Cranes & Lifting Equipment
From hydraulic and electric cranes for trucks and trailers to van loading platforms and pulling winches – Penny Engineering offers affordable, custom vehicle mounted lifting equipment and ongoing support to maximise the efficiency and safety of diverse material handling operations.
Our Vehicle Mounted Lifting Equipment
Take a look at our Spare Parts & Accessories
Keep your lifting equipment performing at its best with our full range of accessories and spare parts, with installation and breakdown assistance available.
Why Choose Penny Engineering’s Mobile Lifting Equipment?
UK Manufacture
We proudly manufacture vehicle mounted lifting equipment in our state-of-the-art facility in the Sheffield City region. This is a centre of excellence for engineering in the UK, with access to world-class training and engineering support.
Bespoke Design
Our custom vehicle mounted lifting equipment is expertly designed to seamlessly integrate into your operations, helping customers from a wide range of industries to implement the highest standards of safety, precision, and compliance.
After-Sales Support
We’re dedicated to helping you understand your legal obligations around the safe use and maintenance of mobile lifting equipment and accessories, offering comprehensive service packages to ensure you remain fully compliant.
Sustainably Focused
With a commitment to sustainability, we actively implement strategies to minimise our carbon footprint and environmental impact, including zero waste to landfill, solar power generation, and energy-saving systems.
Benefits of Vehicle Mounted Lifting Equipment
Safer Lifting Operations
Our bespoke lifting solutions are expertly designed to seamlessly integrate into your operations, helping customers from a wide range of industries to ensure the highest standards of safety, precision, and compliance.
Increase Efficiency
Our vehicle mounted lifting equipment can cut what was once a two-person job in half, enabling you to allocate your workforce for optimal efficiency and cost management.
Versatile Handling
Fully configurable and capable of handling up to 3300kg, our vehicle mounted lifting equipment opens your business to new possibilities across diverse material handling applications.
Simple to Use
Our mobile lifting solutions are incredibly easy to operate, featuring user-friendly controls, ergonomic designs, and customisation options that boost productivity across a variety of tasks.
Maximise Revenue
Strong and durable yet lightweight and compact, all our vehicle mounted lifting equipment is specially designed to maximise the payload capacity of your lifting truck, van, or trailer.
Built to Last
You’ll receive a fully CE-marked product built to meet all relevant regulations and industry standards, plus a detailed operation and service manual and thorough handover training.
Approved Lifting Truck & Van Converters
We’re proud to be part of a network of approved vehicle converters, trusted by leading commercial vehicle manufacturers, Ford, Renault, Nissan, and Volkswagen, to ensure the safe and reliable use of cranes, platforms, winches, and other vehicle mounted lifting equipment.
As recognised vehicle conversion specialists, we’re dedicated to meeting our customers’ needs in quality control, product liability, after-sales support, and warranty. With Penny Engineering, you can trust that only an experienced, qualified team will work on your vehicles.
UK Mobile Lifting Equipment Manufacturer with Worldwide Reach
Penny Engineering is based in the heart of the UK, meaning your vehicle mounted lifting equipment and accessories are backed by world-class British engineering. We can also complete a site survey and offer a loading platform or crane installation and training service for customers based in the UK.
Who We Work With
Vehicle Mounted Lifting Equipment FAQs
This is a phrase to cover the wide range of vehicle mounted loading and material handling equipment. Having an integrated transport and lifting solution can greatly improve efficiency saving time and money. Penny Engineering are experts in this field and can offer advice on optimum systems as well as designing and manufacturing a wide range of standard and bespoke products. Their range includes SwingLift electric cranes, PH hydraulic cranes, winch systems and LoadLift lifting platforms with capacities from 80kgs to 6 tonnes. They can be fitted to vans, 4x4’s, Mules, pick-ups and trailers as well as larger trucks.
No, it is a complex task matching lifting equipment to a vehicle. Due consideration has to be given to manufacturer’s guidance, stability, axle loadings, strength, payload and frequency of use. There are statutory regulations that must be met covering all aspects of an installation including the ongoing use, maintenance and inspection. The expert team at Penny Engineering will give advice to make sure that the lifting equipment and vehicle combination are safe and appropriate for the task.
Yes, they can but detailed calculations are required to ensure stability, nose weight and train weight are safe and within manufacturer’s limits. Trailers are inherently less stable than a vehicle and so extreme care is required at the design and specification stage. Powering the crane can also be an issue with a petrol driven pump or dedicated battery being primary options. Penny Engineering are well qualified to work with you to develop a safe and compliant solution. See the Penny Engineering blog for more detailed information.
Penny Engineering has 40 years’ experience in design, installation and service of vehicle mounted lifting equipment. They have all levels of qualified engineers on their staff from a Chartered Mechanical Engineer to apprentice trained engineers backed by specialist training from the Association of Lorry Loader Manufacturers and Importers, the trade leading body. They are also approved converters by Ford, VW and Renault.
Penny Engineering SwingLift, LoadLift and PH Crane ranges have a proven record of reliability as demonstrated by the approvals from Ford, VW and Renault. All cranes are fitted with over-load protection to protect both the crane and vehicle. Many are transferred from one vehicle to the next, giving the crane a new life and saving both money and carbon footprint for customers.
No, Penny Engineering encourages third party vehicle converters to supply and install their products both in the UK and around the world. Training, help and assistance is given to ensure that they are competent to engineer a safe and reliable installation in accordance with statutory regulations and manufacturers’ guidelines.
