How to choose small cranes

Truck cranes are the most widely used crane machines in the market to undertake the lifting works in fields of building construction, road, railway, bridge, wind farm, nuclear power plant. Small crane refers to the light-duty truck crane machine roughly covering a tonnage from 3 tons to 12 tons. It consists of two parts – the chassis or undercarriage and the superstructure, with key structures including the hoisting system, luffing system, telescopic system, slewing system and outriggers.

When you are planning to purchase a small crane, the following performance and features need to be noticed.

Chassis

The chassis performance is of great importance to the lifting capacity, stability and traveling performance. When you choose a small crane, it’s better to buy the crane machine with self-developed chassis by the crane manufacturer, which is more reasonably configured and reliable. 

The engine rated power, rated torque and emission standard are key factors. In addition, transmission, axles, brakes, steering and suspension system are also the configurations you must consider.

Superstructure

Superstructure or the upper structure is the core part to undertake the lifting works. The small crane nowadays has four- or five-section boom made of fine grain high-strength steel with rectangular/hexagon cross section and with telescopic operation controlled independently by dual-cylinder rope.

The small crane’s hoisting system consists of main and auxiliary winches, main and auxiliary hooks independently controlled by wire ropes, and the crane’s winch adopts the high-quality quantitive plunger pump, ensuring high efficient operation and stable lifting and lowering of the load.

The hydraulic system is crucial to the overall operation. Main hydraulic pump is driven by the chassis engine, main valve supports the slewing system, telescopic system, winches, luffing operations, the outrigger control and 360°rotation.

Safety devices

Load moment limiter, hydraulic system’s balance valve, overflow valve, two-way hydraulic lock, and crane winches’ roll-out limiter, height limiter are the necessary safety devices you must check when you buy a small crane.