Koehring 205 dragline question

I have seen booms erected and lowered with the use of a cherry picker to hold the boom while the cables were run thru the sheaves and gantry

depends on weather it is a live boom or not. if it isn't a live boom and the dog isn't engaged but it probably it or should be then you can lower the boom by slowly releasing the boom brake and letting it down. i still would want the engine though just in case the brake is rusty and wont stop the downward movement. can you post some pics of the peddles and the levers i the cab? if the boom isn't live there should be a small peddle between the drag and hoist brake peddles, that would be the boom hoist brake. the center lever should then have three positions, back towards you engages the drum and out or push away from you engages the boom hoist. if you can get the engine to run or even run the starter you can barely lift the boom and disengage the boom hoist dog with the lever on the left side of the cab near the floor. and then carefully push down on the center peddle on the floor until the boom begins to slip. you will have to carefully feather the brake so that the boom doesn't gain enough momentum to overcome the boom hoist brake that you engage by releasing the peddle on the floor. if you panic and push on the peddle in order to stop the boom you will drop and bend the boom.:baby:

Hi, Lady Cat Skinner.
A foreman whom I worked under in days long gone once gave me a tip about lowering heavy loads more gently on the hoist rope on a Link Belt LS78 crane. I can't see any reason why the same trick wouldn't work on any crane that has a separate master clutch. On the Link Belt, it required that the engine be running 'cos for it had hydraulic controls but full manual controls would not need the engine running - - - I think.

He said to start by disengaging the master clutch, pull the hoist control into the raise position, lighten the pressure on the brake pedal and make the lowering load turn all the gears backwards to increase the resistance against the lowering load without having to rely totally on the hoist brake. It worked a treat.

I am not familiar with the Koehring 205 to know whether it has hydraulic or manual controls. How-wevver, if it does have all manual controls, this trick should give you much better control over the lowering of the boom without the engine running. Even if it does have hydraulic controls, you may be able to tap into the main pressure line from the pump and supply power from an external source. How-wevver, this would require a recovery line for the oil sent to those hydraulics, probably by diverting the return line to the crane's hydraulic tank back to the source unit..

Hope it helps and please keep us posted on progress.

Just my 0.02. Best of luck.

[attachment=44524]20170903_141227.jpg[/attachment]

This is the pic I got today when we checked it out.

Hi, Lady cat Skinner.
Here is your photo, tilted and enlarged.

[attachment=44525]Koehring 205 dragline controls_1XL_Acmoc.jpg[/attachment]

Hmmmm???? Seems the enlarging didn't work but it is now right way up.

Looking at that photo, it seems that the controls might be air boosted or air operated. If so, and if there is a master clutch as well, you may only need to charge the air system to have controls to lower the boom. Your friendly local lowboy driver may be able to help, with and air hose and maybe a couple of fittings.

Just my 0.02.

i don't think it is an air boosted machine but to be sure look at the engine for an air compressor and air gauges near the operator. the two center peddles are the boom hoist brake control peddles. the top one releases the brake and lowers the boom and the bottom one engages the brake. they work in unison so you have to use both feet to feather and lower the boom. the lever on the left lower should be the boom dog. you will need to push forward on the center control to engage the boom hoist and bump the starter to get the pressure off of the dog. then pull on the dog release lever to disengage the dog. at this time the only thing holding the boom will be the brake. put both feet on the center set of peddles and gently push on the top one until the boom begins to slip. when it does just try releasing the top peddle and see if the boom will stop and it will. if it doesn't stop then push down on the rear peddle until it does. continue untill the boom is down. just a little at a time.😉 i could be wrong about the location of the boom dog release lever so first find the boom hoist drum and follow the linkage until you find the correct lever. probably a good idea to do the same with the boom hoist clutch to identify to lever to engage the boom hoist.

Hi, CaptainHowdy.
It seems you know a little more about these Koehring 205s than I do. Do you think it would be possible to have the boom hoist clutch engaged while lowering the boom, thus making the gear train turn backwards, in order to have more resistance for the unspooling boom hoist drum to overcome and thus reduce the load on the brake?

A kew-ree-yuss mind would like to know.

Just my 0.02.

Hi, CaptainHowdy.
It seems you know a little more about these Koehring 205s than I do. Do you think it would be possible to have the boom hoist clutch engaged while lowering the boom, thus making the gear train turn backwards, in order to have more resistance for the unspooling boom hoist drum to overcome and thus reduce the load on the brake?

A kew-ree-yuss mind would like to know.

Just my 0.02.

Lady-

Not sure how you figure to get it loaded without the engine running, but it would seem another machine might be necessary. That could be an end loader (ideally with forks) that could be used to lower the boom and assist in loading also. A boom truck would expedite getting the boom down too. Backing down through a lot of rusty gears and brakes which have not functioned in years might be too risky IMO. Maybe a snatch block with doubled up cable if it has a gantry (probably doesn't on that small a rig) run out to a truck which could pull enough to get the dog released might be a consideration. It is fun to think of all the possibilities.

The engine is probably a Buda Diesel after AC bought them.

Have fun with it and don't forget the pictures so we can "ride: along!

JanM