Cranes for plant movers Andover Trailers' bespoke engineering skills are
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amply demonstrated by several new developments in plant carriers and special low-loaders. An example is the enterprising Combi-plant body system which enables a contractor to take several plant items to a site and then shift building materials instead of being parked up.
by Bryan Jarvis • The first of the new plant body-cum-brick carriers from Andover Trailers is for Liam Lynch of Wembley, Middlesex. It is based on a Leyland Daf 75Series 6x4 rigid and with its 26ft (7.92m) body, hydraulically operated beavertail and support legs, will carry up to 13 tonnes of small plant items.
Then, with its tail section secured horizontally and sideguards attached, the truck's Palfinger grab crane self-loads the body with bricks or blocks to make building-site deliveries.
Andover has also built an unusual drop-on body for one of Commercial Trading's Volvo FH12 tractive units with a 35t/m Palfinger crane.
When required, the crane lifts the 4.18m body on to the unit and pulls it forward until the kingpin locks into the fifth wheel. Two ISO twistlocks then secure it at the rear corners and it's ready to haul short items of heavy machinery of more than 12 tonnes.
Andover's sales director Ivan Collins predicts a dramatic rise in the use of lorry-loaders and points to a huge difference between the UK and the rest of Europe in that regard.
Increasing interest The increasing interest in lightweight steels is all very well, says Collins, but he worries that it may lead to excessive deflection. "We think it's all about get ting the finer grain steels into the area where you need it most," he says.
Collins is also critical of the state of truck bodywork in the UK. Most contract maintenance packages, he stresses, cover only the chassis—the body systems and equipment are generally neglected. He believes this could be a serious oversight that will affect those operating only secondhand trucks.
It is for this reason that Andover has just put its first fully equipped service van into operation and others are likely to follow. It will be displayed at this month's SED show along with a plant-bodied Daf artic converted to a rigid for Bison Plant, a new dropwell low loader for T8zM Plant, plus a 50-tonne stepframe trailer for Coles Plant Hire.
This is similar to Andover's winner of the Safety category in last year's CM Trailer of the Year competition. Andover has also developed a new narrow-track low-loader, the first of which is for Lincoln plant hirer Abba Trailers. Called the DFHNCL95, this low loader with hydraulic neck has three axles and is rated at 95 tonnes GTW. With a nominal 80-tonne payload it's pulled by a 530hp R144 6x4 Scania tractive unit.
Self-tracking The bogie comprises two selftracking axles at the rear and a Goldhofer narrow track front axle.
This allows a load to be positioned closer to the rear of the trailer thus reducing the weight on the kingpin. It also brings the trailer's overall length closer to that of a similar Andover lowloader.
Andover's trading relationship with Goldhofer is marred only by Britain's strong pound. This, says Collins, is giving importers a 15% to 20% price advantage and UK domestic manufacturers a real headache.
Collins is upset when foreign manufacturers bring trailers over and sell them cheaply. "When we try selling into other EC countries," he says, "they simply tie us up in red typeapproval tape which only adds to our costs.
"We behave like very good Europeans," he adds, "but we're the only ones playing by the rules—it's really sickening."