Scania G480 - Emery SA
This Scania belongs to Emery Arbres SA from Mézières (CH). They are specialized in cutting down trees, especially at difficult locations. They already own a Palfinger TK680 an a Scania for that.
Now they added this 5-axled Scania to their fleet.. This heavier crane allows for bigger trees but also for working on larger distances.
It is a Scania G480 10x4*6, so with 2 steering front axles, a driven tandem and a steered rear axle. The very short wheelbase gives it a very good manoeuvrability, excellent for Switzerland and this line of work.
The Palfinger PK165002 was installed as close as possible behind the cab. Remarkable is the choice of the PJ300 jib. This gives more outreach, but therefore the crane cannot fold down sideways anymore. It always to be folded down like here, on top of the flatbed. This also gives a better weight distribution. The crane is an F-version that can lift 6,8 tons at 16,2 meters. With F-jib (7x extending) a total outreach of 35,9 meter is possible with 1120 kg capacity. With active DSP, the jib can lift up to 10 tons.
This self-driving machine (blue license plates) is built for his task. All free space was used for storage compartments, for example the room between the axles or also the space where the crane normally folds down. On the flatbed we see a rack with big wooden blocks. They are used when the crane has to be operated on uneven terrain.
At the end of the chassis they mounted a couple of additional outriggers that offer stability in difficult locations. They are mounted directly to the chassis and cannot be extened, so they only provide stability when working to the rear of the truck.
At the rear they also installed a similar outrigger beam like at the front, it's installed above the chassis. This enables the user to also extend the outrigger over obstacles like small walls or a guard rail on the highway. Above it they store the workman basket.
Also here all free space was filled with storage compartments. The mufler hangs between the 2 front axles and the tandem.
A special adapter is present for working on the trees, it is mounted at the jib. With this adapter, the crane itself doesn't get so close to the trees. A the tip of this adapter we see the harvester head, which is a graple with a integrated saw.
From this side we can see the saw. With this graple you grab the branch and then cut it of.
Here we can clearly see how close the crane was installed behind the cab. This side also holds a small stairs as well as a tiltable stand for the operator where he can stand on.
Apparantly there wasn't enough room on the insede of the crane to fit all the hydraulic options they needed. So they added a couple of extra lines over the top the crane, that where covered nicely. The front of the truck is equiped with an additional outrigger to give extra support when working in this direction.
A very nice machine, tailored to it's task!
Below you can see a video of this truck.
