16.07.2013

Two Terex ATs for Beyel

US based crane rental company Beyel Crane & Rigging has taken delivery of a new 350 tonne Terex AC 350/6 and a 250 tonne AC 250-1. The new cranes were purchased through distributor, Renegar-Driggers Machinery of Miami.

The first job for the AC350/6 was to remove a large overhead crane from the Space Shuttle’s Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center Florida. At 160 metres - the tallest single storey building in the world.

Beyel installed the overhead crane in 1977 when the Shuttle programme was just getting underway, but due to available crane technology had to use a complex winching system to lift the components into place – 31 metres above the ground.

Removing it was a lot simpler, using the newAC350/6 rigged with 116.7 tonnes of counterweight and 40.7 metres of main boom. The heaviest lift involved the 45.4 tonne drum and cable trolley assembly. Working at a 13.7 metre radius the crane managed the lift without moving outside NASA's requirement that cranes do not go above 75 percent of their maximum load chart capacity.
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The new AC350/6 prepares to lift one of the 24 metre beams down

The crane was ordered with a Sideways Superlift system, but did not require it for this contract. The two bulkiest lifts consisted of the 24.4 metre long bridge beam girders, one weighing 24 tonnes and the other 18 tonnes. Once on the ground they cut in to seven metre sections for transport.

Beyel Brothers and Beyer Crane & Rigging are owned by Steve Beyel and his brothers Joseph, Philip, Danny and Mark. The business began in New York, 100 years ago with great grandfather Dan Beyel, who started a hauling and rigging business with horse-drawn carriages. The business moved to Florida in the mid-1970s and expanded its services to include rigging and hauling work for the aerospace industry.

Beyel Brothers was formed in 1989 when the brothers bought out their father. Today the fleet includes truck, All Terrain, Rough Terrain and crawler cranes from Terex, Grove, Manitowoc, Liebherr and Link Belt cranes, operating from five branches and five satellites across Florida.