Truck, Trailer & Equipment Guide

A box trailer is a general-purpose cubic-structure trailer, mounted on wheels, and commonly seen towed by motor vehicles on Australian roads. The name is derived from the resemblance of a box.

They are bound by vertical sides of varying heights including totally enclosed canopies and are intended to transport goods from one location to another. They generally have openings at either end for ease of access and loading and unloading.

They can be towed or carried by a car or truck.

A dolly is a mechanical vehicle which is coupled to a truck or trailer. They usually have either two or three axles with a turntable to which the semi-trailer is attached.

Generally, dollies transport trailers by connecting them to trucks or other trailers, forming multi-combination vehicles.

Dolly trailers have electrical, air and sometimes hydraulic connectors which require connection to the truck’s receptor to enable the its lights, brakes and hydraulics to function.

Concrete pumping involves the transfer of liquid concrete through pipes and hoses via a pumping mechanism. There are three types of concrete pumps including a boom pump, line pump and a stationery-trailer line pump.

The concrete pump shown here is a stationary-trailer line pump. Concrete placing hoses made from rubber or steel are attached to the line pump and the outlet of the machine. The hoses are linked together and lead to the position where the concrete needs to be placed.

The concrete is obtained from the concrete mixer which empties the concrete into the line pump hopper.

Line pumps normally pump concrete at lower volumes than boom pumps and are therefore used for smaller-volume concrete placing applications such as driveways and swimming pools.

Tankers are large cylinder vessels used to safely transport liquid, gases and powders in bulk.

They range in size and capacity and can be hooked onto the back of trucks or dollies for transportation between locations.

Tanks can be high pressure or low pressure and are usually made of steel, stainless steel, aluminium or fibreglass.

Tankers are usually loaded and unloaded using a pump or using low-pressure air from a blower.  Some tankers use gravity to discharge the load.

The skel trailer is used primarily to carry and transport containers. They are called skel trailers because they only include a trailer frame or skeleton.

Container pins hold the containers on the trailer which lock and prevent them from detaching.

A side tipper trailer can be used to carry a wide range of bulk products such as aggregates, minerals and sand.

There are generally two types of side tippes:  One has a hydraulic door which opens as the trailer tips on its side angle to dump the load.  This is usually known as a door side tipper.  The other is commonly known as a bowl side tipper and pivots the whole body by using hydraulic rams to lift and then retract once the load has discharged.

A refrigerated trailer is designed to keep perishable goods at a cool temperature during storage and transportation.

Refrigerated trailers are equipped with a mechanical refrigeration system powered by a small displacement diesel engine or use a carbon dioxide system (e.g. dry ice) as a cooling agent.

Refrigerated trailers can be fitted to a prime mover or dolly for transportation.

A pantech trailer is fabricated from materials such as aluminium or fibreglass reinforced panels. This type of body can be constructed on a rigid truck or as a trailer for transportation.

A livestock trailer is used to transport animals from one location to another. The trailer is connected to the back of a truck or dolly.

The trailer has louvered, instead of solid, sides to ensure ventilation. Livestock trailers usually have convertible floors so they may haul two decks of cattle or convert the same trailer to haul four decks of sheep.  However, some older units can be single-level for large animals such as cattle and horses.

A jinker trailer is a trailer designed to transport long logs and is generally mounted to a prime mover for transportation.

There are two types of jinker trailers – one for normal bitumen roads and the other for rough ground in the forest where the logs are being loaded.

Off-road trucks have up to nine axles to provide low ground pressure and effective traction and have highly specialised suspension and tyres. They are high-powered vehicles capable of towing significant loads.

Logs are generally loaded by winches and cranes and are unloaded by rolling off the trailer.

A furniture trailer is used to store and transport goods from one place to another. Most commonly they are used to help people and businesses relocate their belongings.

A furniture trailer usually has a pantech body which is fabricated from materials such as aluminium or fibreglass reinforced panels.

