Used Yard Spotter Norwalk - Tow tractors are a common piece of industrial equipment used in large buildings, arenas, warehouses, airports and manufacturing plants for moving loads horizontally. They go by different names including tow tugs and towing tractors. Tow tractors are responsible for moving multiple trailers in a train. Certain tow tractors can transport helicopters and giant airplanes for the purpose of positioning inside and outside airport hangars and terminals.
Tractive effort is how these machines transport loads. The complete amount of traction a vehicle utilizes on the ground. Heavier loads require more tractive effort compared to lighter loads. The unit works by lifting a part of the load while it is towing; however, the load’s wheels stay on the ground. The tractive effort is increased by the unit’s hydraulic mast. This has been engineered to produce downforce on the drive wheel directly under the mast. Traction allows the machine to deliver very large and heavy loads.
Types of Tow Tractors
Heavy-duty tow tractors and load carriers are two types of tow tractors.
Load Carriers
Industries such as e-commerce, manufacturing, and airport baggage and parcel systems must regularly move many individual and varying sized items to or from a single location. Tow tugs or load carrier tow tractors are excellent for these jobs as they can maneuver single items stacked on wheeled platforms for streamlined transport.
The category that load carrier tow tractor models fall into includes forklift trucks, cranes and pallet jacks. Load carrier tow tugs do not transport items from high places such as shelves or platforms. They only move cargo at ground level. This means that the load has already been on wheels or placed on a wheeled platform before transport. Bogies, skates and trollies are other names for wheeled platforms. The tow tractor joins to the trolly and functions similarly to a train locomotive. Typically, the tow tug features a steel coupling male-end that attaches to a female-end on the trolly’s front. Trollies move in a train-like system thanks to the male-end steel coupling on the back which can connect to numerous units and allow a single tug to transport them.
Tow tractors are capable of moving many machines in a variety of conditions. The availability of many different types of trollies also allows for greater customization in transporting items. Most trollies types are compatible with each other, meaning they can be connected together. Different kinds of trollies can be maneuvered in a single train, creating flexible transport options.
A key benefit of using a load carrier tow tractor is that operators can enjoy a clear view instead of relying on forklifts. Further, load carrier tow tractors tow their trollies behind them in a forward-only direction which decreases the safety concerns created by forklifts operating in reverse. This design is excellent for locations that have a high level of safety such as manufacturing locations and airports.
It is more economical to tow multiple items when possible with a tug than using a forklift truck to transport single items. They are safe and easy to maneuver. One benefit of these tow tugs is that an operator usually does not require a license. No license is necessary since these units do not lift loads up from the ground like cranes, and forklifts that require licensing.
There are three subtypes of load carrier tow tractors:
1. Pedestrian;
2. Stand-in; and
3. Rider-seated.
Pedestrian Tow Tractors
A pedestrian tow tractor, also referred to as an electric tug, electric tugger, electric hand tug or tow tractor, is a walk-behind machine designed for easy movement of wheeled loads. It is compact, maneuverable and easy to use.
Stand-in Tow Tractors
Stand-in tow tractors are the most popular design for industries that involve order picking and horizontal transport in manufacturing. They provide a secure platform for the driver to operate while still having a smaller footprint than that of the rider-seated tow tractors.
Rider-Seated Tow Tractors
Rider-seated tow tractors are similar to stand-in models except they offer a seated platform for the operator. These types of load carrier tow tractors are popular where loads are transported over longer distances, such as airport baggage systems where checked baggage is transported from the check-in counter at the front of an airport to the aircraft at the terminal, often a great distance from one another. These rider-seated options help to decrease driver fatigue allowing for greater efficiency.
Heavy Duty Tow Tractors
In the aviation industry, large passenger and cargo planes usually employ the concept of pushback. Pushback refers to the process of pushing an aircraft back from an airport terminal by some means other than the aircraft’s own power. Pushback is achieved by employing pushback tugs or pushback tractors.
Pushback tractors are built with a low-profile to allow them to move underneath the nose of the aircraft so that it can attach. Enough ground friction is required to move the weighted aircraft, so these models need to be heavy themselves. A common tractor for moving large aircraft can weigh in up to fifty-four tons. Their driver’s cab has the ability to be lowered and raised for increased visibility during reversing.
The unit is called a pushback tow tractor or pushback tug but it is additionally used to move aircraft in situations where taxiing is not safe or practical including into and outside of aircraft maintenance.
There are two subtypes of pushback tow tractors:
1. Conventional; and
2. Towbarless.
Conventional Pushback Tow Tractors
These units use a tow bar to attach the tug to the nose landing gear on the aircraft. Laterally attached to the nose landing gear, the tow tractor can make certain slight vertical height adjustments if needed. At the end that attaches to the tug, the tow bar may pivot freely laterally and vertically. In this manner, the tow bar acts as a large lever to rotate the nose landing gear. There are a towbar and precise tow fitting that acts as an adapter between the standard-sized tow pin and on the landing gear of the aircraft. Heavy-duty towbars required for sizeable aircraft ride on their own wheels when they are disconnected from the machine. Attached to the wheels, the hydraulic jacking mechanism allows the towbar to lift to the proper height to mate with the aircraft and tug. The same mechanism is employed in reverse to raise the towbar wheels off the ground for pushback. The towbar can be connected at the front or the rear of the tractor, depending on whether the aircraft will be pushed or pulled.
Towbarless Pushback Tow Tractors
Towbarless tractors work without a towbar and scoop up the aircrafts’ nose landing gear to lift it off of the ground instead. This allows better control of the aircraft and higher speeds; it may also eliminate the need to have a worker in the cockpit to apply the aircraft's brakes. Simplicity is the main advantage of the towbarless tugs since it is not necessary to maintain a variety of towbars. Directly connecting the tug to the landing gear allows operators to have better responsiveness and control while moving the aircraft.
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