By 1961, heavy cranes for the engineer battalions were introduced, based on the heavy 6x6 chassis built by Gräf & Stift. As hydraulic crane technology was still in its infancy, these cranes were completely wireline-operated, the rotating crane was powered by a 4-cylinder Steyr diesel engine.
By the late 1980s, the Gräf & Stift engineer crane was replaced by a vehicle that was manufactured in only one piece – the ÖAF gl sLKW 20.320 G4 crane, later also complemented by a Liebherr LTM 1040 high-mobility off-road crane. The unique ÖAF crane was retired from active service in 2018 and is now with an Austrian collector, the Liebherr crane is still in service with the 3rd Engineer Battalion.
After being sold off by the Army, our vehicle was still used by a civilian truck recovery company in southern Austria before it was acquired and brought to us to be restored into its original paint scheme.