Our gear’s got your back and shoulders for the long haul
As a log truck driver, you know the physical toll of throwing chains on your body. Are you looking for ways to enhance your fleet’s performance and reduce the physical strain? Our Chain Thrower is the solution for you. Designed to significantly reduce shoulder injuries by eliminating the need for manual chain throwing.
Throwing 27 plus chains a day, drivers hurl more than 30,000kgs of steel in any given year. We have developed technology that removes the driver from the hazards of throwing chains over their load, while also allowing for heavier chains to be used.
Fitting and Installation of Chain Throwers
We offer flexible options to integrate chain throwers into your fleet. For new builds, we supply and fit bolsters with the chain thrower built directly into the arms. If you’re retrofitting, we can replace an existing bolster arm with our specially designed arm that accommodates the chain thrower.
Installation and servicing are handled by Waimea Engineering and Kraft Engineering ensuring expert installation and maintenance for long-term reliability.
Why choose WASP?
Implementing our chain throwers into your fleet provides substantial benefits:
Durability: Built to endure the toughest of environments – check out some of our videos of chain throwing in the mud!
Enhanced Safety: Manual chain throwing is a major source of shoulder and musculoskeletal injuries among drivers. By automating this process, you can significantly reduce injury risks, helping drivers avoid both acute and chronic injuries.
Reduced Physical Demand: Throwing chains manually is a physically demanding task. Log truck drivers typically throw 27 or more chains per day, amounting to over 30,000 kg of steel hurled annually. Mechanical systems eliminate this strenuous activity, making the job less physically demanding and drivers can enjoy longer careers in the industry.
Reduced Downtime and Costs: With fewer injuries, your fleet will experience less downtime due to driver recovery, keeping trucks on the road and avoiding expensive compensation claims.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Bolster:
- Bolster Material: BisAlloy 80
- Bolster size: Full Length Lay-over
- Robust design
Contruction:
- Low Added Weight – 30kg per thrower / 200kg per fit out (based on 6 throwers fitted to a truck and trailer)
- Low maintenance construction
- Protected inside the bolster arm
- Simple and robust design
- Designed to ensure easy serviceability
Performance:
- Designed to work with 6mm transport chain
- Eliminates injuries caused by chain throwing
- Reduces downtime of trucks waiting for drivers to return from injuries
Power:
- Pneumatically power
- Air Pressure: 10 Bar (145psi)
Control
- Remote control
- Control panel OR
- Custom control system to suit your requirements
Will it stand up to New Zealand conditions?
Our chain throwers are engineered for durability and ease of use in the harshest of conditions. Here is how we ensure that:
- Built into the Bolster Arm: The chain thrower is integrated into the full-length bolster arm, which shields the mechanism from external damage like mud, debris, and heavy impacts that are common in the logging and transport industry.
- Premium Materials: Constructed using BisAlloy 80 Steel, known for its strength and toughness, the chain throwing system can handle rugged environments without compromising on its performance.
- Low Added Weight: Each chain thrower adds only 30kg to your vehicle, with a complete unit weighing approximately 200kg (based on 6 throwers fitted to your truck and trailer). This minimal weight ensures your truck maintains its operational efficiency without sacrificing strength.
- Simple and Robust Design: By keeping the design simple, we reduce the chances of failure, making the system easy to service and maintain. This reliability ensures minimal downtime for repairs and/or replacements, allowing your fleet to keep operating efficiently.
- Field-Tested Durability: Our chain throwers have been tested in the toughest of environments, including heavy mud and adverse weather conditions and have continued to perform reliably. We’ve designed the system to handle the challenges of daily use in the New Zealand logging and transport industry without skipping a beat!
Frequently Asked Questions:
Chain throwers are air-powered devices, designed to throw your chains over your load – eliminating the hazards associated with manually throwing chains.
Chain throwers are operated via a remote control, or a control box fitted to your truck. These can be a standard design or purpose built to suit your operational needs.
After the driver has connected their chains to their thrower, at the press of a button, the thrower rotates up and over the load, casting the chain over the log packet.
By mounting the thrower inside full length bolster arms, the mechanism is protected from external damages. To service the mechanism, you simply un-bolt your thrower and slide it out of the top of your bolster arm.
A. New Build: We supply and fit new bolsters with the chain throwers built into the arms into your new build.
B. Retrofit: We replace one bolster arm on your existing bolster with our arm that has the chain thrower built into it.
Installation and servicing of your chain throwers can be carried out through either Waimea Engineering (Nelson) or Kraft Engineering (Rotorua).
Each chain thrower adds approximately 30kg.
You can view some of our footage over on our YouTube page.
Feel free to contact us directly if you would like a formal quote or for further details. We’re happy to provide pricing, specifications, and photos of previous builds to help you with your decision.