The company Toucourt produces concrete parts, they are transported with their own trucks. This Scania is the first 5-axled unit in the fleet, the other are 4-axled Iveco's, also with rear mounted cranes.

The base is a Scania R580 (16 liter, 580 Hp) in a 10x4*6 configuratio, meaning that both front axles and the last axle are steering. The axles 3 & 4 are driven and are equiped with planetery drives, ideal for heavier works on building sites. The truck has got a length of 11,3 meters, this way it still has enough loading length for the concretes parts that need to be transported.

The flatbed has been installed as tight as possible behind the half-long day cab, this way you preserve as much loading length as possible. The front of the bed has got the heavy front outriggers installed into it. This is the longest distance possible from the crane, which is good for stability. Also they are mounted higher up then when they would have been installed underneath the chassis, which is an advantage on building sites that usually aren't paved.

At the rear they installed the heaviest Fassi crane available, a Fassi F1950 with a 6x extending boom. This extends up to 15,25 where it can still lift 8,4 tons. The maximum load is 30 ton at 4,35 meters. The crane gives a rather constanst capacity over the entire outreach of about 130 ton/mtr. Acording to the lifting table it has been delivered with a L916 jib, that would give a total outreach of 27 meters with a 2,61 ton load.

According to the data on the truck (at the right rear of the cab) the truck has an empty weight of 36,8 tons and is allowed for a loaden weight of 50,8 tons and a combined total weight of 150 tons. I asume that these weights go with a permit, as in France they also have the 32 tons total weight limit for single trucks (4-axled). This side of the chassis is filled with the large muffler, a carrier for outrigger plates, an oiltank and a storage compartment.

The crane is mounted to the rear because this truck often transports parts that are not longer than the availble loading length. With this setup the capacity of the crane can be used efficiently to lift heavy parts of the truck and install them directly behind the truck, without having the outriggers in this area.

The length and the weight of the 5-axled chassis already help a lot to get a good stability to the rear, it acts good as ballast. But for a crane with this capacity it is not enough, that is why they had to install to additional outriggers. They extend to the rear for about 1 meter and are installed along the subframe of the crane.

In comparison with the Fassi 1500 of Chenet, a similar installation, this crane is installed higher on the chassis. Therefore the rear outriggers are mounted higher and closer to the crane, which is better on unpaved construction sites. The installation was done by Lerouge. On this side the dieseltank was installed, the rest is the same as the other side.

A very nice new truck on the french roads. The starting trend with 5-axled trucks (see also: JDL Show of 2013) is interesting and off course offers much more possibilities with regards to heavy knucklebooms, mainly because you can operate them and still have loading capacity left. I hope we will see more of them!