Crane trucks are specialist pieces of equipment – often the cranes fitted to the trucks are more valuable than the trucks themselves!
As a specialist truck website, Truckpages helps users search for these specialist trucks. There is a crane truck category to search plus you can filter more detail regarding the location of the crane on the truck- front, mid or rear mounted.
In the UK, the vast majority of the cranes we use are of the knuckle-boom variety. However, no two crane trucks are the same – if you are a builder’s merchant and need to unload bags of sand and a variety of building materials, your crane is likely to look significantly different to one used for loading heavy machinery.
The size of these lorry-mounted cranes will differ hugely. We will go into more detail below about the size of cranes and their lifting capacities, but consider the actual scale – some of the top sized knuckle boom cranes fitted to the top machinery movers would max out the payload of a 7.5 tonne truck several times over!
Buying any second-hand truck is a complex task at any level. When buying a crane truck you are adding an extra level of complexity as you will be buying two machines at the same time. Not only has the truck got to be the right brand, quality and size, so too has the crane mounted to the vehicle. Everything should be in working order and, like the truck, the crane should come with its own inspection certificate. Loler inspections are vital for equipment of this nature and an uninspected crane should not be put to work.
It is for all these reasons that crane trucks demand high prices in the used market. If a truck buyer is looking for a particular brand of truck with a specific capacity crane with a suitable configuration and a dealer has it, price sensitivity becomes less of an issue. The alternatives are buying new and waiting for the chassis to be delivered, followed by body building and finally the fitment of the crane.
You see there are used truck dealers who tend to specialise in these types of trucks.
Check out Macs Trucks and you will see that they not only sell used crane trucks, but also fit new cranes to new trucks to hold in stock to help operators who need a new crane truck now.
Whilst the type of crane trucks for sale at Macs Truck Sales tend to be on the heavy side – 8×2 rigids or 6×4 tractor units with cranes, Cromwell Truck Sales operates at the other end of the weight range. If you are looking to buy a 7.5 tonne truck with a crane then they stock plenty of these – both as tippers and dropsides.
You will often see a crane mounted to the rear of a flatbed truck- these are for general purpose haulage use. They become more specialist when fitted to a beavertail truck – these vehicles will usually collect plant and machinery. If it can’t be driven or winched up the beavertail’s ramp then the crane will spring into action.
A common sight on the UK’s roads are tipping trucks fitted with cranes. These will usually have a grab attachment on the crane and are therefore more commonly known as ‘grab loader’ trucks. There is always a good selection of grab loader trucks for sale at Truckpages.
Brick carrier trucks are even more specialist. These trucks stand out thanks to their brick grab attachments that hydraulically squeeze the block of bricks to move them.
Not only is the mounting location important for collection and delivery operations, it is vital to ensure the correct distribution of payload on the vehicle itself. Put a huge crane on the front of a 6×2 truck and expect the front axle not to be overloaded when carrying a load and you may be disappointed.
These trucks are expensive- before making any truck buying decision, speak to a specialist in this area. When buying used, try and get the truck on a weighbridge – loaded if possible, to ensure that you are not breaking any loading rules.
Typically, specialist brick carrying trucks will have their lorry-mounted cranes sitting in the middle or the rear of the truck – especially if running in drawbar configuration.
An operator may need remote control for the operation of the crane. It is important to get this area of truck mounted crane operation right. Manually controlled cranes are much more simple and cheaper to buy and run, but where safety is of paramount importance with large loads or awkward delivery locations, a remote-control truck crane is a must. The crane operators can distance themselves from the moving load or, where necessary, can get right up close to make sure they have pinpoint accuracy.
The rating of the crane will depend on two criteria – obviously the weight of the loads to be lifted is vital, but so is the distance over which the load must travel away from the centre of the crane. It is relatively easy to lift a heavy weight with a short boom. The longer the boom, the higher the rating of the crane.
The measurement that is important therefore is the ‘tonne-metre’ – the weight that can be lifted at a distance of one metre from the centre of the crane. So a 30 tonne-metre crane lifting something three metres away can ‘only’ lift 10 tonnes. The problem arises that the greater the distances, the larger and beefier the crane needs to be – therefore heavier. This reduces the payload of the truck considerably. Often the crane can lift much more than the truck is allowed to carry.
Many crane manufacturers have different boom configurations. The most familiar is the knuckle boom crane where the second boom folds away by the column. Sometimes the first boom will be longer – or other designs make it possible to park the crane in a transport position.
From a simple hook to complicated rotating grabs and buckets, there is a bewildering range of crane attachments available from all the major manufacturers. Check with the used dealer exactly which attachments are included in the sale of the vehicle – they may have some others that could be of interest to you as well – try and broker a deal!
Even more specialist, but we see plenty of trailers with cranes fitted. These are usually brick carrying trailers, but some specialist kit is available that will load containers on and off the trailer – using a crane at the front and the rear of the trailer simultaneously.
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