The transformer among crawler cranes: ultra-compact and emission-free

A crane goes into a furniture store. This might sound like the first line of a joke, but it in fact describes a typical application of the PALFINGER PCC 57.002 crawler crane. This particular job involved the removal of two escalators – quickly, with precision, but with no dust, noise or exhaust gases, and all in an extremely tight space.

Crane operator Gerhard Hager will remember this job for a long time to come. A renowned Austrian furniture retailer wanted to have two escalators removed from its outlet, a job that posed a tricky problem

. One alternative was simply to cut up the escalators, but this is extremely time consuming, very noisy, creates a lot of dust and is extremely unpleasant for customers. Or they could be lifted out with a crane after the store has closed for the day – that is, if you can get to them with a crane. Gerhard Hager faced a high-precision challenge.

A real transformer – from small to big

Thanks to the PALFINGER PCC 57.002 crawler crane, Hager completed his mission with ease. The crawler crane is ideal for deployments in very tight spaces. And the entrance area was one such space. But the crane’s compact dimensions – just 1.9 meters wide and 2.1 meters high – allowed it to maneuver easily and with purpose through the 2.2-meter-high main entrance before unfolding to its full size in the large hall, just like a real transformer.

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Perfectly balanced

Equipped with flexible telescopic stabilizers and a longitudinal and lateral shifting system, it precisely positioned itself in the optimum starting position for each maneuver. It also offered another feature that was a real boon inside the furniture store: An electric motor means that the PCC 57.002 is completely emission-free, which allowed the work on the two escalators – each weighing five metric tons – to be completed without the smell of diesel and clouds of exhaust gases. The job was also completed in a very short space of time.

The only solution

“Especially in building construction, you are constantly faced with new challenges where you reach your limits and have to develop whole new concepts and solutions to achieve your objectives,” says STRABAG construction technician Michael Eisshofer. He adds: “We opted for the PALFINGER crawler crane because the building could be accessed only through a very, very tight doorway, so it was the only solution.”