Link-Belt 348 SII lifts incinerator stack flues in Jamesville, NY

JPW Erectors Inc. of Syracuse, New York, took delivery of a Link-Belt 300-ton (272-metric ton) 348 Series 2 lattice crawler crane and luffer in the first quarter of 2024 from local Link-Belt dealer Wood’s CRW. The 348 Series 2 is one of three lattice crawler cranes owned by JPW Erectors, including a 2013 348 HYLAB 5 with luffing attachment.

“I ran our 348 HYLAB 5 since we got it over 10 years ago. We kept that 348 HYLAB busy, but we really are impressed and happy with the changes in the new-style 348 Series 2 with combo top. We have a great relationship with the local dealer, Wood’s CRW, and were able to trade in the older HYLAB and really like the functionality and smoothness of putting together this new luffer,” said JPW Erectors Owner and operator Jody Wozniczka.

The Job

The crane and luffer were delivered to the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Facility in Jamesville, New York, for a six-month project dismantling and replacing 1,000 feet (304 meters) of kiln stack at the facility.

The facility converts waste into energy with an on-site furnace, which reaches temperatures of 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (982 degrees Celsius) and can produce up to 39 megawatts of electricity an hour. The roughly 300-foot-tall (91.4-meter-tall) stack has three separate flues that needed replacement.

Two flues were required to stay active during the process. Each flue was dismantled in 45-foot (13.7-meter) sections and removed up through the top opening of the stack with the 348 Series 2. The sections weighed between 9,000 and 11,000 pounds (4,082 and 4,989 kilograms). The replacement sections are carbon steel up until the point they reach the top of the stack, where they transition to stainless steel.

“We had very little clearance on the inside when lifting out the old sections and placing the new ones back. At the opening of the stack at the very top, we have less than a quarter inch all the way around, so it’s very tight,” said Chip Tourot, JPW Erectors crane division project manager.

The 348 Series 2 was fitted with 200 feet (60.9 meters) of luffing boom and 160 feet (48.7 meters) of luffing jib for the project. This attachment provided the needed radius (133 feet [40.5 meters] to the stack) to lift to the top of the stack and lower the old sections for transport. Another Link-Belt, a 120-ton (110-metric ton) 120|RT rough terrain crane, was also used as an assist crane for multiple lift tripping, loading, and offloading old and new flue sections.

Site Setup

The close proximity of nearby Rock Cut Road to the south of the location gave JPW Erectors a very small footprint to work from. The existing power station was to the north of where the crane was to be located.

“We spent a lot of time thinking about the site setup for this project. The customer did borings, and we provided extra ground bearing calculations, utilized 3D Liftplan — You name it. We realized we’re going to have to raise the pad for the crane four feet. The customer brought in 75-foot-long (22.9-meter-long) ramps and used gravel, and JPW Erectors provided crane mats to get things set up correctly. The customer was very accommodating in that way, so it went very smoothly, but there was a lot of thought put into, ‘Where do we position the crane?’

“It helps that we had Dale Macklen. He’s just a highly experienced crane operator. I tell people all the time he’s the best in New York. We had high winds — We utilized a lot of wind charts for this job — and working in upstate New York in January and February, you’ve got a lot of weather-related elements with Lake Ontario nearby, and he just did a really great job,” Tourot said.