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P r i mrose bi

4th September 1982
Page 10
Page 10, 4th September 1982 — P r i mrose bi
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THE PRIMROSE Third Axle Company reports "unprecedented demand" from operators to refuse collection vehicles for second steer conversions to two-axle chassis.

Arun District Council in West Sussex, has had 14 of its fourwheelers converted to Primrose six-wheelers.

The conversion takes the vehicle's gvw from 16 to 22 tons but more importantly reduces the risk of the drive axle being overloaded.

Arun Council's works manager, Syd Jones, realised that his Ford D-Series with Jack Allen Colectomatic bodies and crew• cabs ahd a theoretical payload margin of "a couple of tons" but also knew that this could not be made use of without the risk of a back-axle overload.

An alternative to the second steer conversion was a wheelbase extension, but that would have made the refuse collector too unwieldly, and in any case the axle could not be moved back because the body's rear loading hopper would get in the way.

Arun Council reckons to have increased its vehicle's carrying capacity by around 50 per cent as a result of the conversions, which Primrose calls Rear-aSteers, and has reduced its refuse collection fleet from 32 to 24 vehicles.

Furthermore, there soon should be no excise duty penalty resulting from the vehicle's increased kerb weights. Under the gross weight vehicle taxation plans proposed for this October, 22-ton gross six-wheelers will cost the same in excise duty as 16-ton gross four-wheelers.

On the Arun vehicles there is an air-operated axle lift device fitted to the new axle. This will transfer up to three tons of load to the rear axle to improve traction. It is operated by a switch in the cab.

The added steering axle is another Ford front axle, steered by a linkage along the offside from the front steering arm. The rear suspension has been mod ified to produce a maxium loading of six tons on the extra axle and 10 tons on the rear.


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