Is this the way to tackle the 24-ton market?
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Why did Alliance Smurfit plump for SA's 300-Series down rated 32-ton ner rather than the more usual scaled-up 16-tonner? There's method in this madness, as David Wilcox reveals
ST 24-ton-gross tractive ; tend to be "beefed-up" depments of a 16-ton rigid. basis of the range is the 136-tonner, the lower end is 7.38-tonner while the top is a 24-ton unit, using a tened chassis and a bigger ne.
ddon Atkinson approached iesign of its 24-tanner from opposite direction. It's the )m, not the top of a range — 00-Series.
e 300 was designed to plug lap between the 16-ton-gvw distribution vehicle (the and the 38-tonne trunking (the 400). It's a wide gap mpassing a number of difit chassis but the 300 range I quite neatly.
are is a 24-ton-gvw sixIler, a 30-ton-gvw eight:ler and a 4x2 rigid specififor drawbar use at 32 tons And there are three tractive : a lightweight 32-tonner, a nner and finally, the 24-ton Jdon Atkinson has rationalthe components for the ) as much as possible. The I cab and the same basic le (but charged-cooled on Aggest models) are used ghout the 300 range. This nonality means that the 24bears more resemblance lown-rated lightweight 32r than a scaled-up 16-ton this the right way to ap:h the 24-ton market or is it really an expensive over-indulgent formula for a 24-ton unit?
I visited Alliance Smurfit Cases (Warrington) Ltd which runs four Seddon Atkinson 300s at 24-tons gross to see how it works in practice.
The company is part of the multinational Jefferson Smurfit and is among the leading UK manufacturers of corrugated cases.
The Warrington factory is one of nine in the UK and converts enormous reels of brown paper into flat board with a steam/glue process and the insertion of a corrugated sandwich layer.
The board is then cut into the appropiate shapes and printed for the outer cases for such things as wines and spirits, food and grocery products.
All the cases are delivered by Alliance Smurfit in flat form and the customers make them up and staple them.
The man responsible for the cost-effective transport of the cases at Alliance Smurfit in Warrington is transport and distribution manager David Hunter.
When David Hunter joined the company two years ago the fleet was made up of small lightweight artics of around 19 tons gvw — mostly Bedford TKs, Leyland Clydesdales and Boxers — and a few rig ids. The a rtics were really suitable only for pulling 9m (30ft) single-axle trailers.
David decided that he really needed to go up to 12.2m (40ft) single-axle trailers for maximum efficiency. This would enable 36 pallets (two layers of 18) to be carried rather than the 22 pallets carried by the old trailers. Above: Rather more impressive than the average 24-tonner. This is the 300-Series with one of the company's 10m (33ft) trailers; the Seddon Atkinsons normally pull 12.2m (401t) curtainsiders.
Right: It was chiefly David Hunter's decision to buy the 300 units and he Is confident that he will be able to justify the extra purchase price in the long term.
Having made the decision to use 40-footers David looked at suitable tractive units. "I was surprised at how little choice there was in the 24-ton market," he told me. "I was looking mainly at British units; though Continental vehicles were not totally out of the question I would have had to make out a very strong case for them."
Leading contenders were the Ford D-Series models plated between 19 and 28 tons, the Dodge Commando G20 at 20 tons, and two Bedford contenders — the top TK at 19 tons or the TM at 22.64 tons.
On paper all should be well capable of handling the 4011 single-axle trailers; the gross laden weight of the complete outfit with one of these lightweight units would be in the region of only 14-15 tons. The actual payload is between five and seven tons depending on the type of cases being moved.
But David felt that it would pay him to choose a unit that had even more in reserve. "It's not just the gross weight I had to consider. There is also the sheer bulk and wind resistance of a 4011 trailer."
The units cover a high proportion of motorway running — Warrington is at the strategic junction of the M62 and the M6 — and so a big-engined unit would help eat up the miles.
At about this time in early 1980 Alliance Smurfit got wind of the forthcoming introduction of the Seddon Atkinson 300 unit (the six-wheeler 300 had been introduced in late 1978) which might fit the bill.
Through the local Seddon Atkinson distributor Ryland, rhe company bought a pre-launch 300 unit in 24-ton specification ir, March 1980 — a month before it was officially announced. On the strength of this unit, Alliance Smurfit took delivery of a further three units in July.
David Hunter therefore now has almost a year's operating experience with his first unit and believes that his demand for a premium specification 24-tanner is already paying off.
"On our type of work the 300s are so under-stressed that they do everything so easily where the lighter 24-tonners might struggle. This is reflected in their reliability and performance."
The first 300 unit has now covered 30,000 miles and the only problem so far has been a failed seal on the clutch slave cylinder. This also happened on one of the other 300s but in both cases the entire slave cylinder was replaced under warranty.
Apart from this, the units haven't been off the road and though they're still relatively r)avid says they look like this sort of reliability. omponents are a 24-tanner and 1 iem breaking on Je do."
