Just as the name suggests, truck mounted cranes are those that are loaded on a truck. You must have seen a fire engine; it is a type of truck mounted crane. Though these are built-in there is no reason to believe that these are not as strong as the other variants of cranes. In fact, a truck-mounted crane can work at par with the others with the only difference that it is highly mobile and can be used in different places for multiple purposes.

These cranes come in different truck sizes and crane heights and depending on that you can use it for different purposes and a number of lifting situations. You can even upgrade a truck-mounted crane for more height or weight capacity depending on its use.

It is these features that make these trucks so popular. Ideally, it comes with two main sections:

• The lower section: This resembles a semi-truck sitting on four to eight wheels. It also includes a cab for driving.
• The upper section: This is the actual crane that can be folded and unfolded to reach to the desired height.

The Different Uses

The mobility and easy manoeuvrability factor of the truck-mounted cranes makes it ideal to use it for different purposes. Some of the uses are:

• It is used in several industrial projects where a truck-mounted crane will give better accessibility of the site than a fixed crane or is difficult, impossible or costly to use any other fixed type of cranes for easier material transport.
• Building maintenance is another area where the truck mounted cranes are used widely for cleaning or painting the exterior at great heights and awkward angles where ladders cannot reach or turn to be insufficient. It provides security and safety to the worker to stretch and reach any part of the building keeping their hands free to handle the maintenance equipment.
• Servicing of electric and telephone poles that stretch over thousands and thousands of miles can be best done by these truck mounted cranes. The worker does not have to come down, move the ladder to the next pole and go up to clean it repeating the process hundreds of times resulting in loss of time and energy. The truck moves with the person on top reducing time, labor and risks.
• You will see that truck mounted cranes are also used extensively for filming large sporting competitions and other events and even car chasing scenes in different movies. Shots taken from high angles provide extra excitement when viewed on television if you cannot be present in the venue to see it live.

Finally, firemen are often seen using these truck mounted cranes to rescue people trapped in fire from high rise buildings. Strange at it may sound it can also be used to pick up fruits as well.

Crane, Lift Or Truck

You can use the truck mounted cranes that are also known as boom trucks and picker trucks as a crane, as a platform to lift people high up in the air or simply as a flatbed truck.

• Typically, these boom trucks have a hoisting capability as well as the ability to move around from one place to another while at work.
• If you attach a man-basket to it you can use it as a safe and secure platform to lift a worker high above the ground in the air to perform certain tasks.

It is the hydraulic extension of the truck mounted cranes that enables them to be used to accomplish many hoists though the capacity of it largely depends on the tonnage as well as the length of the boom that may differ from one manufacturer to the other which are the primary reasons of its popularity.