Furniture trailers are usually connected to a prime mover or dolly for transportation. 

A flat top trailer is a flat area without sides or barriers to house and transport loads and are designed to be connected to trucks or dollies.

Flat tops are usually equipped with a tri-axle configuration (three axles) at the rear.

Flat top trailers can be used for a wide range of freight tasks. They are simple in construction and have a low initial cost.

A drop deck trailer is a trailer where the floor drops down a level once clear of the rear axle.

The step section allows more freight to be carried in the rear section of the trailer. The unit is also fitted with small rear wheels and tyres to help increase the load volume and aid stability by decreasing the centre of gravity.

The most common types of drop deck trailers are flatbeds and curtain siders.  These are versatile and carry most products, from packaged pallets to machinery.

A chiller trailer is used to keep goods chilled or frozen during storage and transportation.

The walls of a chiller trailer are constructed from a fibreglass foam sandwich to control loss of temperature and to keep the product being carried at a temperature below freezing.

They are fitted with refrigeration units and do not require the thick-walled insulation used for freezer vans and trailers.

The chiller trailer can be connected or mounted to a prime mover for transportation from one location to another.

A car carrier is a trailer designed to carry a large number of cars on two or more partly or completely overlapping decks. Car carriers can be open or enclosed – open car carries are the most common. They range in size but have a typical car-carrying capacity of between eight and 11 cars.

Tipping involves the deposit of bulk loose material, such as aggregates, from a large trailer which can be attached to rigid vehicles or prime movers.

A typical tipper truck is fitted with a hydraulically operated tip body. It is hinged at the rear which allows the front of the truck body to be lifted and the contents to be set down on the ground behind the truck at the delivery site. They are available in any axle configuration with a carrying capacity of two to 25 tonnes.

These trailers have a tendency to tip over when unloading and require experience to unload safely. These trailers are also an excellent conductor of electricity and must be used with caution around power lines.

Accessories may include air-operated tail-gate locks, roll-over tarps, tipper bin liners and electronic weighing scales.

A belly dump trailer is a trailer with moveable gates or doors at the bottom of the trailer – underneath the load – that allow the contents of the trailer to be quickly and easily ‘dumped’ or discharged.

Typically a belly dump trailer will load, transport and discharge gravel, sand and grain.

Concrete pumping involves the transfer of liquid concrete through pipes and hoses via a pumping mechanism. There are three types of concrete pumps including a boom pump, line pump and a stationery-trailer line pump.

The concrete pump shown here is a stationary-trailer line pump. Concrete placing hoses made from rubber or steel are attached to the line pump and the outlet of the machine. The hoses are linked together and lead to the position where the concrete needs to be placed.

The concrete is obtained from the concrete mixer which empties the concrete into the line pump hopper.

Line pumps normally pump concrete at lower volumes than boom pumps and are therefore used for smaller-volume concrete placing applications such as driveways and swimming pools.

A forklift is a powered truck used to lift and move materials. They are commonly used on wharfs and in warehouses, construction sites and manufacturing facilities.

Forklifts have pronged attachments that extend from the device. The prongs are inserted under the load to be lifted and raised above the ground by a mast which can also be tilted to relocate the centre of gravity. Once lifted, the load can be moved to another location by the operator.

Forklifts come in a range of sizes and capacities from a small hand-held and operated truck to a large motorised truck with a cab for the operator and a very large load limit.

A header, or harvester, is an agricultural machine used in harvesting grain crops.  A rearward-rotating rotor is attached to the front of the machine; the rotor has rows of stripping fingers that strip the grain from the crop as header/harvester moves forward.  The grains are collected and the rest of the crop is left on the ground.

