Big boys' toys at Bauma The BAUMA construction equipment show
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celebrated its silver jubilee this year with a record-breaking tally of more than 2,000 exhibitors. The vast array of handling equipment and transport systems attracted nigh-on 350,000 visitors from 137 countries to the old Munich airport (formerly the Messerschmift aircraft factory). With the next BAUMA due in 2001, prospective visitors would be well advised to take a bicycle or start their fitness training early: the airport site has been cleared and extended to give a mind-boggling 435,000m2 (that's 107 8 acres), a third of it V, under cover. Bodybuilding editor B Bryan Jarvis swears P. he's covered every last inch of it... • Re-configuring the steering geometry on a modular trailer is generally expected to be a good day's work, but Nicolas's latest MDL semi has electronically controlled steering which can be set up in minutes. The system is designed for modular pendular axle trailers: it enables the steering to be adapted to suit a range of industrial loads simply by changing an electronic card. Nicholas demonstrated the system on a six-axled 109-tonne trailer; it expects to have German and UK type approval by the end of the year.
• Putzmeister's delivery plants can pump concrete enormous distances, but they need a beefed-up truck chassis for a platform. Examples include this foreignbound Daewoo MC9 10x4 which, with its centre-lift/steer axle, massive subframe and outrigged support legs, can deliver 150m3/hr at 112 bar to a height of 45.5m. Another mobile pumping station, on a 10x4, Mercedes-Benz 4853 is destined for Pochin of Middlewich: it can reach to 52m.
• Gumbmann's twin-tub 8x4 mixer truck isn't an over-indulgence; it enables a Nurnberg operator to carry two different blends of premix. An Iveco 340E37 8x4 EuroTrakker frame has been stretched to 11.5m to accommodate the two 5.9m3 Stetter mixers. An Orlaco rearview camera with cab monitor will help the driver position the vehicle on awkward sites; To reduce noise when delivering there's extra silencing on the ZF drive mechanism.
• MAN showed this air-sprung 26.463 DFLS 6x4 tractor fitted with SAMT-B transmission. The argument is that with two 13-tonne drive axles it's well suited for heavy-duty work at up to 100 tonnes gross. It features spring parking brakes on the front and rear axles. The Eaton semi-automatic costs around £2,300 extra in Germany but its fingertip control and widespread ratios will certainly be a welcome addition. In July MAN will launch the ProFit-Check maintenance system for all L, M and F2000 models, cutting the number of workshop visits to two a year, with an intermediate check for high-mileage vehicles. • Turin-based Multitel chose the Hyundai H100 as the basis for its new elevating platform because of its exceptionally narrow chassis. On this 2.85-tonner the EC 145 aluminium platform can reach to 14.5m, rotate through 3600 and take around 200kg to almost 6.0m. Multitel's UK agent, Access Industries of Leighton Buzzard, is bringing the platform in; UK chassis options are likely to be Hyundai, Mazda and Nissan. The BAUMA exhibit will also appear at this year's SED at Milton Keynes.
• Cargo Floor of Coevorden in the Netherlands specialises in moving floors for trailers. It was at BAUMA with a lighter CF150 model which is designed for containers and swap bodies. It has a slightly lower profile than standard and sits only 57mm below the top of the headbeams. A revised drive unit helped shed 110kg off the standard model. One of the first to use the new floor is Redditch-based S Walker Transport on an 84m3 bulker from la also be exhibited at this year's TipCon in Manchester's G-Mex exhibition centre. • Autec of Worthsee-Steinebach builds a range of tipper body inserts for small pickups and trailers powered by the vehicle exhaust. This one is fitted to a Mitsubishi L200 but it adapts to any 2.8-3.5-tanner. With a maximum lift of 400 it is said to tip 1.2 tonnes in under a minute. Trailer tipper versions can handle around 500kg. In Germany the conversion costs around £670; it's available via the Mitsubishi network.
