A few years ago, my college decided to take down two multilevel dormitories. The demolition company decided to take it down piecemeal with a wrecking ball. The wrecking ball was attached to the crane via a very large tire (just the rubber part, not the inflatable part). I have seen this done on normal cranes and other wrecking balls on TV and was wondering if any professional construction people out there know why they would do this as to me, a guy not in the construction/demolition business, think that might be a bit unsafe.
It really depends on the terrain or the platform where this crane will stand.. If it is in a muddy or sandy terrain, then they may opt to use a chain tire. Cranes, dont merely rely on the tires. Cranes use outriggers. These are the extending arm of the crane. This hydraulically operated mechanism goes out of the cranes body, extends and extablished itself at four corners and sits at the ground to provide leverage for the cranes. This will prevent the crane to overturn when it is doing the operation.
Shock absorption. The ball swings toward the building and hits, the energy of that swing is mostly dissipated into the building but also into the cable and cable connectors as the ball bounces back. That shock of the impact resonates and gets dissipated by the tire. It reduces wear and tear on the cable and cable connectors, also on the crane tower. Your car engine has motor mounts of the rubber type of material and it absorbs the resonating vibration of the engine. I have seen the cable connectors, interesting to say the least. The strands are interlaced sometime, and other times I see them clamped together. It would seem important to protect those joints. I do not know all of the crane business terminology, but that would be the gist of it.
