Alo Quicke Q55 front-end loader The livery may be slightly different from the featured Europeanspec Alo loader, but there is no need for UK buyers of the Q55 to feel in the least bit short-changed; the hardware is the same. After putting the loader through our field test, we can confirm that performance matches its eye-catching external appearance.

Some machines just feel right. The paint finish is smart and robust, and their constituent components appear to be of a certain build quality. They simply look ‘the biz’ and up to the job. Indeed this, for the most part, was our initial impression on first encountering Alo’s Quicke Q55 front-end loader when we put it through a profi practical test last summer.

Launched at the end of 2004, somewhat later than we expected due to company restructuring, this particular loader example within the QD range is designed for tractors of 80-120hp, thus making it a suitable companion for our test tractor workhorse, an 85kW/116hp New Holland TS110A, in terms of both its
hp rating and weight requirement.

On this physical presence point, the maker recommends a tractor model kerb weight of 5,200kg. Again, the test TS-A falls well within parameters in this department at 5,850kg, a figure that subsequently rises to 7,480kg after the addition of extra rear wheel weights. Moreover the loader itself clocks a substantial 640kg, excluding any attachment installed up front.

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