Crane size calculator & equipment planning
What size crane do you need? Start with pick weight and working radius — but keep the full equipment path open. Many plant moves fit a purpose-built heavy forklift with a boom. When they do not, Accuwright transitions to a coordinated crane pick.
Open the Crane Selector Open the Lift Selector Send us the job
Planning tool — not a lift plan. The assigned crane, stamped load chart, qualified crew, verified site conditions, and project-specific plan govern every pick.
Pictured: a RIG-N-LIFT under load — the equipment class most buyers do not know exists.
The load is the first number. Working radius is the second — and often the one that changes the answer.
Enter the total suspended weight, not just the machine shipping weight.
A crane is not always the first answer. It is never an isolated answer.
Industrial buyers often search for a crane before they know that purpose-built 100/140-class machinery movers with boom configurations exist. The most efficient plan starts with the entire move: unload, pick, travel, clear the obstruction, enter the building, and make the final set.
Close-in control
Often the better first look for indoor work, tight aisles, unloading, low-clearance travel, and precise final placement.
Reach and elevation
Becomes the right path when the pick must clear a roof, wall, pit, process line, or a forklift capacity envelope.
One coordinated move
The crane handles the reach. The heavy forklift receives, travels, turns, and makes the controlled final set.
A tonnage label is not a capacity answer.
A “100-ton crane” does not lift 100 tons everywhere. Capacity changes with radius, boom, counterweight, outrigger position, work area, reeving, and the actual machine chart. That is why the selector leads with radius.
| Class | Representative model | 25 ft radius | 60 ft radius | 100 ft radius |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100T | Link-Belt HTC-86100 | 60,100 lb | 14,600 lb | 4,800 lb |
| 200T | Liebherr LTM 1200-5.1 | 193,475 lb | 79,000 lb | 40,000 lb |
| 300T | Liebherr LTM 1250/1 | 232,667 lb | 101,750 lb | 54,525 lb |
| 400T | Liebherr LTM 1300 | 332,750 lb | 123,000 lb | 60,000 lb |
| 500T | Liebherr LTM 1500-8.1 | 454,000 lb | 190,000 lb | 99,500 lb |
Values show the chart-backed main-boom envelope represented in the tool. The assigned crane’s stamped chart, configuration, site conditions, and qualified lift team control the actual pick.
A useful crane conversation starts with the complete pick and placement path. These six inputs help the planning team identify the right equipment strategy before field verification begins.
Machine plus rigging, beams, hook block, attachments, fluids, tooling, and loose components.
Where the load begins, where it lands, estimated radius, lift height, and required orientation.
Doors, rooflines, pits, pipe racks, utilities, process equipment, power lines, and traffic.
Crane setup area, underground concerns, slab or soil information, slope, weather, and exclusion zones.
Dimensions, centre of gravity, approved lift points, OEM instructions, sensitivity, and final alignment needs.
Truck position, unloading plan, crane-to-forklift handoff, building entry, final set, and production schedule.
One machine or a whole production line — scope, schedule and access are enough to start. We plan the rigging, the move and the installation as one job, under one contractor, and come back with what it takes.
Same-day pricing. Give us the details and you get a number back the same day, not in three to five business days.
Rather talk it through? 877-898-4377 — ask for the planning team.
Crane size depends on the total suspended load, working radius, boom length, lift height, setup configuration, ground conditions, and obstructions — not weight alone. Enter the lifted weight and estimated radius in the Crane Selector for an initial planning class, then have the actual crane provider verify the pick against the stamped load chart and site-specific lift plan.
A 100-ton class rating is not available at every radius. In the representative 100T chart used by the tool, rated capacity is about 60,100 pounds at a 25-foot radius and 14,600 pounds at a 60-foot radius. The exact crane, boom, counterweight, outrigger setup, work area, and chart always control.
As the hook moves farther from the crane centreline, leverage on the crane increases. That reduces the allowable suspended load. This is why a crane tonnage label by itself cannot answer whether a pick fits.
Not always. Purpose-built industrial forklifts and machinery movers — including 100/140-class machines with boom configurations — can be a practical solution for close-in picks, indoor work, unloading, and final placement. A crane becomes the better path when weight, radius, height, access, or obstacles exceed the forklift envelope.
Yes. A coordinated plan may use a crane to clear a roof, wall, pit, or exterior obstruction, then use a heavy forklift or machinery mover to receive, travel, and make the final set inside the plant. Accuwright plans the equipment transition as one integrated move.
No. Accuwright does not sell crane equipment. We are an industrial machinery moving, rigging, millwright, and turnkey project contractor. We use and coordinate cranes as part of real machinery installations, removals, relocations, and heavy picks.
Start with the machine weight, rigging weight, dimensions, centre of gravity, pick and set locations, estimated working radius, lift height, access route, overhead and underground hazards, ground or slab information, and required schedule. Field verification is still required.
No. It is a planning and estimating tool only. It does not authorise a pick or replace the actual crane load chart, qualified operator, qualified rigger, site review, ground assessment, rigging design, or engineered lift plan.