The all-terrain crane is considered in the crane business as being a luxury kind of a mobile hydraulic crane. It has the status of being similar to driving a Range Rover or a Hummer on pavement. All-terrain cranes are considered to be a hybrid between a mobile truck crane and rough terrain crane. One more remarkable quality of this machine is its multi-functional ability to be able to traverse through all types of off-road terrain. Amongst the main selling features of this crane is that it travels equally well at high speeds down roads.
The First Rough Terrain Crane
The first rough terrain crane was put on the market by Grove during 1959. The crane was intended for application and designed to deal with many tasks on construction locations. The crane's tires have the industrial strength that is capable of handling all types of tricky terrain and can transport small loads in carry mode. In the 1970s, the 4 axle Super-RT 1650 model was introduced by Grove. This particular model has a 270 foot or 82.8 meter height under hook in production, together with a 135 ton lifting capacity. At the end of the day, the rough terrain crane will become the most remarkable machinery of the company through the years.
The Crane's Drawbacks
The rough terrain crane is not without its disadvantages since it is not able to be driven on public roads with any other traffic. Japan is the one nation which has made this rule an exception. Additionally, another issue happened when the crane's lowered boom tended to block the left and right views of the driver, depending on how the cap was placed. All these issues with the crane's design ended up being serious and hazardous and lead to numerous RT crane accidents, particularly when turning. Thus, lowboys, flatbeds, low-loaders were used as the primary method of moving rough terrain cranes.