7.5 tonne lorry and grab

[Le Sanglier]

Like many people on here I have always wanted to have access to my own grab/tipper lorry. I have noticed that there are a few 7.5 tonners that tip with a decent crane knocking about at a reasonable price. Has anybody used one for tree work? Does the weight of the crane render your carrying capacity laughable. Appreciate any experiences or thoughts.

[Paul Jenks]

I would say that for a decent 7.5 with a good steel chasis and a tipping body you would end up with a load capacity of 2.5-3 ton. Add a hiab and that'll come down quite a bit. If you go for a lighter built vehicle you'd get better capacity and it'll get beat to s**t in no time.

I did see a tree surgeons van for sale a while ago and went to have a look thinking it was a 7.5 and it turned out to be a 3.5 with a hiab and a big tip body. Can't believe it was legal empty let alone with any load. Front axle would have been well over weight.

If you run local jobs 2-2.5 tonnes is not too bad but to run backwards and forwards any distance you'd do better to get a 10.5

[skyhuck]

You need an "O" licence for a 7.5 tonner, so the only extra for a bigger truck is the licence, personally I'd get a HGV licence and get an 18 toner.

[Peter]

7.5 tonner with a crane is a waste of time, so little payload its virtually useless, I run an 18 tonner with crane, that has about a 10 tonne payload and it still gets overloaded.

[10 men]

You need an "O" licence for a 7.5 tonner, so the only extra for a bigger truck is the licence, personally I'd get a HGV licence and get an 18 toner.

 

18 all the way

[Le Sanglier]

Fair enough, thanks for the advice, I guess it's 3.5 tonne or BIG.

[jamesfwpurdy]

What about 26t with crane? no longer/wider or harder to drive than an 18t. Some weight limits may put a few jobs out of bounds but cant think of many that differentiate between 18t or 26t, (they're normally 7.5t), only when you start talking artics.

 

James

[john p]

Go big,or go overloaded!(actually even when you go big you go overloaded:blushing:)

[jamesfwpurdy]

P.S. Driver (poss operator!!!) CPC comes into play for anything over/including 7.5t unless you have grandaddy rights.

 

P.S.P.S. There a few exceptions for this regarding the incidental, not your main task, usage but thats all beyond me/don't care lol

 

James

[Peter]

What about 26t with crane? no longer/wider or harder to drive than an 18t. Some weight limits may put a few jobs out of bounds but cant think of many that differentiate between 18t or 26t, (they're normally 7.5t), only when you start talking artics.

 

James

 

26t is fine if you dont want to get up driveways. My 18t is 4 metre wheelbase so its pretty manoeuvrable, plus twin rear axles will widen the turning circle unless you get a rear lift, and they aren't great off road.

 

If you are going big then 32t on 4 axles is the biggest rigid you can run in the UK.