Shoutout to the guy who convinced me to try a luffing jib

I was dead set against luffing jibs for years, thought they were overrated for the price. Then last month on a job in Pittsburgh, my buddy Mike let me run his Liebherr with a luffing jib on a tight site. Now I get why he swore by it - that thing saved us 2 days of setup time in a spot where a normal boom would've hit a building. Has anyone else had a similar change of heart on gear they brushed off?

2 comments

2 Comments

troy_owens25d ago

Luffing jibs have their place but it's a narrow one. I've seen guys drop serious coin on a luffing rig for one tight job and then it sits in the yard for two years because every other site they get has room for a standard boom. You saved two days on setup but you probably paid for that in extra rigging time and fuel burn with the luffing jib. Mike's situation worked out but that doesn't mean it's the right tool for everyone. I'll take a standard boom and a little planning over a luffing jib most days.

butler.brian25d ago

Pittsburgh was actually where I first ran a luffing jib too, on a 300 ton Liebherr back in 2018. We were setting steel on a hospital expansion and the street was barely two lanes wide with a church on one side. My foreman rented the luffer for that one job and I was pissed about the extra transport cost. But that rig let us pick straight down into a hole without swinging the load over parked cars or pedestrian traffic. We finished that steel set in three days instead of the five we bid. I still think standard booms are the better call for most work, but that job made me a believer for tight urban sites with zero room to maneuver. I wouldn't buy one unless I knew I had three or four jobs lined up that needed it, but for a rental on the right project, it's worth every penny.