About Rigid Trucks
A rigid truck, sometimes called a “straight truck,” is a single chassis incorporating a driver’s cab and bodywork specific to the truck’s intended use. Rigid trucks are shorter in length and have lower maximum gross weight limits than tractor units pulling semitrailers. They are often used for regional and local deliveries, as their compact size makes them well-suited for making multiple stops and navigating narrow city streets.
Bodybuilder firms can upfit rigid trucks with various body types, each suited to a particular job, such as hauling dry goods, mixing and delivering concrete, carrying farm or plant equipment, hauling away recycling or waste bins, and much more. Each of the subcategories of rigid trucks below is the result of incorporation with a specific body type.
2024 DAF XB210 Rigid Beavertail Truck
Beavertail Trucks
Beavertail trucks, sometimes called “dovetails,” have drop-off ends and twin ramps at the end of the bed to facilitate loading and unloading wheeled and tracked farm and plant equipment for transport. The ramps allow equipment to be loaded onto the rear without any additional kit. Beavertail trucks often have a hydraulic winch to aid in loading.
Box Trucks
Box trucks have a cab and a fully enclosed cargo box on the same chassis and come in various sizes, operating weights, and hauling capacities. A truck’s number of axles determines its maximum payload. Many box trucks are equipped with lift gates, pull-out ramps, kerb-side doors, and other features to simplify loading and unloading on routes with multiple stops where loading docks and forklifts are not readily available.
Chassis Cab Trucks
As their name suggests, chassis cab trucks are trucks with a cab on a bare chassis, leaving them ready for adaptation to suit various commercial needs in the construction, waste management, landscaping, agriculture, and forestry industries, to name a few. Common additions to chassis cab trucks include tipping bodies, trays, cargo boxes, chippers, cranes, curtainside boxes, refuse collection and compaction equipment, log carriers, concrete agitators, cherry pickers, and more.
2020 Mercedes-Benz 1323 Chassis Cab Truck
Concrete Trucks
Concrete trucks come in two main varieties: concrete mixers and concrete pump trucks. Concrete mixer trucks have a rotating drum to mix the concrete in transit, hydraulically powered fold-over steel chutes and extensions, a water tank, outriggers, weight-batching equipment, suction and wash-down hoses, and backup cameras. Concrete pump trucks have pumping equipment and articulated boom arms that connect to the piping that conveys the liquid concrete into place.
Crane Trucks
Crane trucks can easily load and unload without the need for a forklift. Their bodies consist of either a crane by itself on a platform or a crane and a flatbed for cargo.
Curtain Side Trucks
The curtainsider combines a flatbed's flexibility with a box van's security. Like the flatbed, the curtainsider can be loaded from any point along either side, speeding up loading and introducing flexibility in the unloading order. The retractable PVC-reinforced fabric curtains that run the length of the cargo platform also protect cargo from theft, road damage, and inclement weather.
Flatbed Trucks
Ideal for oversized and wide loads, flatbed trucks offer versatility in hauling anything from building supplies and palletised loads to excavators, tractors, and larger vehicles. A flatbed's open platform facilitates quick loading and unloading from either side rather than loading and unloading through a rear door as you would with a dry van or box truck. The bed typically consists of a heavy-gauge steel frame with durable wood or aluminium flooring.
2018 MAN TGM 26.320 Curtain Side Truck
Grab Loader Trucks
Grab loader trucks, also known as “tipper grabs”, have tipping bodies fitted with a hydraulic grab arm or a clamshell bucket mounted on the vehicle's rear. They are used in waste removal and construction to collect items to haul away and in landscaping to deliver soil, mulch, aggregate, and other materials and place them on the site.
Hook Loader Trucks
A hook loader truck has a large hydraulic hook mounted behind the cab. The truck backs up to a container, hooks it, and then lifts and rolls it onto the chassis. Contractors and waste hauliers are the primary users of these trucks.
Municipal Trucks
The municipal trucks category includes new and used recycling trucks, refuse trucks, vacuum trucks, sweepers, spreaders and gritters, snowploughs, traffic management vehicles, and washer trucks. Cities use municipal trucks to manage waste and remove snow, ice, and debris from streets.
Refrigerated Trucks
Also known as “reefer trucks,” refrigerated trucks are designed to keep goods cool until they arrive at their destination. They are used by butchers, beverage distributors, caterers, florists, medical supply companies, and more to transport temperature-sensitive cargo. The trucks range from light-duty vans with insulated cargo bays to heavy-duty trucks with refrigerated bodies.
Skip Loaders
The most common type of skip loader is the hoist skip truck, which uses a pair of hydraulic arms connected by chains to the skip to lift the skip as the arms swing in an arched fashion to place the skip on the load area. It can be used with skips varying in size from the mini skip of 1 m³ to a full-size skip of 16 m³. Load capacities can range from 1 to 15 tonnes.
The second skip loader type is the roll-on, roll-off variety. These trucks attach to skips using a hook lift or winch, which pulls the skip onto the truck across a series of rollers.
Tanker Trucks
Tanker trucks transport all manner of liquids in bulk, including fuel, food products, and fertilisers, as well as dry powders. Depending on the type of load, they may have a pressurised container or multiple compartments to haul different loads that are kept separate from one another.
Pet-reg tankers are required to transport fuel in Ireland, while tankers used for foodstuffs and perishable liquids, such as dairy products, must be made of stainless steel to maintain appropriate hygiene. Bulk blower tankers are required to haul powdered products.
Find The Right Rigid Truck
Explore TruckLocator.ie to find new and used rigid trucks for sale from dealers in Ireland and worldwide, including box trucks, curtainside trucks, flatbed trucks, municipal trucks, tipper trucks, and much more.
