Sideloaders provide a simple method of handling long loads by having a mast and forks in the centre of what could be perceived as an (almost) dissected lorry bed.
The centre section where the mast is located is known as the well. The mast is always fixed on the left side of the truck, behind the operator, extending outwards, like a reach truck, towards the load on the right hand side.
The mast and forks reach out to lift the load at its central point and lower it onto the bed.
Such a design offers incredible levels of stability and even high capacity loads, such as 12 tonnes of steel profile, can be stored at 6.5 metres...
Tilting a mast back to secure the load is common practice on forklifts and reach trucks, but on a Baumann sideloader the mast is fixed and the whole truck tilts sideways.
The whole of the machine can be tilted horizontally, to improve load picking and security.
This allows Baumann sideloaders to feature self-levelling beds. When travelling over uneven ground the deck, and therefore the load, remain perfectly level and secure.
Occasionally, a tilting carriage can be added to the mast to provide an additional 3 degrees (plus or minus) of tilt.
Moving a long load is not only safer with a Baumann sideloader, it’s also more efficient.
Because the truck faces forwards, the function performed by sideshift on a forklift is simply achieved by moving the truck forwards or back.
If this movement is restricted, or the centres of gravity of your loads vary, fork positioners allow you to move the position of the forks relative to the truck (but always a fixed distance from one another) via hydraulic rams mounted in the carriage.

Occasionally a load is stored on a slope or cannot be raised with level forks. A hydraulic lifting and lowering fork (also pictured above) raises a single fork by a few inches to provide the ideal approach.
On rare occasions, both forks require independent movement, in which case vertically moveable forks provide lift independent of the mast.
Sideloaders are designed to carry loads securely on their decks. The length and width of the deck is determined by the chassis size, and a number of different combinations are available to accommodate different load requirements and aisle widths.
The surface of the deck is usually made of a specially reinforced composite deck board, but for handling steel it may be checker plate (also called diamond plate or steel tread plate) for protection purposes.
Hardwood timber bearers are often added to the deck for steel profile loads. Metal or wooden bearers may also be grooved to fix steel or plastic tubes in place.
Sometimes when moving long loads, it’s safer to support them from their ends, not just in the middle.
Fixed spreader beams (attached to a standard carriage) are designed to sit outside the chassis of a sideloader, with an additional fork at either end. They can be extended further apart manually or hydraulically and can be folded away, again manually or hydraulically.
Hydraulic options dictate whether the spreader beam is semi-permanently fixed or can be removed easily when not in use.
Extended carriages allow the forks to travel along the full length of the sideloader, providing a similar functionality to the spreader beam, but adding the ability to close the forks together.
It’s therefore possible to carry different lengths, such as a load with the forks positioned above the deck, or even a pallet in the sideloader well.
As a result, there aren’t two additional forks, but they can still be moved manually, hydraulically or via chains.
The outreach of a sideloader is the distance the mast and forks travel towards the load from the retracted position.
It would be unsafe to have forks that pointed out further than the truck chassis when the mast is fully retracted, so the distance of the outreach is dictated by the deck width.
If an operation requires additional reach, either to store loads on double-deep racking, or to load a wagon from one side only, there are two additional choices – a pantograph or telescopic forks.
Both achieve roughly the same results, but the pantograph has the advantage of extending the load backrest further out, as well as the forks.
Comments