%25206-7-12_JPG.jpg) |
| City of Walker Hookloader Retrofit |
Hookloader Implementation in Municipal & Other Governmental
Fleets
Testimonials:
We have been using
Hook Lift trucks since around 1995 when we built a truck that would haul an AMZ
Patching machine. This piece of equipment was not used year around so we needed
to have the capability of unloading it so we could use the truck for other things.
We chose the truck mounted configuration because we did not want to pull a trailer
in the tight city streets. In that case we would use the patching machine
as needed and switch to a container box for hauling leaves or garbage when we
were not patching. During the winter months we loaded a stainless steel salter
equipped with a liquid pre-wetting system which enabled us to use the truck
year round. We have replaced the truck several times and would not like to be
without that configuration. The City of Jackson no longer uses the trucks for
patching but we have four in our fleet at this time. We have two single axle
hook lifts configured with large container boxes for hauling leaves. A shorter sided
box for hauling garbage/debris and a flatbed equipped with a tank for
anti-icing/dust control. There is also a flatbed attachment for these trucks
for hauling materials for anything from highway repairs to trees. We also
have two tandem axle trucks equipped with large leaf hauling containers and short
sided heavy boxes for hauling aggregates. Both configurations of trucks
still carry salters in the winter when we need them and can quickly be switched
to haul snow in between storms. When we built the larger trucks we opted for
the sliding jib to allow us to carry different length boxes and also had them
plumbed to carry front plows. This enabled us to utilize the same truck for
plowing as needed. We have single axle trucks that will sit idle all summer but
these hook lift trucks are on the road daily, winter and summer.
Greg Lucas
City
of Jackson, General Foreman
It is my belief that
hook-loader equipped trucks are the future of municipal fleets. We can no
longer afford under-utilized single purpose trucks. The City of Wixom owns two
hook-loader equipped trucks. One is a Ford F550 the other is a Sterling L-line
5 yard dump. The F550 has one 3 yard salt box with pre-wet capabilities, one 3
yard stainless steel dump box with drop sides and four 9 yard boxes used for
yard waste, compost, mulch…The Sterling has one 5 yard salt box with pre-wet
capabilities, one 975 gallon anti-ice tank, and one 13 yard dump box. For a
small department like ours these trucks are invaluable. Rather than having plow
trucks that are parked 8 months out of the year we utilize these two trucks
year round.
Mark Clancy
City
of Wixom
 |
| City of Coldwater New Truck with Hook Loader |
Fleet Creep; A Fleet Manager’s Headache
One hot topic in fleet management circles,
especially governmental units, is "fleet creep", or
in layman's terms the tendency for fleets to gradually increase
equipment inventory over time. Fleet creep often happens even when
employee staffing is on the decrease. There are many factors that
contribute to fleet creep and no one single solution. The essence of
effective fleet management is identifying equipment by the operations it
performs (i.e.: mission) and then determine if these operations/missions are
“proactive” or “reactive” in nature.
Sometimes the lines separating “proactive” from “reactive” missions can
be blurred which makes this process of mission defining more challenging. As an example, I think we would all agree
that winter snow & ice removal operations would be considered as “reactive”
hence a piece of equipment used in this operation/mission would be considered
“reactive”. Plus snow removal is not an
operation that can be delayed and rescheduled for a future date. On the other-hand, an anti-icing operation
would be considered “proactive” as you are making a chemical application prior
to the predicted winter event. If the
anti-ice operation is not performed for whatever reason, there would be no
resulting crisis such as there would be if trunkline snow removal operations
were “skipped”. Another factor to
consider is: could I obtain this
equipment “as needed” through a short term rental rather than tie up precious
equipment budgetary funds to purchase it?
Obviously, winter maintenance plow and salt trucks are not readily
available as a short term rental, are used “reactively”, and in many cases, the
majority of usage is seasonal; i.e. winter.
These trucks are "mission critical". The challenge to the fleet manager
is: how do I maintain the numbers of
plow trucks that are required for winter operations, keep them busy year around for maximum
utilization, all while staying within my dwindling equipment budget? One option might be creating a multi-functional
truck by adding a hook loader thus having the ability to use the same chassis
in several different operations or missions.
A few
examples of the various operations and missions for which one chassis could be
utilized are: water tanker trucks and/or liquid chloride tankers used for
anti-ice applications, flatbeds and/or beavertails used to transport equipment
to a job site, core drilling equipment, tool vans or tool trucks, crane trucks,
salt spreaders, pothole patchers or bituminous distributor units, and many
more.
My point is this: one truck chassis
spec'd for your specific needs equipped with the correctly spec'd hook loader
becomes a multi-functional truck which is capable of carrying multiple
different types of attachments. Mount your water tank or anti-ice tank,
your salt spreader, tool van body, truck
crane, pothole patcher, bituminous distributor, flat bed, dump body, you name
it, on a subframe and you are ready to go to work. One truck now has the
ability to perform all these functions. Truck chassis wears out, no
problem, transfer hook loader assembly to new truck chassis and retain existing
equipment attachments and you are still in business. You have the ability
to efficiently extend the usable life of your attachments from chassis to
chassis. You have the ability to share
low usage attachments with neighboring agencies in compliance with Governor
Snyder’s initiatives for more intergovernmental cooperation and resource
sharing.. You can virtually eliminate
all low usage, mission critical, job specific type truck chassis without
compromising your ability to perform these mission critical maintenance
obligations. There are several Michigan municipalities and County Road
Commissions already incorporating hook loader equipped trucks in their
fleet. I challenge you to evaluate your
fleet and see where a multi-functional hook loader equipped chassis could
reduce your inventory of low usage truck chassis and save your constituents
money.
%25206-7-12_JPG.jpg)
