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:
Biffa is to put its first electric skiploader into service, with a new 18-tonne Volvo FE Electric 4x2 rigid bringing zero tailpipe emission operation to the Isle of Wight. The arrival of the FE Electric forms part of an order for 104 new Biffa vehicles from Volvo Trucks, being deployed across the UK as part of a major fleet modernisation programme – with all trucks supplied through Abdi Ali, Key Account Manager, Volvo Trucks UK & Ireland. In addition to the new FE Electric, the order also comprises 48 Volvo FM 8x4 hookloaders, 34 Volvo FM 8x2 front-end loaders, 7…
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 in the UK. A long-standing customer with the Swedish manufacturer, the forward-thinking business opted for the zero-tailpipe emission FE Electric following a visit to Volvo Trucks Experience Centre (VTEX), in Sweden. The truck will be used to deliver and collect skips to a wide customer…
It seems that electric truck sales are becoming more normal transactions that we are starting to see every day. Another business has invested in a pair of electric trucks – not a council or a multinational corporation, but a £150m turnover construction services, building products & logistics company based in Yorkshire and the North of England. The Ashcourt Group UK has taken delivery of its first two fully electric 18 tonne Renault Trucks E-Tech D Wide skip loaders. The two new E-tech D Wides, with Harsh HS14T 4x2 skip loader equipment, will be working in Ashcourt Group’s waste management operations…
With the same dimensions as a 13.5 tonne Atego, waste management specialist Clearaway’s new 16 tonners are giving the company an extra 2.4 tonne payload over their existing 13.5 tonne trucks. The company could upgrade these to 18 tonners – they already run this size of truck – but this would involve larger cabs and all that entails when collecting in tighter spaces. The latest additions to its Mercedes-Benz-dominated fleet arrived via Sparshatt Truck & Van. Both construction-specification 1524 K variants with short, ClassicSpace S-cabs and Hyva lifting equipment, they offer payload capacities of almost 7.5-tonnes. Clearaway took advantage of…
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 more that pointed london-based O'Donovan Waste Disposal Limited to become the UK's first waste management and recycling specialist to introduce a skiploader based on a Scania L-series chassis into service. Benefiting from a Transport for London five star Direct Vision Standard (DVS) rating, the vehicle…