Having grown up in the crane rental business, Todd Wilkinson knows what it takes to run a successful operation.
“My father owned a steel erection company when I was young, and I can remember many summers hanging on the side of a boom truck,” Wilkinson said. “I’ve worked for a couple of large rental companies, and saw a need for a smaller more affordable crane rental in the Charlotte, N.C., area. We took a chance, and I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
As the founder of Boom Truck Service, Wilkinson recognizes the importance of using the right equipment. His recent purchase of a Manitex 40124SHL boom truck from Pinnacle Cranes has proven a wise investment.
“We took delivery of the crane about a month ago, and it’s hit the ground running. Charlotte traffic on most days can be a nightmare, so having an automatic transmission makes the morning and afternoon rush-hour traffic jams a little more tolerable. The big HP engine gets the truck from stoplight to stoplight quickly, and cruises down the highway with ease at 65 mph. The new cab design makes it a lot easier for our operator to have a better view of the job site, and the new computer gives him all the information he needs at a glance.”
For Boom Truck Service, having dependable equipment is crucial.
“We are a taxi crane service,” Wilkinson said. “We do a multitude of lifts a day, from rooftop air conditioning units and fiberglass swimming pools to light poles and roof trusses. Our cranes are on four to seven different job sites a day. You never know what the next job will be.”
Patrick Leatherwood, territory sales manager of Pinnacle Cranes said, “Todd is the owner of the company, along with his wife, but he’s also a crane operator. Todd has used the Manitex product for many years and has been satisfied with the product. But this latest purchase has the combination of the new operator cab, the heavy lift package providing increased lifting capacity and the Peterbilt chassis we mounted the crane on.
“In recent years, the lifting capacity and boom length requirements from customers have certainly increased,” Leatherwood said. “It’s Pinnacle Cranes’ job to listen to our customers needs, supply the product and, most important, provide the support to keep their equipment up and running.”
Wilkinson agrees the heavy-lift package he selected is money well spent.
“I never had this option before. I have several other 40124S model cranes; all purchased off the lot, and was told this option could not be done on those machines because of chassis design on those trucks. However, Pinnacle had this in mind when they ordered their inventory. They let their customer have that option and order a chassis that can handle the weight, which is basically 6,000 pounds more counter weight, and flash the computer to change the load chart. There’s about a 15-foot radius difference with the heavy lift package, and in the crane world, that’s a mile.”
Wilkinson appreciates having the opportunity to provide feedback to the dealer, as well.
“Over the past 18 years, I’ve purchased or have been involved in the purchase of numerous Manitex products, and with everyone of those machines I took whatever the local dealer had on the lot. They were always the base model truck, with air conditioning being about the only upgrade. Pinnacle Cranes became a dealer for Manitex in the Charlotte area a few years ago. Mark Baker called me last year, and told me they were ordering some inventory and wanted my input on what kind of options I would like to see in the truck — things like horsepower and creature comforts.
“Mark took that information and went a step farther, and even though at the time I had no intentions of buying a crane, that meant a lot to me,” said Wilkinson.
“When it became time to buy, Pinnacle was the only local dealer with inventory, and they had exactly what I wanted.”
“Todd has been a dedicated Manitex user for many years, and his 38-ton machine is one of the busiest he has,” said Baker, parts and service representative of Pinnacle Cranes and a Manitex boom truck specialist. “Knowing Todd’s market, the 40124SHL is a great fit for the work he does, and it complements his fleet. I’ve known and worked with Todd for approximately five years, and he owns and operates these machines personally. Because of this, I spoke with him on more than one occasion regarding the set up and options an operator would prefer in a machine.
“I operate cranes myself, so we were able to bounce ideas back and forth,” Baker said. “I just felt like if I could get him in this machine, he would love it. I’m very pleased he chose the new 40124SHL and look forward to many more years of doing business with Boom Truck Service.”
Wilkinson appreciates the more solid feel to the crane and its overall performance.
“The new crane cab is awesome, and the Hirshman computer is a very nice upgrade for this machine. It’s nice to have all the information you need, without having to scroll up or down. It has remote control outriggers that makes setting up and tearing down a little easier, and with the integrated bubble level on the computer, you can get the machine dead level from inside the crane cab.
Wilkinson is already considering a future crane purchase.
“If work continues like it has here in Charlotte, I would like to add another crane sometime around the first of the year. I’m looking at a Manitex 30112S, or maybe another 40. We’ll cross that bridge then. But, for now, I’m very pleased with Pinnacle, the way they handled the sale and the phone calls after the sale, to make sure we were happy with the purchase.”
This story also appears on Truck and Trailer Guide.
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