Capacity, jib radius, rail length and mounting type โ the four decisions that decide whether a traveling jib crane covers your whole workshop or just the first two bays. Written for maintenance shops and small production lines that want multi-station lifting without the price of a full overhead crane.
A traveling jib crane makes sense when you need lifting along a line of workstations, your regular loads stay under 2 tons, and you want one machine instead of several fixed jibs: the whole unit rides on floor or ceiling rails, so a single crane serves multiple bays. It sits between a fixed jib and a small overhead crane, and that changes how you size it. Capacity, jib radius, rail length and mounting type each follow a simple rule โ start from your heaviest regular load, count the stations the rail must reach, and check the building structure before comparing prices. This guide covers the typical ranges (0.125-2 t capacity, 2-6 m radius, custom rail length, A3-A5 duty classes) and closes with a specification template that gets you comparable quotes.
Capacity is the first number to fix, and buyers tend to overshoot it here more than on any other crane type. The reason is mechanical: a traveling jib crane carries its load at the end of a cantilever, and that load is multiplied by the jib radius before it reaches the mast, the carriage and the rail. Every extra ton means a heavier carriage, a stiffer rail and a more expensive installation, so oversizing costs you twice โ once in the crane, once in the rail system.
Start with the heaviest single item you move on a regular basis. Not the one-off job, the regular one. Then apply the standard margin: sizing to at least 125% of that load covers the load test requirement and leaves room for slings and spreader beams. A 1.5-ton traveling jib crane routinely lifting 1.4-ton motors is working near its test limit, and on a rail-mounted cantilever that is a deflection problem waiting to happen.
| Capacity | Typical regular loads | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|
| 0.125 - 0.25 t | Small parts, tooling, instruments | Labs, electronics assembly, light workstations |
| 0.5 t | Pumps, motors, packaged goods to 0.4 t | Maintenance bays, warehouse picking, utilities |
| 1 t | Engines, transmissions, machine components | Auto repair, small fabrication, assembly shops |
| 2 t | Heavy machine components to 1.6 t | Practical ceiling for rail-mounted cantilever designs |
If your heaviest regular load is over 1.6 tons, stop and question the traveling jib route. Above 2 tons the carriage, rail and brackets all grow, and a single girder overhead crane with its own runway or a heavier pillar jib usually becomes the cheaper answer. Traveling jib cranes win in the 0.125-2 ton zone โ that is their home turf, and that is where the economics work.
Jib radius is the horizontal distance from the mast centerline to the hook, and it is the number that decides how much floor area one crane can serve. Standard traveling jib cranes cover 2 to 6 meters. The trap is specifying radius for the whole bay when you only work on part of it: radius drives torque, torque drives the carriage size, and the carriage is one of the most expensive parts of the machine.
Measure from the rail position to the farthest pickup or delivery point, then add a small margin for slings and hook swing. If your deepest workstation is 3.5 meters from the rail, a 4-meter radius does the job โ a 6-meter radius does not serve you better, it just makes the crane heavier and pricier.
Rotation is usually 270 degrees where walls, columns or shelving limit the swing, or 360 degrees on clear floor areas. A 2-meter radius with full rotation covers a circle of roughly 12.6 square meters of floor; a 4-meter radius covers about 50 square meters. Match the rotation to the actual working envelope โ a full 360-degree unit against a wall is money spent on swing you cannot use.
This is where a traveling jib crane earns its keep, and where most sizing mistakes happen. Travel distance is custom, set entirely by the rail length, and the rail length is set by your workstation layout, not by a catalogue.
The rule is simple: measure from the center of the first station to the center of the last station, then add the jib radius at each end so the hook can reach past every station. A workshop with three bays spaced 6 meters apart needs about 24 meters of rail travel for a 3-meter radius crane โ 6 meters between station centers, plus 3 meters of radius at each end. Travel speed is normally 10-20 m/min, which means a full traverse of that rail takes roughly one to two minutes.
The honest constraint is sharing. One crane serves multiple stations only when the stations do not need lifting at the same time. If two stations load and unload simultaneously all day, you have a bottleneck, and the fix is either two cranes on parallel rails or a fixed jib at the busiest station. We see this trade-off constantly in workshop layouts; a single long rail is usually the right answer for maintenance and picking, while busy production lines often end up with one traveling jib plus one or two fixed units. Our workshop layout guide covers station spacing and rail planning in more detail.
Mounting type is the structural decision most buyers skip until the quote stage, and it is the one that changes both the price and the installation timeline. A traveling jib crane runs on either a floor-mounted rail or a ceiling-mounted track, and the right answer depends on your building, not on preference.
| Factor | Floor-rail | Ceiling-track |
|---|---|---|
| Floor space | Rail line takes a strip of floor; low plinths can be a trip hazard | Completely clear โ nothing on the floor |
| Building dependence | Independent of roof structure; works in any building | Roof frame must carry crane plus rated load at every suspension point |
| Installation | Fast, modular, minimal building modification | Slower; structural verification and roof work required |
| Best for | Existing buildings, rented facilities, retrofits | New builds, clean floors, narrow aisles |
| Typical cost impact | Lower; rail and brackets are simple | Higher; track, brackets and roof verification add cost |
In our field experience across more than 90 traveling jib installations, roughly 6 in 10 problems trace back to rail mounting and alignment details โ bracket spacing, rail joint leveling, or assuming the floor slab can take the point loads. Whichever type you pick, the rail support is where the project succeeds or stalls, so send the supplier a simple building cross-section and floor slab detail before quoting. If your building has a weak or unverifiable roof frame, floor-rail is the safe default; if floor space is the bottleneck, ceiling-track earns its extra cost.
