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Hi - ho, it's off to work we go in a quarry.
Page 35
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CM's Dutch test team get behind the wheels of a series of 8x4 tippers, and find out which one is up to one of the toughest jobs in road transport.
Words: len van der Meer, Tim de Jong, Peter Zadelaar Images: lep van der Meer In this edition of our tipper test, we put six four-axle offerings under the magnifying glass. We almost had seven 8x4s at our disposal, but Renault had to withdraw at the eleventh hour, having sold its participating truck.
That said, given that Renault's share of the 8x4 market is modest, we still had the main players to hand.
The 8x4 sector in Europe amounts to 1,600 units, which is a fair share of the rigid market. However, you don't see many 8x4s on the road in Holland, mainly due to Dutch law. In the Netherlands, you may load 50 tonnes on five axles, which means for real off-road work, we score even higher payloads. The country also has special laws concerning widespread tandem axles, for which most manufacturers build special units.
These types of vehicle are often the platform for 10x4 units, but by focusing on 8x4 units, we have a wider choice of truck brands.
Test Location
Our test location was Mourik's Hendriks quarry in Brunssum, in the far south of Holland, close to the border with Germany and Belgium.The quarry provided everything we needed for loading and weighing, as well as the space to properly test drive the vehicles.
Of course, the availability of test vehicles in this sector is not as great as for the standard 4x2 units. MAN, DAF and Mercedes-Benz turned up with factory demo trucks. New arrived with a very impressive Trakker demo complete with an on-board loading crane.
Scania asked its customer, H. van Leuken & Sons from the city of Schaik, to turn up with a P420. This unit is not really a Bushwhacker type of 8x4. Due to the front underrun protection, the angle of ground clearance between the front axle and bumper is minimal.
Volvo did not have an 8x4 unit available, so we had to turn to international wholesaler and off-road specialist PK-Trucks of Moerdijk. It had a nearly new FM at the ready and helped us out. Like the Scania, the Volvo sits lower on its wheels and looks less impressive. But similar to Scania, Volvo also has an FM-series 8x4 with more ground clearance and a higher angle of ground clearance between the front axle and bumper.