Outrigger Pads

Outrigger pads provide a super strong, rigid and easy to use foundation for a wide variety of outrigger enabled equipment.  Constructed of engineered thermoplastic, they are stronger, lighter and easier to handle than wood outrigger pads and provide exceptional load distrubution performance.  With a crush strength in excess of 300,000 psi and ground lod ratings up to 196,000 lbs, outrigger pads deliver the load distribution needed in most any soil condition.

  Applications for outrigger pads include:

• Utility and Bucket Trucks
• Cranes
• Fire Trucks
• Concrete Pumps
• Any Type of Aerial Equipment
• Recreational Vehicles (RV)

  Features:

• Non-Conductive
• Easy to clean
• Chemical & Oil Resistant
• Easy to store
• Durable & Long Lasting
• Manufactured in many shapes including round
• Lighter than wood
• Guranteed Unbreakable

Outrigger Pad General Knowledge

Whenever a mobile crane or a hook and ladder fire truck needs to extend its boom or ladder out a long distance or with a heavy weight, it requires addional support to prevent it from toppling over.  This support is provided by retractable outriggers.

Ourtriggers are sturdy metal legs that extend the footprint of the mobile equipment out to cover a larger area.  They can either extend directly from the truck to the ground at an angle, or extend horizontally outward from the truck with a vertical leg that makes contact with the ground.  In either case, the outriggers must lift all the weight of the truck up off the tires to provide maximum stability.  Without the outriggers, the equipment is considered to be "on rubber" and with them it is "on outriggers."  The operator must obey different loading restriction in each case.

Stability is dependent on the equipment's footprint and center of mass.  The footprint is the total area enclosed by the support structures of the equipment.  The center of mass is the point at which the equipment would balance if it were set on top of a single point of support.  If the center of mass is inside the footprint, the equipment is stable.  If the center of mass is off the edge of the footprint, the equpment will topple.

So it's not hard to imagine how a crane could become unstable when extending its boom with a heavy weight hanging from it.  Since not extending the boom is really not an option, there are only two way to provide extra stability:

1.  Use a counterweight to help shift the center of mass back over the footprint

2.  Make the footprint bigger by using an outrigger pad under the extended outrigger

All cranes have counterweights, but there is a limit to how heavy they can get.  Too heavy and the crane wouldn't be able to move, and the ground would have trouble supporting it.  Simply building the crane with a wider footprint would prevent it from traveling on public roads.  Using retractable outriggers to extend the footprint therefore is essential to the crane's stability.