The visit to the company Louis Huys was combined with the hand out of the cup for the
"Truck van het Jaar 2015" competition of the BuzzyBeeForum. More about that here.

The winner of this year's competition was this very nice Volvo FM500 with Erkin ER365.000L crane that was added to the fleet of Louis Huys from Venlo (NL) this year.

First of all the chassis, the base was a Volvo FM500 in full air suspended 8x4 layout. This was modified by Terberg Techniek who added an air suspended steering axle in front of the tandem, making it a 10x4*6.

With these modifications it now is a 53 tons chassis with these axle loads: 9+10+12+12+10 tons. As the truck gets a registration as a machine (instead of truck), this total weight can be reached legally.

They have chosen the car-transporter cab, the lowest possible. This way the truck is low enough and the boom of the crane can lie over the cab during transport.

As they want to be able to carry all the extra parts of the crane, they equiped it with a drawbar trailer.

Behind the cab stand the oiltank of the crane. Below that they installed a electric drive for the crane, it is hidden behind the side covers. This electric drive can be used when the crane has to operate inside a hall where fumes are not wanted. It gets it power from a regular socket.

The first thing you notice at the crane foot is the gigantic slewing ring. Also remarkable is the cab. This one can be delivered from the factory and fits nicely to the crane. In front of the slewing ring they now piled up the support pads, but during transport they go on the trailer.

The rear of the subframe doesn't only have side outriggers, but also a heaye set that extend to the rear. These give the crane good stability during lifts to the rear. The hook at the left rear outrigger can be used as storage for the main hook of the crane. You can put it here during work with the jib or winch for instance.

The Erkin / Worldpower ER-365000L-8 crane extends 8x to a length of 22,5 meters where it can still lift 9,3 tons. Closer, at about 10,4 meters that increases to 25 tons and the maximum capacity is 72 tons at 4,7 meters. These high capacities make it very suitable for the installation of machinery. The base crane comes with 2 manual extensions that give it a total outreach of 28,5 meters with a load of 4,8 tons.

For working in tight halways they have a special adapter available. It gets mounted into the main boom and can manually be set to different angles. With this adapter, they can lift even closer under the roof.

The trailer was built by Trade Port Trailer Service from Venlo and is allowed for 18 tons.

The trailer currently holds the jib and some small adapter parts for the crane, mainly for working with the winch.

The jib extends 6x hydraulically and gives a total outreach of 42,2 meters with a 1,4 ton load. With 2 more manual extensions, mounted in the jib here, it reaches up to 48,7 mter with 600 kg load. The maximum height is around 53 meters. The maximum horizontal working heigt of the jib is about 25 meters, a load of 10,5 tons can be lifted at the jib at this height. The jib itself can lift a load of up to 12 tons.

The crane is currently equiped with 2110 kg of ballast. They have 6020 kg of extra ballast. If this is needed for a lifting job, they can also carry on the trailer. The crane installs it's own ballast, much like a regular mobile crane. It stacks the plates on a hydraulic lifting plateau behind the oiltank. Then the crane turns around and picks the stack of ballast gets connected to the turret.

As the chassis got equiped with 2 steering axles in front and behind the tandem, the truck is still very manouevrable. This off course is a great advantage in the machinery moving business. The whole crane and the body with all the toolboxes was realised by Erkin in Turkey. The crane and the outriggers are electronically controlled by a Scanreco remote control unit.

The ballastcarrier is clearly visible here. The ballast can slide to the rear for about 1 extra meter, which give a much better effect. When the location doesn't have enough space, then the entire ballastcarrier can be taken off, eleminating any overhang to the rear of the turret. The crane will then be operating with a reduced lifting table.

Underneath the crane's boom hangs a winch with a pulling force of 4,5 tons. Combined with a lifting block with 4 sheeves, it can lift a maximum load of 36 tons. At this side they mounted the dieseltank behind the cab. Between both tanks we find a oilcooler for the hydraulics.

Behind the side plates below the dieseltank there is the mufler and the Ad-Blue tank.

Given the high reach and the high lifting capacitis, this crane truck can be put to work on a equal base as a 120 ton telescopic crane. But it can do more, as it still offers the advantages from a knuckleboom crane, like extending the boom under full load or working with a hook attached directly to the crane's main boom. With the jib attached even more capabilities are offered, like lifting into buildings at a height.

With the dimensions of a regular truck, it is definitely smaller than a comparable telescopic crane.

The heaviest loader crane of the Netherlands is definitely a very nice looking unit, that up to now has already done a few very nice jobs!