Found out the hard limit on my old man's 40 ton is wind, not weight, and it took a 1972 manual to show me | Crane Operators

Casey Hill · 2026-10-07T05:50:03.79376+00:00

My dad ran a 40 ton Grove for 20 years and always said wind was the real boss, but I never got why until I found the load chart tucked in his old manual from 1972. Turns out at 60 feet of boom, you lose something like 25 percent of your capacity once wind hits 20 mph, and that number gets worse fast the higher you go. I always figured weight was the number that mattered most, but the chart clearly shows the wind column sitting right next to it for a reason. Spent an afternoon at the yard in Tulsa testing this with the guy who bought the machine, just watching how much the boom tip moves when a gust rolls through. Makes me wish every new operator got handed that old chart on day one instead of learning it the hard way out on a pour. Anyone here keep a wind meter on the job and actually cut the lift over it, or do most guys go by feel?

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Found out the hard limit on my old man's 40 ton is wind, not weight, and it took a 1972 manual to show me | Crane Operators - The Design Community Hub