Went to a site yesterday where they wanted m to back in off a narrowish road (with a ditch alongside) into a narrow driveway with trees either side of the opening and low trees all the way down. Had a 14t excavator on so running quite high too.
Apparently they’d “had bigger in there in this morning”
Turns out someone had collected a shed in a wagon 63’ long, as I explained artics are a bit more manouevrable than my motor “Oh no mate, it wasn’t an artic”
I asked if it was Paul Daniels or Jesus driving as it was either magic or a miracle.
Our commercial tilt ‘n’ slide is 36 foot with the tailgate down, it can be a ■■■■ getting into some places with it, and more of a problem when using ‘turn right’ lanes, there’s a lot of tail swing.
I get that all the time on sites, They either tell me “we get muckaway trucks in here” which is fine except they have no overhang at the back and i have a 14’ overhang.
Or “we get artics in here”… followed by 15 mins of struggling and cursing etc only to find they had a Scaffold artic in there once which was only about 20ft long
I’m well used to all the ■■■■■■■■, but think 63’ is a record.
Why do people think they know better than the driver about what will go where?
I told the bloke “You must think I’m a right cant, I’ll tip it on the road or I’ll take it back. It was supposed to be our lowloader doing it anyway there’s no way he’d have got in either”
Before I left I heard him say
“Maybe that other lorry wasn’t any bigger”
No and judging by the tyre marks on the road it wasn’t a twin steer either.
Give or take this is what he thought was going through his little entrance.
No Idea cieranc, but it only went on the road at the beginning of the year, and the wheelbase and overhang are identical to one we’ve got that is nearly 5 years old.
So i can only guess that its legal.
It’s a lot more than a tipper, they are actually quite short.
My previous 6x2’s had the same wheelbase configuration as yours, excellent for clearing pavements when turning tightly and also surprisingly good at getting in and out of tight spots.
This one is also tag axled with a 14’ overhang although being a twin steer it’s turning circle is about as good as your 6x2 with the axle down. When it is loaded it needs a wide swing out to get it around a tight corner.
When I got my hands on this one it looked quite smart.
Hippo:
No Idea cieranc, but it only went on the road at the beginning of the year, and the wheelbase and overhang are identical to one we’ve got that is nearly 5 years old.
So i can only guess that its legal.
Ta Owen
Have a measure up one day, centre of front wheel to centre of drive wheel, then centre of drive wheel to back of the body.
We had a truck on the road for 6 years, the 7th year it failed it’s test for too much overhang.
They hadn’t changed the rules, just no-one noticed before (or thought to check it)
Hi 8Wheels, Thats definately a beast of a truck. Even dirty it looks good, how bigs the crane ? and what sort of Payload have you got?
I am very Jealous.
cieranc, sad as it is sat here at home on a Friday night i can tell you its got a Wheelbase of 5.9 metres and an overhang of 4.5 metres with the tag axle raised, guess its illegal then
The crane is a Palfinger 23t/m, manual controls (remote would have been handy) 8m reach and will lift 2.7t at full jib. The legs are powered down which is quite cool and as they are quite high can often be extended out over a short fence and dropped on thee other side. They also boom out about 8’ so although there are no rear legs it is very stable expecially if I drop the air.
The payload was the clincher for us, surprisingly it weighed 16t empty giving a very usable 16t payload. We took the hydraulic winch off the old 6 wheeler and mounted it in the headboard and with all my chains and bits it’s good for about 15.5t
I never thought my boss would buy it, as it seemed too good but I think he realised that someone else had lost a whole load of cash already on it and someone else would snap it up if he dithered. He was considering a new chassis & body and refurbing the old crane (10yr old) from the six wheeler which would have made it virtually worthless. He sold the six wheeler for a surprising figure as it was (minus winch)
I specced up a new vehicle with an Andover body that was a bit more refined, I’d have got it if we’d bought new but the it’d have been a day cab G400 (or P360 ) if the penny pinching started and it would have been fairly basic.
I’ve got a basic Andover body which is still good, an R sleeper cab, 3 pedal Opticruise, Retarder, Fridge, Aircon. So I think I’ve done pretty well.
Cheers Ken lol, I get that alot, i just tell them to “■■■■ off”
8Wheels thats a great spec wagon, I bet you were made up when they bought it for you. My crane is a 19t/m Fassi thats about 13 years old (its been on 2 other wagons), but when they fitted it to my wagon they converted it to remote control, Its also got an 8mtr reach, but will only lift 2t at full Jib.
15.5t is a really good payload, Mine is a G cab sleeper and thats big enough for me, although obviously i would have loved an R cab. How do you get on with the Opticruise with the site work, I loved it on my old Scanny, but my new one was specced with 2 pedal and its abit of a nightmare going backwards while maneuvering.
No Laurence the max length under C&U regs is 12m, the length of just about every rigid I’ve driven.
Owen, the 3 pedal Opti took a bit of getting used to, but was better once I’d been told how to reprogram the starting gear. To date it has not got stuck and seems to cope very well even with a bit of work through the slop of the quarries where I sometimes have to go. I have discovered that the answer seems to be just go faster I plant my size 13 right foot down and we barrel through OK. That’s a nice motor you have there, I’d have been more than happy with a G Sleeper and wouldn’t have minded a G day cab (although not the short cab variant) I was pushing to get a Volvo FMX as it was quite a bit cheaper but I think I’d have ended up with a Scania if we’d bought new, as the boss seems to enjoy moaning about them too much to change to something else. The FMX is construction spec, whereas the Scania would have been a distribution type chassis like yours. In the end I got the construction spec Scania so all good in the end.
My old crane was a Cormach 19t/m and it wasn’t really man enough for the job, the main work for the crane is empty containers (2.2t) and builders seem to have a funny idea about empty. Because of the size of a 20’ box you really need to be working at 6m radius.
Just a quick question. I have never worked out this Tonne per Meter of cranes. I am getting a new crane trailer. They are putting refurb cranes off of out old ridgids on the trailers. They will lift about 6T at 12 meters, what would that work out at?
Hi Paul, I think its at 1 Metre my crane will lift 19tons, and it then drops the further out you go, so for me, my furthest reach is 8metre at which my crane will only lift 2ton.
But to lift 6ton at 12 metres it will be a bloody big crane
8Wheels, luckily i haven’t had to do a container yet, but I’m sure i will sooner or later. I used to love the 3 pedal opticruise on my old scanny, i had that for nearly 5 years and like your self never got stuck, however i have had this 2 pedal opticruise 3 months now and have twice had to be pulled out and thats with difflock.
Yes 6t at 12m would be 6x12 = 72t/m or in other words a ■■■■ off big crane.
Theoretically it could lift 72t at 1m from the centre of rotation, but that will never happen, a shipping container needs about 6m reach to get the hook over the centre, you’d be down to about 12t at that reach which is pretty useful. Trouble is if you mount one on an 8 wheeler you will end up with a max payload of about 8t.
Owen, containers are a pain in the arse avoid them where possible especially with a 19t/m crane. Sometimes they go without a hitch other times they will be awkward. If you are on ground that has a bit of “give” the leg will push the pad into the ground slightly and this will reduce your capacity to lift. If you try the same on a concrete yard it be so much easier.
) if the penny pinching started and it would have been fairly basic.
and thats with difflock.