while at putz training school, you are told if you pick the rear tires off the ground it takes some of the sway out of the boom.  Pumps are weight balanced at the factory with all tires off the ground. 

Munir

It was required on this job to raise the front end to level the pump. He is not just doing it for no reason. The front of the pump was pointing down hill and he had to raise it up so that he was within the 3deg of level. His back tires are still on the ground.  

Rear tires are on the ground and pump is level

It has been my experience each pump and boom size is unique.Once an operator figures his machine out he moves on to a different learning curve.What does concern me is the "super booms" and the stability of outriggers while extended.

Looks like a great setup under the jobsite requirments.

The only reason i raise the front is because on my 61m the hoppers to high even on flat ground. It also makes it easier for the drivers to spill concrete all over the ground haha.

Sorry Munir, the teacher was wrong to use the word always. A level pump is far more important than keeping all the tires on the ground.

theres nothing wrong with the set up , its all about keeping it level , even working on a 3 degree angle at flat stick over the working side is scary but it is doable , your teacher is like any other teacher he is teaching you to pass a test not to operate a machine in every condition! experiance and help from other operators will get you by !

Personally i dont really like lifting the machine sky high if i dont have to reson being is that there is a truck hanging under your pump it puts a lot of pressure on the pump chasse and the truck chasse also the out riggers are working harder.

The pump is design that a truck shall hang under the pumpchassie... And with the supportleg it is the same , yes if they are fully out (liftcylinder) it will shake little more...

But there are no stress on the truckchassie , it just hang there !

that look to be a butiful setup to me.  level and rear tires on the ground.

by no mean is it an ideal setup spot, but .......

Why all the small timber? Do you not have any BIG timber? 6x6's 8x12's etc... I encourage my operators to take their time on setting up, but using a whole pallet of small lumber is a little excessive in my opinion.

N2mud, if you look at the picture, they are 4x4's and 4x6's under the driver's side.  Didn't have any 6x6's or 2x10's or 12's.  I used what I had.  I guess I should have told the superintendent to go to Home depot and by me the "correct" lumber in "your opinion".  Also, had to use the "pallet" to get my height, so I could level up the machine.  But, as always there is a critic on here that says they could have done it better.  Tell you what, come on down here and show me how, please.

I'm sorry, 8x12's.  I'll run right out and get some, they are on every job we do!

Pump within 3 degrees, you always want to keep your tandems on the ground to help support the excess movement of your machine when the valve shifts.

With the set up I see there is not a problem, but if you were in a different circumstance, where you were going out the front and out of 3 degrees then there would be a problem.

The reality is that there are not 4% of the operators out there that do as good a job as this man - day in and day out - securing their set-up. I know he carries a bigass pile of 4x6 material every day. 4x4s are not the best material when used one board deep under the pad; this is a different situation. Be honest with yourselves........... would you go to that much trouble and work to level your pump up? Send the pics !

It usually ends up looking like this

Yep, .....or this........

I wonder if Big T has any pic's of the set ups on Bill Gates house.Heard some wild stories all the way to Denver from that job.

Thank you Bob, and to the rest of the guys, Too-Tall, Many, My two cents.  I appreciate ya'll.

When you go that high with your machine, you have to make sure your outrigger base is wide, especially when you have to have a high stack of lumber.  It doesn't make any sense to go high and narrow.  To many variables, the machine rocking when you are pumping, moving the boom makes the pump sway also on the outriggers.  Better to go wide, also less down force on the ground when you have a big wide base.

I have had to do set ups like these before and as long as you know you are stable then give er... You do what it takes too keep in the 3 degrees as long as it is all solid....no worries there it also gives you the chance to have a good look at the underside of your equipment.

Set up in First picture depend on ground situation that’s why  front side is up from ground ok I am agree for  that.But in last three pictures ground looking in level and pump looking up from front site .

ground is not level optical illusion

but his idea of dunnage hed of been better off with being out of level i do believe

Munir If one looks close at the original pic's the ground is sloping downhill.The operator had to set pump up this way for a couple of reasons.The first being the pump needs to be level (3 degrees of level) for proper boom operation.By this I mean the swing motor is not overloading,the swing brake can work,and last concrete trucks can have speedy access to hopper.

I have seen the pic's you have posted and for the most part they are on level ground or a huge comm project where they take things into account.If you look at the outrigger pads they are perfect,not only allowing for pump movement but lower weight on ground.

For the most part here in the usa you will find the contractors don't see far enough for a proper pad for pumps to set up.The only thing I saw was perhaps tire blocking for additional safety.

Now on the flip side of the coin,had this been a place for a crane set up they would have filled the area level.Many times the contractor puts us in positions we wished did not exist.Hope this helps,my best.

The pioneer pump set up is great nothing wrong with it at all. The others I have to laugh at

Just get it stable and level,  we strugle with that all the time in the ski hills

Did you charge for the extra set up time?LOL!It's not always easy to scavage all the dunage needed. It must of been a pain in the ass.