Precision planning meets heavy lifting. Last year, Maxim Crane’s in-house engineering team developed a comprehensive lift plan utilizing our Liebherr LTM 1750-9.1 and LTM 1400-7.1 to safely re-install the Pathfinder shuttle replica onto its rocket boosters. From complex rigging analysis to onsite execution, this project showcased the full capabilities of our engineering and field teams working in sync.
Dan Durett, Vice President of Engineering Services: The lift in Huntsville with the shuttle replica was a tandem lift. There were two cranes that were involved, one carrying the front portion of the shuttle and the second crane carrying the rear end of the shuttle.
Having an in-house engineering team really helped this project specifically because by the time we learned about the project and we were rewarded the work, the turnaround time was pretty short. So we had to jump right on the engineering of the lifting lugs and get this designed, fabricated, and then to the job site so we could execute the lift.
There’s several ways that we looked at this project for establishing where the crane locations were going to be. 3d technology was used to evaluate, making sure we had clearances between the boom and and the load and the stand where the shuttle was going to be set on. We also looked at it in two dimensions and and a typical CAD model, just to make sure that the setup locations for the cranes were going to be okay.
The value of a lift plan for a project like this is crucial. It’s an iconic load that we’re lifting and making sure that there’s a very detailed plan that’s going to happen and everyone that’s part of the crew that’s going to execute that lift understands how it’s going to start, how it’s going to progress, and then how it’s going to finish.
Seth Stevenson, Southeast Region Lift Planner: One of the more challenging aspects of playing this lift was making sure that it had the rigging designed properly to not end up leading to any issues in how it was shown.
In-house engineering is very important for Maxim because it allows us to quickly get projects in, take a look at them, and get them solved pretty quickly. And if there’s any changes that need made, we’re able to also address those as fast as physically possible.
Being part of projects like this mean a lot to me, especially because being a kid when a lot of the space shuttles were going up and seeing those things. Being able to take that back and show it to people that I know and know that I was a part of that.
