Crawler crane hire
Crawler cranes sit on tracks instead of wheels, so they can work on rough ground and move with a load. Tell us the job and we pass it to crane hire firms that cover your area.
- Free to use, no obligation
- One short form, about a minute
- We pass your request to crane hire firms that cover your area
- We are not a crane hire company and do not plan lifts
What is a crawler crane?
A crawler crane is a crane mounted on a pair of tracks, like a tank, rather than on a road-going chassis.
The tracks spread the crane's weight over a large area, and because the crane stands on its tracks it does not need outriggers to lift. Many crawler cranes can travel around a site carrying a load, which a mobile crane on outriggers cannot do. Booms are either lattice, built up from sections, or telescopic, which slide out like a mobile crane's boom.
Sizes cover a very wide range. At the small end are mini crawler cranes that fit through a doorway. At the other end are machines built for power stations and offshore wind: Liebherr describes its LR 13000 as the most powerful conventional crawler crane in the world, with a maximum load capacity of 3,000 tonnes. Most hire work sits far below either extreme, and the right crane depends on the lift (see crane sizes).
When is a crawler crane used?
- Heavy lifts: large plant, bridge beams, precast concrete, steelwork and energy components, where a very high capacity or a long lattice boom is needed.
- Long-running jobs: a crawler crane can stay on site for weeks or months and move between lifting positions on its own tracks, without setting up again each time.
- Soft or uneven ground: the tracks spread the load, so crawlers suit infrastructure, rail, riverside and greenfield sites, usually on prepared ground or crane mats.
- Pick and carry: many crawlers can move short distances with a load hanging, within the limits on the crane's load chart.
- Infrastructure and piling: rail, highways, bridges, foundations and wind farms are common crawler crane work.
How a crawler crane gets to site
Except for the smallest, a crawler crane cannot drive on the road. It arrives in parts and is built on site.
The base, tracks, boom sections and counterweights travel on separate lorries, often several of them for a large crane, and some loads may count as abnormal loads (see heavy haulage and abnormal loads). On site the crane is assembled, often with help from a smaller assist crane, then rigged and checked before the first lift. Liebherr says the LR 13000 can be transported in parts weighing no more than 70 tonnes each. Assembly and dismantling take time and space, which is one reason crawler cranes suit longer jobs rather than a single quick lift.
Crawler crane or mobile crane?
| Crawler crane | Mobile crane | |
|---|---|---|
| Gets to site | In parts on lorries, assembled on site | Drives on the road, sets up on outriggers |
| Ground | Tracks spread the load over a large area | Outriggers put heavy loads through small pads |
| Moving with a load | Often possible, within the load chart | Generally not, once set up |
| Typical job length | Days to months | Hours to days |
| Lift planning | Required either way under LOLER | |
For a single lift on a site with road access, a mobile crane is usually quicker to bring in. When the lift is very heavy, the ground is poor or the crane is needed for a long programme, the hire firm may suggest a crawler.
Heavy crane hire
Heavy lifts are rarely just a crane booking. They usually involve a site survey, ground assessment, a written lift plan, sometimes more than one crane, and transport for the crane itself. Most heavy lifts are booked as a contract lift, where the hire firm plans and manages the lift. Lift plans and the appointed person explains what the planning involves.
What to tell a crane hire firm
- The heaviest load, its size, and whether it has lifting points.
- The radius (the distance from where the crane can stand to where the load lands) and the height it has to clear.
- How long the crane is needed, and how many lifts or lifting positions there are.
- The ground: what it is, whether it has been prepared, and anything beneath it such as drains or services.
- Access for the lorries that bring the crane, and space to assemble it, including the boom laid out on the ground.
- Whether you want a contract lift or crane hire with operator.
Under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER), every lifting operation has to be properly planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised and carried out safely. BS 7121, the British Standard code of practice for the safe use of cranes, sets out how that is usually done.
Sources, checked 12 October 2026: Liebherr, crawler crane LR 13000; LOLER 1998, regulation 8.
Other types of crane
- Mobile crane hire
- Mini crane hire
- Spider crane hire
- HIAB hire
- Tower crane hire
- Crawler crane hire
- Contract lift or crane hire
- Heavy haulage and abnormal loads
- Machinery moving
- Lift plans and the appointed person
- Crane sizes
Crane hire by town
Questions people ask
What is a crawler crane?
A crane mounted on tracks instead of wheels. The tracks spread its weight, it lifts without outriggers, and many crawler cranes can travel around a site carrying a load.
What is the difference between a crawler crane and a mobile crane?
A mobile crane drives to site on its own wheels and sets up on outriggers, usually for a short job. A crawler crane is brought to site in parts, assembled there, works from its tracks, and suits heavy lifts, poor ground and longer jobs.
How does a crawler crane get to site?
Except for the smallest, crawler cranes are moved in parts on lorries and assembled on site, often with a smaller assist crane. The hire firm plans the transport and the assembly.
Can a crawler crane move while carrying a load?
Many can, within the limits set out in the crane's load chart for travelling with a load. The hire firm will say whether it suits your lift.
Need a crane?
Tell us the job once. We pass it to crane hire firms that cover your area and they contact you directly.
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