Hookloaders

[sjs5060]

Ey up, I’m thinking of adding a small hook loader to the fleet shortly, my question is with regards the various ones on smaller wagons, for example if I bought say a 10 lorry it would hl5 gear on it and pickup hl5 skips. Now I’ve seen some slightly larger (and more suitable) lorry’s of 13/14 ton, some of these are advertised with hl7 gear, makes sense as they’ll carry more than 5 ton, my question is, is the a different set of bins again for this size of truck or do they use hl5 bins?

any other comments and or advice on these is also welcome, I’m basically looking for max versatility & payload with the smallest possible footprint.

ste

 

[JD450A]

From memory different gauge of Bin rails etc.
Got to be honest I'd still go chain lift skips for anything under a 18t lorry. You will fit a 4/5t machine on most chain lift lorries

 

[sjs5060]

Rory I agree in the most part, it’s needing to move a 6 ton dumper which is the reason I’m thinking hooklift, I also fancy a mini dozer for f****ng about with and that would be a touch wide. That said if there’s not the secondhand bodies easily available for these hl7 things I may still get a chain lift and build my water rig on something narrower

 

[JD450A]

Rory I agree in the most part, it’s needing to move a 6 ton dumper which is the reason I’m thinking hooklift, I also fancy a mini dozer for f****ng about with and that would be a touch wide. That said if there’s not the secondhand bodies easily available for these hl7 things I may still get a chain lift and build my water rig on something narrower

From experience you will fit a mini dozer on unless it's on very wide Apex Tracks, on a 13/15t chainlift lorry with 7t gear, Dumperwise I've shifted up to a 4t dumper (with skip tipped as skip is considerably wider than frame on that size). Used to shift my 450A trackloader with the Volvo.

 

[hiluxman]

I've been contemplating putting Roro gear on my 10t chassis. At the moment it's got a stupidly heavy steel insulated tipper on which is getting to the end of its life.

 

[JD450A]

I've been contemplating putting Roro gear on my 10t chassis. At the moment it's got a stupidly heavy steel insulated tipper on which is getting to the end of its life.

I've a Aluminum tipper Body off a Old bedford KM 15t sat in my yard, but it's reasonable high fixed sides

 

[hiluxman]

I've a Aluminum tipper Body off a Old bedford KM 15t sat in my yard, but it's reasonable high fixed sides

I've always said if I was doing agg delivery or muck away I'd want fixed sides even if I was only using a transit.

The grabs drop sides but boy are they handy. If I was just doing muck away with that I'd not like them tho.

 

[Smiffy]

Palfinger are the only company that offer specs and they use the same rail width from 7t-14t gvw.
I have only ever seen hl5 and full size bins for sale.
The only differences seem to be length.
You can pick long skips up with short equipment but can't pick short skips up with longer gear

 

[Smiffy]

Got to be honest I'd still go chain lift skips for anything under a 18t lorry. You will fit a 4/5t machine on most chain lift lorries

Three disadvantages of chain lift which obviously depends on your working system.
Difficult to load with the skip on the body meaning you need room to park a lorry on site in addition to the room for the skip
No drop sides for loading paletised goods in the builders merchants.
And can't have chutes for filling wheel barrows.
Obviously only a problem if you need these things

 

[JD450A]

Three disadvantages of chain lift which obviously depends on your working system.
Difficult to load with the skip on the body meaning you need room to park a lorry on site in addition to the room for the skip
No drop sides for loading paletised goods in the builders merchants.
And can't have chutes for filling wheel barrows.
Obviously only a problem if you need these things

First problem doesn't exist if you can actually drive a digger.

Other two issues are simply a matter of speccing your bins/lorry properly

 

[Smiffy]

First problem doesn't exist if you can actually drive a digger.

Other two issues are simply a matter of speccing your bins/lorry properly

If the jobs tight enough to be loading on the lorry it isn't always that simple. And a 2t machine will just about load a 12t hookloader from the ground whereas a chain lift will end up with a tiny skip if you want to load it with such a small machine.
And a chain lift will never be as convenient for palletized materials out a builders merchants. Especially if you want to pick up a variety of different things.
They both have there places but entirely depends on how you work and the work you carry out.

 

[JD450A]

If your struggling for space to the extent that your loading with a 2ton machine I'd go chain lift all day long, drop the bin and if needed park the wagon elsewhere.

