About Trolleys

Useful Information About Trolleys

1. Barrows have 1 or 2 wheels and depend upon sharing the load with the operator who pushes them.
2. Trolleys have 3 or more castors and fully support the load, they are pushed

3. Bogies have 2 or more wheels, fully support the load and are driven, towed or pushed

4. Trucks have 4 or more wheels with a steering facility, either Ackerman or turntable and are pulled or towed (a pallet truck fits this description too, as does a tug lift truck with detachable steering wheels).

There are about 12 manufacturers left in the U.K., not all dedicated to trucks and trolleys, most of them operate through trade outlets and have no direct sales forces. All of them have suffered really badly from cheap imports. No Chinese import meets U.K. truck, trolley and barrow makers’ best practice. The safe working loads quoted on most Chinese imported trolleys are completely unsupported and would be dangerous to use at the stated capacity. Chinese wheels and castors are ill fitting and substandard. They are regarded as disposable. However, the life span of a U.K. built item out performs the safety, durability and lifespan by as much as 15 times. This makes the disposable items fantastically expensive, they rarely last a year in industry. I have seen castors collapse on the first day out!

This is the U.K. specification and standard practice, you will find this standard across most Euro – fabricators:

A barrow must hold all the load with a safety factor on any one wheel. , Trolleys must take all the load, again with a safe margin over any three castors. Bogies must take 100% of load on any one axle and or as defined by the number of bogie axles and loading. Trucks must be able to take 100% of the load over any three wheels and 60% of the total load on any one axle. The above is subject to application reviews. All axle assemblies for wheels and castors should be a snug fit with no movement other than the rotation of the wheel on the axle.

No Chinese sack barrow could or would pass this standard as at July 2010. The Chinese derived most of their standards from the USA mail order business and were never designed for use in commerce and industry – I am happy to be proved wrong.

If you are ordering large volumes, U.K. engineers are working with the Chinese to police these standards. A European standard made in China will save you 20% subject to freight and import taxes, both of which are going up and the first order will take 16 weeks from design or 12 weeks if the design is agreed. Don’t buy imports because they look cheap – they are not. Trucks and trolleys are specialist items built by engineers consult one before any serious purchase.

There is nothing wrong with Chinese standards or Chinese equipment, – you just get what you pay for, so prepare yourself or ask an engineer!.