If you are going to call up a rental business to secure a heavy construction equipment rental, are you certain that you know what you are going to rent? Unless you are in construction 24/7, you might do what a lot of others do: confuse certain pieces of equipment for other, similar pieces of equipment. That can really complicate your plans when you show up to collect the equipment you thought you were renting, only to discover that you are renting something else! Here are some sets of commonly confused pieces of heavy construction equipment clarified so that you can be sure to rent the right piece of equipment for your project.
Backhoe vs. Excavator
At first glance, it is easy to see how one might get these two trucks confused. Both have a backward-facing claw for digging. However, the backhoe is on tractor tires and requires that you put down the stabilizer feet to dig. It also does not dig up quite as much as the excavator does, which is beneficial if you are trying to be really careful about where and how you dig. The excavator is on crawler tracks like a tank, and its backward-facing claw scoop is much larger than the backhoe's. It is perfect for digging large, undefined holes with little concern for what is buried below. The excavator does not need to be stabilized and, therefore, can move about freely to dig and move dirt at will.
Wheel Loader vs. Dozer
Both of these trucks have a large earthmoving shovel on the front end. The big difference is that the dozer just shoves the dirt piles around without actually scooping them because its "shovel" is very flat and not meant to scoop. The wheel loader actually has a deep and wide scoop on the front end that will not only push the dirt around but also scoop it up and move it to another area or put the dirt in a dump truck.
Telehandler vs. Cherry Picker
Both of these crane-like vehicles are able to lift into the air to place someone or something in closer proximity to a second, third, or fourth story of a building or building under construction. A telehandler, however, has what looks like an oversized forklift on the very end of its lift arm. It typically is only used to lift supplies higher than most forklifts can. The cherry picker almost always lifts humans along with supplies or just humans in its cage or bucket.
Reach out to a heavy construction equipment rental company to learn more.
