SFGAm Giant Drop

I was at the park Tuesday and the ride was closed.
I stopped by the park on Friday (did not ride anything because of very long lines) and the ride wa closed once again. Has anybody been to the park since Friday? Does anyone know what the deal is?

I believe it is open now.

My last day at SFGAm (July 16), Giant Drop was closed. When I went on it on July 15, after I rode it, I was in line for Raging Bull at night and the ride closed right after I got in line for the Bull after riding Giant Drop. I know the sentence is long, sorry.

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Current Favorite Coasters:
1)Raging Bull 2)Millennium Force 3)Medusa (SFMW) 4)Vertical Velocity (SFGAm) 5)Incredible Hulk, The

Someone I chat with said the counterweight broke off and crashed. Nobody was hurt, just the ride. Oh yeah, he is a ride-op of it too. Thats how he knows it. He was there when it happend.

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Intamin: Steel gifts from the gods.
CCI: Wooden gifts from the gods.

What is a counterweight?

The counterweight would be what pulls the the cars up, without it, the cars will not go up.

Yup. Giant Drops work just like elevators. Counterweights are just that, a weight to counter the weight of the car. In Giant Drop's case, the car is a catch wagon. Because both sides of the cable are close evenly weighted, the motor has very little work to do, just move the cable, rather than lift or drop a car. If you have ever ridden a glass elevator that uses cables instead of hydraulics, you can see the counterweight go past you halfway up the shaft.

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Intamin: Steel gifts from the gods.
CCI: Wooden gifts from the gods.

Geesh, when did the counterweight break off? Did it fall from the top of the structure? Did it fall as the cars were dropping, or when the cars were loading? Someone could've been seriously hurt!

Arent the counterweights inside the tower? It was running yesterday, but the side facing Raging bull was not, the lift was at the top and the seats at the bottom.

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Parks for 2001:
PKD,PKI 3x
CP
SFKK 2X, SFOG, SFStL,SFWOA
HOLIDAY WORLD 2X
INDIANA BEACH

kneemeister, yes, the counterweights are inside the tower.

Bull far, I'm not sure when the thing broke off, but it happend before Tuesday, because I didn't see it run at all then. Also, The way the guy I chat with (who is a ride-op) made it sound like it was near the halfway point, I wouldn't know for sure, but he said it made a HUGE bang. When it broke, I was told it was broke on a dry-run, right after they had problems getting the catch wagons down.
It happend before the cars reached the top, so I doubt the cars fell. I'm sure like an elevator, there is a saftey measure that will keep the catchwagons from falling too fast (just as if a cable elevator has the cables break, they will not go into a freefall.)

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Intamin: Steel gifts from the gods.
CCI: Wooden gifts from the gods. *** This post was edited by TrBiggar on 7/29/2001. ***

What difference does it make if the cars fall? I actually bet that the cars probably fell since there was no weight to counter it. SFGAM want the ride to fall since the magnets are going to stop the ride once it falls, so it would be like a normal ride you just would not get all the speed, since you are at a lower height.

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