About Crawler Cranes
Crawler cranes are mobile construction vehicles propelled by a pair of tracks, or crawlers, rather than wheels. Therefore they must be disassembled and hauled to and from jobsites, as opposed to wheeled all-terrain or rough-terrain cranes that can be driven on public roads.
Crawlers tend to be more capable on rugged and uneven terrain than their wheeled counterparts, and their tracks spread out their weight for less ground pressure than a crane on tires. Crawlers also tend to be more stable when stationary because they have a broader stance that isn’t limited to the width of a highway lane. As a result, crawler cranes generally don’t require the use of outriggers for additional stability.

Manitowoc MLC300 Lattice Boom Crawler Crane
Crawler cranes are frequently used to assemble wind turbines, prefabricated concrete buildings, and other structures with very large and/or heavy components. They’re also used to place items requiring long reach, such as bridge sections. Crawler cranes can also perform pick-and-carry duties, hoisting building materials and transporting them around a construction site.
Types Of Crawlers
Crawler cranes typically fall into one of two subcategories: telescopic boom crawler cranes with a hydraulic telescoping boom, and lattice boom crawler cranes with a fixed-length boom and often a folding jib.
Telescopic models may have a lift capacity of 27 to 91 tonnes (30 to 100 U.S. tons) or more. Their maximum hoist height can exceed 61 metres (200 feet) using jib extensions.
Lattice boom cranes can scale even higher with lift capacities of more than 2,700 t (3,000 U.S. t) and maximum hook heights exceeding 228 m (750 ft) among the largest models. That being said, lattice boom cranes have to stop work to change their boom length by having extensions added or removed, unlike telescoping booms, which have the ability to rapidly extend or retract their boom during operation.
You can read more detailed information on lattice boom and telescopic boom crawler cranes on their respective category pages.
Find The Right Crawler Crane
You’ll find new and used crawler cranes on CraneTrader.ca from current and former manufacturers including American, Demag, Kobelco, Liebherr, Link-Belt, Manitowoc, Tadano Mantis, and Terex.