# Rough Terrain Scissor Lift Selection Guide

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Quick answer: choose a rough terrain scissor lift by checking four things in order: the ground it must travel and work on, the working height you need, the width and weight your site access can take, and the space and ground the outriggers need where you will elevate. A diesel rough terrain scissor suits unsealed, uneven or sloping site travel that would stop an electric slab machine, but it is wider, heavier and not for finished indoor floors.

## Start with the ground, not the height

Most rough terrain hires that go wrong are ground problems, not height problems. Before comparing machines, walk the route the machine will travel and the area where it will elevate. Note soft spots after rain, loose fill, trenches, kerbs and the steepest slope on the route. Fill, voids and recent trench lines need the checks in Ground Conditions for Access Equipment whatever machine you choose.

## Travel limits versus elevating limits

Gradeability describes the slope a machine can drive up in its stowed position. It says nothing about working on that slope. The LGMG SR1018D, for example, is rated to 35 per cent gradeability stowed; the slope it may lift on is set by the manufacturer's chassis levelness limit, which is a few degrees, and the tilt alarm cuts lift functions beyond it.

If your work position is on a grade, plan for levelling: a machine with levelling outriggers set up within its limits, or an area cut level before the machine arrives. If the ground is sloping everywhere, a tracked machine that levels on outriggers may suit better than a wheeled rough terrain scissor; the comparison is in Tracked vs Rough Terrain Scissor Lifts and the tracked and self-levelling range.

## Setup footprint and supporting ground

A rough terrain scissor arrives as a large machine and gets larger when it sets up. Verified figures for one of ours, from its specification sheet:

LGMG SR1018D (33ft) | Figure |

Working height | 11.7 m (platform 9.7 m) |

Platform capacity | 454 kg (extension deck 1.52 m, 140 kg) |

Width and length stowed | 1.79 m wide, 3.76 m long, 1.89 m high |

Weight | 4,330 kg |

Outside turning radius | 4.75 m |

Outriggers | Auto-levelling |

Gradeability (stowed travel) | 35 per cent |

The outrigger footprint when deployed is in the machine's operator manual rather than on the summary sheet; the manual is linked from each machine page and we will read the figure off it for you before delivery. Allow for the feet to land outside the chassis width, on ground that can take a point load: an outrigger foot concentrates a share of the machine and platform load onto a small pad. Use spreader plates where the manual calls for them and on any ground you have not proven.

Our rough terrain scissor lift range runs from 32ft to 53ft platform height across Genie, Haulotte, LGMG, Sinoboom and Skyjack models; every page lists width, weight, stowed height and capacity from the specification sheet held on file.

## What to compare between rough terrain models

Factor | Why it matters | What to check |

Working height | Where your hands can work | Compare working height to working height, not to platform height |

Machine width | Gates, between structures | Site access widths against the spec sheet, plus the outrigger spread where it sets up |

Machine weight | Ground bearing, transport | Soft ground, trench proximity, delivery truck access |

Tyre type | Traction and surface marking | Foam-filled rough terrain tyres can mark finished surfaces |

Platform capacity | People plus tools plus materials | Add everything up; the extension deck has its own lower limit |

Power type | Fumes and noise | Diesel is for outdoors; do not plan enclosed indoor use |

## Practical limitations

- Rough terrain scissors are wide. If part of the job runs through a personnel doorway, you need a second, narrower machine for that part.

- They are heavy. Confirm the delivery truck can reach the site and the ground can take the machine, especially near excavations and services. These machines are delivered; they are not in the approved trailer packages.

- Wet weather changes ground. Ground that took the machine on delivery day may not take it a week later.

- Diesel exhaust and noise rule out enclosed spaces.

## What to include in your quote request

- The working height you need, and how you measured it

- Ground type on the travel route and at the work position

- The steepest slope the machine must cross, and whether the work position itself slopes

- Narrowest access point width and any overhead limit on the route

- Required dates so the team can check the current fleet, or try the machine selector first

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