Portable wash racks
Build the wash bay around the vehicle.
Standardised galvanised steel modules bolt together into a wash pad the size of the machine you actually wash — with the wash-water containment built in underneath, instead of cast into the ground.
The problem
A temporary site can't justify a permanent wash bay
A conventional wash bay is a civil project: excavation, a reinforced slab, buried drainage, an interceptor pit. On a project that finishes in eighteen months — or a mine where the workshop follows the pit — that spend stays in the ground when the site closes.
Meanwhile the washing still has to happen, and the water still has to go somewhere.
- Buried drainage and an interceptor need approvals long before they need concrete
- Wash water carrying mud, hydrocarbons and detergent is process wastewater — in most jurisdictions it cannot simply reach a stormwater drain. In the United States, for example, the construction effluent guidelines at 40 CFR 450.21 prohibit discharging equipment-wash wastewater from a site
- Water that escapes under the wash area softens the hardstand, erodes it, and lets the pad settle unevenly
- Soil and seed carried off one site on an undercarriage is exactly what washdown controls exist to stop
- None of the civil work moves to the next project
The KKE approach
One module. Three duty classes. Any pad size.
Every KKE portable wash rack is built from the same 2200 × 3000 mm module. Bolt modules together to make the pad longer or wider; pick the structural class that matches the machine. Washing itself stays manual high-pressure work — the rack's job is to carry the vehicle, catch everything that comes off it, and move it to treatment.
- Standard 2200 × 3000 mm module — combined for the length and width the machine needs, rather than one fixed pad size
- Three structural classes, so a pad for utility vehicles isn't built like a pad for mining equipment
- Containment underneath the deck — collection channels sit below a flat checker-plate washing surface, not in a trench below the ground
- Overlapping containment sections between adjoining modules help maintain continuous wash-water containment across the assembled rack
- Hot-dip galvanised steel construction, for constant water, mud, cleaning chemicals and grit
- Bolted assembly — it dismantles, ships and goes up again on the next site
The family
Three duty classes, one module
| Duty class | Indicative vehicle class | Typical equipment | Sludge handling |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light duty | up to approx. 2 t | Golf carts, ATVs and UTVs, small pickups, vans, small forklifts, light plant | Optional |
| Medium duty | approx. 18–25 t | Commercial and dump trucks, backhoes, medium wheel loaders, excavators, telehandlers, tactical trucks | Recommended |
| Heavy duty | up to approx. 80 t | Mining support and heavy earthmoving equipment, large loaders and dozers, heavy haulage, armoured and engineering vehicles | Recommended, with a scraper conveyor for high mud loads |
Vehicle classes on this page are design targets used to place a machine in the right structural class. Final axle, wheel and point-load capacities are confirmed by KKE Engineering for your specific vehicles before a rack is quoted — send us the machine list rather than working from the class alone.
Gross vehicle weight puts a machine in the right class. Selecting the structure needs more than that — individual axle and wheel loads, tyre contact area or track loading, dynamic loads as a machine drives on and off, and how often that repeats.
In this section
Pick a duty class, then configure the rack
Start with the structural class the machine needs. Pad size, ramps, splash containment, sludge handling and water treatment are all selected on top of it.
Light duty
Up to about 2 tonnes — golf carts, UTVs, small pickups and light plant, on a pad that isn't over-built for them.
Read moreMedium duty
The general industrial rack, around the 18–25 t vehicle class — construction trucks, loaders, excavators and telehandlers.
Read moreHeavy duty
Reinforced structure targeting vehicle classes up to about 80 t, with the sludge handling heavy mud loads actually need.
Read moreWash rack selection guide
What a wash rack is, how above-ground and in-ground types differ, and the four numbers our engineers need to size one.
Read moreWater recycling & sludge
Containment under the deck, solids out before treatment, and a containerised plant that returns water to the wash guns.
Read moreRamps & splash guards
Bolt-on ramps and removable splash containment — open, single-side or three-sided, configured for the site you are on now.
Read moreDefence & military
Modular racks and containerised treatment for utility, tactical and armoured vehicles — built to be set up, taken down and moved.
Read moreSettling tanks
Steel settling tanks for passive separation of mud, silt and debris — the simplest water stage behind a wash rack.
Read moreHow it works
From the wash gun back to the wash gun
The rack is the collection end of a loop. How much treatment sits at the other end depends on your water, your dirt and what you need to reuse it for.
Wash on the pad
The vehicle drives up a ramp onto a flat checker-plate deck. Operators wash it manually with high-pressure lances; splash guards contain overspray where the site needs them contained.
Contain and channel
A continuous steel containment liner runs beneath the deck. The channels formed between the structural members carry water, mud, sand and grit toward the collection end — no under-slab drainage required.
Drop the solids
Heavy solids are separated before they reach the treatment plant. A scraper conveyor clears accumulated sludge on high-mud installations; a sludge-capable pump moves the slurry on.
