“But if they come into the buying decision thinking they’ll spend less buying an electric crane and then end up using it every day, they’ll be worse off because the life cycle of the crane will be reduced. “Customers who know that they only need to lift something once a week, or maybe a little more often, can save some money by selecting an electric crane,” Worman says. If your duty cycle is light and you only need to lift something every once in a while, then an electric crane is a great option, but you’ll have to go hydraulic, otherwise. You’re going to need a hydraulic crane if you lift anything larger than 6,000 pounds because the electrical system cannot handle the strain. If you don’t have a lot of money to spend, if your lifting needs are fairly light and if your duty cycle is intermittent, then an electric telescopic crane might be the best choice, Worman says.Įlectric cranes typically have a maximum lift capacity of between 2,000 and 6,000 pounds. Assessing your need that way helps you avoid spending more than necessary on your truck crane.” Electric Telescopic Cranes “When it comes time to select a crane model, a customer is better off to gauge what crane would most closely match the common need. “Whether a customer is doing field maintenance on compact equipment or on haul trucks in mines, there is a truck crane designed perfectly for the application,” Worman says. Choosing one of these options is more or less dictated by your capacity needs and your duty cycle. Once you’ve answered those questions, then you basically have three main options to choose from: electric telescopic cranes, hydraulic telescopic cranes and articulating cranes. But finding the right crane really boils down to answering two key questions: How much lift capacity do you need the crane to have, and how often are you going to use the crane?
When it comes to deciding what kind of crane you’re going to mount on your mechanics truck, it might seem like your options are endless. “If there are going to be any lifting requirements, the mechanic is going to want a crane to be able to load materials, pull engines, lift buckets, you name it.” “The crane is critically important for the mechanic to be able to get his job done efficiently,” says Tim Worman, product manager for commercial vehicles at Iowa Mold Tooling Co., Inc (IMT).
And in the world of construction, not many service applications exist that don’t require some form of lifting. To put it simply, either you have lifting needs or you don’t, depending on your business, and that will dictate whether you need a crane. Not much goes into the decision of whether to outfit your mechanics truck with a crane. From Electric Telescopic Cranes to Knucklebooms, Options Abound for Mechanics Trucks