With that central commanding driving position familiar to everyone who drives a tractor, the telescopic loader remains a popular tool for work in and around farm buildings. Predictable steering characteristics and good 360° visibility help avoid bent gates and scraped stanchions, while the ability of articulated chassis machines to traverse a bucket or grab while stationary is handy for dragging muck out of an awkward corner or dropping a bale over a gate.
High capacity performance from the biggest, most powerful machines meets the demands of large-scale farms and contractors, while at the opposite end of the scale, the smallest units have in their favour nimble manoeuvrability, access to tight locations and site-to-site mobility using a 4x4 and trailer. Within the large selection of wheeled machines featuring articulated or four-wheel steering, two novelties stand out – the stand-on Merlo Cingo with Handler telescopic boom package installed; and the JCB Teleskid 3TS-8T. Both are tracked machines (the Teleskid is also available in wheeled format), which helps keep their centre of gravity as low as possible, and both are capable of handling a decent payload.
This guide sets out all the options, with specification and feature tables covering ultra-compact diesel and electric machines, compacts and mid-range loaders, and the largest tele-machines on the British market. The majority of these rely on a gear pump for hydraulic performance unless otherwise stated.
Avant
The Finnish manufacturer Avant Tecno specialises in ultra-compact loaders and produces one of the most comprehensive line-ups of telescopic variants. All have articulated chassis steering and single-or two-speed hydrostatic drive via a motor at each wheel. An open operator
