It's a Men pin-up truck
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Its gleaming good looks and sylvan setting might have earned it a place in Foden's calendar, but Carl Gibson's S106 6x4 has a tough job to do. It is coupled to a stepframe tri-axle semi-trailer, and Carl told David Wilcox how well suited it is to its specialist task
OWNER-DRIVER Carl Gibson of Haltwhistle in Northumberland operates one of the more unusual and visually impressive vehicles working out of the Kielder Forest. It was put on the road on August 1 last year and is featured in the current Foden calendar.
Carl Gibson also runs two Mercedes-Benz 2419 six-wheel rigids on timber haulage, but understandably claims the owner's privilege of driving the best vehicle himself.
It is a Foden 5106 6x4 tractive unit coupled to a stepframe tri-axle semi-trailer, creating a six-wheel outfit for 38-tonne gcw operation.
Carl Gibson's reasons for wanting a double-drive tractive unit were the same as those given by Joe Potts at TPH; he needed the off-road traction and the kingpin load capacity. But the trailer is more of an oddball.
Because he carries different lengths of timber from TPH, Carl Gibson feared that at 38 tonnes gcw his load would be rather high on a conventional flat trailer. Opting for the stepframe meant that the height could be reduced and at the same time a slightly shorter trailer could be used to improve manoeuvrability.
The trailer started life 11 years ago as a Crane Fruehauf 12.2m (40ft) stepframe-tilt supercube working in the Ferrymasters fleet. Carl bought it and a local engineering company carried out the necessary conversion work: "It's purposebuilt to my own design. I knew what I wanted and had the trailer built for my particular work."
Once the tilt superstructure had been removed the trailer was cut down to urn (36ft), and 2.6m (8ft 6in) bolsters were installed. These are 4in box section steel. The timber floor was left in situ.
Unlike TPH, Carl Gibson wanted the crane located in a forward position, and he has it mounted on the front edge of the trailer's step. This leaves an uninterrupted 7.9m (26ft) on the lower portion of the trailer and a 3m (loft) compartment on the raised front section. The crane steals 0.6m (2ft) from the front compartment, leaving 2.4m (8ft) of usable deck length.
This arrangement suits Carl Gibson's timber loads. He specialises in hauling shorter logs for use as fencing bars. These are just 1.8m (6ft 1in) long and so are carried widthways. When 7.3m 124ft) logs for saw-milling are being carried these can be accommodated lengthways on the rear section of the trailer.
The crane is a 10-tonne/metre rated PM1000F and can reach to place loads anywhere on the trailer. It is powered by a Slanzi donkey engine which, like the crane, is Italian. Donkey engine power means the crane is not as fast as it could be if driven by a power take-off, but it saves wear and tear on the Foden's engine and it is more economical. Both crane and donkey engine have been trouble-free to date.
According to its owner the trailer seems strong and rigid although it is fairly heavy. be
cause of its extra axle.
Tr-axle trailers running on small diameter wheels are notorious for tyre blow-outs caused by over-speeding and heat build-up and one would imagine that this would compound the tyre problems suffered by any timber hauliers running in the forest. Carl Gibson's stepframe runs on twin 16in wheels with 8.25 tyres and a 3.6m (lift 9in) overall spread on the tri-axle bogie. This gives a total bogie capacity of 20.33 tonnes.
During its 15 months and 100,000km life so far the trailer had had four or five tyre failures: "It is always the front or back tyres on the bogie that go, never the middle ones".
Like Joe Potts, Carl Gibson believes that retreads and cheaper tyres are a false economy. He is now using Bridgestones and has not suffered a blow out with these, although the tyres are still just as susceptible to cuts on the forest tracks.
The Foden was chosen because it is a double-drive tractive unit with a competitively low kerb weight, off-setting the heavier-than-average trailer, Overall, the combination gives a payload capacity of 22.5-23 tonnes. Carl also liked the Foden's rubber suspension which eliminates another potential source of off-road problem — spring breakages.
From Foden's almost infinite range of specification options Carl Gibson chose the Cummins NTE350 engine. He would have liked the newer Cummins. Super E320 but this was not yet available when he bought his unit. The fuel consumption averages 401/100km (7mpg), which Carl considers is satisfactory bearing in mind that he rarely reaches top gear. Oil consumption has been virtually zero.
The only problem with the unit has been a recurrent radiator leak, caused, said Carl, by flexing. He has had three radiators (under warranty) and the latest one has different mountings that seem to have cured the problem.
Carl Gibson has made one modification himself, moving the air intake from its position low down on the nearside because it picked up too much dirt and dust from the forest tracks. He has relocated it high up behind the cab.
Carl takes timber out of Kielder, Cumbria and Southwest Scotland while most of his customers for the fencing bars are in Lancashire and Yorkshire.
Although the six-axle configuration suffers from a weight penalty it has two main advantages other than its low deck height. First, it is virtually impossible to overload any single axle in the outfit, And secondly, six axles gives a sizeable reduction in vehicle excise duty. For the more usual timber haulier's 38-tonne gcw combination of a three-axle tractive unit and tandem axle trailer, the annual duty is £2,730. But for Carl Gibson's six-axle outfit the rate plummets to £1,2 4 0 — a saving of £1,490 a year.