What machinery fits on a tilt tray tow truck?

Ours has a 6.5-metre tray that carries up to 4 tonnes, and our photos show forklifts, a scissor lift, a cab tractor and a light truck on it. Whether your machine fits comes down to its weight and dimensions, which we work out from the make and model before quoting. If it’s too big for a tilt tray, we say so on the phone and suggest a low loader.

What do you need from me to quote machinery transport?

The make and model, a photo of the compliance plate if there is one, and any attachments added since it left the factory, like a front loader or a cage. Then both addresses, the access at each end, and whether the machine drives. With those we give you a price before booking.

Can you move machinery that doesn’t run?

If it rolls, the winch draws it up the tray slowly. Tell us about locked wheels, seized brakes, flat or missing tyres, and anything hanging off the machine, since each one changes how we load it and how long the job takes.

Do I need to be on site when you collect equipment?

Someone needs to be there with the key, or to show us where the machine is and how the gate opens. On building sites, tell us about inductions or sign-in rules ahead of time, and we’ll tell you on the phone whether the driver can meet them.

Can you move equipment after hours or on weekends?

We can arrange it, and it often suits sites that don’t want a truck in the way during work. Weekend and after-hours moves cost more than weekday business hours, so we give you both prices and you choose. Tell us the site’s access hours when you ring.

Machinery and Equipment Transport Adelaide

Start with the make and model

We work out the weight from the make and model. The orange JLG in our photos has its model number, 3246E2, on the platform guard at the top, and a number like that gives the weight and size from the maker’s specifications.

Send a photo of the compliance plate if you can find it, and mention anything added since the machine left the factory, such as a front loader on a tractor or a cage on a forklift. Attachments change the numbers. If the machine is too heavy or too tall for our tray, we say so on the phone and suggest a low loader instead.

Chains, tie-down points and height

Machinery is the job where chains belong. Forklifts, lifts and tractors have tie-down lugs and axle points built to take them, and you can see the chains running from the tray to the red Linde and the JLG in our photos. We chain each machine front and back so it can’t walk forward under braking.

A mast or a cab adds to the tray’s own height, and some streets have low wires and branches. Give us the lowered mast height or the cab height, and we’ll tell you before we quote whether it can travel on our tray.

Getting a machine ready for the truck

Lower the forks or the platform and tilt the mast back. Turn off the gas bottle on an LPG forklift and flip the battery isolator if there is one. Clear loose tools and pallets off the machine, and leave the key on site. If it runs, we drive it up the tray ourselves. Ghulam holds a forklift licence, and customers don’t drive anything onto the tray, not even a car. If it doesn’t run, the winch draws it up the tray slowly, with the brakes released the way its manual describes.

Have portable toilets pumped out before they travel. The two in our photos stand upright beside a hand-wash unit, with a ratchet strap around each.