A skid loader or skid-steer loader, commonly known as a bobcat (although this refers to a manufacturer), is a small rigid frame, engine-powered machine. It has hydraulic lift arms used to attach a variety of tools and attachments including specialised buckets, pallet forks, angle brooms, sweepers, augers, mowers, stump grinders, tree spades, trenchers, dumping hoppers, rippers, tillers, grapples, tilts, rollers, snow blades, wheel saws, cement mixers and wood chippers.

Loaders are typically four-wheel drive vehicles with the left-side drive wheels independent of the right-side drive wheels. Turning the left and right wheel pairs at different speeds enables the loader to turn by skidding or dragging its fixed-orientation wheels across the ground.

A mobile crane consists of a telescopic boom mounted on a truck-type carrier. It can be quickly and easily moved from one location to another and requires little or no assembly or setup when it arrives on site. Mobile cranes come in a range of different sizes and can be used with different types of load and cargo.

Mobile cranes can be cable controlled or hydraulically powered. The telescopic boom, which is controlled from the cab of the carrier, typically has a hook at the end.

A tower crane is a stationary device designed to lift, lower and move heavy materials. Tower cranes consist of a base, which is bolted to a large concrete pad that supports the crane, a vertical tower which often grows in height during the course of a project, and a jib that rests on top of the tower along with the operators’ cab.

There are two types of tower crane – standard and self-erecting. Both can rise many hundreds of metres into the air and are commonplace on construction sites.

A tracked crane, sometimes called a ‘crawler’, is designed to lift and lower heavy materials, moving them from one location to another. The booms are often latticed, fitted with wire ropes or chains and a hook or hooks which attach to sheaves and a hoist and work together to do the lifting.

Tracked cranes are suited to working in the toughest conditions, including on rough terrain. They come in a range of different sizes and have different lift capacities.

A dragline is a large piece of earthmoving equipment that slews on its base and is commonly used in civil engineering and surface mining.

A boom attached to the main frame suspends a bucket, attached by a wire cable, over the dig site to excavate material below the level of the base of the machine.  The bucket is lifted, lowered and dragged by hoist and drag ropes. The bucket fills as it is dragged across the material; the contents are then lifted and dumped away from the site.

Draglines range in size up to 13,500 tonnes.

A roller is a vehicle that compacts soil, gravel or asphalt and is commonly used in the construction of roads and building foundations. There is a large range of rollers for different purposes and results.

A road surfacer is used in the construction and resurfacing of roads. It is used to keep the asphalt hot in preparation for laying before the roller follows and compacts the asphalt surface.

A road profiler is used to strip the surface off existing road to an accurate level so that a new surface can be laid.  They are typically used in road works, however recent innovation has seen these machines adapted to mining applications.

They are used to mine minerals such as iron ore and salt using the same process they use on roads - a cylindrical rotating drum with cutting edges.

Road profilers excavate the material and then, using a conveyor belt, put it in a truck for removal from the site to a stockpile.

These machines are also vailable in a rubber tyre version with the ability to do soil stabilisation operations.

A scraper is commonly used in road construction, subdivision development and mining.  There are two common types of scrapers: elevating and open bowl.

Older model scrapers required towing however scrapers are now self-propelled, with some having a front and a rear engine.

Bowl scrapers collect earth by lowering a cutting edge to the ground while moving and scraping until a full bowl is collected for distribution in another area.

Elevating scrapers collect earth by using a chain-type elevator which raises the earth into a chamber for redistribution.

Scrapers work hard and often require a bulldozer to keep them mobile or get them out of a stalled position.  They also sometimes work in tandem.

A logging harvester is typically used in the forestry industry for felling, de-limbing and cutting tree trunks into logs (bucking trees). It is an all terrain vehicle and can move on wheels or tracks, similar to an excavator. The harvester head is attached to an extendible arm (articulated boom), which is attached to the main body of the vehicle.

Combination logging harvesters and forwarders (load carrier) are also used. 

A soil compactor is used to increase the density of earth (compact earth) and make it more stable. Different types of soil compactors are used depending on the type of soil. Soil compactors are often used in road construction, on large construction sites and on landfill sites to compact garbage.