Duty class tells you how many hours a day the crane can work and how often it can lift near its rated load. Traveling jib cranes are built for light and medium service, which matches their natural home in maintenance bays and small workshops.
| Duty class | Working hours / day | Typical applications |
|---|---|---|
| A3 | A few hours, occasional lifts | Maintenance bays, tool rooms, lab handling |
| A4 | 4 - 8 hours | Assembly lines, warehouse picking, auto repair |
| A5 | 8 - 16 hours | Busy production cells, continuous light handling |
A maintenance shop that lifts a few times a day is A3. A picking aisle working one shift is A4. A production cell feeding machines all day is A5. If you need more than 16 hours a day of continuous work, the honest answer is an overhead crane โ pushing a light-duty traveling jib past its design class shortens its life and wears the rail and carriage unevenly.
Both work on traveling jib cranes, and the choice is simpler than on larger cranes because the capacity range is small. Below 1 ton, chain hoists dominate; from 1 ton up, wire rope hoists become common for faster lifting and longer service life.
| Factor | Chain hoist | Wire rope hoist |
|---|---|---|
| Typical capacity | 0.125 - 1 t | 1 - 2 t |
| Lift height | Up to ~6 m standard | Up to 6 m and beyond |
| Lifting speed | Slower, single speed typical | Faster, two-speed common |
| Price | Lower, typically 15-25% less | Higher |
For maintenance bays and picking aisles in the 0.125-1 ton range, a chain hoist is usually the sensible pick โ cheaper, compact, and plenty for the job. For the top of the range, longer lifts or faster cycles, a wire rope hoist earns its extra cost. If you are comparing hoists across crane types, our traveling jib crane guide covers the specification differences in more depth.
Prices below are 2026 FOB estimates for CE-certified Chinese traveling jib cranes with hoist, controls and electrification, excluding rail, brackets, freight and installation. Expect total installed cost to run roughly 30-60% above the equipment price โ the rail system and mounting brackets are the part buyers underestimate most.
| Configuration | Equipment price (FOB) | Typical installed total |
|---|---|---|
| 0.125 t, 2-3 m radius, chain hoist, floor-rail | USD 2,800 - 4,200 | USD 4,000 - 6,000 |
| 0.25 t, 3-4 m radius, chain hoist, floor-rail | USD 3,200 - 5,000 | USD 4,500 - 7,000 |
| 0.5 t, 3-5 m radius, chain hoist, floor-rail / ceiling-track | USD 3,500 - 6,500 | USD 5,500 - 10,000 |
| 1 t, 4-6 m radius, chain / wire rope, floor-rail / ceiling-track | USD 5,000 - 9,000 | USD 8,000 - 14,000 |
| 2 t, 5-6 m radius, wire rope hoist, floor-rail / ceiling-track | USD 8,000 - 14,000 | USD 12,000 - 21,000 |
Two notes on comparing quotes. First, confirm every supplier quotes the same mounting type and hoist โ a ceiling-track 1-ton unit costs more than a floor-rail one, and comparing them as if they were the same machine misleads you. Second, ask what the rail length includes: some prices cover a fixed travel distance, others charge per meter. Our traveling jib crane cost & 10-year TCO guide breaks down installation, maintenance and energy costs in detail, including the rail system breakdown at USD 1,000-2,500 and installation labor at USD 2,000-4,000.
A vague enquiry gets a vague quote. A complete specification gets comparable quotes โ and saves you from paying for a change order later. Send every supplier the same ten items:
If you plan to run more than one crane on the same rail or on parallel rails, say so in the enquiry โ the supplier needs to design the electrification and anti-collision logic from the start, not bolt it on later.
Start from your heaviest regular single load, multiply by at least 1.25 to cover the load test margin, and round up to a standard capacity. 0.125-0.25 tons covers small parts and instruments, 0.5 ton maintenance and picking work, 1 ton engines and transmissions, 2 tons the practical ceiling for a rail-mounted cantilever. Above 2 tons, a heavier pillar jib or a small overhead crane is usually the better choice.
Standard traveling jib cranes cover a radius of 2 to 6 meters. Specify the radius that covers your actual working area โ measure from the rail position to the farthest pickup point and add a small margin. Longer radius means a heavier carriage and stronger rail, so oversizing radius costs real money. Rotation is typically 270 degrees where walls limit swing, or 360 degrees on clear floors.
Travel distance is custom and set by the rail length, which you plan from the workstation layout: distance between the first and last station centers, plus the jib radius at each end. Travel speed is normally 10-20 m/min. The constraint is sharing โ one crane serves multiple stations only when they do not need lifting at the same time. If stations load simultaneously all day, add a second crane or a fixed jib at the busiest station.
Floor-rail is the default for existing buildings: fast to install, independent of the roof structure, at the cost of floor space along the rail line. Ceiling-track keeps the floor clear but requires the roof frame to be verified for the crane plus rated load at every suspension point. In our field experience across more than 90 installations, roughly 6 in 10 problems trace back to rail mounting and alignment details, so verify the support structure either way.
Equipment prices run USD 2,800-14,000 FOB for CE-certified units from 0.125 to 2 tons. A 0.125-ton, 2-3 m radius unit is about USD 2,800-4,200; a 0.5-ton, 3-5 m radius unit about USD 3,500-6,500; a 1-ton, 4-6 m radius unit about USD 5,000-9,000; a 2-ton unit about USD 8,000-14,000. Installed totals add roughly 30-60% for rail, brackets, electrification and installation.
Send us your workstation layout, heaviest load and operating hours โ our engineering team will confirm the right capacity, jib radius, rail length and mounting type before you commit to anything. Quotes include a full specification sheet you can compare with other suppliers.
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