90 Ton Lorain Crane

The next time you find yourself in a position where you need to lift 90 tons you will wish you had this Lorain Motocrane MC-790. You’ll call out to it but there will be no answer. That is unless you were the person that bought this beast for a cool 12,000 dollars. Staring in the same auction as the International R-190 from yesterday the MC-790 brought the most attention and the highest price of the day. Powered by two Detroits of unknown variety this crane lumbered from the far back lot of Solvay Iron Works to join the lineup of equipment looking for a new home. There was something wrong with the idle of the lower engine as it would suddenly increase to full RPMs with no outside assistance and remain that way until someone came over and fiddled under the hood. The diesel engine used to power the actual crane section wouldn’t turn over so I can’t report on how that sounded. I can tell you that it was of a more modern vintage than the one found in the carrier. Below is a video featuring the MC-790 moving around (slowly) with a brief glimpse of the operator’s cab.

A few still shots.

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2 Responses to 90 Ton Lorain Crane

  1. Joe says:

    Just fabulous. There is no better sounding vintage truck diesel than the 8V-71 Detroit. Always my favorite. I remember Syracuse Riggers had a similar crane to this one with the same power plant in the carrier chassis.

    Really nice video work. I wonder if the poor guy trying manage the idle had ear plugs!

  2. John Warner says:

    What the firm build chassis in this crane?

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