Pin came out of my outrigger pad at 60 feet, had to lower the boom the slow way

Sandra Flores · 2026-10-07T16:20:05.273421+00:00

Last Tuesday I was setting trusses on a two story in Tempe and right when the boom was at about 60 feet my outrigger pad started walking on me. Turns out the pin that locks the float to the jack leg had sheared clean off, probably from a bad set on a slope I did the week before and never checked. I had 1,400 pounds of truss hanging out there so I couldn't just drop it, I had to boom down inch by inch while my spotter watched the pad slide. Took me almost 20 minutes to get that load down safe and my hands were shaking the whole time. Now I keep two spare pins in the cab and I walk my pads before every single pick, even on flat ground. Cost me a $40 pin and a whole afternoon but it could've been way worse. Any of you guys had a float walk out on you, and how do you check your pins so it doesn't happen?

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Pin came out of my outrigger pad at 60 feet, had to lower the boom the slow way | Crane Operators - Chatter Central