Old timer warned me about bridge cranes at the Port of Seattle

Back in March a retired guy named Jim told me not to trust the load indicator on the 50-ton bridge crane near Pier 86. I figured he was just being old school, but last week it showed 48 tons on a lift that felt way heavier. Turns out the sensor was off by nearly 12 tons. Has anyone else had calibration issues with older bridge cranes?

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the_kai5mo ago

Old Jim saved your bacon. Those older sensors drift like crazy and nobody calibrates them.

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miawalker5mo ago

Oh man, old Jim sounds like he knew what he was talking about. Reminds me of a time I worked at a scrapyard for a summer, and this crusty foreman kept warning me about the weigh scale on the magnet crane. Said it was "optimistic" by about 5,000 pounds. Sure enough, I lifted a load of steel beams that felt like a monster, the readout said 7 tons, but the concrete pad cracked underneath and the whole thing nearly tipped over. Had to get a mobile crane out to unstick us.

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