Making Special Types ordinary
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By their very nature heavy haulage tractors are Special Types, but that usually means long build times and extended delivery periods whenever you want one. Now Heanor Haulage has saved time and money thanks to a mixture of DIY and on-line flexibility from Volvo.
MI by Brian Weatherley
Right now lead times for a bogstandard fleet artic are bad enough. But order a heavy haulage tractor and most manufacturers will immediately start muttering about "SVDs and offline engineering time". And anything out of the ordinary inevitably attracts extra charges like a magnet.
However, Derbyshire-based -leaner Haulage has recently taken delivery of four FH16 antics which have bucked that tradition. Fleenor wanted its FH16s to run as either individual units or in tandem for loads over 300 tonnes GCW. That meant having all four modified to take pusher bars.
Simple in theory but not in practice, as fleet engineer Andy Cole explains: "Whenever we've had it, we've had to do it ourselves with our old F-Series and early FHs. You've got to undress the front of the cab and extend out the frame rails to build the pusher bar yourselves. Whenever we've asked various manufacturers in the past they've always said 'No'. But this time Volvo said No problem' and did it on the line. It was quite refreshing."
Air suspension
The ex-factory fitment not only saved time but also money—as did Volvo's willingness to convert the standard 1-ride steel suspension on the double-drive tractors to air suspension.
Despite that flexibility, Heanor still preferred to do its own thing when it came to converting two of the Swedish quartet to 8x4s. According to Cole it's the most cost effective way to go: "We fit an Italian axle from Gigant in Market Harborough in our own workshops. It's an airsuspended, self-tracking, air-lift _ unit which we fit in around two weeks overall. The work's fairly easy; there isn't a great deal to move apart from the fuel tanks to the back of the cab and adding a couple more air tanks. We make all the brackets ourselves and fit the axle to them."
"It's simple and self-contained as you don't have to connect it to a steering axle," he adds, "and you can lift it or lock it for reversing."
DIY route
The driver can adjust the weight over the 13-tonne axle fairly easily, so together with the 26tonne bogie there's plenty of capacity But why the DIY route? Cole reckons that having previously talked to "custom" manufacturers like Terberg, "It's cheaper, it's something we've done for years and also takes less time".
The four tractors will operate with a variety of special trailers including extending, steerable four-axle platform semis and modular hydraulic units, both from Cometto. Individually the 520hp FH165 can pull up to 145 tonnes under Special Types, either ballasted or as conventional tractors. Working as a "push and pull" pair they can handle loads weighing in excess of 300 tonnes.
Despite the trend to shortterm deals Heanor has bought its four FH165 outright through local dealer Hartshorne. "They're ours!" says Cole emphatically. 'We don't lease them, we'll keep them for at least 10 years and we buy our trailers for 20. It's a big investment." At £380000 just for the four 6x4 Globetrotter tractors it's certainly a hefty spend—but then Heanor has got exactly what it wants.