Tipper Hire

What is a tipper lorry?

A tipper lorry has the standard base and chassis of a fixed bodied lorry. The main difference being that the body of the tipper lorry has been enabled to tilt backwards at an angle of around fifty degrees max down to six degrees min. This angle allows the carried load to slip of at a calculated speed and distance from the rear of the tipper. Tipper lorries are generally used to cart materials too and from building sites, carrying such materials as soil, aggregates, and site spoil.

The material that the body is made from can differ depending on what material the tipper generally carries. If the tipper carries mainly aggregates the body would most likely be made of aluminium. Aluminium bodies are lighter and therefore allow the overall carrying weight to be higher. The other type of body commonly used for tippers steel, a much tougher material for harsher usage and possible contact with machines.

When hiring a vehicle it is important to understand the tipper lorries dimensions. A tipper lorry has a certain turning arc and can carry specified weights only. The turning arc should be at least the width of two lanes of a road or around forty feet. The actual turning circles is fifteen metres, this measurement will allow the lorry to turn one 180 degrees.

The width of an eight wheel tipper cab is a standard 2600 mm not including the wing mirrors and with the mirrors 3200mm. The cab is a standard measurement for a four, six, or eight wheel tipper only the length is different.

The max length of an 8 wheel tipper (the largest of it’s kind) is 9100 mm. This is also a standard measurement for all tipper lorries in the UK.

The overall height of a tipper lorry is 3500mm this usually includes the flashing lights, but an extra 200 mm should be allowed for the addition of any specialised lighting that is placed on the vehicle.

One very important dimension is the loading height of the body; this is basically the height of the top of the body from the ground. The importance of the height is for loading reasons. It is usual that any damage made to the tipper is paid for by the loader so it is important that the clearance height be known to anyone who is trying to load the vehicle. This is a must dimension for any Tipper Hire or machine hire as the two go hand in hand.

The loading capacity for the eight wheel tipper is fifteen cubic metres but it is the weight of the materials that is more of a concern to the driver. All bodies must be level loaded and sheet when a load is on board. This is the law!

Materials differ in weight; topsoil may differ to ballast, crushed concrete may differ to site spoil. The gross vehicle weight is thirty-two tons and the tipper empty weighs twelve tons that give us a max load figure of twenty tons, so the most that can be loaded is in fact twenty tons.

Fuel Consumption: The loaded fuel consumption rate of a standard tipper lorry is around eight miles to the gallon, and the fuel tank can hold around 213 gallons.