What are tray trucks?
Tray trucks are large trucks manufactured to make transporting heavy or oversized loads easily. Unlike your ordinary rigid truck, tray trucks have an open 'bed' or 'tray' allowing you to load cargo directly on top of it.
Also known as rollbacks, flatbed trucks, slides or tilt tray trucks, these behemoths can also be used to pull a wide range of objects - ranging from trailers and cars, to shipping containers and heavy machinery. Other common uses include the transport of baled tires, building materials and scrap metal
Tray trucks can come with built-in tilting mechanisms that use hydraulics to lower the tray, making loading cargo that much easier and safer. The entire truck bed should be able to tilt towards the ground, making it especially convenient.
The trucks' hydraulic lifts also help to distribute the weight more evenly over the truck bed, allowing you to maximise the allowable weight that your truck can carry.
Some tray trucks have rear-mounted cranes for more efficient cargo loading. They work by angling the tray up for easier unloading of cargo, but the bottom end doesn't go down like in a tilting tray truck. This type of tray top truck is better suited for hauling asphalt, gravel, sand, snow, wood chips, and other aggregate material that can just slide or roll off the platform. Tipper trucks are widely used in construction sites for this reason.
The important thing to remember when loading tray trucks is that the weight has to be evenly distributed across the tray top in order to avoid causing the cargo to spill over one side. Uneven weight distribution can also cause your tray truck to lean heavily to one side or even topple over.
What is a tray truck used for?
The only goal of a tray truck is to make it easier to transport oversized and heavy loads that other trucks cannot be used for.
Tray trucks may be fitted with steel drop sides or cages to keep your cargo intact. However, they often lack full enclosures or built-in roofs - so are not ideal for temperature-sensitive goods such as food or medicines
These open-air trucks are more suited for transporting cars, motorcycles, speedboats, forklifts, and other vehicles. Long steel beams, concrete slabs, wood, and various construction materials are also great to haul on a sturdy tray top truck.
Even if your cargo is bigger than the truck itself, it can be hauled as long as it is within the maximum weight capacity and dimensions.
At Machines4U, we offer plenty of tray top trucks for sale, both new and used. Top brands include Mitsubishi, Iveco, Isuzu, and Hino - all reliable and time-tested manufacturers.
Tray trucks may also be used to tow vehicles or haul trailers. Connecting a second trailer to the tray top truck will allow you to double your loading capacity.
How to choose a tray truck
When choosing a tray truck for sale, make sure that you take into account:
- Whether you need a tray truck at all (sometimes, a regular track might be suitable)
- How much weight it can carry (sometimes, too much weight will adversely affect your fuel)
- Weight restrictions in your state or territory (of course)
- Location (heavy load carriage often isn't best for long distances)
A listing for a truck tray for sale should indicate its dimensions and other important information in its description boxes.
