A crane guy named Vern told me to quit babying the swing brake at the tire plant in Tyler, and my first 3 picks after that were smooth as glass | Crane Operators

Nina Murphy · 2026-10-07T15:45:05.739476+00:00

Back when I was running a 60 ton crawler at a tire plant job in Tyler, Texas maybe 8 years ago, this old operator named Vern who had been swinging stick since the early 80s pulled me aside. He told me I was riding the swing brake way too hard, feathering it like I was scared of it, and that half my wobble on the load was me, not the machine. I told him the book says ease it in, and he just laughed and said the book never lifted a 4 ton mold in a crosswind. So I tried it his way, one firm steady stop instead of a hundred little taps, and the load settled dead level on the first 3 picks. Took me a solid week to trust it, but he was right, jerky hands make a jerky hook. Only thing he got wrong was telling me to stand the same way on every pick no matter what, my back still reminds me of that advice to this day. Anybody else get taught one way in school and then have some old hand flip it on you in the field?

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A crane guy named Vern told me to quit babying the swing brake at the tire plant in Tyler, and my first 3 picks after that were smooth as glass | Crane Operators - The Design Community Hub