Software for the yard running spider cranes.

A spider crane is the unit a yard reaches for when a lift has to happen somewhere a truck crane cannot park and a forklift cannot place a load gently. It folds narrow enough to roll through a doorway, sets four independent legs on uneven ground, and picks fragile glass, plant, and steel in spaces nothing larger can enter. That access is exactly what makes a spider crane hard to run as a rental asset. Many jobs need a certified operator with the machine, the lift depends on the right below-the-hook attachment, and the duty cycle is rough on tracks, rope, and outrigger legs. EquipFlow handles spider cranes the way the yard that built it handles its fleet — dispatch, billing, maintenance, and return inspection on one record per unit, attachments and operator labor included.

Built inside Rental King, right now.

Rental King is a heavy-equipment rental yard in Odessa and Midland, TX. They run spider cranes, manlifts, forklifts, light towers, generators, compressors, and water trucks on MSA contracts through the Permian Basin — 24/7, oilfield pace. EquipFlow was designed and first deployed inside that yard. Every feature was tested against their live operation before it shipped. The product runs there today.

Spider cranes are high-value, attachment-dependent units, and that is where money and reputation leak on a rental yard. A crane out on a job earns nothing extra if the standby hours through a pour delay never reach the invoice, and a dropped pane or a bent outrigger leg costs the yard if the damage is not caught and charged at return. The hour meter drives both maintenance and billing, so it has to be captured the same way every time — at return, on the inspection, against the rental record. When dispatch, billing, maintenance, and inspection read from one unit record, the dispatcher sends the right crane with the right attachments and the right power type, the mechanic services against real hours, and the bookkeeper closes the month without rebuilding what happened from memory. That single-record discipline is what keeps a spider-crane fleet from becoming a string of expensive surprises.

Spider Crane specs the rental record tracks.

Every number below is a sourced specification range. The render layer is the only path these values reach the page — they live on the unit record, not in a dispatcher's head.

Max rated lifting capacity

1.0-3.83t

Max hook height (on ground, main boom)

8.7-16.8m

Max working radius

8.2-16m

Stowed track width

600-1380mm

Diesel engine power

7.4-17.4kW

Machine operating weight

1990-5640kg

How EquipFlow handles spider cranes on the dispatch board.

A spider crane is rarely a drop-and-go unit, so the dispatch board treats it as more than a flatbed line. Many spider-crane jobs run operator-attended because the customer crew is not certified to rig and operate one, and that operator has to be assigned alongside the machine, not booked separately and lost. The board shows which crane is on which site, which is loaded for delivery, and which is due back, on the same responsive screen at any hour. Attachments are where dispatch goes wrong: a crane sent without the vacuum lifter, the searcher hook, the fly jib, or the cribbing and mats the job needs is a return trip, and on a glazing job a missing vacuum cup means the crew stands idle. The dispatcher confirms the attachment package on the rental record before the truck leaves. Power type matters too — sending a diesel to an indoor job is a non-starter, so the board flags whether the assigned unit is battery-electric or diesel against the site.

Billing spider cranes — MSA, standby, and site-level tax.

Spider-crane demand splits between project glazing and industrial work, and a repeat customer usually has a negotiated rate, so the rate override lives on the customer record per equipment class rather than in a sheet the dispatcher rekeys. A rental created for that account applies the agreed rate automatically. When a crane sits on a site through a pour delay, a weather hold, or a stalled inside-fit-out, standby is billed at a rate separate from active hours; the dispatcher marks standby and the invoice carries both lines without a month-end rebuild. Operator labor, delivery and pickup, mat and cribbing charges, and attachment add-ons such as the vacuum lifter ride the same invoice. Tax jurisdiction is set on the delivery-site record, so a crane that moved between sites still gets the right rate per location. Invoices post to the connected books on close.

Maintenance on spider cranes.

Spider-crane preventive maintenance is hour-meter driven, not calendar driven, because a unit on a long glazing project can run an interval down in a few weeks while a spare sits between jobs for a season. The hour-meter reading posts when the return inspection records it, and the maintenance module advances the service clock from that reading so the next service falls on real usage. Hydraulics do the lifting on a spider crane — the boom-extension circuit, the winch, and the four independent outrigger legs — so the service plan leans on hydraulic oil, filters, hoses, and wire-rope condition alongside the engine or battery pack. Battery-electric units add charger and cell-health checks the diesels do not need. Work orders, parts, and meter history live on the unit record, which is also where a damage charge from a return inspection becomes a repair ticket.

Spider Crane return inspections.

Two inspection rhythms apply. The operator-facing pre-shift check is a daily requirement under the manufacturer manuals and the crane standard, and it is the operator's responsibility while the unit is on rent. The yard's own control is the return inspection: before a spider crane comes off rent, the driver or operator runs a mobile-web checklist on a phone — no app install — captures the hour-meter reading, and attaches required photos that cannot be skipped. Spider-crane checks belong here: rubber-track wear and cuts, the condition and pins of all four outrigger legs and feet, wire-rope and hook condition, boom-section wear, load-moment sensor function, and any hydraulic weep. The vacuum lifter and other below-the-hook gear get inspected as their own items. The return inspection ties to the rental record before the truck leaves, so a damage dispute carries photos and a timestamp behind it.

Common spider crane classes in the field.

The product, the same way it runs for spider cranes.

The sections below are the EquipFlow modules that matter most when running spider cranes — each links to the full feature detail.

Operator guides for running spider cranes.

Field-tested playbooks that go deeper on pricing, dispatch, billing, and maintenance for fleets like this.

• Adding a New Equipment Category to Your Yard →
• Aerial Lift Inspection Requirements →
• Air Quality Equipment Rentals →
• Asset Tagging for Rental Fleets →

What you give up running spider cranes in EquipFlow.

EquipFlow is a web app, so the return inspection needs a signal to load. Inside a basement plant room or a steel-framed building with no coverage, the operator cannot complete the mobile inspection on site; most yards run it at the yard on return, which means the photos and hour reading land later than ideal. There is no built-in telematics integration today, so engine or battery data from a manufacturer portal is not pulled automatically — the hour meter is captured at return inspection instead. The rate logic is built around the negotiated-rate and standby model, with operator labor and attachments as line items; a yard with an unusual crane-hire structure should bring it to the demo to be scoped honestly.