Strong, sturdy and unfailingly reliable, Thompsons evergreen Loadmaster remains the UK’s top selling tipper body.
Why? Because what really attracts many operators to the defining product of Thompsons’ tipper range is its sheer versatility – both in the range of the body’s ex – factory specifications as well as in its suitability to the many applications for which it is intended to serve.
After 20 years and 15,000 UK sales, today there are two basic Loadmasters, the full – spec heavy duty version, and also the Loadmaster Lite. The question for most tipper operators is ‘which to have?’
For Allied Plant of Castleford, the answer was simple. Both.
“For both general purpose and heavy duty tipper work, Loadmaster has no equal” says Allied’s owner John Hourigan “yet such is the versatility of its core design that we can still specify a Loadmaster to precisely meet the individual requirements of any particular task.
This month we have just put on the road a full – length Loadmaster Lite as well as a shorter, heavy duty example working in conjunction with a grab. The real virtue of Loadmaster is its fundamental simplicity – it’s so easy to spec the body that you really want. And however you do that – it’s still a Loadmaster.”
With each of Allied’s new Loadmasters fitted to identical 420hp FMX chassis, the major differences between them are few – but significant.
Whilst both examples are built in steel and have similar Hardox floors, Loadmaster Lite has single skinned sides and no front cornerposts. In contrast, the heavy duty model is double skinned and has cornerposts front and rear. Comparing weights, Loadmaster Lite has the advantage by some 450kgs.
Fitted to a variety of different chassis makes and models in Allied’s fleet, Loadmaster Lite remains this operator’s standard multi-purpose tipper body design, handling everything from incoming demolition materials to outgoing aggregates. With a front end tipping gear, payload capacity for the FMX / Lite is typically around 19 tonnes. And when the jobs get really tough, Allied’s full – spec Loadmasters back up the lighter model perfectly.
“Whilst full-spec Loadmaster has no equal for strength or durability, we also decided to go for the heavier duty model on our latest tipper grab truck for reasons of long term cost-effectiveness” says John Hourigan, adding “tipper grabs are considerably more costly than standard tippers, so we tend to keep them longer. Their mileage often isn’t as great as for standard tippers, but the bodies often work harder. Payload capacity isn’t quite so important either, so it makes good sense to spec this truck for the maximum possible longevity and reliability. And when it’s not doing grab work, we can also put it on any other job whatsoever.”
This shorter Loadmaster body on Allied’s grab tipper also features a Palfinger Epsilon crane, a reduced height headboard and a custom – designed high capacity Thompsons toolbox. Both Allied’s new Loadmasters have also been built to Thompsons’ full N3G off-road specification.
Originally launched way back in 1995, twenty years of continuous design and manufacturing improvements keep Loadmaster right at the top of its game.