A crawler machine, or traxcavator, is a tractor that moves on tracks similar to a bulldozer.  They are typically used in construction and other earthmoving applications.

A crawler machine can sometimes have attachments added to the back maximising its use.  An example of this is when a backhoe is attached.

A grader is a construction vehicle used to create a flat surface. Standard graders have three axles, the engine and cabin sit above the two rear axles and the third axle is at the front of the vehicle with the blade (for grading) in between (the front and rear axles).

Graders are commonly used in the construction and maintenance of dirt or gravel roads.

Grader blades range in width from 2.5m to 7.3m. They can have an additional blade attached to the front of vehicle (in front of the front axle) to clear debris or snow.

An excavator is a construction vehicle used to dig or move large objects. Its base sits on tracks and on top of the base is a cabin that rotates between 180 and 360 degrees. The cabin is where the driver sits to control the articulated arm (boom) that has a bucket attached.

Excavators are most commonly found on large job sites and road construction. They are used to break-up ground, move earth and dig trenches.

The conventional bucket can be replaced with a variety of specialised buckets or attachments including hydraulic rock breaker and stump grinder.

A dump truck is a truck with a body that tilts hydraulically. It is commonly used to transport loose materials and dump them on the ground behind the truck.

Dump trucks can either have a rigid assembly (the body and cabin form one vehicle) or be articulated (as in the image above).

Dump trucks are typically used in mining and urban subdivision developments.

A log skidder is used in the logging industry to drag felled trees out of a forest. It is a powerful four-wheel-drive tractor and can have wheels or tracks. It has a winch to drag the logs, steel guards on the back to protect the wheels and a steel enclosure to protect the driver.

A log skidder can also be used to pull out tree stumps and push small trees over.

A bulldozer is a tractor that moves on continuous tracks instead of wheels (caterpillar tracked tractor). Bulldozers have a blade attached to the front and a ‘ripper’ attached to the back and are commonly used in the construction of dams, canals, roads and buildings.

A variety of blades can be attached to the front depending on the task required. Bulldozer blades are most commonly used to clear and level land.

Ripper blades are single or multiple claw-like attachments at the back of the bulldozer and are used to break up rock, concrete or other dense materials.

A spreader is a truck with an attachment at the back that allows the contents to discharge from the truck in a controlled manner. Different types of spreaders are used for different purposes they are commonly used in construction and agriculture. 

A telehandler is similar to a forklift but its extendable telescopic arm provides more versatility than a regular forklift. Various attachments can be added to the front of the telehandler, depending on the job required. The most common attachment is a pallet fork. Using the extendable telescopic arm with a pallet fork, a telehandler can move loads to and from places a conventional forklift could not reach.

Tractors are commonly used on farms to tow farm machinery or trailers. They have sufficient power and traction to effectively move loads at low speeds over different terrains.

Tractors are also used in operations such as road construction to tow water carts and rollers.

A sheep foot, or pad foot, compactor is commonly used in road construction. Its main use is to compress the surface being rolled in preparation for the next stage of road construction. A sheep foot, or pad foot, compactor can compress surfaces to a high level of compaction density as the feet on the roller have less surface area.

A screening plant is a machine used to separate materials into different sizes. Crushed material is dumped into the machine's hopper, before travelling on a conveyor belt to be sifted into piles by size eg. large rocks, medium-size rocks and dirt.

Screening plants are used on road construction and at quarries and mines.

A scissor lift is a secure work platform used to elevate workers to heights. Folding supports below the secure platform raise and lower the platform in a crisscross (scissor) motion.

A mulcher is a machine that breaks down organic material (grass, branches, tree stumps and even trees) into a fine mix. The organic material passes through cutters until it is a fine mix of mulch.  There are different types and sizes of mulchers for different purposes. Stand-alone units, for the sole purpose of producing mulch, are often used in large landscaping jobs and vegetation management.

