Not every tire service truck body needs a crane, and we understand that. But, if you are looking to increase efficiency and make your job a heck of a lot easier, adding a crane might not be such a bad idea. It depends on the job and the amount of effort you are willing to exert on a daily basis. As the old adage goes, work smarter, not harder.
Without beating around the bush, a knuckle boom crane is the winner, and with good reason.
Precision
The swift movement of the knuckle boom allows the operator to place cargo (in this case, tires) ever so carefully on the truck body. This is important if you consider that no one will need to be guiding the tires to a specified area, as they would with a telescoping, single boom crane.
The ability to reach more surface area of the deck without manual assistance is huge from a time-savings standpoint.
Additionally, the ability to reach the whole deck makes unloading a breeze.
One Is Less Than Two… (learned that in Kindergarten!)
While on the topic of time-savings, it is important to factor in the micro-movements that add up to cost macro-time. This is the case when considering a telescoping boom crane, as opposed to the knuckle boom.
The knuckle boom provides the ability to load and unload with one swift, dynamic motion.
Compare this to the telescoping boom, you are constantly extending and retracting to reach your intended pick-up and drop-off spot.
One movement is less than two movements, but you kind of figured that’s where we were headed with this.
My Back!
Throwing your back out is about as much fun as running barefoot in gravel, and it hurts a lot longer.
Now, there may be some hard asses that would still prefer to hand load their tires, and we say hats off to them.
For everyone not trying to Lou Ferrigno tires every single day, it may be a good idea to get a crane attached to your work truck.
If you are going to get a crane on that tire service truck, get a knuckle boom mobile crane.
Space…The Final Frontier
Guess what type of crane allows you optimum truck body space for hauling the maximum amount of cargo resulting in fewer trips? I would imagine by this point you know the answer.
The knuckle boom crane’s retractable and foldable characteristics allow them to be mounted right behind the cab, opening up more space on the tire truck body to hold more…tires. The truck was built to haul tires right? Why take up precious cargo space with a crane mount?
