Shakanda chipper truck bodies are the result of years developing a chipper truck body for the arborist market that exceeds the lifespan of any other in the market today.
“I was approached by a local arborist many years back to design and quote chipper bodies to suit their application,” said Roger Bengtsson, Managing Director of Shakanda Engineering. “What we did at the time was quite different to what everyone else was doing. Over time, our customers were telling us our chipper bodies were lasting so much longer than those they’d had in the past, and it’s our sandblasting and protective-coating system that are the absolute keys to our success and longevity.”
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For over 20 years, wholly Australian made and owned Shakanda Engineering has been doing just that – engineering endurance into every one of its truck bodies, with quality and value-for-money at the forefront of everything it does. Shakanda has become a premier Vehicle Body Building Specialist, manufacturing innovative and tailor-made equipment to suit every requirement in the commercial-vehicle market.
Based in South Gippsland, Victoria, its truck bodies are sold Australia-wide, with recent chipper bodies going to Cairns, Sydney, Canberra, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Quality and value
Shakanda’s chipper bodies are predominantly built in what’s called a monocoque construction. There is very little framework involved to keep the body together – yet it’s still strong. This reduces a lot of weight and decreases the potential corrosion areas where woodchips would otherwise sit and eat into the steel material. Couple this with Shakanda’s superior protective-coating systems – which is resistant to the corrosive acid produced by woodchips – and Shakanda can give its customers the long-term lifespan that sets its chipper bodies apart from anything else in the market. Roger added, “Our prime aim is to give value for money, along with continuous improvements, and we can comfortably say we would expect no less than a 10-year lifespan from our chipper bodies.”
Shakanda has been pleased to see this level of quality being recognised and sought after.
“We’ve seen an increase in the demand for these chipper bodies in recent times, and it comes down to the quality speaking for itself,” said Roger. There have been a couple of truck dealers in particular who have seen the demand in the arborist market for a high-quality option and, Roger said, “They are very happy with the quality and value for money they’re getting in what we’re building, and it makes their job of selling a truck so much easier.”
Flexibility in design
Shakanda Engineering is able to offer a long list of features on its chipper bodies.
Customers can have two-way tailgates, barn doors, toolboxes in one or two sides of the body, ladder racks, pole-saw boxes, a variety of towbar options with pintle hooks or combination ball and pintle hooks, change the body size to increase the front toolbox, or change the overall dimensions of the body if they want to alter the capacities for a particular truck.
“We’re very flexible,” explained Roger, “If customers have a certain feature in mind and want to spec something up for their truck, we’ll make it work.”
Backup service
Shakanda Engineering prides itself on back-up service. The highest standard of design and quality are built into every one of its projects and is backed up with a full three-year structural warranty on all manufactured vehicle bodies.
All in all, the clean look, highly flexible design, protectivecoating systems and confident warranty from Shakanda Engineering has allowed it to produce a superior, longer-lasting chipper body that is picking up steam throughout the treelopping and associated arborist industries.
For more information about Shakanda Engineering and any of its bodies, including chipper bodies, please call (03) 5662 3144 or visit shakandaaustralia.com.
