- An Operator's Plea
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for Higher-priced Vehicles
Our Contributor Contends that Manufacturers, by Building _Chassis Down to a Price, Ignore Inbuilt Quality and Strength. Ultimate Service, Over a Long Period, Thus Devolves on the Resources and Skill of the Operator's Own Repair Staff
By • Bernard Piston
(General Manager, Cawood., Garage, L(d.„
Doncaster) •
IMUST emphasize particularly that all the views herein expressed are definitely limited to one class of haulage, i.e., sand, gravel, stone and similar constructional niateriaIs. Loads are picked up on rough quarry sites and taken to equally bad sites, where roads are non-existent. At the present time, these comprise areas where aerodrolnes and factories are being constructed and, in peacetime; under similar conditions which obtain on building sites.
One may take 20 miles as being the average for journeys under load on this class of work, and, although the basic principles of the foregoing may . apply to other types of haulage, it is in -the limited field specified that I now confine my remarks.
A Type that Approaches the "Idesel"
The views which I have held have developed and strengthened, particularly during the past. four years, as the result of experience with a fleet of' 12 Commer 4-5-ton short-wheelbase hydraulic tippers, which, .whilst falling short of my "ideal " as a type, are, in my humble opinion, about the nearest to it. This is more than borne out by the fact that, although the 12 machines are now more than three years old and have covered something over 1,500,000 miles on this strenuous work, they 'are still in daily use and equal in mechanical efficiency to the average one-year-old.
The cost of maintaining them .in such a condition has been higher than it need have been, bearing in mind my conception of the ideal vehicle. In fairness; I will not quote figures, . because the manufacturer, and no doubt many operators, might well say that I have been unduly laVish and extravagant, and I am not -prepared to deny it. All I can sayais that, if need be, I can still rely upon my fleet for another three years— another 1,000,000miles* or so of service.
If ray remarks should tend towards a facetious vein, it may be because I realize that I should tread Softly on a _ subject such as this; but, anyway, they will constitute a Peg on which all those who disagree with me can hang caustic comments. '
Conditions brought about by the war—" in short supply" being one of the chief individual factors—have made all thinking operators of this type of vehicleemployed in the trade specified wake up and ask themselves whether all the " traditional troubles experienced ought to be accepted. They find that the answer is " No."
Years ago, in what now seems the dim past, someone who got tired of shovelling loads on and off a lorry invented the tipping gear. Being, amongst other things, a bit crude, it did not work very 'well on a long chassis, or, perhaps, the chassis did not stand up to it. Manufacturers thereupon cut a foot or two off the chassis, crowded up the back end, and it worked, since when no one has bothered about the matter.
I 'challenge any manufacturer of commercial vehicles to support a statement that any member of its designing staff or even its service department has spent six consecutive days in winter, going around in a tipper engaged in the particular work I have mentioned.
Vehicles Under-tyred to Cut Cost
Now that Tyre Control insists on an alswer as to why we burst tyres so 'often, we have to look for an answer, instead of just cussing and buying another tyre. The answer is, of course, that between 85 per cent. and 95 per cent, of the load is taken on the rear wheels, and, to -make matters worse, the manufacturer under-tyres the vehicle in the flag place in order to cut initial cost 'and so have' a vehicle a pound or so cheaper than a rival concern.
• If this war has taught anything to those of us who keep detailed and accurate records, it is that most of the. selling talk and features splashed in red over sales literature are just plain blah—'" 30 m.p.h.; 230 tax"
—" The lowest-priced 5-tonner on the market "—and so on.
It may be poetic justice to have to admit that, up to about six years ago. I was on that side of the motor trade which evolved slogans of this kind, but now, as an operator, coldblooded and logical facts, brought out and proved by the profit and loss account, Show that .initial cost, 30 m.p.h.., etc.', are of lithe importance.
Strength and quality, real commercial value for every £1 invested, are the only features which will keep a vehicle running on the roads where it belongs and earns its living. We now 'know that we cannot possibly afford to buy cheaply. I would rather buy a vehicle on pounds avoirdupois than pounds. sterling.
