Radial Lift vs. Vertical Lift
Nowadays, construction equipment manufacturers are tailoring their machine specifications to customer’s exact needs and applications. Take the skid steer loader as an example. If you’re in the market for a skid steer, you have a couple of different options to consider before making your purchase.
The loader arms are located at the very front of the skid steer loader and are designed to hold various attachments, usually a bucket, but can also be an auger, sweeper, dozer blade, pallet forks, and breaking hammers, to name just a few. Well-known earth-moving equipment manufacturers like Takeuchi now offer two different lift-arm designs, the radial-lift skid steer loader, and the vertical lift skid steer loader. You will often see “R” or a “V” after the model number to differentiate between them. Keep in mind and both machines can perform the same task. One of them does it better and more efficiently. So, radial lift vs. vertical lift – Which direction should you go?
Key Differences
Just looking at the two machines, you probably wouldn’t notice any difference in their swing arcs until the bucket was about 3 feet off the ground. Performance is virtually identical when the loader arms aren’t raised.
Radial Skid Steer Loaders
- Radial lift machine provides greater forward reach for more than 80% of the lift-arm path, including a greater max reach at mid-range heights.
- Great for dumping materials over a wall, backfilling, unloading flatbed trucks
- More for flatwork with greater push capabilities
Vertical Skid Steer Loaders
- Vertical lift path machines provide more reach at full height without a loss in performance.
- Vertical lift path machines keep the load closer to the machine.
- Can lift more than radius lift path machines
- Good for clearing high-sided truck boxes and hoppers
- Good for placing heavy material pallets
At the end of the day, the decision to buy a radial lift skid steer vs. a vertical lift skid steer comes down to how you intend to use the machine. One of the more popular choices is the Takeuchi TS70R and the Takeuchi TS70V.
