In 2007 the company Steiner from Lengdorf - Austia added a new crane-truck to the fleet. Here it is working high upon a mountain near Kaprun, recovering a crashed freight railway for use in mountains.

A road had to be cut out of the mountain especially for this recovery, just to be able to get near to the accident.

Here a top view of the truck. It is a Volvo FM480 in 8x6 version. The truck is the first FM 8x6 of Volvo that is built as a tractor. A small flatbed is used to transport loads when a trailer cant be used, here it is mounted on the fifth wheel.

After the last parts have been recovered the Volvo drives to the place where the other parts are stored.

Here it is being loaded into a tipper that brings it into the valley. The crane that is mounted is an Effer 1750, the 8S version. It extends 8x to 19,72 meter and can lift 5,38 tonnes there. The crane is a special model as it is the first 8S unit that is combined with the new Heavy Duty jib, a 6S version. The jib gives an outreach of almost 32 meters, with 2 manual extensions this becomes almost 36 meters.

A better view on the lovely landscape of Austria. The tipper frame that was mounted on the railcart is being loaded onto the Volvo here.

After the frame has been loaden the rest of the parts are loaden into a Scania tipper of Keil transports.

The crane is used often in front of the cab as there isn’t always space enought to turn the vehicle in the mountains, this can be seen here. This is made posible by mounting 2 outriggers to the front of the chassis. The chassis has been extended to the front for this feature, an option that is available at Volvo trucks.

The crane isn’t working at it’s maximum capabilities here. The building of skilifts for example is work that really needs the full lifting power that this crane has, which is the reason why their older Effer 1150 was sold for this unit. Steiner does a lot of work in the skilift branche where often heavy objects have to be lifted on larger distances.

On the way into the valley we see why they have chosen a compact chassis. In the mountains the roads are usually tight (and this was one of the wider corners!).

The complete crane chassis with support frame was built and mounted by Steiner itself. The mounting of the crane was done by Effer in Italy.

In the valley the crane was used again to unload the scrap iron.

Short demonstration, here the crane has reached full height.

And a few photos from all sides, made on Steiner’s yard.

Under the flatbed there is a fifth wheel. The truck is also regulary used in combination with a 2-axled semi lowloader.

A very interesting and nice crane truck. Many thanks to Mr. Steiner!