A crane is like any other piece of construction equipment; it can experience wear from regular usage and damage from weather, accidents, and other events. To avoid major problems, a daily inspection of the crane is highly recommended. The inspection can reveal slight issues like a minor surface ding in an unimportant spot, or serious issues that could stop you from using the crane until a crane repair service can take a look. If you see signs of these three things, you need to call that repair service now.

Cracked Seals or O-Rings

Any rubber parts, like seals or o-rings, will eventually crack due to UV damage from sunlight, or a lack of moisture due to low humidity levels over the years. When you start to see cracking, have a repair service further inspect the item and determine if it's just a cosmetic crack that doesn't affect how well the seal or o-ring works, or if it's a sign the part is too old to be used.

Wear Patterns on the Rope

The steel rope in the crane is strong but subject to wear just like everything else. And a lot can cause gradual damage to the rope that adds up; one day the rope might just look old, but the next it might look like it's starting to fray because that's the day that the minor damage finally added up to too much. Don't use the rope if you see wear patterns or fraying; have a crane repair service replace the rope. Note that even if the rope appears fine, you'll occasionally want to test it to ensure thermal damage hasn't affected its strength or caused a layer of something called martensite to form on the surface of the rope, which can affect the structural integrity of the rope.

Hook or Hoist Drift

When you stop the crane, what keeps moving? The hook dangling from the wire might have a little extra momentum, but that's expected. Everything else should stop. If the hoist keeps moving, however, even a little bit, that is not good. Something is wrong with the brake mechanism that is supposed to stop the hoist from moving once you stop the crane. This is an urgent repair because a drifting hoist can not only create a lot of damage if it drifts right into another structure, but it also is a sign that the crane itself is about to fail.

It could be that what you found is easy to fix, or it could be that you found the first visible signs of a major problem. In either case, the repair company will fix them, and you'll be able to use the crane knowing it will hold up.

For more information on crane repair services, contact a professional near you.