All Penny Engineering products are competitively priced, but it is most important to have the right product with the right duty cycle for the application. Light duty equipment naturally can be cheaper but could lead to down-time if incorrectly specified. Penny Engineering has the experience to help specify the correct product from their wide range of products and is committed to giving best advice. This will lead to long-term savings via efficiency and reliability.
It is a specialist task to install a crane on a lorry or in a van. Due regard for regulations and manufacturer’s specifications must be taken and competence in the UK is demonstrated by being accredited by the Association or Lorry Loader Manufacturers and Importers (ALLMI) Penny Engineering are members of ALLMI and can install their own vehicle mounted products. Get in touch with the main office for expert advice or help with a local converter.
The Penny Engineering factory and head office is in the Midlands in the UK but 2025 saw deliveries to 23 countries including New Zealand, Europe, South America, the USA, Canada and the Middle East. Most of these countries have approved converters who also offer service back-up. Direct sales are common to end users and factory support is provided to them. Penny Engineering has an in-house, UK wide sales and service network dedicated to its own products.
Penny Engineering offer exemplary service both before and after sales. The awarding of a Royal Warrant of Appointment is testimony to this. The company has its own engineers around the UK who only service their own products. These engineers are also trained to carry out statutory inspections and tests for complete peace of mind. Engineers can be sent abroad but it is more usual to use local engineers with support from the UK factory.
A comprehensive parts and labour warranty is provided on all products. In the UK this will be actioned by their own engineers based around the country who carry extensive stock leading to a first time fix. Due to the modular design of the products most parts are held on stock at the UK factory for immediate dispatch for customers abroad.
Yes, the cranes in our PH range can be PTO driven. Swing lift cranes and loading platforms are powered by the existing vehicle battery.
Yes, custom products have the same sector leading support and warranty as the regular products. It is one year parts and labour delivered by its own network of UK wide service engineers.
Most products are made to order but automated design and modular designs work together to keep lead-times to four to six weeks depending on work-load and complexity. A quicker turnaround can often be achieved on standard products if necessary and spares are normally dispatched the same or next day.
BS 7121-1 is the essential standard for those planning and carrying out lifting operations with cranes in the UK. BS 7121-1 gives recommendations for the safe use of cranes permanently or temporarily installed in a work environment.
BS 7121-1 covers the following for lifting operations:
- Safe systems of work selection
- Erection and dismantling
- Maintenance
- Inspection
- Thorough examination
- Operation
- Planning and management
BS 7121-1 provides guidance on complying with the requirements of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment 1998 and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. This standard is also used by Health and Safety Executive and Courts as an indication of good practice.
The SwingLift range of electric cranes are often in vans as well as pick-ups and as they can lift from below ground. Regular customers are BT Openreach, water companies, councils and fleets such as Sunbelt Rentals. The larger hydraulic PH Cranes are ideal for utilities, infrastructure, construction and logistics companies as well as smaller scale businesses supplying logs. The lifting platforms have widespread use with car parts delivery fleets, Royal Mail and waste oil recycling companies.
To be able to specify a crane or loading platform we would need to know:
- The type of vehicle
- The voltage of the vehicle
- How you want to load the goods
- The weight of the goods you are wanting to lift
Penny Engineering will help you make sure that you have a successful crane/trailer/tow vehicle combination. To be able to specify one of our cranes we need to know the following key details:
The Load
- What are you lifting and how heavy is it? We can weigh items up to 4.0 tonnes for you, if required.
- What are its physical dimensions?
- How far from the base of the crane do you need to lift the load?
- How often will you need to lift the load? This is the duty cycle.
The Crane
The data above will help us to specify a suitable crane. We then need to see if it can be safely fitted to the trailer/vehicle combination.
- How do you intend to power the crane? Please note that a vehicle battery will not cope with high use.
- Where would you like the crane to fit on the trailer? It is likely that a large crane cannot be safely fitted to the front of a trailer.
- Where will the operating position be?
The Trailer
- What is the make and model of the trailer?
- What are the physical dimensions of the trailer and centre of gravity, if possible?
- How many axles does the trailer have?
- What is its empty weight and maximum load capacity?
- What is the nose weight when empty and maximum permissible nose weight?
- What is the hitch height?
- Does it have drop down legs to support the front and rear when being loaded?
The Tow Vehicle
- Will the trailer have a regular tow vehicle and if so, what make and model is it?
- What is the tow ball height?
- What is the maximum load that the vehicle/tow ball can take?
- What is the maximum permissible overall combined mass of the vehicle and trailer?
Find out more information here.
These are unique to Penny Engineering and have brand names of LoadLift and SideLift. The LoadLift is predominantly for vans and is a horizontal platform of various designs that can load wheeled goods such as roller cages or awkward to lift items such as oil drums or car parts into a van. SideLifts are fitted to 3.5 tonne pick ups and consist of a fold up platform to load and unload products such as wheelie bins or portaloos.
It is vital that if you are investing in vehicle mounted lifting equipment that it efficiently and safely does the job that your require. This may or may not be possible with an off-the-shelf device. Making do could cost time and money in the long run and a bespoke crane may not be any more expensive than a standard one. As manufacturers, Penny Engineering can easily adapt existing designs to suit your specific needs leading to long-tern gains in safety, efficiency and reliability.