Serial Production Begins for Tadano-Brand Chassis

Tadano Ltd. has begun production of the new truck crane carrier at its factory in Shido, Japan. Production began in January, and the first shipments were made this month. Approximately 100 units are scheduled for production in 2006 for the 55-tonne capacity GT-550E truck crane. The new carrier will also be supplied to Tadano's Chinese manufacturing joint venture, BQ-Tadano (Beijing) Crane Co. Ltd., for production in China.

Tadano truck cranes have traditionally been mounted on carriers built by commercial vehicle manufacturers, such as Nissan. Tadano decided to produce its own carrier after Yusoki Kogyo, the subcontractor of Nissan and Tadano's supplier, stopped producing crane carriers in 2004 after the company was taken over by Fuji Heavy Industries.

On the new Tadano carrier, Nissan Diesel Motor Co. supplies the powertrain, and the left-hand drive 8×4 carrier has a turbocharged six-cylinder Nissan PF6TB diesel engine. The dry single plate clutch has a hydraulically operated release mechanism with air-assisted booster. The transmission has seven forward and one reverse speeds, with synchromesh on second to seventh gear and constant-mesh on first and reverse gear.

Front axles are reverse-Elliot type with leaf spring suspension. Rear axles are full floating with equalizer beams and torque rods.

Tadano will also begin producing a carrier for the TL-300E this summer. The company estimates it will build 30 units of this carrier each year.

In other news, following the devastation caused by the massive earthquake in Pakistan, Kashmir, and northern India last year, Tadano has donated two TMZR303 truck loader cranes to help with the emergency relief work and the necessary reconstruction. The cranes arrived in Karachi in mid-February.