Wheel loaders, also known as front end or bucket loaders, are used primarily for material handling, digging, road building, site preparation and load-and-carry. Starting as small agricultural tractors outfitted with a loader bucket to transport light materials, these machines evolved, first as rigid frame wheel loaders in the late 1930s, then to articulated wheel loaders in the 1940s.
As wheel loaders increased in size, safety concerns arose, particularly concerning the positioning of the loader pivot arm. These concerns ledto the adoption of a front mounted pivot in the late 1950s. Hough was one of the first manufacturers to produce a wheel loader with a safer design, followed quickly by Caterpillar, Case and Allis-Chalmers. Today's wheel loaders are comprised of a pivoted frame with the engine mounted over the rear wheels. A cab or canopy rests over the frame. The machine's pivot arrangement gives the wheel loader the ability to work in small turning circles.
"At our Osoppo [Italy] site, we load more than 3,000 tons of fresh timber and more than 2,000 tons of recycled timber every day," said Michele Di Santolo, production manager of Fantoni.
Kubota Tractor Corporation updated its wheel loader lineup in 2021 with the launch of the R540 and R640 models.
John Deere is expanding its production-class equipment portfolio with the introduction of 844 and 904 X-Tier wheel loaders.