This very special crane truck belongs to Lyse Transport from Stavanger, Norway. The truck was built according to the wishes of Hege Lyse, who also drives it.

Some of the requirements where:
- Low empty weight, low enough to be able to drive with a trailer
- Full lifting capacity to the front
- At least 32 ton lift capability
- More than 8 ton lift capability at the jib
- Height of about 50 meter should be reachable

Eventually they have chosen this combination, a Sisu E18-630 8x4 with an Effer 1550 J-Power. The choice of a Sisu has several reasons. First of all it is the only manufacturer that can deliver a reinforced crane chassis directly from the factory. It is reinforced entirely from the front to the rear. Also the frame is closed at both ends with a pipe instead of a beam, which brings a lot of stiffness. The axle loads where the second reason, both front axles are allowed for 10 tons in Norway. Together with 2x8 tonnes on the rear axles this gives a total weight of 36 tonnes. Especially the heavy loads on the front axles are good when mounting such a big crane.

The crane was mounted at KL-Kranservice in Denmark. KL also reinforced the chassis even more, especially to the front. This way it can handle the forces of the Effer 1550 6S that was mounted. This crane has an outreach of 15,43 meter and can still lift 6,32 tonnes there. The crane has a maximum lifting capacity of 108,8 ton/mtr.

It is one of the newer 1550 models, that from 2005 on are equiped with the telescopic parts of the Effer 1750. This gives the oppertunity to also mount the Heavy Duty Jib on this crane. At the end of the chassis the heaviest set of Maxistab outriggers where mounted.

Usually this Goldhofer 2-axled lowloader hangs behind the Sisu. In the background we see the 2nd Sisu E18-630 8x4 of Lyse, this one is a truck instead of a tractor. It is equiped with an Effer 850.

A better view at the crane that is equiped with a winch. A big dieseltank was mounted above the outriggers.

The base crane can only be a 6S because of the use of a heavy-duty jib, that is shown here. It is not mounted to the crane (like normal Effer jibs) but in the crane with a sort of manual extension, as can be seen here. This part is necessary to be able to transfer the bending forces of this jib, maximum of 40 ton/mtr !!, into the crane. This jib can, in combination with this crane, lift a weight of 9,3 tonnes at an height of almost 19 meters and an outreach of about 8 meters! At 27,84 meters it will still lift 1,75 tonnes. The lifting capacity of this jib is necessary for some specific lifting jobs at rotors of ships.

Here we see the Sisu at the yard of GMC, a regular customer of Lyse Transport. The 6 outriggers are already set and the crane can now be folded out.

An Effer 1750 would have had more lifting capacity than this 1550, especially at the jib. Nonetheless they chose the 1550 because it is about 2,5 tonnes lighter than a 1750. In the future this crane will become a second jib in order to reach the desired height. This 2nd jib will be mounted to the 1st jib with a manual extension. They expect to reach a height of about 48 meters.

Here the first part was lifted onto the waiting DAF, a steel part of a few tonnes.

Here we can see how robust the outriggres at the front of the chassis are. These outriggers can handle a weight of up to 80 tonnes, also the chassis between the crane and the outriggers is prepared for that.

This winch was the second part that was lifted.

Stability to the front was demonstrated here, this winch weighs about 8,5 tonnes.

Impressive sight, although this isn’t the maximum of what the crane can do in this area !!

This winch was also placed onto the trailer of the DAF.

After that, the truck was moved to the next part that had to be loaded. The Sisu is equiped with a Caterpillar 18 liter 6-cylinder engine that produces an impressive 630 horsepower.

The truck doesn’t have a hydraulic retarder. The gearbox can’t have one and a seperate Voith retarder would have added more weight to the truck. The engine has a very strong engine brake (sort of Jake-Brake) which makes a retarder not absolutely necessary.

The next component is lifted. The stability to the front is demonstrated once more, this unit weighs about 5 tonnes. The crane has extended completely.

This was the last part that had to be put onto the trailer.

After the Sisu was moved again, the lifting of the heavy part could start.

The winch that is hooked here weighs about 23 tonnes.

As it cannot be lifted over the trailer, ...

... it is being lifted in front of the truck! This kind of loads don’t cause a problem either, when the crane is lifting in front of the truck.

And the winch has reached the other side and waits for a lowloader. As that would take a wile, I didn’t wait any longer and left. Here we see that the last axle of the tandem is lifted, something that is possible with a Sisu. This axle is than disconnected from the driveline aswell.

Many thanks to Helge Lyse for the hospitality and the crane demonstration