Project Details
The Navigational lock Gate jacking plan required lifting and transporting the two 140 foot tall, 400-ton gates without employing a heavy-lift crane. The project plan employed a series of hydraulic jacks and machinery slides at the base of the gates while supporting the gates at the top with a custom two-axis trolley system. The trolley system was connected to the tops of the gates and anchored to the navigational lock walls for support. The plan was developed to employ jacks, jack stands, and slide systems already in service with Barnhart Crane.

Our Scope
Altman Browning and Co. was contracted to develop the jacking plan without the use of a heavy-lift crane. The project tasks included creating a 3-D CAD model of the gates and the navigational lock, determining the optimal jacking points on the bottom of the gate, determining the optimal support points for the slide system, engineering a two-axis trolley system for supporting the top of the gates during the jacking and sliding process, and developing the method for anchoring the trolley system to the navigational lock wall.The process included coordinating with the Barnhart Crane engineering team to ensure a good understanding of the plan and to make use of existing Barnhart Crane hardware reducing requirements for custom support fixtures.

Results
The innovative two-axis trolley system operated as engineered reducing mobilization time and the overall cost of the project.