What is a truck-mounted crane or truck loader crane?

Truck-mounted crane and truck loader crane refer to a truck which has a crane either at the rear or just behind that cab which is used to load and unload goods from the truck’s deck. It’s sometimes called a Hiab after the original manufacturer. It’s different to a mobile crane which doesn’t carry anything other than equipment used to rig and lift loads.

Types of truck-mounted crane

You can see on the right a knuckle boom truck-mounted crane. It has two booms and a fixed hook at the end of the outer boom.

This is a single-boom crane. The main boom extends and a hook on cables is used to adjust the height of the load.

Single-boom cranes are frequently used for vehicle recovery. They don’t have the flexibility to get into difficult spaces that knuckle boom cranes do. A knuckle boom crane can reach into spaces, for example, a fourth-floor window, as there is the extra articulation in the boom.

Advantages of a truck loader crane

A truck-mounted crane is very flexible:

• If the crane isn’t needed, it’s still useful as a truck and can be loaded using a forklift
• They provide easy access to worksites
• If the capacity is less than 10 tonnes, they can be operated with the appropriate truck licence (cranes over 10 tonnes require the operator to have a Vehicle Loading Crane high-risk work licence, unless they are supervised by a licence vehicle loading crane operator).
• It’s cheaper than a dedicated mobile crane
• It can have attachments added to it for extra versatility, e.g. augers and personnel cages.

How are truck loader cranes used?

Some examples of how they are used are:

• Loading materials at building sites – bricks, timber framing, etc
• Recovering or delivering vehicles and machinery
• Loading concrete pipes
• Digging holes using an auger for power poles, then lifting the power pole in place
• Inspection of elevated structures and power lines using a personnel cage
• Lifting scrap metal using a grab attachment
• Self-loading raw logs.