HGV, Tippers & Commercial Vehicles
A tipper that will not tip is a lorry doing nothing, expensively.
Commercial vehicle hydraulics carry a complication that plant does not: the vehicle has to be roadworthy as well as functional, and a hydraulic leak is something an examiner will write down.
Tipping gear
The common faults are a body that will not lift, one that lifts slowly, and one that will not stay up.
That last one deserves treating carefully. A body creeping down is a crush hazard, and anyone working underneath needs it properly propped rather than trusting the ram. It is also, in fairness, one of the more diagnosable faults: it is either the ram seals or the valve holding it, and isolating the ram tells you which.
Tail lifts
Tail lifts fail in traffic, with a full load and a delivery window. The hydraulic side is usually a hose that has chafed against the body or a ram that has been leaking for a while.
Worth saying plainly: not every tail lift fault is hydraulic. A fair number are electrical or in the control circuit. We will tell you which one you have rather than fitting parts hopefully.
Hookloaders, skips and cranes
These have long hose runs, lots of movement and hoses that pass over pivots, which is exactly where they wear. Skip loaders in particular live a hard life, and the hoses to the arms take constant flexing plus whatever the skip catches on the way past.
Fleet work
If you run a fleet, hoses are worth doing as a scheduled item rather than a reactive one. A vehicle in the yard on a planned morning costs a fraction of the same vehicle stopped on a delivery round. See hose inspection.
Machines we work on
- Tipper bodies and trailer tipping gear
- Hookloaders and skip loaders
- Tail lifts, column and cantilever
- Lorry-mounted cranes and grabs
- Refuse collection vehicles
- Beavertail and recovery equipment
Common questions
A tipper body will not hold up. Is that dangerous?
Treat it as dangerous, yes. A body that creeps down is a crush risk to anyone working underneath, and it should be propped properly before anyone goes near it. Do not rely on the ram. This is a fault to get looked at rather than worked around.
Will a hydraulic repair affect the vehicle at MOT or roadworthiness?
A hydraulic leak is a defect an examiner can and does record, particularly on tail lifts and tipping gear. We fit to specification and leave you paperwork, but roadworthiness sign-off is your inspector's call, not ours.
Can you work on a vehicle at a depot or roadside?
Depot, yes, routinely. Roadside depends heavily on where it is: a lay-by is workable, a live carriageway is not something we will improvise on. Tell us the location honestly when you call.
Do you do tail lifts?
Yes, for the hydraulic side: hoses, rams and fittings. Where a fault turns out to be electrical or in the control system, we will tell you rather than guess at it.
Machine down? We can usually be with you the same day.
Tell us the machine, the hose and where you are. We will tell you honestly whether we can reach you and what it will cost before we set off.