sorry i don't post much on here anymore, seems everyone has some sort of social media these days and its a lot easier and quicker to post photos on those platforms rather than here. but ill post a few photos here for the guys who don't have social media.
The 650 is very very nice! I'm very happy with it. now as I've said before and will always say, you will never get a perfect model that everyone is happy with and no complaints. just not ever going to happen, as everyone has their own likes/dislikes, opinions.
As Paul stated above, the main boom equalizer/bridle drum and luffing drum did not have enough line to boom down, if you see in my assembly video, i get halfway through reeving the bridle and run out of line, and end up pulling it off and replacing it with my own (ycc line). and i reeved the the buffer with the line supplied, but thats the lowest angle it will go, no more line in the drum. i was going to change it out in the video but ill have to take the boom apart to get to that drum, its the small drum in the boom butt. now if you have seen Ians (cranes etc) video of when he visited the factory where these are being built, he shows the workers adding the line to each drum, so not all drums will have the same amount of line. mine happened to be short, by a lot. but thats not a big issue for me as i have a few spools i can replace it with, to others it may be. also, the line provided with the first batch of 650s, for some reason is wax coated line. the line is actually not too bad, it actually makes reeving easier as the line is stiffer, but it does have a waxy feel. i have talked to milo, the engineer on the mlcs, and he said the line provided is not what he planned on using, so the guys at the factory are to blame on that, and I'm positive he will, if not already, talk with those guys to resolve the issues with the line.
Now, assembly went together very easily, except, i would recommend taking the luffing struts off once you assemble the boom, it was pretty difficult to get in there to the sheave guide for the luffer and to attach the main boom pendants to the boom top, the struts are in the way. but YES, THEY DO COME OFF EASILY, they are just bolted to the top, just about everything on this model uses tiny nuts and bolts, like nzg only these are black.
The pendants are very thin also, so be careful when handling them, they can bend super easy.
The a frame is operated by 2 separate drums, as most collectors know with the a frames that are reeved with 2 lines/split drum, one side tends to go slack while the other is tight, with this system, you can wind both up, and one at a time, whichever side needs it.
The entire crane is able to be disassembled, even the tracks, although they were attached to the rotating bed in the box. everything is bolted or screwed together, the only thing that isn't are the house jacks, they use steel pins to lock them into position.
The drums have a locking mechanism, not quite as good as nzg but same idea.
All the sheaves are metal and individual, and roll very smoothly. not a lot of play in them like past manitowoc models, except the far outside sheaves on the luffer struts, 1 on each side, they do have a lot of space to tilt, rest are fine.
It comes with 3 hooks, the headache ball (which for the first time I've ever seen, actually swivels), a 3 sheave block, and the big block (14 sheave), which however can not be split apart, all riveted together, but all the hooks swing and swivel. the big block is not too bad to reeve, its like the cc8800 blocks with the enclosed sheaves so the line slides right through with the sheave. the 3 sheave block however is not the same, has a hole underneath so it will be more difficult to reeve than the bigger one.
The VPC works flawlessly. It has a toothed rail underneath the house and vpc-max sliding arm, and there are rubber rollers in the tray and vpc (motor) that help hold the tray in position, no pins. the vpc-max arm seems a little tight to slide, as you can feel the arm sliding over the toothed rail. but seems realistic.
Mine was short 1 of the short bolts, (used for the pendants) but i have a couple spare longer ones that i could use. have about 6 extras of those. however ben says he was short quite a few on his. which is why he doesn't have his up yet. but he has some on the way already.
The manual is very nice, its all color photos, and laminated. shows reeving diagrams for the bridle and luffer, nothing for the hooks except which way to run the line for the block. and nothing for the a frame as it comes reeved already. **id save the clear plastic spacer that holds up the a frame if you plan on reconfiguring the model at some point** however, the manual tells you to cross reeve, which wasn't bad on the bridle, it actually raises and lowers fine, the luffer does not though, i ended up reeving it left to right. and tied it off onto one of the many holes on the sides. everything has tie off points/beckets.
It stands at 85 inches tall.
Well i think thats enough rambling. i will get a review out soon, ian will probably have his up before me id say
vpc all the way in and all the way out
heres the outside sheaves i mentioned were loose on the struts
Brandon
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