To celebrate 21 years of our involvement in the UK heavy lift market, we are running “Truck of the Month” a series of 12 features spread over 12 months with 12 machines that have shaped our history, our present and that also represent our future. We have reached May and in this month we showcase perhaps the most versatile piece of lifting equipment money can buy- the Meclift 42 tonne capacity variable reach truck.
May – Meclift ML4212RC (The Versatile one)
The definition of versatile reads “able to adapt or be adapted to many different functions or activities” – this is the epitome of the Meclift ML4212RC. It is a lift truck, a reachstacker, a container handler and a de-vanning tool all in one machine. The Meclift ML4212RC, indeed the whole Meclift range, are the probably only machines that can lift a laden container and then discharge the contents of the same container!
The Meclift ML4212RC adopts the same parallel boom configuration as the other range of Meclift products that range from 16 to 50 tonnes. The low-overall 3.3m working height of the machine therefore provides an ideal tool for lifting in constricted areas yet, where height permits can reach up to 7.8m high if required. The operator can vertically raise the cab up and down to find the optimum viewing position thus the parallel boom and cab configuration eliminate all the visual-obstruction issues associated with a masted lift truck equivalent.
The 4212RC is fitted with a similar drive train to a conventional reach stacker with a 234kw Cummins engine and a Dana TE32 transmission, albeit with a 5000mm wheelbase, is much shorter than a laden reachstacker. As one would expect with a variable reach machine, the truck is supplied with a load machine control as standard.
It is however at the front end where the Meclift makes a difference. Having the power to reach a full 3250mm forward, the carriage and forks can reach into areas where conventional forklifts cannot. The Meclift ML4212RC is the only machine that can lift as much as 13 tonnes at the far end of a 20’ container and can even place 30 tonnes into the middle of a 20’ container (where weight-permits allow) with the aid of bogey rollers. Items such as steel pipes or steel coils or timber packs loaded into containers have long been a handling issue with some sites even resorting to dragging items out of containers. The Meclift overcomes these issues and arguably acts, by virtue of its visibility advantages, as a safer option to a conventional lift truck for general duties.
Meclift 4212RC – The Variable and Versatile one
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