Marks Crane helps out at Texas Tech

The Robert H. Ewalt Student Recreation Center of Texas Tech University offers 242,000 square feet of activity space enabling more than 35,000 students, faculty and staff to participate in almost any indoor recreational activity imaginable. When recent renovations to the center’s 53-foot tall rock climbing wall required the use of a Genie scissor lift that was too large to fit through any of the facility’s doors, they called in Marks Crane of Lubbock, TX.

“This job was unique, as lots of our jobs are,” said Justin Moffett, branch manager, Marks Crane. “The construction crew needed a scissor lift to take down a rock climbing wall inside the facility, but it was too large to go through any other doors and the area had stairs leading down to the doors, which prevented the crew from simply driving the scissor lift down to the doors. Using our Terex Explorer 5600 all terrain crane, we hoisted the 17,500-pound Genie GS-5390 scissor lift down into an area at the back of the recreation center.”

The crew was able to get to the project site in 40 minutes with just one transport. Once on site, Moffett’s crews took an hour and a half to set-up the crane and get ready for the lift.

“It was very important to the university that we preserve the landscape as much as possible during the project,” said Moffett. “We had to access the site through a small alley and then set-up on a manicured, sloped lawn so we had to be careful to not spin the tires while maneuvering into place. Once we had the crane in place, we used mats under it to distribute the pressure of the machine’s weight evenly over the ground.”

Configured with a 94.5-foott main boom, 36,600 pounds of counterweight and full outriggers (26.7 x 24.6 feet), the 180-ton Terex Explorer 5600 picked the scissor lift up 7 feet off the ground at a 45-foot radius to get it up and over the facility’s outside wall and then lowered it 15 feet down into the location.

“This was the right crane for the project because of its compact size and excellent maneuverability,” said Moffett. “We were really able to show off its capabilities.”