Bottom Loading Arms

Bulk transfer solutions

SafeRack is the #1 supplier of Loading Arms In North America.SafeRack is the #1 supplier of Bottom Loading Arms In North America.

With their ability to reduce loading times and decrease tank turbulence, SafeRack’s bottom loading arms can boost safety and productivity in your loading system. We offer a wide selection of the most trusted ergonomic bottom loading arms on the market—and each is engineered to maximize productivity. No matter your application — trucks, drums or railcars — SafeRack can provide you with innovative bottom loading arms designed to handle any liquid application.


Bottom loading arm systems offer numerous benefits over conventional top-loading, with the safety of the operator as the primary advantage. By utilizing a bottom loading arm system, the operator remains on the ground, not on top of the vehicle, a source at which falls commonly occur. Connections are made more quickly, thus reducing overall loading time. Bottom loading systems also create less turbulence in the tank, which reduces the danger of generating static electricity. Bottom loading also reduces vapors, which can be an environmental hazard and can be easily adapted to recover vapors displaced during loading.

With speed as a crucial advantage of bottom loading, tanks are filled faster, and multiple compartments can be loaded simultaneously. Bottom loading islands are more straightforward and cheaper to build than top-loading racks. Whether your project is top loading, bottom loading, or specialized loading applications, you can trust SafeRack to get the job done correctly. 

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Counterweight Bottom Hose Loader

Adjustable counterweights mounted on a pair of horizontal rails are simply moved until the desired balance point is located. This design provides for efficient handling and coupling to the tank adaptors.

Bottom Transfer Loader

Bottom transfer loaders provide an extended reach that makes them ideal for applications where a vehicle cannot be accurately spotted.

Easy to adjust, super smooth action spring cylinder balance, and heavy-duty capacity swivel joints enable these arms to reach further without the need for additional support. The spring cylinder balance has up to 95 deg of vertical movement for easy to handle alignment and out of the way parking.

Bottom Loading Station

This bottom loading arm station is designed for bottom loading and unloading of road or rail tankers with flange connection or coupling. Its primary purpose is to load products where vapor return is necessary. Because of its long reach, it’s well suited for applications where the tanker connection flange cannot be accurately positioned. 

If needed, the arm can be designed to work with connection pipes with high weight by adding a special six-swivel configuration with a parallel bar and gas spring for balancing the pipe weight. Because of the high-quality swivel joint design and precise load arm balancing, the handling of the arm is effortless as a result.

Bottom Spring Loader

Spring-balanced hose loaders are available in both short-range and long-range versions. The short-range model has the torsion spring mounted back at the riser, while on the long-range units, the spring is located a short distance out on the arm. Like counterweighted hose loaders, spring-balanced hose loaders generally are stored horizontal, and only slightly upward or downward movement is required to align the coupler with the tank truck adaptor.

Bottom Loading Arm LNG

This bottom loading arm is specifically designed to load Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) products. It can be used for bottom loading or unloading of road or rail tankers. As with the standard bottom loading arm, due to its long reach, it’s particularly well-suited for applications where it’s difficult to accurately position the tanker connection flange. The handling of the arm is effortless due to the high-quality design of the swivel joints and precise load arm balancing.

Bottom Hose Loading Station

A bottom hose loading station enables efficient loading and unloading of tank trucks with simultaneous loading of up to five products plus a vapor arm. The loading station is designed to allow for totally flexible operation and unrestricted crossover of all arms and is equipped with swivel joints to ensure long service life.

Standard Bottom Loading Arm

Bottom Loading Arms are explicitly designed to load and unload mineral oil or chemical products from the bottom, side, or rear of road or rail tankers.

This arm type has a long reach, is easy to maneuver, and is best suited for applications where it’s difficult to accurately position the tanker connection flange. Its robust, high-quality swivel joint design and precise loading arm balancing make for easy, effortless handling.

Unsupported Boom Bottom Loader

Designed to provide flexible long-range operation, the heavy-duty configuration of an unsupported boom bottom loader is both reliable and easy to use. A minimum of five swivel planes of rotation offers maximum flexibility in loading/unloading railcars and tank trucks, and servicing aviation refuelers when making tight connections. Both the outboard swivel and arm adjust for changes in elevation and/or tilting that may result as the vehicle is loaded or unloaded.

The unsupported boom-type loader comes in many variations, making it extremely versatile. Equipped with dry-disconnect couplers, unions, quick couplings, or other customer-specified end fittings allow easy connections on the side, rear, or underneath the vehicle. The intermediate swivel can be inverted to allow for the low profile and clearances needed to connect to the underside of railcars.

Typically installed at or near ground level, arms of varying lengths can be mounted on staggered risers to achieve crossover and neat compact storage of multiple arms in a confined space.

A-Frame Bottom Loading Arms

The A-frame bottom loading arm is one of the more popular loading arm configurations, providing good flexibility, long reach, convenience, and ease of use. It adjusts for changes in the elevation or tilting of the vehicle during the loading/unloading process. The arm stores in an upright, near-vertical position. This allows it to swing around easily and be used for loading on either side of the island.

The A-frame’s compact storage also allows the arms to be installed close together, often on risers that are approximately the same height as the vehicle connection. The A-frame loading arms can also be mounted on staggered risers next to one another to achieve arm crossover for concurrent loading of multiple compartment trucks.

Commonly used for tank-truck bottom loading, A-frame arms also can be used in top-loading and unloading installations. Usually, they are equipped with a dry-disconnect coupling, union, or other tight-fill fittings.

Customer Reviews

5 5
Excellent service once again!

The entire process went smoothly. I was kept well informed by Tom Merschdorf and Paula Witherspoon during the fabrication phase through delivery and installation. The estimated time frame given from purchase to installation was accurate. Excellent service once again by Tom Merschdorf!

5 5
Our experience with SafeRack was great!

The experience was great, very professional, and would recommend for any project.

5 5
Very Satisfied with our SafeRack Catwalk/Gangway

Predrilled holes for the platform did not align with predrilled holes of vertical columns. SafeRack was made aware right away and instructed us on a site solution in a couple of hours. Though this was a small inconvenience to site weld, SafeRack was responsive and helpful through the entire process.

5 5
Track Pans

Your team was very helpful in assisting us with the product that we were inquiring about. The order process was easy and efficient.

5 5
I have always experienced a positive outcome.

I have purchased multiple products from SafeRack in the past and have always had good results. I was the first one within our company that made the switch from Carbis and many of our locations have followed suit. I have a lot of confidence in the SafeRack line of products and have always experienced a positive outcome. Ray Evans is very customer-oriented and is always very responsive in answering any questions or concerns. I have been recommending SafeRack for years. The SafeRack products that I have used are superior to the competition.

5 5
Existing parts that we had is worn that need changed.

The sales team at SafeRack was very helpful and responsive.

 
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