"Super" Class of • Vehicle is Ruled Out
For the particular work specified there is ,a number of limitations which rather rule out the " super " class of high-priced , vehicle.. Forrn instance, the general conditions obtaining in the average quarry, and the soft, unmade sites to which the load has to be delivered, make it almost impossible 'to envisage anything over 12 tons gross load.
Then, again, the need for good manceuvrability must impose a reasonable limit on wheelbase length. A rigid four-wheeler, as against a sixwheeler or eight-wheeler, is a side issue, and,.whilst,I may be wrong, I am, nevertheless, sticking to the four'wheeler, even if either of the other types be produced within my inaki:
. mum gross-load limit. •
Bearing in raid all the limiting factors, I find thac the ideal pay-load for this class of traffic is about 8-tons, but to get a machine of the strength I need for this vehicle-murdering work and comink within the maximum gross-load capacity that the sites will carry, I may have to reduce the pay-load. to 71 tons or even 7 tons.
The ideal vehicle, then, as I see it, should have a wheelbase of about 10 ft. 9 his., if of the forward-control type, or 11 ft. 6 ins. to 11 ft. 9 ins,.
if it has normal Control. With 36-in. by 8-in. tyres on the rear wheels, it should be possible to wear them out instead of blowing them out, whilst the vehicle should be sufficiently manoeuvrable to get in and out of the awkward sites usually associated with the class of work upon which it would be engaged.
Unladen-weight Figure to Give Strength In order to obtain the strength for which I ask, to enable the machine • always to be on top of the work when carrying, say, 7i tons, the unladen weight would have to be about 4-4i tons. Such a vehicle would, of course, come, within the £50 tax class; but as the difference between £30 and £50 represents only about Is. 6d. per working day, what does that matter?
My vehicle would also come into the 20 m.p.h. category. In the class . of work to .which I limit my remarks I find that, when 30 m.p.h. and 20 m.p.h. vehicles are engaged on the same work and on the same journeys, human Ature and lorry drivers being what they are, both vehicles make the same number of runs and the drivers usually arrive back together.
OcCasionally, the 20 m.p.h. vehicle may be an hour late, which means only one hour's additional labour charge, but as the heavier vehicle usually carries a little more pay-load, the extra earnings more than cornpensate for the slight extra labour and tax costs.
The heaviest item associwted with repair costs is neither labour not materials, but earnings lost when the vehicle is off the. road. Two mechanics, working an 8i-hour day, at 5s: an hour, cost only £4 5s., whereas one day's lost earnings can be put at £6.
Careful observation proves that the majority,of the repairs would not have been needed had the little extra strength and quality for which I now plead and offer to pay been put into the vehicle when it was built.
So Icing as manufacturers continue to have a haemorrhage whenever they hear a rumour that a competitor is to produce a 5-tonner at 5s, less than their own product and proceed frantically to cut down lb. weight here, a little strength there, and cheapen this or that in order to compete, then so long will all our traditional troubles remain with us.
My particular branch of the haulage industry is a big one, but, as it is composed, rather largely, of a number of small operators running from one to three or four vehicles, it has. been badly neglected. Who, then, is going to take the plunge to produce a vehicle to be sold on strength and quality rather than on price.----a
specialized vehicle for specialized and strenuous work? There would be enough thinking operators to absorb the whole output.
Based on to-day's approximate cost of one of the better medium-class chassis, Oils a specially built bodY and a first-class • tipping gear, the price would come out at about £620. I. would willingly pay another £50£75 (excluding the cost of 36-in. by 8-in, rear wheels and tyres) for that .extra little bit of strength -which it and all the others have not got, provided I secured designed strength and not just weight. I could be confident that, whatever• extra money was so spent, ewould be more than repaid within two .years. This does not take into consideration the lower cost in Connection with repairs.
An Invitation to Inspect the Fleet If any vehicle manufacturer, or any operator in sand and gravel haulage, would like to inspect my threeyear-old fleet, of which I am terribly proud, despite what I have written, I would be most pleased to meet hint.
If, however, anyone wants to write to me to tell me all about his lessthan-2400 3-tonner which has carried 6 tons day in and. day out for 100,000 miles and " never had the head off or a, penny spent on it," please don't, because I'll scream the place down,