Pettibone Hits 15,000-Pound-Capacity Benchmark with New Extendo 1544X Telehandler
Pettibone brings its X-Series telehandler lineup to the 15,000-pound lifting class for the first time with the introduction of the Extendo 1544X telehandler. The added load capacity is designed for material handling tasks in highway construction, pipe yard applications, and for extended load requirements on traditional building sites. The unit was introduced at Conexpo.
The 1544X is powered by a 117-horsepower Cummins QSF 3.8 Tier 4 Final turbo diesel engine. Mounted onto a side pod, the engine offers accessibility to components and daily service checks, while still allowing for exceptional curbside visibility and a ground clearance of 19 inches. The 30-gallon fuel tank provides ample volume for a full day’s work at 100-percent load. The telehandler comes standard with foam-filled tires.
Built on Pettibone’s next-gen X-Series platform and featuring an advanced boom design, the 1544X offers a maximum lift height of 44 feet, a maximum forward reach of 29 feet, and a maximum load capacity of 15,000 pounds. Formed boom plates provide the boom structure with greater strength while reducing weight. The design also minimizes boom deflection for better control and accuracy when placing loads.
Significant boom overlap provides smoother operation and reduces the contact forces on wear pads, thereby extending service life. An external, bottom-mounted extend cylinder further reduces the load on wear pads by up to 50 percent. The cylinder location provides improved service access to internal boom components. Fastener-less wear pads also simplify service, and heavy-duty extension chains help to ensure stable boom functions.
Pettibone’s hydraulic circuit delivers controllability and operating feel, while enhancing efficiency and cycle speeds. Cylinder cushioning dampens the end of strokes — both extending and retracting — to avoid the wear and tear of hard, jarring stops, while also helping to prevent the potential spilling of a load. The 1544X uses a single lift cylinder that improves operator sight lines and has twin hydraulic lines for tilt and auxiliary plumbing.
The new Extendo 1544X comes standard with X-Command, a Pettibone telematics program that offers real-time access to machine data, saving time and money for equipment owners and service technicians.
The drivetrain and axles are optimized to provide greater tractive effort with minimal tradeoff on top-end speed. A pintle-hitch mount adds versatility for towing. Built for use on rough terrain, the machine offers full-time 4-wheel-drive with a limited-slip front-axle differential. Tight-steer-angle capability provides an efficient turning radius. The Dana VDT12000 Powershift transmission offers three speeds, forward and reverse.
The X-Series operator cab maintains Pettibone’s standard features, including ergonomic seat, pedal, joystick, and steering-wheel positions, while optimizing lines of sight in all directions. An analog/LCD gauge cluster comes standard, and an optional 7-inch digital display with an integrated backup camera is also available. The cab also offers enhanced climate control, flat bolt-in glass, a split-door design, an openable rear window, lockable storage under the seat, and water-resistant components for easy interior washdown.
All-steel fuel and hydraulic tanks are built to resist damage, and the lockable fuel-fill is in a clean, accessible location. Other built-in features include split-system electrical circuit panels and heavy-duty bright LED lighting. Additional options include solid tires, a sling hook for additional load security, a high-output LED lighting package, and a wide variety of attachments.
Pettibone/Traverse Lift, LLC is part of the Industrial Technologies Group, an affiliate of The Heico Companies. Founded in 1881, Pettibone has been recognized as an industry leader in material handling equipment since the company revolutionized the industry with the first forward-reaching, rough-terrain machines in the 1940s. For more information, visit www.gopettibone.com.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.