LTM 1650-8.1 replaces 19 rooftop units at Long Beach

Helicopter or crane

The convention centre, which offers up to 400,000 sq ft of exhibition and meeting space, is an Olympic venue for 2028 and needed all 19 of its rooftop air handling units replaced. Each weighs 24,000 lb. Because of their size and position on the roof, the first plan considered by lead contractor Industrial Commercial Systems was a helicopter lift — expensive, weather-dependent and disruptive in a dense downtown block. Maxim was asked whether a crane-based method could do it instead.

770 tons, 341,000 lb of counterweight, 276-foot jib

Two problems had to be solved at once: the units sit well inside the roof footprint, and the ground around the building is either active carriageway or park. Any solution had to reach a long way in and stand somewhere that could be released for a few days.

Maxim’s engineering team surveyed the site and built a plan around a Liebherr LTM 1650-8.1 all-terrain, rated at 770 US tons, rigged with 341,000 lb of counterweight and a 276-foot luffing jib. That configuration let the crane reach every unit on the roof — out to a 270-foot radius — from a small number of pre-planned set-up positions on the ground. A Grove GMK5150L all-terrain assisted with assembly and site work.

Choosing ground-based lifting removed the helicopter’s cost and risk profile and cut the number of road closures and facility shutdowns needed. All operations were scheduled into Labor Day week so that no major convention or city event was affected.

Reaching 270 feet with a 24,000 lb load on a 770-ton class machine is not a capacity problem so much as a positioning one. The value of the luffing configuration here was that it let the crane stand well back from the building, clear of the active frontage, and still drop into the middle of a large roof — which in turn kept the number of set-ups, and therefore the number of street closures, down.

One week, 228 tons moved

All 19 units were removed and replaced inside the one-week window, one lift at a time, with a combined 228 US tons of equipment moved and no incidents recorded. Four contractors worked on the project. The building’s mechanical plant is now in place for the venue’s Olympic programme.

Source: Maxim Crane Works — Photos: Maxim Crane Works