More than 900 attend Link-Belt CraneFest 2015

Horse racing, Kentucky bourbon and Link-Belt cranes. Attendees of Link-Belt’s CraneFest enjoyed a sampling of all of these September 28-October 2 in Lexington, KY. The highlight of the four CraneFest sessions was the introduction of three new Link-Belt cranes, the TCC-1400 telecrawler, the the 100-RT rough terrain crane and the HTC-86110 truck crane.

Intermittent rain during a few of the sessions didn’t dampen spirits of the more than 900-plus crane rental executives, crane owners, contractors, distributor personnel and media who attended CraneFest 2015. Guests were treated to a cocktail hour and prime rib dinner at the historic Keeneland Thoroughbred Racecourse, which will host the prestigious Breeders’ Cup 2015 in late October 2015.

CraneFest attendees were given a comprehensive factory tour that included a look at the company’s new Burkhardt + Weber MCX 1200 HVP, a machining center used for Link-Belt’s boom production process. The cranes presentation included every model in the company’s product line with emphasis on the three new machines.

The 140 US-ton TCC-1400 widens Link-Belt’s telescopic crawler offering, which now spans from 50 to 140 tons with four models. Link-Belt said the TCC-1400 features the longest boom length for a telecrawler in this tonnage class. A six-section power, pin and latch boom measures 195.4 ft. (59.5 m) and incorporates Teflon wear pucks to eliminate the need for boom grease. The boom, fabricated from ultra-high-strength steel formed in Link-Belt’s own facility, will offer outstanding telescoping load capability. An on-board three-piece bi-fold lattice fly will give the crane a maximum tip height of 259 ft. (78.9 m), the company said.
Also rolled out was the 100RT. Link-Belt said the 100 US-ton (90-mt) rough terrain crane builds on the current “mid-size” class of Link-Belt rough terrain cranes. The 100RT has a six-section pin and latch boom with a length of 164 ft. (50 m) and maximum tip height of 261.7 ft. (79.8 m). A three piece bi-fold, on-board fly with an integrated 10 ft. (3.0 m) section is available and can be manually offset.

The new Link-Belt HTC-86110 has a base rating of 110 US-tons (90 mt). The 86110 features a 164 ft. (50m) main boom that outreaches the truck crane competition and challenges European-built all terrain cranes in its class, the company said. The main boom tip height is 172.6 ft. (52.6m). Available is a 58 ft. (17.6m) on-board fly that features four offset positions of 2, 15, 30 and 45 degrees, and an innovative approach for erecting and stowing, focusing heavily on minimizing the number of times a ladder is needed. A demonstration was given to show the ease of erecting and stowing the fly and jib.