New Zealand businesses requiring complex custom adaptations to their trucks need look no further than Waimea Engineering if its latest crane truck is anything to go by.
The Nelson-based business has just completed an innovative conversion of a Hino cab chassis to a crane truck with an interesting adaptation.
Phil Kirk, a director and partner in Waimea Engineering’s parent company, the Trinder Group, says it’s what he calls a “swap crane”.
“The crane has hydraulic legs and there’s an auxiliary set of legs on the other end of the deck. This one uses what I’d call an integrated deck – it’s built specifically for the crane and the set of legs that come with it.”
A hydraulic locking system on the deck allows the client to swap the crane from one end of the deck to the other with ease.
“They can lift the deck up if the crane is at the front, unlock it on the hydraulic locks, disconnect the deck from the truck with its hydraulic lines and wiring, then drive the truck out from underneath the deck structure, turn it round 180 degrees so the crane is at the back of the deck, then it clicks back in, lowers itself down and locks back on,” Kirk says.
That whole turnaround takes just six minutes. A warning system in the cab makes sure the four failsafe hydraulic locks that hold it on are all engaged, and two reversing cameras allow a single operator to turn it from one end to the other.
This particular Nelson customer used a Hino truck – though the truck brand depends on the client and could be near-new rather than new – and the crane is a European Palfinger.
“The owner gives us the truck, the crane and legs, tells us what they’re after and what they will do with the finished set-up,” Kirk says.
“We do the design, the plumbing and wiring – we contract the hose to Hose Doctor and the wiring to an electrician and do anything steel, plus we control the project.”
The Nelson operator had 12 or 13 crane trucks working on buildings but Waimea has converted cab-chassis to crane trucks that will do anything from general deliveries to out-of-the-ordinary stuff, “pretty much anything you can lift with a crane.
Because this one can swap round, it’s more flexible”.
Kirk says he’s never seen a structure like it but the company often gets requests for something a little out of the ordinary.
“One of the owner’s operators thought of the idea so they brought it to me and said ‘Can you do this?’ I said ‘right ho’ and we looked at how to do it.
“We do side-tipper fertiliser trailers too – build them brand-new from scratch.
“Any transport solution we can look at – if you want something out of the box, you come to talk to us about how it’s done.”
Waimea has dealt with jobs on small trucks right up to 24 or 26-ton eight-wheelers. And because it is a manufacturing certifier, everything it turns out is certified so the buyer gets peace of mind.
“Waimea Engineering is a subsidiary of Trinder Engineering, which covers all aspects of engineering – Waimea is the transport and machinery side and for the last 18 months we’ve been extremely busy,” Kirk says.
No doubt it helps that, although most of its jobs come from the South Island, the company’s proximity to Picton means it can produce an innovative engineering solution for anyone in New Zealand.
