Heavy Models

Heavy industrial designs include models from companies like Volvo, Hitachi, Hanomag, Caterpillar, Liebherr, and others. These wheel loaders also called front end loaders, bucket loaders, or scoop loaders, are essentially heavy tractors that can weigh over 50,000 pounds and employ over 230 horsepower. They mount heavy scoop shovels at either end (sometimes both, in which case they may also be called back loaders), which are sometimes permanently fixed for even greater strength. Also, they are usually wheeled, as opposed to having tracks like other heavy loader machines. Loaders may be tracked or wheeled, depending on its function or just on the preference of the user.

Their primary purpose, regardless, is to load materials into trucks, clearing debris or dirt, and digging. Often, a wheel loader can perform a variety of tasks, but in many cases the shovel may be supplemented or replaced with a different tool, such as hydraulic "clamshell" bucket that allows the operator to close the shovel over the top of a load. The shovel itself usually can hold between three and six cubic meters of material, such as dirt. These heavy wheel loader models can also be used for clearing large amounts of snow, such as in a parking lot or along a strip of road. Heavy models are well suited to this task because sometimes a great deal of snow must be cleared in public areas during winter.