SINGAPORE – Crown Equipment, one of the world’s largest material handling companies, has recently enhanced its range of gas and diesel lift trucks, with the introduction across the Southeast Asian region of its C-5 Series internal combustion (IC) counterbalance forklift truck. The new C-5 range complements Crown’s existing industry-leading internal combustion and electric truck range, providing customers with a single source of supplier for proven and trusted material handling equipment.

“Our enhanced IC range offers customers a broad choice of trucks matched to requirements from occasional loading and unloading, to reliable everyday workhorses,” said David Sultana, Crown marketing manager, Southeast Asia.

Respected across the region as the leading supplier of electric lift trucks, Crown believes it now has what it takes to grow its IC truck business across the region. Key to this success will be three series of trucks from the total range that satisfy the most common requirements for IC trucks across Southeast Asia.

GX Series
The GX Series has been designed, manufactured and priced specifically for companies requiring an economical truck for general work. With lifting capacities from 2000kg to 3,000kg and a choice of either 2.4 litre liquid petroleum gas (LPG) or a 3.3 litre diesel engine, all models in the GX Series are serious about performance, reliability and operator comfort.

The Crown GX Series comes with dual element air filters, heavy duty transaxles that deliver high torque to the drive wheels, and with transmission gears made from high carbonated steel for long life.

Pro 5 Series
The Pro 5 is manufactured to be a reliable workhorse for companies looking for a truck that will work and perform all day, every day. This is a series designed, manufactured and equipped for seriously hard work. The Crown Pro 5 series comprises two distinct categories of lift trucks. The first category designed for pallet handling offers gasoline/LPG engines or diesel engines ranging from 2.3 litres to 3.3 litres. All trucks in this range are equipped with ease of maintenance features and ergonomically designed cabins to maximise operator comfort and performance.

At the top of the Pro 5 range are the real “heavy lifters”; trucks that can handle, with ease, loads from 5,000kg right up to 16,000kg. Equipped with powerful diesel engines ranging from 5.9 litres to 8.1 litres, they are ideal choices for the toughest of applications.

C-5 Series
The Crown C-5 Series has been specifically designed and manufactured for the toughest and dirtiest conditions that the Southeast Asian region can throw at them.

Recognising that much of the forklift industry basically ‘repurposed’ existing passenger and light commercial vehicle engines for use in forklifts, Crown decided to break the mould by designing a revolutionary IC engine that would vastly outperform existing power plants.

Crown worked closely with John Deere Power Systems to jointly develop the Crown C-5 engine, which is built in a dedicated Crown U.S. manufacturing facility.

The Crown C-5 Series is built for indoor and outdoor environments requiring material handling equipment capable of performing in harsh conditions that traditionally have been too tough for sustained forklift performance. In addition to its industrial engine, the Crown C-5 Series is equipped with innovative and durable components which extend product life, increase uptime and reduce total maintenance costs.

Overheating is one of the biggest threats to an internal combustion engine, especially in a dirty or aggressive environment. Inefficient cooling can cause reduced performance, component damage and even lead to total engine or transmission failure. Crown’s standard dual radiator on C-5 forklift trucks provides separate cooling for the engine and transmission. The radiator core design further supports temperature management by reducing the potential for debris build-up on radiators; keeping everyday operations moving even in the most intense environments.

In a traditional IC lift truck, the fan is driven by the engine. With Crown’s On-Demand Cooling (ODC) option, the fan is relocated to the back of the truck and independently controlled by a hydraulic motor. Controlling the fan independent of the engine allows the fan rotation to be reversed on engine start-up to clear debris from the radiator on each engine start, virtually eliminating the need for radiator cleaning and increasing uptime. The fan is only used when necessary, saving energy and increasing fuel economy. Additionally, the fan operates 30% faster at idle speed to keep the powertrain cool.

“We believe our recently expanded range of IC trucks, along with our established and respected electric truck offering, will assist companies throughout the region move goods efficiently, safely and more economically during this period of investment and growth,” said Sultana.

David.sultana@crown.com