Chris Eggen, Territory Manager at Bloomington, Minnesota-based Aspen Equipment, said that by the time Nebraska Crane was ready to purchase its new crane, their mind had been set on the GRT9165. This comes as no surprise, since Nebraska Crane’s rough-terrain fleet is 95 percent Grove. Having been in business together for more than 15 years, Aspen was happy to help its long-time customer purchase the new crane.
“Every purchase Nebraska Crane makes seems to strengthen the relationship between Aspen and Nebraska Crane,” Eggen said. “They’ve been very faithful to Aspen over the years. They’ve bought several Grove cranes, both all-terrain and rough-terrain. And they also purchase our National Crane product line. Over these 15 years, there have been multiple units that they’ve purchased from us.”
Other factors that played a part in Nebraska Crane’s decision to purchase the GRT9165 were transportability, repair and parts availability, and low cost of ownership.
“For the GRT9165, we looked at the strength of the charts and boom length, and we also had in mind that Grove’s network of dealers does a lot for us out in the field – we rely heavily on them,” said Ty Noyes, Operations Manager at Nebraska Crane. “At the end of the day, customers want the most capability that they can get at the lowest cost.”
- 165- ton capacity
- Class-leading load charts
- 205-foot, six-section pinned boom – 5 feet longer than the closest competing model
- Overall height of 12.4 feet
- Hydraulically removable counterweight system and outrigger boxes, which are both fully self-rigging
- New three-axle carrier with hydro-gas suspension on the rear axles, which provides the ability to adjust the height for transportation
- Wider, full-vision cab with Crane Control System (CCS) for operator comfort and efficient operation
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“Operator comfort is an important factor for us. We really like the new cab design and how simple the crane is to run,” Noyes said.
“It does have a strong chart, and that’s something that a customer is always going to look at,” Eggen said. “When people go crane shopping, chart comparisons are always important. Are they buying a crane that, per classification, can lift the most versus the competition? … The Grove GRT1965 is very competitive.”
Since the purchase of Nebraska Crane’s Grove GRT9165, the crane has completed jobs such as performing maintenance work on wind turbines in Iowa and assisting with the construction of a large parking garage in Nebraska, where it was used to set precast concrete panels.
“We are very pleased with the performance of our new GRT9165. Being a Grove product, it’s exactly what we expected: it’s superior to competitor’s machines. We expect excellence, and they deliver it every time,” Noyes said. “Its strong charts and boom length provide fantastic capabilities in the field. This job at the parking garage, for example, would traditionally be done with a small crawler crane. But we were able to do it with the GRT9165 at a lower cost while adding more flexibility to the job site, as we can move this compact rough-terrain crane around where we need it.”
Todd Foster, President of Aspen Equipment, said that he was thrilled to continue supporting Nebraska Crane’s success with the Grove GRT9165.
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“The only rough-terrain crane of this size in the Nebraska market should give them a major competitive advantage with its outstanding capabilities,” Foster said. “I thank Doyle Benson, President of Nebraska Crane, and his team for continuing to trust in Aspen Equipment and Manitowoc to meet their unique business needs.”
Founded in 1926, Aspen also specializes in truck up lifts, grapples, and boom truck products. It operates four offices in Minnesota, Nebraska, and Iowa.