A mobile light tower is usually a diesel-powered machine that can be towed into location to provide temporary lighting.

Electrical tools or devices that need power can also be plugged into sockets on the lighting tower.

Mobile light towers are commonly used on construction sites, for night road works, and in mines to provide lighting for safer human and vehicle operations.

A drilling machine is a vehicle on tracks with a drill attachment on the front. Different types of drills can be attached to the machine depending on the job required. Drilling machines are used in road construction and mining to drill holes into the earth.

The image above shows a truck mounted drilling rig.  Other common types of drilling rigs include track mounted rigs and horizontal rigs.

A chipper is generally used by tree loppers to convert waste vegetation lopped off trees to woodchips.  This is then usually used for garden mulches.

A cherry picker is a hydraulic lifting device which can be mounted on a truck or on its own independent powered chassis, with an enclosed basked on the end.

Cherry pickers are usually used by fruit pickers or by people working on overhead cables and tree loppers.  The basket often has a control system allowing workers inside to move the platform to the desired location.

An asphalt paver is a vehicle used to lay hot asphalt on roadways. They can have wheels or tracks and vary in size depending on the scale of the job. They have rollers on the front that push the truck along while unloading the asphalt onto the ground, the conveyor in the middle drags the asphalt to the back.

A motorcycle, commonly seen on Australian roads, is a two-wheeled powered motor vehicle. They are un-enclosed and consist of a metal frame and wheels, rubber tyres, a seat, a two or four-stroke engine and a transmission and electrical system.

Motorcycles are generally categorised into six types including cruiser, sport, touring, standard, dual-purpose and dirt bike.

There a range of makes and models and some motorcycles have two saddles and a sidecar with a third wheel.

Mopeds and scooters are similar to motorcycles but are smaller and less powerful.

A car, or automobile, is a motorised vehicle used for transporting passengers. Cars generally have four wheels, seating for two to eight people, an engine and are designed to travel on roads.

There are many different makes and models all with different shapes, sizes, configurations and power. Generally car gearboxes are either manual or automatic.

A van is a vehicle used for transporting goods or people. They come in all shapes and sizes and have multiple uses. They may be sold with the space behind the front seats empty for transporting goods or have seats for passengers.

Common vans in Australia include the minibus, minivan, cargo van, panel van and ambulances.

Generally vans are larger than standard motor vehicles but smaller than buses or trucks. Most vans have large doors at the rear for easy access and loading and unloading.

A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry large volumes of passengers. There are a range of configurations including a single-decker rigid bus, double-decker bus, articulated (bendy) bus, open-top bus, coaches, midi-buses and minibuses.

Buses have a variety of uses including scheduled transport, coach transport, school transport, private hire and tourism.

Generally, engines are housed underneath the bus towards the middle or rear. Luggage space is also available under the bus. There is at least one door at the front of the bus and some have a second door towards the middle of the bus. Seating configurations vary. However, there are usually two rows of double seats down each side of the bus.

A prime mover is the part of a semi-trailer which provides the pulling power for the unit. It includes the engine and the driver’s cabin.

The most common prime mover in Australia is a 6 x 4 bogey axle prime mover (also known as a tandem drive). Other variations include single-drive cab over, conventional bogie drive, bogie drive cab over, conventional day cab and cab over with sleeper cab.

The structural support needed in a vehicle is provided by the chassis – it’s the vehicle’s steel frame. A cab chassis is a vehicle that combines both the frame and the driver’s cab with the vehicle’s axels, wheels, suspension, engine, transmission, driveshaft and differential. It is the base upon which all rigid-type trucks are built.

Cab chassis come in a range of different sizes, have different load-carry capacities and are suited to different trailers. They allow their owners the flexibility to assemble the right vehicle to suit their needs.

