Mobile Crane
This crane is an 8 axel version of the Mobile Crane from 1978. It can be found in the back pages of the 8860 Car Chassis instruction book.
This is an amalgamation of a handful of sets from 1977-1978: 950, 955, 870, 871 (If you’re European: 850, 855, instead of 950, and 955). You can see that the superstructure and boom have basically zero changes. All the changes went into the carrier. I put together an LXF file. There are a couple parts that LDD doesn’t offer, that have been replaced with modern equivelents. You’re free to use which ever version you like. Replace the following parts for a little more authentic experience:
- 32013 with 3651
- 3L U-Joint with 4L U-Joint
- 9L axel with 8L axel.
Note that part 32013 doesn’t work for the hook portion, and has not been included in the LXF file.
Possible Improvements
If you’re looking to make some improvements to this model, here are things you might want to consider
- The steering is a little weak, the 24 tooth crown gears don’t quite get a solid lock if there is much pressure on the steered wheels. I also had to move the supports for the top yellow plates in a stud to get the wheels to steer properly. If you replaced 2 of them with the regular 24 tooth gear, it would be better.
- Adding a second 8 tooth gear on a 4L axel with a 1L bushing about 2-3 studs before the end of the boom would greatly help keep the extension portion from moving. It would also relieve the need to push the back end down so it doesn’t get caught on the plates that cross the top of the boom.
