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DAF plants lightweight 32-tonner in UK market
Page 67
Page 68
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by Graham Mon tgomerie Photographs by Steve Back
A NEW DAF 32 tonner will soon be rolling off the production lines at Eindhoven — and it is a truck which has been designed with Britain very much in mind.
The DAF 2300 announced today has a kerb weight of 5.63 tonnes (5 tons 11 cwt) and has a power output of 172kW (230bhp).
It will slot in the DAF range between the 2200 and the 2800 series, which brings it squarely into competition with the 250 Cummins and Rolls engined Seddon Atkinsons and ER F's.
David Mansell, managing director of DAF Trucks GB Ltd, said that the idea for the new 2300 originated in Britain some 18 months ago.
The 230/240 bhp sector of the 32 tonner market was then, and still is, the fastest growing at the heavy end of the business. Although the DKTD version of the 2800 has a power output of 185kW (248 bhp) it was felt that a lighter truck was needed.
DAF.UK put pressure on the parent company who found that such a vehicle had a good sales potential elsewhere in Europe. Many of the components come from and much of the development work was done in Britain, said Mr Mansell.
The engine is the latest turbocharged version of the well tried six-cylinder 8.25-litre (503cuin) unit. Designated the DHU 825, it differs from the previous engines in this family by being charge cooled.
Although DAF already uses this system on the top of the range 2800 DKS engine, it is the first time it has been applied to the smaller engine. With an internal combustion engine, the cooler the inlet air the better but after passing through an exhaust driven turbine the air is rather hot. With a charge cooling system (air-to-air) in the DAF case) the compressed inlet air is then passed through its own separate radiator mounted in front of the normal water radiator.
DAF claims that the ternperature of the induction air goes down to only 50 above the outside temperature.
In this form, the DHU 825 produces 172kW (230bhp) at 2,400rpm with the maximum torque of 775Nm (570Ibft) occurring at 1,600rpm. DAF claims that the addition of charge cooling and oil cooled pistons together with the twin. thermostats transverse water cooling and an oil cooler/heat
exchanger — which the 8.25-litre engine already had — will promote more uniform cooling throughout the engine with a consequent benefit to reliability.
The DHU engine can be coupled to a six or a nine-speed gearbox although as far as the UK market is concerned only the latter will be available. The nine-speed box is the 5K-90 GP constant-mesh design, which is basically a range-change eight-speed plus a crawler.
The synchromesh 55-90 GP box will be.listed as a UK option, but DAF Trucks at Marlow do not envisage a large demand for it. The clutch is a self-adjusting single-dry-plate type with a diameter of.380mm (15in).
Completing the drive-line specification, the rear axle is a hub-reduction type with a 13-tonne capacity as used on the 2800 Series. When the rear axle is used at its full design rating the new DAF is known as the 2305 whereas the 2300 name applies when it is legally restricted to 10 tons as in the UK — and paradoxically in the Netherlands too.
As on all DAFs, the chassis frame is flat topped with angle sections on the side-members to facilitate the mounting of a fifth-wheel coupling. The web height of the side-members has been kept down to 260mm (10.2in) by providing flitches on the inside of the side-members.
Long semi-elliptic leaf springs, with double-acting hydraulic dampers are fitted at the front. At the rear, taper-leaf springs are used with helpers. The helper spring stops at the rear are shaped to simplify the mounting of mudguard brackets.
An anti-roll bar is a standard feature at the rear and optional on the front axle.
The cab is based on the 1600, 2000 and 2200 Series with a number of additional features: It is mounted 40mm (1.6in) higher to provide sufficient room for the charge-coolina.
plumbing of the DHU engine. To allow for this, grab handles are fitted on the two door pillars and the lower cab step is wider. The interior layout around the instrument panel which was on the first new model in Eindhoven is to be improved before the 2300 becomes available in the UK next January. Certainly the standard of trim in this area did not seem up to the same standard as the rest of the truck.
The 2300 is available with either a short or a sleeper cab, the latter with two 600mm (24in) wide bunks. Both cab types are full tilt models with a torsion bar action to a maximum angle of 60'. From the inference of some of the DAF personnel I gather that this method of tilting could be changed to a fully hydraulic. system in the near future. The short cab is 1.62m (5ft 4in) deep and the sleeper cab 2.05m (6ft 9in).
The sleeper cab has necessitated a longer wheelbase to enable the best tractor/semitrailer combination to be achieved while staying legal on overall length. Although it is tight, the long cab will couple to a 12.2m (40ft) trailer. The basic wheelbase dimensions are 2.85m (9ft 4in) for the short cab and 3.25m (10ft 8in) for the sleeper version.
Commercial Motor was very flattered to learn that in Eindhoven that the 2300 prototypes, tested in several countries over various routes, in the UK took our own Scottish test route. Preliminary results would indicate that the 2300 could be a very frugal truck as far as fuel is concerned if the 371it/100km (7.6mpg) achieved by DAF is anything to go by.
ENGINE DETAILS
Type DHU 825 turbocharged direct-injection diesel with charge cooling.
Number of Six, in-line. cylinders Bore and 118mrn (4.65in) stroke 126mm (4.96in).
Cubic 8.25 litres capacity (503cuin). Compression 15 to 1. ratio Maximum 172kW (230bhp) power at 2.400rpm.
Maximum 775Nm (570Ib ft) torque at 1,600rpm GEARBOX DETAILS Type ZF SK-90 GP constant mesh Ratios Crawler 13.00 1st 8 70 2nd 6 35 3rd 470 4th 3 43
5th 2 54
6th 1 85 7th 1 37 8th 1.00 Reverse 11 24