A tow truck is a vehicle used to transport motor vehicles from one location to another. Generally they are used to transport vehicles that are no longer drivable or have broken down and need to be repaired.

Depending on the size and type of vehicle, the most common features include an adjustable boom winch for recovering vehicles in hard-to-reach locations, belt lifts to tow vehicles on one axle, a wheel lift to support and lift either the front or rear wheels and, for heavy duty tow trucks, an integrated lift.

Concrete pumping involves the transfer of liquid concrete through pipes and hoses via a pumping mechanism. There are three types of concrete pumps including a boom pump, line pump and a stationary trailer-line pump.

The concrete pump shown here is a boom concrete pump attached to a truck. It has a remote controlled articulating arm known as a boom to place concrete, delivered from the cement mixer into the boom pump hopper, where it needs to go.

Boom pumps are commonly used on large construction sites for foundations and high-rise structures as they are capable of pumping at very high volumes and over long distances both horizontally and vertically.

A tipper body is attached to a rigid cab chassis and is used to carry a wide range of bulk products, such as gravel, sand and grain.  It is hinged at the rear which allows the front of the truck bed to be raised and the contents set down behind the truck.

Tipper bodies are available in any axle configuration with a carrying capacity between two and 27.5 tonnes.

Accessories can include air-operated tail-gate locks, electronic scales for weighing, roll-over tarps and tipper body liners.

A concrete agitator, commonly known as a concrete mixer, transports and mixes concrete from a batching plant to a construction site. They generally comprise a standard rigid truck with a concrete agitator bowl fitted to the rear of the vehicle.

When the agitator bowl is full of concrete the truck engine, through a power take-off, keeps the agitator bowl spinning to prevent the concrete from setting. Once at a job site the motion of the agitator bowl can be reversed to push out the amount of concrete required through a chute from the rear of the vehicle.

Rigid tankers can come in many axle configurations - usually 4 x 2, 6 x 4 or 8 x 4.

Tankers are used for many tasks including the transportation of liquid fuel, gas, oil, milk and more.

A compactor body, commonly called a garbage truck, is designed to collect waste and transport it to a waste station or refuse facility.

Compactor bodies usually have a lifting mechanism, allowing bins to be quickly and easily lifted and waste to be tipped into the body of the truck. The lifting mechanism can be at the front, rear or side of the compactor body.

Once loaded, the waste is then compacted by a hydraulically powered moving wall inside the body. When the body is full the waste is transported to and deposited at the waste station.

A stock truck is used to transport livestock from one location to another.

It comprises a trailer (Crate) with louvered instead of solid sides to ensure ventilation. Stock trucks can be single-level for large animals such as cattle and horses or multi-level for smaller animals such as sheep.

A table top body truck, more commonly known as a flattop, is the most common rigid truck in Australia. They have one steering axle at the front and one or two driving axles at the rear of the vehicle.

A truck-mounted drilling rig is a rig that is attached to a truck. The drilling rig is used to drill holes in the ground including water wells, oil wells and natural gas extraction wells.

Drilling rigs sample and test sub-surface and underground properties such as mineral deposits, rocks and soil. They can also install underground utilities, tunnels and wells. They consist of pumps, a derrick or mast, a substructure, blowout preventers, drill pipe, drill collars, mud tanks and a rotary table or top drive.

Truck-mounted drilling rigs are portable and smaller than permanent drilling rig structures which require assembly and disassembly.

A pantech truck body is fabricated from materials such as aluminium or fibreglass reinforced panels. This type of body can be constructed on a rigid truck or as a trailer.

A truck consisting of a pantech body is commonly used for chilled freight or as removal vans.

A refrigerated pantech is fabricated from materials such as aluminium or fibreglass reinforced panels. This type of body can be constructed on a rigid truck or as a trailer.

It keeps the contents of the body refrigerated through an auxiliary refrigeration unit (usually diesel-powered) and is commonly used to transport food and other perishable items.