Scania's air tag attack
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• Scania is stepping up its attack on the UK three-axle tractor market with a new 6x2 featuring a fully air suspended tag axle, Until now the only right-hand-drive 6x2 tag axle tractive unit offered in Britain by the Swedish truck maker has been a 2.85m-wheelbase model equipped with its single trailing arm electro-hydraulic system, with a total bogie capacity of around 16 tonnes.
But from June Scania will start building 2.94m-wheelbase triaxle tractors with a full-tube tag axle fitted with air suspension, and an airsuspended drive axle giving a 19-tonne bogie, The air tag option is expected to be offered on the 11-litre P and R low/high-cab chassis as well as the 14.2-litre vee-eight R143.
The first air-tag-axle 6x2s are likely to be on the road by August. Their arrival means that Scania now offers three 6x2s: a positively steered twin steer; a tag tractor with electro-hydraulic suspension; and a tag tractor with rear air.
Scania says it will continue to offer the electro-hydraulic model until customers no longer want it. "We'll keep it for now and let the market decide," says a spokesman.
The new air tag tractors will have single rear wheels on the trailing axle which will run in line with the outboard wheel of the drive axle. An air-lift is standard; an overload protection system which lowers the tag axle as the drive axle weight limit is reached is available as an option.
By adopting an all-air-bogie Scania Trucks (Great Britain) says it will be ready to meet any future increase in vehicle weights. The 2.94m air tag tractor will be capable of coupling up with most semitrailers, including those above 12.5m, within the 16.5m limit.
The Swedish truck maker was one of the first manufacturers to offer a 6x2 tractor designed to meet the original 38-tonne weight limit introduced in the eighties, based on the lifting electro-hydraulic tag axle design. The air tag option has, however, been sold on the Continent for some time based on a longer wheelbase.