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Not much time has passed since the Beyel Brothers took delivery of its first Terex? AC 250-1 all-terrain crane and this leading crane and rigging company has wasted no time putting it to work. The crane's long boom, the longest available configured for the road and its 300 US tonne (250 t) capacity has had valuable benefits for the Beyel Brothers. "We don't have to use the jib as often as with other cranes which make us more flexible and saves us time on the job," says Steve Beyel, Vice President of Beyel Brothers. This flexibility allowed Beyel to take on another job to do cruise ship maintenance during a short break in the midst of a longer term job at a NASA facility.

The AC 250-1 is fast replacing the other cranes in the Beyel Brothers fleet for lifting projects ranging from cell towers to downtown building hoists to cruise ship maintenance. "Even though the crane offers big lifting capabilities, it's compact so it can manoeuvre city streets," says Matt Beyel, crane operator for Beyel Brothers. With its 262.5 ft (80 m) main boom, it also offers a longer reach than other cranes in its class, so a jib is often not necessary. "With smaller cranes you need a jib for building work which results in road closures to be able to install the jib," he adds.

The Terex AC 250-1 offers the market's longest main boom in a roadable 13.2 US tonne (12 t) axle load configuration. With its 55.9 ft (15.7 m) transport length, the AC 250-1 is the most compact 6-axle crane and offers the most compact working area in its class. The 300 US tonne (250 t) capacity crane offers a maximum 370.7 ft (113 m) system length with up to 118.1-ft (36 m) extendable swing-away jib.

It's a Dream

The Beyel Brothers mobilised the AC 250-1 directly from a jobsite involving water tower maintenance to support work on the Disney Cruise Lines majestic Disney Dream cruise ship. The job consisted of the Beyel Brothers' crew hoisting and placing the panels that surround and cover the exhaust stacks at the top of the ship. Additionally, the AC 250-1 set the radar dome that establishes satellite communication between the ship and mainland.

With the cruise ship's 14 towering decks and 125 ft (38.1 m) width, the job required a crane with a long reach to hoist the 2,000 lb (9 t) panels in place atop the 4,000 passenger ship. If the main boom weren't long enough, then the crew would need to add a jib to finish the job.

To handle lifting up to 5,000-lb (2.2 t) skids of supporting material for the panel and radar dome project, the Beyel Brothers equipped the AC 250-1 with only the main boom. The crews used all of the flat counterweights and one cheek weight per side for the lift.

To finish the project on time, the crew moved the crane to the port the night before the lifts. The AC 250-1 all-terrain crane began hoisting panels first thing the next morning. In all, the AC 250-1 performed 25 lifts between positioning the panels, placing the radar dome and lifting pallets of material to the work area.

Sound Suppression

After the cruise maintenance job was done, the AC 250-1 was mobilised back to the water tower project at Kennedy Space Centre's launch pad 39B, where it had been working for a couple of weeks. Filled with 10,000 gallon (37,854 l) of water, the towers supply water to the sound suppression systems at the launch pad. The system ejects water onto the launch pad to suppress the sound of a rocket launch.

As with the Disney Dream project, the Beyel Brothers reaped the benefits from the 262.5 ft (80 m) main boom length offered by the AC 250-1. The bulk of the project required replacing the clevis and pin bracing in between the tower and the frame. Hoisting material to heights reaching up to 190 ft (58 m), Matt Beyel worked with just the AC 250-1's main boom for the majority of the project.

With these projects successfully completed by using the flexible AC 250-1, the Beyel Brothers are considering the addition of more Terex models to its 80-plus fleet of Terex cranes. This time they are looking for 170 US tonne (140 t) capacity models. While the flexibility of the crane design makes the Beyel Brothers prefer Terex, the support received by their Terex Cranes distributor has also kept them coming back.