What Is a Spider Crane?

A spider crane is a small tracked crane with fold-out outrigger legs, narrow enough to drive through a doorway. This guide covers what it can lift and what to plan for when lifting inside buildings.

Overview

What a spider crane is

A spider crane is a small, tracked crane with four fold-out outrigger legs that give it its name. It is narrow enough to drive through a doorway, light enough to work on many floors and can set up on uneven ground or steps, so it lifts where no other crane can reach: inside buildings, in plant rooms, on roofs and on tight sites.

In short

A spider crane, also called a mini crane, is a compact tracked crane that lifts from four spider-like outriggers.
The smallest models are narrow enough to pass through a standard single door.
Capacities run from under a tonne to around 8 or 9 tonnes on the largest models, with electric versions for indoor work.
Floor loading, the access route and the reach needed decide which spider crane will do the job.

We supply spider cranes for crane hire and contract lifting. Well-known makes include Maeda and Hoeflon. This guide explains how spider cranes work, what they can lift and what to plan for.

How it works

How a spider crane works

A spider crane is designed around getting into places and setting up where a wheeled crane never could.

Tracks for access

The crane travels on rubber tracks, driven by the operator walking alongside or by remote control. Maeda’s smaller spider cranes have a body width of 590 to 750 millimetres, narrow enough for a standard single door.

Spider-leg outriggers

Once in position, four outriggers fold out and down to level the crane and spread its weight. They can be set in different positions to suit the space, and can stand on steps or uneven ground where a wheeled crane could not set up.

A telescopic boom

A telescopic boom gives the lift height and reach, and many models take a fly jib for extra reach or a vacuum lifter for glass. Hoeflon’s mini crane range, for example, reaches lifting heights of over 30 metres on its largest model.

Electric power

Many spider cranes can run on electric power, from mains or batteries, so they can work indoors without exhaust fumes. Hoeflon builds its range as electric cranes, and Maeda offers an electric motor on its larger models.

Sizes

Spider crane sizes

Spider cranes cover a wide range, from machines that fit through a door to cranes that rival a small mobile crane.

Door-width cranes

The smallest spider cranes lift up to around a tonne and are built to pass through standard doorways, travel in goods lifts and work inside finished buildings.

Mid-size cranes

Cranes lifting a few tonnes are the workhorses for glazing, steel and plant installation, with enough reach to lift over obstacles from outside a building or across an atrium.

The largest spider cranes

The biggest models lift up to around 8 or 9 tonnes: Maeda’s range goes up to about 8 tonnes and Hoeflon’s to 9 tonnes. They need more space and a stronger floor, but still set up where a wheeled crane could not.

As with any crane, the maximum capacity applies only close in, and capacity falls as the boom extends. Our guide What size crane do I need? explains how weight and reach decide the crane.

Compared

Spider cranes compared with other cranes

A spider crane is chosen for access. Other cranes win on capacity and reach.

Compared with a pick and carry crane

Both work indoors, but a spider crane lifts from its outriggers and stays put during the lift, while a pick and carry crane lifts on its wheels and can drive with the load. Our guide What is a pick and carry crane? explains the difference in detail.

Compared with a city crane or light truck crane

A city crane or light truck crane lifts far more and reaches further, but it has to stand on the road or yard. A spider crane can be taken into the building, onto a floor or up to a roof. See What is a city crane? and What is a light truck crane?

Uses

Where spider cranes are used

Spider cranes earn their place wherever the lift is inside, above or behind something a bigger crane cannot get past.

Glazing and curtain walling: placing glass panels with a vacuum lifter, inside and outside buildings.
Steel inside buildings: beams, mezzanines and structural steel in atriums, basements and existing buildings. See steel erection and dismantling.
Plant rooms and building services: lifting pumps, boilers, air handling sections and pipework into position.
Roof work: lifted onto a roof by a larger crane, then used to place plant and materials across it.
Machinery and factories: installing and removing equipment where headroom and access are tight. See machine delivery and installation.

Planning

What to plan for with a spider crane

Spider crane lifts are usually inside or on top of a building, so the building itself becomes part of the plan.

Floor loading

Each outrigger puts a concentrated load into the floor. On suspended floors, roofs and over basements, a structural engineer may need to confirm the floor can take it, and spreader plates or mats are used to share the load.

The access route

Measure doorways, corridors, ramps and any lift the crane will travel in, and check that the floor along the route can take the crane’s weight on its tracks.

Glass and lifting attachments

Vacuum lifters and other attachments are lifting equipment in their own right, and must be examined and used as the manufacturer and regulation 9 of LOLER require.

The lift plan

Under regulation 8 of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER), every lifting operation must be properly planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised and carried out in a safe manner. The HSE’s LOLER guidance explains what that means in practice.

Hiring

Hiring a spider crane

We supply spider cranes with trained, carded operators, matched to the load, the reach and the access, and our lifts are planned to BS 7121.

Crane hire or contract lift

You can hire the crane and operator and manage the lifts yourself, or we can plan and carry out the whole job on a contract lift basis. Our guide to crane hire or a contract lift explains who is responsible for what under each.

What we need to know

The weight and size of the heaviest load, and how far and high it has to go
The access route, with door widths, heights and any lifts or ramps
What the crane will stand on, especially suspended floors and roofs
Any glass lifting equipment or other attachments needed

Questions

Common questions

Is a spider crane the same as a mini crane or a crawler crane?

“Spider crane” and “mini crane” are mostly two names for the same machine: a compact tracked crane with fold-out outriggers, named after the shape of its legs and its size. It counts as a crawler crane in the sense that it travels on tracks, but it is not what the industry usually means by one. A conventional crawler crane is a much larger machine that lifts on its tracks, with no outriggers, while a spider crane normally sets its outriggers before it lifts.

Can a spider crane fit through a door?

The smallest ones can. Some models are under 600 millimetres wide, narrow enough for a standard single door. Larger spider cranes need a wider opening, such as a double door or loading bay.

How much can a spider crane lift?

From under a tonne on the smallest models to around 8 or 9 tonnes on the largest. The capacity at the reach you need is what matters, so every lift is checked against the load chart.

Can a spider crane work indoors?

Yes. Electric and battery-powered spider cranes work inside without exhaust fumes, and their tracks and outrigger pads can be protected to look after finished floors.

Do I need a lift plan for a spider crane?

Yes. LOLER requires every lifting operation to be planned by a competent person. On a contract lift we write the lift plan; on a crane hire, the hirer is responsible for planning the lifts.

Get a quote

Get a quote for spider crane hire

Call us on 0800 008 6096 or email office@synergy-lifting.co.uk. Tell us what you are lifting, where it needs to go and what the access is like, and we will recommend the right crane.

Find out more about our crane hire and contract lifting, machine delivery and installation and steel erection and dismantling services.