34
ACCESS, LIFT & HANDLERS
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2013
TRAILER-MOUNTED AWPS
heights ranging from 34 feet to 62 feet.
“Niftylift trailer-mounted cherry pickers are
built to be as light and compact as possible
and offers an excellent working envelope for its
size,” the company says. Niftylift touts easy-to-
use proportional controls that make operation
simple and features like telescopic booms,
jib-booms, platform rotation, traction drive
and hydraulic outriggers to help maximize the
machines’ effectiveness.
The company currently manufactures six
models, the TM34, TM34T, TM40, TM42T, TM50
and TM64.
Power and options
While most manufacturers have kept design
and engineering changes at bay, JLG now offers
an available 3,000-watt generator that can be
used with its trailer-mounts. “We’ve always
had a standard accessory mounting tray for a
customer-provided generator, air compressor
or pressure washer,” Dovey says. “Now the
generator can be mounted at the factory for
more of a turnkey setup.”
Battery power is the most popular power
source because it is what comes standard on
most trailer-mounts. Battery power keeps the
machines quiet with no exhaust fumes being
emitted. “This enables use of the product in
or near sound-sensitive areas like schools,
libraries, hospitals, residential areas or office
buildings,” Dovey says. “The gas-power is a
no-charge alternative and seems to be more
popular when the drive and set option is
selected. The Honda gas engine provides a little
more drive speed than the battery power does;
the boom speeds are similar, though.”
At Terex AWP, the DC power configuration
is the most popular option for towables. “The
hybrid, DC and gas engine, which is available
on the TZ-50, is useful for certain applications
where charging capabilities are not readily
available, such as new construction sites,”
Engstrom says. “The hybrid model also offers
fleet flexibility to companies who rent these
machines, as they can cover both types of
customer power needs.”
Typically, battery-powered Haulotte machines
provide eight hours of power, Yoder says.
“Most of our units sold are battery power,” he
says. “The customer can get a full work day out
of the unit and charge the unit at night. As our
machines fit through a double door, the battery
power allows them to be used inside.”
Lighting the way
Snow Valley Ski Club in Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada, operates seven days a week, from
9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. during ski season, which
typically runs from Nov. 1 through Mar. 31. That
means lights on the club’s 12 light poles burn
between the hours of 4 and 10 p.m. every day,
challenging operations manager Marlin Van
Zandt to make sure bulbs that are as high as 45
feet off the ground are regularly replaced when
they burn out.
Until recently, Van Zandt approached this
challenge using either a small utility machine or
a self-propelled lift that he rented in Edmonton.
However, as Snow Valley continued to expand
and add new light poles to its grounds, the lift no
longer provided enough height to safely reach
many of the bulbs.
“In addition, it was next to impossible to drive
the lift up 150 vertical feet of ski slopes,” says
Van Zandt. “So, rather than wait for warmer
weather to replace burned-out light bulbs, I
began looking for a piece of equipment that we
could move into position in the snow and provide
the reach we needed.”
Van Zandt’s search led him to JLG’s T500J
Tow-pro, a trailer-mounted boom lift that offers
platform heights of 50 feet and a 500-pound
platform capacity.
“It’s easy to tow around the club’s 12-acre
property, and it lets us safely reach even the
highest bulbs on our light poles and those in our
digital clock,” he says. “But what makes the
machine even better is the variety of jobs that
it enables us to complete. In fact, the first job
where we used the towable boom lift was not to
change light bulbs, but to paint the trim around
our building. What used to take us one week to
paint took us just two days using the new boom
lift and eliminated the need to put up scaffolding,
which is always a challenge on hilly terrain.”
The club is also using the T500J for chair
maintenance.
“We operate a quad chair, a triple chair, and
two carpet lifts, with about 70 chairs running up
and down the slopes at any given time,” says
Van Zandt. “The chairs weigh about 225 pounds
each and are very awkward to handle by hand.
With this machine we’re able to pluck a chair
off the ski lift cable, set it on the ground, service
the chair, and put it back on the cable. Nobody
gets a strained back or a pinched finger, which
makes everyone happy, and the work gets done
faster.”
Van Zandt adds that the T500J also could
play an important role in the club’s emergency
planning, providing a way of evacuating a
mechanic suspended by fall arrest equipment
due to a fall. And the uses don’t stop there.
“We’re also looking forward to using the
bucket as a platform for a photographer to take
Niftylift
manufacturers
a wide range of
towable units.
JLG has two
towable/trailer-
mounted boom
models – the T350
and T500J – which
were launched in
2004. The T350 is
pictured here.
