New Favco luffing tower crane for US market

The first M900F-ST H32 undergoing performance testing at the Favco facility in Australia

Tower crane manufacturer Favelle Favco has a new luffing jib model for the US market, the 64 tonne capacity M900F-ST H32 with reduced tail swing.

It is one model in the new M900F series of luffers. With a 36.6 metre (120 foot) boom it will lift 64 tonnes on two falls of rope at a 15 metre (50 foot) radius or 32 tonnes (70,100 pounds) at a 33.5 metre (110 foot) radius on a single fall of rope. With the maximum 73 metre (241 foot) boom it’ll lift 39 tonnes (87,000 pounds) at 12 metres (40 feet) and 7.5 tonnes at a radius of 71.5 metres (234.6 feet) on two falls. This crane can also be rigged to lift 96 tonnes with a three-fall block. At the time of writing a load chart for this was still in the works.

Four units are sold to TES Inc, USA, with the first unit due to arrive in New York City by the third quarter of 2021. Until now super high rise projects in New York City have typically used Favco M440E and M760E models. In comparison, the new M900F-ST H32 will out lift the M760E by nearly 40 percent at maximum radius, according to the company. All four units will be in 64 tonne configuration.

As an example, with a 73.4 metre boom, the M900F-ST H32 can lift 7.8 tonnes whereas the M760E lifts 5.4 tonnes at a 70 metre radius. On a single fall of rope the M900F-ST H32 lifts light loads up to 15 tonnes at 66.2 metres a minute. With heavy loads it will do 32 tonnes at 33.7 metres a minute.

The main hydraulic hoist winch is a 400 hp unit giving maximum line speeds of 111 metres a minute (364 feet a minute) on one fall and 55 metres a minute (180 feet a minute) on two falls. The 220 hp luffing winch will raise the boom in 2.5 minutes.

Fly jib option

As on the previous M760E the new M900F-ST H32 has the same 12 tonne capacity fly type auxiliary jib for panel rotation, personnel lifting and lifting light loads at high speed.

A significant improvement is the new model’s reduced tail radius (denoted by the ST in the model name) of 7,634 mm compared with the standard M900D at 9,196 mm. The tail radius of the M900F-ST H32 is the same as on the M760E-ST used in New York City. It is considerably less than the standard Model M760E’s tail radius of 9,060 mm.

On the 3 x 3 metre (9.9 x 9.9 feet) T763 tower system, as used on the M760E, the new model will free stand at 44 metres.

Diesel power

Power for the M900F-ST H32 is from a Caterpillar C13 or a C15 Tier 4 diesel with up to 540 hp. Of the four units of M900F-ST H32 being delivered to the USA later in 2021, two of them will have the C15 Tier 4 engines while the other two will have the C13 Tier 4 engines. Output of the The C13-T4 is similar to the C15-T4 and does not need an EGR cooler.

Control for the crane is via the latest version of the Favelle Favco LINEC (Load Indicator and Electronic Control system) operating system.

Test weights on the new Favelle Favco M900F-ST H32