Never before had I seen such a colossal creation mounted on the frame of a standard size truck. At first glance, the Volvo simply seems to be too small and light to carry that massive knuckle boom crane as its permanent load. I caught it in the warehouse/showroom of a used truck dealer in the Netherlands, last September.
The truck is a Volvo FM 10×4 alright, obviously owned by De Waard. Yet back then I couldn’t find any further information or pictures. But things have unfolded since, besides the crane itself.
This turned out to be an Erkin ER-365.000 L-8 knuckle boom crane from Turkey (FYI, the underlined numbers are kilogrammes, skip the dots).
The carrier is a 2010, 375 kW/510 DIN-hp Volvo FM 10×4 with air suspension on all axles, though the truck left the factory as a 6×4 chassis-cab. A specialist from Denmark added two steering pusher axles and it was also in that country where the whole ensemble started its career.
De Waard, the latest and current owner, posted several pictures of the imported and fully repainted combination on their FB-site. According to its registration, the beast weighs 49,220 kg (108,512 lbs). And it’s clearly built as compact as possible, so a perfect job from all parties involved!
Here’s some teamwork, with a crucial role for the Volvo-Erkin. The crew is building a bridge for agricultural machinery. Note the wheeled excavator in the contractor’s livery, something you rarely see. The plan comes together just fine, most certainly if the bridge -once finished- can hold the weight of the heavy lifter.
That’s an insane vehicle. Thanks for the pictures!
Insane, indeed. I’ve seen some heavy on-highway trucks over the past 50+ years, but never a monster like this. Not ‘in the metal’, anyway.
Once again, you prove that heavy-duty trucking in Europe means business! Impressive vehicles. Thanks.
That’s some knuckle boom. I’m guessing you would need a bit of training to operate it successfully. My experience with knuckle booms isn’t so great. We a had a few in the fleet and damaged equipment was all to common. Have to be opened and stowed correctly. Even had a couple of bridge hits.
When you have to work with a crane -knuckle boom or anything else- with more than 10 tonmeter-capacity and you use it for lifting jobs (so not just putting a load next to your truck), you get a professional training and a ‘machinistendiploma’ (machinist-diploma) is legally required.
So you definitely need that for the article’s 365 tonmeter crane…
Another cool chop top custom and I like that green on green with white livery.
It seems to have the Volvo FM factory low sleeper cab roof.
‘Chop tops’ are aftermarket jobs. See DAF CF below, done by the Estepe company (they also worked on last week’s Volvo FM tractor you’re thinking of).
Heck, if you want, they also cut a cab in half. So you’re ending up with a true one-seater.
That’s quite the monster. I would guess that it fills the role of more conventional truck cranes where where height and reach of a full size crane are not required since even at such high gross weight the Volvo/Erkan is more easily brought to the site.
Although I can’t see it, I’m guessing it has a radio control like normal knuckle boom cranes so the operator can stand close to the load for precise work.
Radio control for sure. Knuckle boom cranes (on a tractor or flatbed truck) frequently have to operate inside buildings, so the lower the better.
The Volvo’s gross weight is not extraordinary from a Dutch POV. Five-axle dump trucks and concrete mixer trucks weigh the same (max. 50 tonnes GVWR) and also drive directly to construction sites.
Wow, great find Johannes, What a monster.
Thats a lot of crane on one Volvo, Ive operated truck mounted Hiabs but nothing on that scale.