Manufacturers of wheel loaders 200 horsepower and up have been busy adding technology to make operation easier and safer.

Managers have a good number of OEM choices in the category right now—and an interesting future with more hybrid electric and battery electric machines on the horizon. There may even be hydrogen power coming (expect hydrogen to be a player well before methane).

But there will always be basic considerations first, such as determining the size of the wheel loader needed.

“When calculating the size of the wheel loader needed, it’s important to start with the material going into the bucket,” said Bill Zak, wheel loader product manager for Develon. “When I work with sales specialists, I encourage them to ask customers what they’re doing with the machine. The next question is what is the material density? How heavy is the material the customer is moving?

“The sales specialist starts by discussing the lift capacity of a machine in a straight position,” Zak said. “For example, let’s say it’s 45,000 pounds. When we articulate the machine, the lift capacity decreases to approximately 40,000 pounds. When the operator raises the lift arms and bucket as high as they will go, we’ll take the articulated tipping load and cut it in half. That’s what we call a safe operating load.

“In this example, the safe operating load is 20,000 pounds,” Zak said. “The sales specialist needs to ask the customer how much the material weighs. That will dictate the size of the bucket and the wheel loader model.”