• Scania's P12.4 rear-steer 6x2 was developed for milk collections in Denmark but it's also finding favour among Bavarian building material suppliers and long-haul operators delivering to congested sites. The trailing rear axle begins to steer after the front has gone through 40; it can also be raised to reduce tyre wear on rough terrain. Launched in Europe last year, more than 300 are in service in southern Germany. Scania expects its single-driver concept sleeper-cab artics to be even more popular, eventually accounting for over 80% of the long-haul tractive units sold there. • There were some very large cranes at BAUMA, but none more stylish than this Kato KA-900/Volvo all-terrain combination. It can hike 90 tonnes at 2.8m over the stern, or swivel 82 tonnes through 360°. Behind the lift is a 201hp (150kW) Volvo Penta 6.7-litre engine; motive power is by Volvo's 414hp (309kW) 12-litre unit backed up by an Allison six-speed automatic box with allwheel drive and steering. The suspension is hydro-pneumatic and there's a dual engine compression and exhaust brake system with a Telma as an option.
• Multicar's seemingly endless list of bolt-on equipment has been joined by this post hammer from System Hydraulik of Dieburg which is designed to speed up the replacement of roadside barrier posts. The M26 4x4 chassis shown has the 53hp (40kW) VW engine and fivespeed gearbox. • Mercedes' Atego range attracted great interest at BAUMA, especially this versatile 3.2m-wheelbase 817K tipper chassis. It's powered by the 0M904LA 4.25-litre engine rated at 167hp (125kW) and is equipped with a Meiller three-way dropside body. Also on board is a Hiab 052 loading crane capable of shifting 720kg loads at 6.85m or 2.0 tonnes at 2.5m. With front and rear axle limits of 3.4 and 5.0 tonnes there's a pretty fair load tolerance at 7.5 tonnes gross. • Hanover-based Hoffmann makes a range of hydraulically tilting and extending drawbeams that enables trucks and trailers to connect at various heights, or to assist when loading plant. Its latest patented swivelling-eye coupling allows the trailer (in this case an 18-tonne twin-axled tipper) to be pulled by a vehicle with a 40 or 50mmdiameter pin. The eye-piece on the end of the drawbar extends when unlocked, turns over hydraulically, then retracts into the recessed box beam. Bolts lock it back in position. • Munich-based Meiller has joined the growing list of manufacturers building curved tipper bodies: it calls its offering the Halfpipe. The front-tipping three-piece body is gently swaged and welded into a bathtub shape; it was shown at BAUMA on a Mercedes Actros 4143 8x4 rigid. There are two versions: one weighs in at just 3.85 tonnes, with a beefier version for heavier duty work. Both have scissor-type underbody stabilisers and hydraulically operated tailgates, their rams enclosed on the body sides. Meiller also displayed a 6x4 Merc 2640 fitted with a three-way tipper body incorporating Emilcamion's new Roll-Stop. This anti-rollover device is said to be effective at angles up to 100 .
• Removing earth from around pipelines or tree roots is an awkward job but suction excavators do it safely, in a quarter of the time. RSF of Saalfeld showed its latest truckmounted "earth vacuums"; this model even boasts Hetronic radio controls to manoeuvre the boom into position. The body system will fit any 6x4 26-tonne chassis. It filters and grades the material; the side-tipping 8.0m3 spoil tank can then be emptied elsewhere. • Iveco had a version of its crew-cabbed 130E18 on show complete with a Meiller dropside tipper body. Like the 75E14D, 80E15D and 80E1 8D, it's just becoming available with right-hand drive. The cab should interest recovery operators, fire services and maybe some utilities, too. Iveco slashed its UK retail prices by 30% on 1 April so a UK-spec 130E18S will go for £31,750, plus £4,500 for the crew-cab.
• With Feldbinder's UK acquisition Metalair settling down, and orders for tipping tankers and containers flowing in, the German parent has also set up new dealers in Munich and Saltzburg. Its cement tankers keep losing weight; this 35m3 powder carrier for Heidelberger Cement tares out at 4.2 tonnes to take a 29.7-tonne payload at its 34-tonne limit. The company runs more than 250 tankers, all of them used by subcontractors. o Rear-mounted forklifts generally attract a solid covering of road grime—but not Palfinger's radio-controlled 4x4/2 Crayler, which folds away in a 600mm-deep box under the trailer chassis. Since its recent launch, five have been sold to building material and waste hauliers. Palfinger has also added a 12t/m model to its range of moving trailer cranes. It's aimed at operators who don't need the company's heavier 16t/m and 20t/m versions, and shaves a useful 800kg off the weight penalty.