“Trees mean life” is the slogan of Weckler GmbH. An NG 3536 A with crane body has been doing a good job of tree surgery for around 35 years.
Transport Magazine
Up, please!
This NG 3536 can reach heights
of more than 45 metres.
It can really stretch.
Anyone who has mastered the climb into the cockpit is greeted by a sticker above the displays: “Vehicle height 3.76 metres”. Jochen Junger – he has been a driver of this NG 3536 A from the very beginning – no longer notices it. And he has also been thinking in completely different dimensions for a long time. Because once he has extended and adjusted the outrigger supports, he steps onto the Ruthmann MT 455 lifting work platform, which is attached to the crane, lets himself be hoisted up and hovers up to 45 metres above the ground!
Landscaper Jochen Junger has long since overcome the fear of heights. He has been the driver of Weckler GmbH’s unique vehicle for around 35 years. The landscape gardening and tree surgery company from Reutlingen in the Swabian region of south‑west Germany has been hiring out lifting work platforms for many different purposes since 1982 – and the MT 455 since 1988.
45
metres maximum working height.
Design based on an NG 2636 6×6.
The NG as we see it today is a custom‑made crane, not just because of its crane body. The conversion is based on a 2636 all‑wheel chassis of the NG 85 series, which NAW Arbon converted in 1987 by adding an extra drive axle, making it the 3536 8×8/4. The five‑section Ruthmann lifting platform was also able to be installed to make it ready for the heaviest of tasks. On the drive side, four interwheel and three interaxle differential locks provide exceptional off‑road capability and the ten‑cylinder OM 423 engine provides the necessary torque.
“Seven interwheel and interaxle differential locks provide off‑road capability and the ten‑cylinder OM 423 engine provides the necessary torque.”
Mercedes‑Benz NG 2636 6×6 with conversion to 3536 8×8.
Built in:
1987/1988
Engine:
OM 423
Displacement:
18,270 cc
Output:
261 kW (355 hp)
Cylinder arrangement:
V10
Transmission:
16‑speed, double‑H gearshift with a splitter unit
“Only 160,000 kilometres on the clock – plus 24,000 operating hours for the work platform.”
The model series.
As the OM 423, the V10 engine was available from 1985 with a displacement of 18.3 litres instead of 15.9 litres – still normally aspirated. It still has many faithful admirers today, mainly on construction sites.
From the mid‑1980s, the Swiss company NAW from Arbon in the canton of Thurgau manufactured special chassis based on the 2636 A 6×6, thus laying the foundation for the popularity of the four‑axle design, which has remained unbroken until today.
Decades of use are not evident on the mileage counter: it shows an impressive 160,000 kilometres. The “extra work” for the engine amounts to around 24,000 operating hours for the work platform. The yellow giant is still in amazingly good shape and accident‑free – thanks to good constant care and doubtless also to the warning sticker on the instrument panel.
Photos & video: Jan Potente