Get FinancingLink-Belt 348 Series 2 Crawler Crane Erecting A Parking Garage At UNC-Wilmington
A 300-ton (272-metric-ton) Link-Belt 348 Series 2 lattice boom crawler crane is currently helping build a new $20.4 million parking garage at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. Contractor Davis Erecting of Greenville, South Carolina, is assembling the four-story, 250,000-square-foot (23,225-square-meter) car park using precast components.
The new Link-Belt is the fifth 348 Series 2 in the Davis Erecting fleet. “Davis, that’s all they use is Link-Belts,” says operator Scotty Adams. “Link-Belt’s always been a good crane. They’re just a good, tough crane to have on any jobsite.”
Raising Eyebrows
Davis Erecting is using the Link-Belt 348 Series 2 to lift pre-stressed concrete double-tee beams that are 60 feet (18.3 meters) long and weigh up to 60,000 pounds (27,215 kilograms). The crane is also placing 64,200-lb (29,120-kg) concrete coping “eyebrow” sections at a 68-ft (20-m) radius and a 72-degree boom angle. Among the 850 total pieces of the parking garage are tilt wall panels, columns, and architectural forms. The Link-Belt is set up with 215 ft (65.5 m) of main boom and a full set of counterweights.
“The reason that we chose this crane for this project was because with the pre-cast, pretty much everything we pick is more or less a heavy load of at least 30,000 lbs and up,” says Adams. “So you need a bigger machine to reach out where you ain’t setting up and moving the crane all the time. That makes it a better machine to sit in one spot and be able to reach multiple locations.”
Adams says that he has been using the crane’s fine-metering knob “pretty much all the time,” as he hoists about 12 to 15 pieces a day. The garage is expected to be completed later this fall.
The Link-Belt 348 Series 2
The 348 Series 2 crawler crane supports heavy-duty lattice boom lengths of 70 to 300 ft (21 to 91 m) or a long-range boom of 85 to 355 ft (26 to 108 m) in length. Fixed jib options range from 40 to 140 ft (12 to 43 m), and can be offset to 5, 15, or 30 degrees. The Link-Belt can reach a maximum tip height of 380 ft (116 m) with the heavy-duty boom and 440 ft (134 m) with the long-range boom.
A 320-horsepower (224-kilowatt) Cummins QSL 9 diesel engine provides the crane’s power and complies with Tier IV Final emissions standards. The crane features a modular counterweight system with a new remote control-operated hydraulic removal system. Its matching front and rear winch drums are 35.3 inches (897 millimeters) wide and are grooved for 1.1-in (28-mm) rope.
Source: Link-Belt