Grove’s New Heavy-Duty Jib Equips GRT9165 Rough-Terrain Crane for Precast Work

Grove introduced a new heavy-duty jib option for its GRT9165 rough-terrain crane. It provides a competitive edge for setting precast concrete panels due to its faster setup and more economical transport.

Aug. 22, 2022 - Grove is now offering a new heavy-duty jib extension for the Grove GRT9165 rough-terrain crane that increases the 165 USt (150 t) crane’s utilization abilities. It provides a competitive edge for setting precast concrete panels, as its easier to transport and faster to set up than crawler cranes for tilt-up work.

The jib is 12.5 ft (3.8 m) long and designed with two sheaves, for up to four parts of line, and is hydraulically offsettable from 0° to 50°. The compact, stout jib has a max lifting capacity of 68,600 lbs. Overall, the new jib up to 20% greater capacities on average than its closest competition. The two-hook design gives operators tight precision when positioning panels, with the hydraulic jib controlled via an in-cab switch for faster operation and convenience.

The heavy-duty jib was designed to meet the fast-changing precast concrete panel market, one of the most common off-site techniques used during construction. This type of work is expected to grow 5.6% in the next five years alone. Its benefits include efficiency, cost reduction, speed, and more consistent quality. Precast concrete yields added environmental benefits, too, as the hollow core voids use half the amount of concrete, resulting in up to 25% reduction of a building’s CO2 construction footprint. 

Wisconsin-based design-build contractor Miron Construction Co. (Miron) is the first customer to use the new jib on its Grove GRT9165. Miron’s clients are rapidly shifting to precast concrete for healthcare, warehouse, manufacturing, and higher education projects across the country. The size of concrete panels is growing in tandem with demand, averaging 12-ft (3.7 m) wide and over 24-ft (7.3 m) in height, and weighing upwards of 60,000 lbs. 

“It takes a larger crane to lift and rotate the concrete panels to vertically set them in place. We were initially kicking around a telecrawler, but our precast jobs have a shorter duration and we wanted to minimize transport and setup costs,” said Pete Klosterman, executive vice president, field resources for Miron.

 

Miron, Grove dealer American State Equipment, and Grove’s product development team collaborated on the development of the new jib extension, making it purpose-built for precast.

“We took feedback from Miron to develop preliminary charts and stayed in close contact through the testing phase, making real-time modifications to deliver a final product that meets the market need from day one,” said John Bair, Grove rough-terrain product manager. 

Miron first used the jib in June, setting panels for a new high school in western Wisconsin. The GRT9165 was configured with its full 56,800 lbs of counterweight and working at a max tip height with a jib of 124 ft, a 50 ft radius, and zero-degree offset. 

 “It’s great to have the ability to luff the jib up and down for increased or decreased separation as needed, and it’s quick and easy to install and uninstall the jib,” said Luke Rathke, project superintendent with Miron.

The crane’s long boom paired with the heavy-duty jib is a bonus when working under height limitations. It has allowed Miron to win extra industrial work, such as at large paper mills where overhead piping and ductwork limited access by other mobile cranes of similar size.  

“The GRT9165 with the heavy-duty jib is the perfect package for what we need. It has strong capacities and precision for precast and is a solid all-around crane for the wider range of work we do,” Klosterman said. “We must be more efficient and versatile in how we approach our jobs. You’ve got to stay ahead of the game.”

 

The heavy-duty jib extension is available for order on all new Grove GRT9165 rough-terrain cranes and as a retrofit for working cranes.