The all-terrain crane is considered within the crane business as being a luxury kind of a mobile hydraulic crane. It has the reputation of being similar to driving a Hummer or a Range Rover on pavement. All-terrain cranes are considered to be a hybrid between a mobile truck crane and rough terrain crane. One more great quality of this particular equipment is its multi-functional ability to be able to navigate through all kinds of off-road terrain. Among the main selling characteristics of this particular crane is that it travels equally well at high speeds down highways.
The First Rough Terrain Crane
Grove introduced the very first rough terrain crane to the market in the year 1959. The crane was designed for the intended application of being a multi-purpose machine for use on construction sites. The crane's tires have the industrial strength that can handle all types of difficult terrain and is able to move small loads in carry mode. During the 1970s, the 4 axle Super-RT 1650 model was launched by Grove. This specific unit has an 82.8 meter or 270 foot height under hook in production, in addition to a 135 ton lifting capacity. At the end of the day, the rough terrain crane will become the company's most notable equipment over the years.
The Crane's Drawbacks
One of the major drawbacks of the rough terrain crane was the problem that it was not capable of being driven on public highways with any other traffic. Japan was the only nation within the globe that would make an exception to this rule. In addition, another issue happened when the lowered boom on the crane tended to block the driver's left and right views, depending on how the cap was positioned. All these issues with the crane's design ended up being both serious and dangerous and lead to lots of accidents with RT cranes, specially while turning. As a result, flatbeds, low-loaders, lowboys were used as the primary method of moving rough terrain cranes.