Design Innovations
The purpose of the “All Aluminum Body” is to save weight so that the marketer can carry more payload. The Industry has, in the past, built an all Steel body, and mounted the crane directly to the body itself. This concept, however, does not work well with Aluminum.
Petroleum Tank Corp. has therefore designed their Aluminum bodies with a 24” x 24” crane cutout on the rear of the service body. This allows PETCO to mount the crane to a Steel Super Structure attached directly to the chassis frame underneath the Aluminum body. By doing this the Aluminum body carries none of the operating or transporting load of the crane. The crane becomes a separate entity supported solely by the steel structure it is mounted to. With this design there is no danger of the Aluminum body becoming stressed during the operation of the crane.
Additionally, PETCO has designed the Steel Super Structure for the crane to be completely “removable” from the chassis should the crane be used without the outriggers being deployed, and bending the frame of either the chassis or the superstructure. This “removable” frame becomes cost effective for the marketer should they decide to replace the chassis at some time in the future. We simply un-bolt the crane, the body, and the frame, and re-install it on the new chassis.
Since more payload is of prime concern to the marketer, PETCO provides a 102” body width as standard on the 14ft, and the 17ft bodies. This feature allows the marketer to have more usable surface to carry tanks and equipment.
(DESIGN FEATURES & OPTIONS)
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