Grove M977 Crane

[Jones]

The holding valves do stick and/or get dirty but they're pretty straightforward and come apart easily for cleaning. By all means, try cleaning them first; new ones are close to $200.00 each and every ram has one.
HEMTT Helpful Hint # 26: if you got the outrigger assy too, all the holding valves are the same.
Another thing to consider is that they need a minimum (crack) pressure to release and you may not be getting there. All that should be in the stuff I emailed you.

Somewhere around here I've got shipping weights from Oshkosh for the crane assy. and the outrigger assy. Will try to look them up for you.

 

[BFR]

sounds good and remember, we like pics!

 

[Fawteen]

The holding valves do stick and/or get dirty but they're pretty straightforward and come apart easily for cleaning. By all means, try cleaning them first; new ones are close to $200.00 each and every ram has one.
HEMTT Helpful Hint # 26: if you got the outrigger assy too, all the holding valves are the same.
Another thing to consider is that they need a minimum (crack) pressure to release and you may not be getting there. All that should be in the stuff I emailed you.

I pulled them out yesterday. Clean as a hound's tooth. I backed off the preload on them about 5 turns and that helped, along with feathering the control. I think the basic problem here is that my pump needs more motor on it. I'll be scrounging around in the motor room for a 7.5 or 10 horse that'll fit.

 

[Fawteen]

sounds good and remember, we like pics!

I'll try. Corporate Weenies are pretty touchy about publishing pictures of the plant, but I may be able to work out a reason for "archival" purposes...

 

[cranetruck]

I know you can get more out of electric motors than shown on the data plate, but 5 Hp is minimal for this crane IMHO. My crane is approx the same as the Grove in capacity and would require 10 Hp (10 GPM/2,500 psi) for proper operation....

 

[Fawteen]

Yep, I'd already come to that conclusion. Gonna get a quote coming for a Tenner...

 

[Fawteen]

Also, talked to the Plant Manager, he's so tickled with the info I'm getting here that he said take and post all the pictures I want.

They'll be coming...

 

[mudguppy]

... The design pressure is 100 bar (about 700 psi), which for our understanding is quite low. My setting is now at 125 bar. ...

fyi:

100 bar = 1450 psi
125 bar = 1813 psi

 

[Fawteen]

Thanks, Travis.

 

[Fawteen]

I'm Baaa-ack!

Bethcha thought I'd forgot all about ya.

As of the end of the work day today, the crane is mounted, plumbed and semi-operational. We put a 10 horse motor on the pump, and bumped the hoses from the pump to the valve bank up to 1" which helped quite a lot. It'll still haul the motor down hard if you get carried away with the boom valve, but otherwise it operates well.

I'll take my camera to work tomorrow and get pix. Won't be able to post them until I get home.

Several interesting glitches along the way. Biggest one was that we paid a licensed engineer to design and build a mount and specify how to tie the mount into the wharf framing. The mount is HUGE, 10' square made out of 8" H beam with a big ol' welded box for the actual bolt points on the crane frame.

I shudder to think what we paid that engineer, particularly since the mounting box didn't even come close to working. This bozo came down and took measurements and digital pictures and made notes and then designed a mount that didn't take into account all the hoses and drive motors hanging under the crane frame. We wound up taking a torch to all four of the cross braces inside the box to make room.

When we emailed marked up pictures of what needed to be removed his only comment was "Yeah, go ahead and cut it." WTF??? I'm real glad I didn't sign off on that POS.

Anyway, it's in place and everything works. Just need to get the remote box built and get a 24v power supply wired up for the solenoids.

If anyone want's pics of any particular aspect of this installation, let me know here and I'll check in the morning before I start taking pictures.

 

[Fawteen]

Here's a couple of quick pictures. One shows the crane and the modified mount tieing it to the wharf.

The other is the pump we're using, 10HP 480V 3-phase motor driving a variable displacement piston pump, 3000PSI max, don't know the GPM off the top of my head.

 

[BFR]

I like it! do you have to do anything special to protect the rams with it that close to the water?

 

[cranetruck]

Looks good! The GPM that you need should be about 10. Check the Grainger catalog for info on motors, they ave "high torque" models that may be more comfy with the load.
One day I'll have a dedicated motor/pump for the HIAB, never liked to run the multifuel at low rpms (1,000-1,500) for hours and hours on end....

 

[Fawteen]

I like it! do you have to do anything special to protect the rams with it that close to the water?

About all we can do is make sure it's stowed with all the rams closed at the end of the day.

I'll be training the Boat Unload crew on it here in a couple of days and I'll make that point VERY strongly. As in "If you leave it erected, you WILL be called from home to stow it properly and you WILL NOT be paid for that time."

Think they'll get the hint?

 

[Fawteen]

Looks good! The GPM that you need should be about 10. Check the Grainger catalog for info on motors, they ave "high torque" models that may be more comfy with the load.
One day I'll have a dedicated motor/pump for the HIAB, never liked to run the multifuel at low rpms (1,000-1,500) for hours and hours on end....

That motor/pump combo seems to work pretty well, especially once the mast is erected and the boom gets up past 90 degrees.

 

[rmgill]

About all we can do is make sure it's stowed with all the rams closed at the end of the day.

I'll be training the Boat Unload crew on it here in a couple of days and I'll make that point VERY strongly. As in "If you leave it erected, you WILL be called from home to stow it properly and you WILL NOT be paid for that time."

Think they'll get the hint?

ANd if the seals break because of the rust on the pistons, make em break the system down for rebuild.

 

[Fawteen]

ANd if the seals break because of the rust on the pistons, make em break the system down for rebuild.

Hah! THAT bunch of hammerheads? They could break the horn off an anvil with a croquet mallet.

I've got 4 years more-or-less until retirement. Hopefully that particular issue won't come up between now and then...

 

[Fawteen]

Just a couple of more pictures of the crane doing what we bought it to do.

First picture is three fishing boats tied up to our wharf. You can't see the third one, it's behind the big black one. The one closest to the wharf is from about 1920. Wooden construction, fiberglassed over and all the modern electronics.

Second picture shows the fishvac hose in the hold of the boat and the remote laying to the left of the hatcdh. The boat drivers really seem to like the remote, it saves them trying to get the attention of the Transvac operator and get him to put the hose where they want it.

 

[jarhead65]

Holy Bat, ****man! I just got a quote back from Manitowoc/Grove on a new remote for the 977. $4600+!!! Obviously, that ain't happening.

I've got the CD on order, hopefully that will include a wiring diagram.

I'll be building a remote from scratch, shouldn't be unduly difficult. Four DPDT rocker switches, a 24v power supply and some cable. Thanks to Jones for confirming my suspicion that it was a 24v system.

Wolf.Dose, might it be possible to get some pictures of how you mounted your crane for stationary use?

We'll be mounting the crane to a subframe on our wharf and using it for unloading fishing boats. Seeing as I'll be buildinging my own remote, I'll include a cable long enough to hand the remote control to the guys on the boat and letting them run the crane, which will free up one of my guys.

Assuming I'm successful in building a remote, I'd be happy to provide plans and parts sources to anyone interested.

Thanks for all the info, guys!

Paul

since you are working on a 977 crane would you be totally put out to help me with mine, when we purchased it some one had a great idea to remove the crane and make it into a flat bed....didn't happen so when we got it they had ripped the wires out and I have been beating my head trying to figure out where the supply is to power the crane from truck. Please find it in your soul to help a dumb Marine to figure it out? Thank you in advance.

 

[Jones]

I've got some TMs strewn throughout my computer and there might be something of use. Here's an example;