Left: Checking the oil level is an awkward affair on the 300 units, particularly if the tyre is wet and muddy.
Many of the components are standard on the heavier models in the 300 range or even higher. For instance, both the front and rear axles are from the 400Series so there's no doubt about their capability at 24 tons gvw.
The chassis frame is also similar to the 400 with the same width and thickness, but shallower in depth. The clutch used is a Dana Spicer self-adjusting unit with a diameter of 356mm (14in) and once again is having an easy life in the 24-tonner — the 32-ton unit also uses it. Gearbox is a ZF constant-mesh sixspeed version.
David Hunter expects this sheer robustness to lead to low maintenance costs which in turn will offset the extra cost of the 300 when compared with a typical lightweight 24-tonner.
List price of the Seddon Atkinson 300 24-ton model is currently £19,930 while the Ford D2417 unit for instance is listed at £15,569, so there is quite a price difference.
Alliance Smurfit writes the units off over five years which is roughly the sort of practical operating life David Hunter expected from the lightweights. "But I aim to keep the Seddon Atkinsons for at least seven practical years so I'm getting two 'free' years which also helps repay their extra price."
David Hunter is pleased with the Seddon Atkinsons' fuel consumption. They are averaging between 33.21it/1130km {8.5mpg and 28.3lit/100km (10mpg) with the best weekly average reaching 2 6.6 lit/ 1 0 0 km (10.6mpg).
I was surprised to see that Alliance Smurfit doesn't fit roofmounted air deflectors — most lightweight artics seem to benefit from these. "I've looked into the economics of these quite carefully," said David.
"They seem to offer some sort of improvement in fuel consumption, but I worked out that you need to cover quite a high annual mileage to make them really worthwhile and recoup the cost of fitting them.
"Our units are averaging 3035,000 miles a year and at that rate I estimated it would take three or four years to recover their costs. Which doesn't seem a very good pay-back to me."
Alliance Smurfit has found that the 300 units have cut journey times. Drivers are not consciously driving any faster but are able to maintain their speed up the long motorway drags.
The class average for 24-tonners' engine output is 128kW to 113kW (170 to 150bhp) but the Seddon Atkinson 300 in 24-ton specification has 1 4 6 kW (194bhp) on tap, which explains the better performance.
The engine in the 24-ton 300 is the International Harvester DT466 and although it is wellproven in the USA (it was first produced there in 1971) it was brand-new to this country in the 300-series. Did this lack of UK pedigree worry David Hunter?
"Not at all. Although not everything transfers successfully from the States to this country, the specification of the DT-466 was a good indication."
It's an in-line turbocharged six-cylinder engine of 7.6 litres. It also powers the 28-ton unit and the six-wheeler and so is only just getting into its stride at 24 tons, let alone the 15 tons gvw Alliance Smurfit is running at.
The same engine, but with a charge-cooling circuit and designated the DT1-466, has an output of 160kW (214bhp) and powers the 32-ton unit, the eight-wheeler and the drawbar rigid.
Both versions of the engine are creditably quiet, contributing to a good cab environment. All the four regular 300-Series drivers at Alliance Smurfit in Warrington are well-pleased with them.
David Hunter said they like the comfort of the cabs and the ease of getting in and out. He felt that the standard of interior fitting is up to 32-ton level which is an important area that the lighter 24-tonners fall down on — are primarily urban del vehicles and not ideally suit trunking, whereas he beli the 300 can adopt either role The ZF six-speed gearbox also praised despite it being stant mesh rather than syni mesh. Overall, David Hi pointed out that this vote of fidence by the drivers wa unquantifiable but impo plus in the favour of the I expensive 300.
A similar hidden benefit has emerged is the prestic tached to the bigger units 300 cab is part of the rations Seddon Atkinson cab sv and so has much in conr with its big brother the Many of the panels are the although the 300 cab sits a lower and the wing panels' from the 200 range.
The overall look is ver pressive and hooked up to curtainsider in the Alli
Smurfit light blue and whi. one of the smartest lookin
tonners around. David H and his drivers mentioned had received many favot. comments from custo. when they first saw the units and trailers.
David has also been look some trailer choices. Havir cided on a 40ft single-axli tainsider as the future sta specification, he has triec yen Tasker, York and Buell( a Crane Freuhauf chassi: has found the Craven Tas be the best all-round trai terms of on-road perform reliability and curtain fittinc With almost a year's ope experience under the belt : Alliance Smurfit has : criticism of the Seddon At 300 unit?
David and one of the 300 regular drivers thought for ment but could come uc only one fault. That wa position of the dipstick a filler cap. These are awk% placed on the offside of tl gine and you need to 1: right under the wheel a reach them.
David made the point ON thing that deterred a drive checking the oil was panic bad.
Apart from this, the S Atkinson 300 24 unit thumbs up from David.
Concluded David Hunl think other own-acc operators who need a 24should consider this s. premium unit. Havinc operated less-than-ideal fication vehicles I'm col that buying the more exp and apparently over-sp unit will pay off in the long