Eight leg F88
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WHAT is believed to be the first Volvo F88 rigid eight-wheeler at least in Britain, has been created by the Primrose Third Axle Co Ltd., of Blackburn, Lancashire.
It was ordered by haulage contractor G. R. Wardle' and Son Ltd., based at Haltwhistle, in Northumberland. As a bulk tipper, it will carry loads such as sand, gravel and coal in its Wilcox fixed-side aluminium tipping body.
First registered in 1972, the Volvo F88 was bought secondhand by Wardle's last year as a six-wheeled tipper and before that, it had been a three-axle tractive unit.
Being heavy, it did not offer as much payload as most six-wheelers, but converting it into a 30 tons gross eight-wheeler has given it an extra five tons payload capacity.
As the loads the previous owner carried were of lower density, the body has quite high sides and is able to take, without alteration, the bigger loads appropriate to an eight-wheeler.
The wheelbase has been extended by 0.5m (1 ft 8in) to fulfil the legal outer-axle spread requirement and to give the right weight distribution over the four axles.