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Yes, no and two fingers

19th May 1978, Page 23
19th May 1978
Page 23
Page 24
Page 23, 19th May 1978 — Yes, no and two fingers
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

VER 500 people attended the Irma' conference of the Initute of Road Transport Enneers held at Solihull last eekend.

The conference papers eported elsewhere in this sue) covered subjects Lnging from power units to ;vs and crystal ball gazing it it was the theme of vehicle recification which provoked ie liveliest discussion.

"Is the UK gross weight to .ay at 32 tons'?" was the Jestion posed by H. N. Tebay Bass Production Ltd in the meral free-for-all. He sugg;ted that the payloads must ,crease if the operating costs icrease and asked what ianufacturers are doing to A the weight down.

From the panel, Pat Kennett !plied that little regard was' iken of engineering or :anomie, common sense in us area. It all came down to ublic opinion and the fact that no government has the courage to push for higher weights against the vociferous anti-heavy lorry brigade.

On the subject of weight reduction, Mr Kennett said that the vehicle manufacturers are spending a lot of the time and money seeking ways of getting the unladen weight down — "but you have to look across the Atlantic for the main contribution".

He cited the use of high tensile steel which permits a strong frame without the need for flitching and the construction of fuel tanks from aluminium. According to Mr Kennett, the problem is that new regulations (eg brakes, safety etc) tend to put weight on and overnight can obliterate five years work on weight reduction.

R. Denniss, Bass Charrington, claimed that a 32-tonner with a net weight of five tons should be possible. He mentioned that manufacturing hubs and wheels in aluminium should not be too difficult and hinted at the existence of a 186kW (250bhp) engine which achieved a weight of only 500kg (1,1001b) by extensive use of aluminium. "If only the government would let them make it," said Mr Denniss.

Still on the subject of weight saving, J. Smith of Bass Charrington asked what was happening in the field of disc brakes, as there appeared to he a possible weight saving in this area. In reply, Mr Gurley, National Bus Company, recalled the Midland Red experience with disc brakes, where the problem was a 10ton gross weight limit. "I don't think the, manufacturers have yet broken through this barrier," he said.

Describing National Freight Corporation experience, W. V. C. Batstone said that the increased frequency of pad change was outweighed by the shorter fitting time. In his opinion the use of an exhaust brake has improved brake lining life by one third.

The question of warranty was raised by F. Richardson, Herts County Council and this caused quite a storm between the manufacturers representatives and the operators. Mr Richardson suggested that the industry may well have a 500,000 mile "no maintenance" vehicle forced on it but he queried whether the manufacturers would back this up with the equivalent warranty.

Mr Batstone did not mince his words when he voiced his opinion on manufacturers existing warranties. "Normal warranty conditions stink," he said. Mr Batstone went on to say that there should be warranty on durability features and if the component failed before a specified distance or time then the warranty should be related in proportion to the distance covered.

"I have put this to the manufacturers and the various replies have been, 'No', two fingers and 'yes, if we add £5,000 to the initial purchase price for each vehicle'," he said. Returning the fire, Mr Wilsdon said that as far as Cummins is concerned the warranty is costed into the price of the engine. Although it would be possible to give a 500,000 mile parts and labour warranty, the premium would have to be concealed in the price and there were snags.

"The quality of the maintenace then becomes much more important. If it occurs in the first 10,000 miles then there is no question that it is a warranty failure. Over that figure it becomes questionable and I feel that at 500,000 miles every single failure would be due to maintenance," he said.

Premature failure

The President of the IRTE, G. McKay had in fact touched on the subject of premature failure in his opening speech when he mentioned that, three years ago, 50 per cent of all breakdowns in NBC fleets were caused by defects in components which were not made by the vehicle manufacturer. He mentioned that his company had been unable to influence the makers to upgrade their products because the numbers involved represented only a small proportion of their total output.

As usual the IRTE had lined up an interesting display of vehicles, bodywork and components at Solihull. On the vehicle side, the new ERF 16tonner was present. This was fitted with the Gardner 6LXB rather than the optional Dorman VS and it was noticeable by how much ERF has juggled with the engine to obtain a low floor line for the cab, as the Gardner's protrusion at the rear made it look like an 81LXB. The David Brown gearbox is mounted in mid-frame with a short propshaft connecting it to the engine.

Welford Truck Bodies exhibited their RDV body (radial delivery vehicle) on a TK Bedford chassis. Each drop-side panel is connected to its corresponding upper panel which rises automatically up and over the roof as the side panel is lowered.

The increase in height over the normal body with the upper panel raised is in the region of eight inches. No firm price is as yet available for the RDV but it is expected to be in the region of 10 to 15 per cent more than that of a conventional sliding door van (currently around £2,500).


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