more reach and capacity for some of the slightly bigger jobs,” said Pfeiffer.
The CR-250Rv is the flagship of the Kato city crane range, complementing the CR-200Rf and the CR-130Rf. Featuring several significant changes to meet Australian requirements (including EN13000), the new CR250Rv is expected to turn heads on its arrival in the Australian workplace.
The CR-250Rv features a new boom and jib, “EJIB” which is designed for deployment in very narrow spaces.
“As the largest two axle city crane available on the Australian market, the CR-250Rv takes the Kato city crane range to a whole new level. The focus with this new model is on strength, technology, safety, speed of operation and ease of operation in small spaces,” said Phil Chadwick, Tutt Bryant’s National Crane BDM Southern Region.
The newly released crane is supported with a full Kato factory warranty and national support through Tutt Bryant Equipment’s extensive service and spare parts network.
The CR-250Rv features a new boom and jib, “EJIB” which is designed for deployment in very narrow spaces. It is the first CR model mobile crane equipped with the EJIB which is based on the Kato 4S concept. The 4S concept stands for: 1. Slant Boom 2. Safety 3. Speedy 4. Small Space
Two of the crane’s biggest features are the EJIB mechanism and a hydraulic luffing and telescoping fly which takes a single operator 10 minutes to ‘swing’. Ordinarily you are looking at two workers for a great deal longer to swing a standard luffing fly because everything is manual. Set up time is 10 minutes for a single operator.
NEW FULLY HYDRAULIC FLY JIB
The Kato Super Luffing Fly Jib has only previously been available on the 35t city crane (Japanese domestic model). It is now fitted as standard on the CR-250Rv bringing the maximum rated lifting height, boom plus jib, to 38.4m. The fly jib hydraulically telescopes from 5.3m to 8.2m and can be mounted within a 5.7m area from the slew centre. It is fully powered and can telescope and offset under 100 per cent load.
ERGONOMIC CAB
The cab impresses with an all-round excellent field of view and provides outstanding operator comfort due to the hydro-pneumatic suspension. Furthermore, it has a built-in IC tag providing high-level security, therefore reducing the risk of crane theft.
According to Chadwick, there are a number of important safety features included on the CR-250Rv.
“The Kato Automatic Crane System is (ACS) is an automatic safety device feature that instantly responds to any direct changes in various operating configurations. It has a range of limiting functions that increase safety during operation. With its highintensity colour LCD, the new ACS makes operations easier as it provides illustrated key switches, enabling quick
identification of their functions for each operation,” he said.
The Kato CR-250Rv has a number of advanced safety features that enhance safety during operation to provide an even safer driving and/or crane operation, thereby minimising the risk of incidents. These include: 1. The surround view camera: which displays a real-time birds-eye view to the operator ensuring an all-around (360 degree) view for safer traveling and crane operation. 2. Human detect assist system: which assists the operator by detecting people near the crane that are not visible to the operator. 3. Anti-lock braking system (ABS): The
CR-250Rv is equipped with ABS which further enhances braking power and significantly reduces braking distance especially on slippery surfaces.
TOUCH SCREEN (COR) DISPLAY – DATA LOGGER
This is a coloured display showing various types information including:
The CR-250Rv is the flagship of the Kato city crane range, complementing the CR-200Rf and the CR-130Rf.
1. Fuel consumption 2. Operations time, etc.
“The touch screen display, data logger also provides a range of functions which include the ECO switch which saves fuel by adjusting for optimum work engine speed during crane operation. During non-operation, the hydraulic pump outlet and fuel consumption are also greatly reduced thanks to the Auto-Minimum-Control adoption,” said Chadwick.
“The screen provides the operator with terrific all-round vision of the site. In my opinion this crane really is the next level for the city class cranes, as most models haven’t changed in such a long time. The CR-250Rv really is a quantum leap forward in terms of operator confidence, comfort and safety,” he said.
General specification for the Kato CR-250Rv include: • Maximum lifting capacity: 25t x 2.8m • Secondly, Boom length: 6.7m – 29.0m (six sections) • Jib length: 5.3m ~ 8.2m (two sections, hydraulic telescoping & luffing) • Engine: Cummins B6.7 (EU Stage5) • Overall Length: 9.195m • Overall Width: 2.395m • Overall Height: 3.495m • Gross Vehicle Weight: 23,795kg • Front Axle Weight: 11,895kg • Rear Axle Weight: 11,900kg
OPTIONAL FEATURES
The two positional offset Searcher Hook is a breakthrough feature for inserting operations. This feature performs best where the height is limited including applications featuring warehouses, balconies and soffits.
Other optional features include: anemometer, tyre pressure monitoring system, door visor, resin/aluminium outrigger plate, and remote-control camera cleaner.
“The CR-250Rv is a gamechanger because it’s the first 25t city class crane to be exported out of Japan. This is a completely new model engineered from the ground up and fits nicely in between Kato’s existing CR-200Rf (20t capacity) and larger all terrains,” said Chadwick .
