Skip Loaders are specialist trucks that typically work hard for a living. Used for waste and recycling activities, the skip loader trucks deliver empty skips – typically to building sites – and collect full ones for delivery to a waste processing and recycling plant or landfill. As a result, the trucks are operating lots of short journeys where time is money. Typically, the trucks will be 18 tonners to be up to the job of lifted a fully-loaded skips, which come in sizes from 6 cubic yards to 12 cubic yards. In addition, these trucks can tow a drawbar trailer which will carry an additional skip but for smaller jobs, many skip hire companies also offer ‘mini-skips’ which typically hold two to three cubic metres. These can be collected using a 7.5 tonner – driven by an older person on a standard car licence.
What distinguishes a skiploader to a hookloader is primarily the use of two hydraulic posts and chains to load a skip, whereas the typically larger bins used on a hookloader are pulled onto the truck using a roller at the rear of the body and a single larger hydraulic hook at the front.
DAF usually have by far and away the most used skip wagons listed on the Truckpages website – almost four times the numbers for any other chassis manufacturer.
As these specialist trucks are worked hard and use hydraulic systems powered by a Power Take Off (PTO) system from the truck’s own driveline, they should be inspected carefully.
Make sure that all the hydraulics are operational and there are no tell-tale leaks anywhere in the system. Check the hoses are in good condition and that the overall maintenance has been carried out.
If possible, check that the system is capable of efficiently raising and lowering a fully loaded skip. If it has extending arms, do they do just that? Extend?
If the truck has an auto sheeting system to protect the open load, is this operational with no tears in the sheeting?
What about the body itself. Has an operator made a mistake when loading or unloading and has the body sustained damage as a result?
Popular skip loader body manufacturers include:
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If your business is all about recycling, then you would be expected to have an eye on green issues. That seems to be the case with Stourbridge-based Pegasus Skip Hire, as they have added a new Volvo FE Electric to their fleet. This is the first electric skiploader that Volvo Trucks has delivered into operation...
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Most skips are used in urban environments and the truck used to deliver and collect them can travel further than most dustcarts – with drivers in an out of the cab nearly as frequently. This means that ease of cab access combined with excellent pedestrian visibility should be a must. It was these qualities and...