Ivey’s Construction, Inc. was contracted to replace the damaged Bull Gear on the main trolley drum for the 325 Ton Bridge Crane in the VAB. Ivey’s custom designed and built a hoisting system that allowed the six-foot diameter Bull Gear to be removed in place without having to lower the entire unit almost 500 ft to the ground. Our rigging system included four 1000-ton jacks to lift the drum and cable approximately four feet vertically and a gantry crane with a 10,000 capacity tugger attached to the trolley frame to lower the damaged Bull Gear and to raise the new Bull Gear. Performing the work in place saved NASA millions of dollars and months of downtime for the bridge crane.
