Mini crane

[dumper]

If your trailer weighs over 1000kgs should you have it plated and tested?

[Squaredy]

11 hours ago, Mick Dempsey said:

Put that on your 3.5 tonner and you can legally carry your lunch.

Indeed - I had a Transit dropside until last year which had one properly fitted for its first owners (SSE).  When I got around to taking it to the weighbridge one day I had a shock to discover that unladen weight of the vehicle was 2900kg.  So I had a vehicle quite capable of carrying a ton or more of logs, but legally could only carry 600kg.

 

On a trailer it could make more sense...

[Dan Maynard]

Maybe mount the crane on a pickup and then keep full payload in trailer? Obviously need a long boom.

[PeteB]

I came across a short butt length trailer with crane some years ago,  with the facility to move axle back and forth to maintain nose weight etc. But,  it carried next to nowt realistically. Go HGV and get calm  shell grab on 8 wheeler...

 

 

[Mick Dempsey]

Those of us (like me and Stu) who eschew the HGV route, are always looking for a cheat code to get the maximum capacity without taking the plunge.

 

I think a mini tractor/loader combo with a tipping trailer is probably the best way round it.

You can load over 2 and a half tonnes of logs with the tractor and press a button at the other end to unload.

Means an extra trip of course to pick up the tractor/loader, but there you go.

 

[aspenarb]

1 hour ago, Mick Dempsey said:

Those of us (like me and Stu) who eschew the HGV route, are always looking for a cheat code to get the maximum capacity without taking the plunge.

 

 

 

 

I think with cranes the best way to max out on the non hgv route is to strap the crane to a 4x4 or towbarge that can legally pull a 3.5 ton trailer. Just use the tow vehicle as a toolbox and crane.Cant think of another way of legally carrying a two and a half ton plus payload.

 

Bob

[Mick Dempsey]

7 hours ago, aspenarb said:

 

I think with cranes the best way to max out on the non hgv route is to strap the crane to a 4x4 or towbarge that can legally pull a 3.5 ton trailer. Just use the tow vehicle as a toolbox and crane.Cant think of another way of legally carrying a two and a half ton plus payload.

 

Bob

Yes, but what use is a crane on an arb job except to load stuff next to it?

With a compact tractor you can load, winch over, forward stuff etc.

Plus your 4x4 hasn’t been ruined and you can price and go shopping with the family with it

[Stihl123]

even the one that Jas P Wilson did, it weighs about 1250kg which still gives just over 2 tons payload 

it tows empty alot better than expected considering the extra nose weight

[doobin]

For domestic arb a mini loader like a Sherpa or Cast will take nearly all the backahe out of the job, and takes up minimal space and payload for what it can do for you. It can even fetch the logs out of the back garden too! 🤣

 

I really can't see the point in these mini cranes except for specialist jobs like gravestone or oil tank installations.

[scraggs]

9 hours ago, aspenarb said:

 

I think with cranes the best way to max out on the non hgv route is to strap the crane to a 4x4 or towbarge that can legally pull a 3.5 ton trailer. Just use the tow vehicle as a toolbox and crane.Cant think of another way of legally carrying a two and a half ton plus payload.

 

Bob

We had considered doing it that way ourselves, trouble was it tied up a decent truck that couldn't be used for much else and the extra reach needed to lift any decent weight at the end of the trailer meant a much bigger crane so less payload.
For us it works well as we only need to get just over 2000kg on the trailer, but can also put 1400kg on the truck if need be  giving us a combined carrying capacity of just under 3500kg (7000kg GTW).