The advantage of chain lift is you can literally Fk a skip in anywhere, over walls, atop raised gardens, in cross corners.

But it's only what I spent the best part of five years doing so I probably don't know f**k all about it

 

[Smiffy]

If your struggling for space to the extent that your loading with a 2ton machine I'd go chain lift all day long, drop the bin and if needed park the wagon elsewhere.

The advantage of chain lift is you can literally Fk a skip in anywhere, over walls, atop raised gardens, in cross corners.

But it's only what I spent the best part of five years doing so I probably don't know f**k all about it

Everyone's work is very different.
And the area where everyone works is very different.
Where alot of our work is there is simply nowhere to park a lorry elsewhere. That's fine with a dedicated driver but if you need to do the work aswell it's unrealistic to park the lorry miles away and walk or get a lift back.


You obviously know your way of working intricately but for many there are different requirements.
For example the chutes on the back are absolutely invaluable to us.
For many they would never get used.

But obviously if someone reading this is going to make the huge investment of a lorry they need to see the advantages and disadvantages of all types.

Afterall there will be plenty on here where neither option is the best and a tipper with alloy ramps would serve them better.

Or indeed a grab lorry.

 

[Furniss]

Everyone's work is very different.
And the area where everyone works is very different.
Where alot of our work is there is simply nowhere to park a lorry elsewhere. That's fine with a dedicated driver but if you need to do the work aswell it's unrealistic to park the lorry miles away and walk or get a lift back.


You obviously know your way of working intricately but for many there are different requirements.
For example the chutes on the back are absolutely invaluable to us.
For many they would never get used.

But obviously if someone reading this is going to make the huge investment of a lorry they need to see the advantages and disadvantages of all types.

Afterall there will be plenty on here where neither option is the best and a tipper with alloy ramps would serve them better.

Or indeed a grab lorry.

I was with you till you said that

 

[Smiffy]

I was with you till you said that

Haha, they arnt to bad. Especially if you want the carrying capacity.

 

[JD450A]

Trouble with the small lorry conversation is there are plenty of experts, and very few that have money involved and have run them. Myself Furniss and Hilux are the only ones whom I can put a name to without having to seriously rack my mind. I know Mr Pitt (Shaun) has past experience and Hg (harry gaydon).

I'm not sure on anyone else. Perhaps there are a few who don't post any photos but have vast life-changing experience.

Lorries are a finicky thing, particularly sub 18t, with tax class, weights and lengths playing critical parts and no two wagons really being the same.

In my experience which is pretty well documented here I've found what works best on the whole. Bear in mind alongside running chain lifts I've hired in tippers and hooklifts, and spoke to plenty who run other types and makes.

The only restricting factor with a chain lift tends to be the width it can carry, beyond that they are rather more flexible than most realise.

 

[sjs5060]

Nail firmly on the head for me Rory, the width, most 5 tonners now are 2m wide, which I understand is too wide for a chain lift?

the only other way would be a small lowloader trailer behind a chain lowloader, but how far do you go spending money?

 

[JD450A]

Nail firmly on the head for me Rory, the width, most 5 tonners now are 2m wide, which I understand is too wide for a chain lift?

the only other way would be a small lowloader trailer behind a chain lowloader, but how far do you go spending money?

Chain lift will do 2m from memory, but it's tight. I'll have a measure for you Tommorow, but it is all dependent on the gear sizes. From memory I could take a rubber tracked Kubota 161 on the Volvo, and have repeatedly had Takeuchi FR138's (4 tonners)

Tax will make a drag trailer a non starter as it counts towards the taxation class.

 

[sjs5060]

That’s another thing while we’re on it Rory, will there be any taxation/other implications of towing a 3.5 ton trailer behind a lorry?

i do really need to be able to take 2 machines (water carrier & digger) but the rest of the time just want the shortest handiest thing possible

 

[hiluxman]

That’s another thing while we’re on it Rory, will there be any taxation/other implications of towing a 3.5 ton trailer behind a lorry?

i do really need to be able to take 2 machines (water carrier & digger) but the rest of the time just want the shortest handiest thing possible

Only bug bare I have is you need class 1 to tow even a poxy 1t 6x4 trailer with a class2. Yet car wollers now get 3.5t towing for free (again after I had to pay for it).

I'd love to be able to stick the mini digger behind the grab but I loath paying for a class 1 just to do so.