JLG develops self-leveling boom lift

What started as a scale-model prototype shown at Bauma 2016 to explore the viability of a lift with a “smart” suspension has become reality for JLG Industries. At ConExpo-Con/Agg 2020, the manufacturer introduced and provided demos of its new 670SJ self-leveling boom lift, showcasing its ability to automatically self-level - with the boom elevated - on surfaces up to 10 degrees in any direction.

“There were challenges along the way,” Nate Hoover, director of product management for boom lifts, told SAE's Truck & Off-Highway Engineering in Las Vegas. “The full-size concept machine we introduced for ConExpo 2017 had a fixed axle, basically, that pivoted, it was a solid axle all the way across. We learned that having independent control arms was an important feature to be able to adjust to the ground, not just one side to the other but independent in all four [corners].”