Treat and reuse
A containerised plant takes it from there — separation, filtration, oil removal and storage — and returns treated water to the wash guns. Top-up water covers what evaporates, leaves on the vehicle or goes out with the sludge.
Wash rack + containerised plant
A relocatable wash bay, not just a relocatable pad
The pumping and treatment equipment is generally installed inside an ISO shipping container — a packaged equipment room that ships, connects and moves with the rack. Put the two together and the whole wash facility relocates when the operation does.
- Sludge and transfer pumps, filtration, oil separation, treated-water storage and the control panel in one container
- High-pressure washing equipment and chemical dosing housed with it where the project calls for them
- Can be integrated with KKE water recycling systems for collection, treatment and reuse of wash water
- Equipment selection follows the water: solids loading, oil content, water quality and what the treated water has to be good enough for
Configure it
What gets selected on top of the module
Pad size
The number of 2200 × 3000 mm modules, and how they are arranged, to suit the length and width of the equipment being washed.
Ramps
Modular bolt-on ramp sections, load-matched to the rack. Approach angles differ for low-clearance vehicles and for tracked or high-clearance plant.
See ramps & splash guards
Splash guards
Open pad, single-side, or three-sided containment. Modular and removable, so the same rack suits a different site next time.
Sludge handling
A sludge-capable pump for slurry transfer, and a scraper conveyor where solids loading justifies mechanical removal.
Water treatment
Sized from your water and dirt — separation, filtration, oil removal and storage, packaged in the container.
Washing equipment
Manual high-pressure cleaners, lances and chemical application, matched to the soil you are actually removing.
Where they work
Sites that move, and sites that shouldn't be dug up
The common thread is not the industry — it is that a permanent wash bay is the wrong answer. Either the site is temporary, or the ground can't be opened, or the wash point has to follow the work.
- Construction and infrastructure — mud containment and washdown on a site that closes, with the rack moving to the next project. See construction and mining equipment cleaning
- Mining and quarries — heavy mud loading, high structural loads, sludge handling and remote-site deployment. Vehicle dimensions and individual wheel and axle loads are checked case by case
- Defence and military — modular construction and containerised equipment for deployable vehicle washing across several vehicle classes
- Equipment rental yards and workshops — machines washed and inspected between hires, without a permitted wash bay on a leased yard
- Wheel and tyre cleaning at the gate is a different job — that is what a wheel wash is for. Many sites run both
Selection
Four things decide the rack
Vehicle dimensions. Vehicle weight, with axle and wheel loads where we can get them. How much dirt, and what kind — light road film is a different machine to sticky mining clay. And the washing itself: how many vehicles, how often, at what flow and pressure.
Give us those and our engineers come back with a pad size, a duty class, a splash-guard arrangement, sludge handling and a treatment capacity.
FAQ
Portable wash racks, answered
What size does the wash rack come in?
There isn't one size. The standard module is 2200 × 3000 mm, and modules combine to make the pad as long and as wide as the equipment needs. A compact pad suits utility vehicles; multi-module arrangements are built for construction and mining equipment.
Why 2200 × 3000 mm?
The 3000 mm length cuts efficiently from standard 6000 mm steel sections, which keeps material waste down. The 2200 mm width fits inside standard ISO shipping containers and stays practical to handle in the workshop and on site — while still combining into wider washing areas.
Do we still need civil work?
Much less than a conventional wash bay — there is no excavation, no reinforced wash slab and no buried drainage. You do still need a suitable level hardstand for the rack to sit on, sized for the machines you are washing. We would rather tell you that up front than have a pad settle.
How much weight will it take?
The three duty classes target roughly 2 t, 18–25 t and up to 80 t vehicle classes. Those figures place your machine in the right class — they are not the published rating. Final axle, wheel and point-load capacities come from structural calculation against your actual vehicles before we quote.
What happens to the mud?
It is designed for, not ignored. Solids are separated from the collected water before treatment; a sludge-capable pump moves the slurry, and a scraper conveyor clears accumulated solids where the loading justifies it. Sludge disposal is then a site waste stream like any other.
Can the water be reused?
Yes — the collected water goes to a treatment system and treated water returns to the wash guns. We do not claim a closed loop with no make-up water: evaporation, carry-off on the vehicle, sludge removal and filter backwashing all take water out, so a top-up supply is part of the design.
Can it be moved to another site?
That is the point of it. Modules are bolted rather than cast, sized for container transport, and hot-dip galvanised so they survive being taken apart, shipped and reassembled. The containerised equipment room travels the same way.
What does one cost?
It depends on the pad area, the duty class and how much treatment you need behind it — a small light-duty pad and an 80-tonne-class rack with a containerised recycling plant are different orders of magnitude. Send us the vehicles, the site and the wash volumes and we will quote the configuration.
Get started
Have our engineers size a wash rack
Tell us the machines, the site and roughly how much washing you do. We will come back with a configuration and pricing.