Telehandler Hire in Sydney: How the LGMG H730 Compares to a Dieci or Merlo

Plenty of Sydney site specifications name a brand: supply a Dieci 25.6, or Merlo telehandler required. Nine times out of ten what the specification actually needs is a fixed-boom rough-terrain telehandler that can put a defined load at a defined height and reach. The brand on the bonnet is shorthand for that envelope, not a technical requirement.

The telehandler we hire is an LGMG H730: 3,000 kg maximum capacity, 6.9 m maximum lift height, 4 m of horizontal outreach. Dieci and Merlo both build machines in that same class, and so do JCB, Manitou and Magni. The useful question is not which badge is better, it is whether the machine in front of you covers the point on the load chart your job sits at.

Capacity is a curve, not a number

Every telehandler is sold on one figure, 3 tonne, 4 tonne, and that figure is the capacity at the boom fully retracted, close to the machine. The number that decides whether the machine can do your job is the capacity at the reach and height you actually need. That is the load chart, and it is the first page to ask for.

Here is the rough-terrain load chart for the H730 we hire, straight off the LGMG specification sheet:

A pallet of bricks that the machine picks up easily at the truck can be beyond it at 6 metres up and 3 metres out. Take the heaviest load, the height it has to reach and the distance from the wheels, and check that point on the chart before you book.

What actually differs between machines in this class

Once two machines cover the same point on the chart, the differences that matter on a Sydney site are these:

• Width and turning circle. The H730 is 2.30 m wide with a 4 m minimum turning radius and four-wheel steer. On a tight residential block or a basement ramp that number decides the job, not lift height.
• Steering modes. Four-wheel drive with four-wheel steer, crab steer and two-wheel steer is the standard set in this class. Crab steer is what gets a loaded machine along a boundary.
• Frame levelling. The H730 has ±5 degrees of frame tilt. On a sloping pad that is the difference between placing a pallet and refusing the lift. Some machines in the class have no tilt at all, worth checking on any substitute.
• Ground clearance and traction. 0.31 m clearance, 43 kN maximum traction force and 45% gradeability unladen. On unformed ground this is what stops the machine bellying out.
• Attachments. Forks are standard. A jib, bucket or work platform changes both the capacity and, in the case of a platform, the licensing.

Merlo and Dieci: what people are usually buying

Both are long-established Italian manufacturers with strong followings in Australian civil and agricultural work. Merlo is best known for its single side-boom layout and its rotating range; Dieci for a broad fixed-boom line that is common on residential and commercial builds. If a specification names either, ask which model and which capacity, the ranges are wide, and a Dieci at one end of the range and a Dieci at the other are completely different machines.

The honest comparison is done on paper: take the model named in the specification, get its load chart, and lay it next to the H730 chart above at the height and reach your job needs. Where they overlap, the machines are interchangeable for that lift.

Before you book

• Heaviest load, the height it goes to, and the distance out from the machine.
• The narrowest point the machine has to pass through, and the ground it will stand on.
• Whether anyone needs to be lifted: that requires an approved work platform attachment and the matching licence, not just forks.
• Who is operating, and what they hold. Load-shifting plant needs a trained and assessed operator; a non-slewing telehandler over 3 tonne capacity brings a high-risk work licence into it.

Send us the three numbers and the access and we will confirm whether the H730 covers the lift before anything is booked.