Picking a bunch of DAF
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VHAT BETTER TIME than spring ) take a trip down to the picAresque Somerset city of Wells, eith its narrow medieval streets s 700-year-old cathedral, and ie Mendip Hills climbing up out f the city?
But I wasn't there to see the ghts but to pick a bunch of AFs. This particular bunch I ad come to see is more cor?ctly described as a fleet of DAF 300 tractive units operated by lillrnotts.
This family-run haulage corn3ny is a confirmed DAF user id I went down to Wells to find _It how and why.
Managing director and fleet igineer Eric Willmott explained at the West Country is bestown for its dairy farming and is in turn gives Willmotts its am n business hauling all types dairy products, with the exption of the liquid milk itself. Willmotts pick up from dairies, eameries and factories in the )uth-west and trunk it all over e UK, with London, the Midids, the North and Scotland e main destinations. A variety backloads are returned to the iuth-west.
Eric Willmott told me the fleet d been 100 per cent stenrdised on the AEC Mandator, t this policy came to an enrced end when Leyland )pped producing the trusty indator in 1976. So what out replacements?
=ric and his brother Ralph, who is operational director, approached the problem in an objective way. Rather than just looking at some of the likely tractive units on the market they drew up the specification of their "ideal unit". Having done this, only then did they look at the market and find the unit that came closest to the specification.
So what was the ideal spec?
Eric Willmott: "We wanted to move up market slightly to a better vehicle than the Mandator, but without going all the way to a 40-tonner. It was important that the unit still had a low unladen weight because we're usually up around the 32-ton limit.
"We were also looking for good fuel consumption —the units are covering about 60,000 miles a year so diesel bills are quite hefty.
"Because many of our jobs are two-or three-day trips we decided that proper sleeper cabs were essential. And the whole cab had to be acceptable and liked by the drivers."
As well as considering the usual factors, such as price and availability of parts, Willmotts even looked at the more detailed speCification such as the ability to fit long-range fuel tanks.
At this time (1977), the DAF 2300 was quite a topical unit having been introduced to the UK at the Earls Court Commercial Motor Show in the previous
autumn. In 1977 the 2300 went round the CM 736-mile Scottish
test route, setting a new fuel consumption record of 35.81it/100km (7.9mpg). This easily broke the existing five year old best figure of 37.71it/100km (7.5mpg) established by a Gar dner-engined Atkinson.
Writing then in his road t, report, CM's Graham Mont merie picked out the DAF's cellent fuel consumption a low unladen weight as its t‘ most outstanding points.
Down in Wells, Willmotts h come to much the same cone sion. "After drawing up the spi the DAF 2300 was the or vehicle that really got near it. could have been anything — didn't set out to buy DAF or ev anything foreign."
The 2300 specification was i deed very close to Willmott With an unladen weight of F. tonnes complete with fifth whE it was light and there was proper sleeper cab option wi twin bunks. There was no dou that fuel consumption would I satisfactory.
Eric Willmott thought the p6 of the 2300 was about right think DAF has weighed up ti market pretty carefully."
What else came close to IF Willmott spec? "We consider( the Leyland Buffalo as it was tt natural successor of the Mand tor. But we didn't like the ax ratios offered, it wasn't a propl sleeper and it had only a si speed gearbox.
"The Volvo F7 would ha\ been in the running as well but wasn't around then." (The F
3s launched in the UK about a ar later in October 1978.)
Similarly, Eric told me that the ivu Leyland Cruiser would have en on the short list had it been ound then and available in .eper cab form.
So the company bought its St DAF 2300 in January 1978, id has been buying them regu-ly since then so that the trace fleet now comprises 21 \Fs with just five Mandators main ing. As these last Mandars come up for renewal, illmotts envisage replacing em with DAFs, thereby once lain achieving a totally stan
p-dised fleet of units.
The first 2300 that Willmotts might is now over three years d and has 200,000 miles on the ock so the company has had riple opportunity to see if the AF is as good in the long term ; it appeared on paper.
Its engine was of course a lajor consideration, being both irbocharged and intercooled harge cooled) and so very dif!rent from the naturally aspiited Mandator engine. Said Eric /illmott: "This didn't particurly worry us since we knew at was the way engine de9lopment was going and it was ist a matter of time before we ad our first turbo engine." The 2300 unit has the DAF DHU825 which is an in-line sixcylinder 8.25-litre engine developing 169kW (230bhp) at 2,400rpm. To give some idea of the effect of the turbocharging and the intercooling (which reduces the inlet air temperature by about 50°C) the DH engine is basically the same but without the turbo and this produces 117kW (156bhp).
The similar capacity DAF DHRE engine has turbocharging but no intercooling and this develops 155kW (209bhp).
DAF describes the 2300 DHU unit as a 38-ton tractive unit which, ir, practical terms, is surely sor,iewhat optimistic for a unit with a 230bhp engine. It works out at a minimum 6bhp per ton figure. Here Eric Willmott agreed that the DAF 38-ton description is misleading. "I reckon 230bhp is adequate at 32 tons but at anything beyond 34 tons it's just not enough."
One of the reasons Willmotts chose the 2300 was that they considered it an efficient 32-tonner — capable of performing the work without having too much in hand. They were also hedging their bets so that if maximum weights went to 34 tons the 2300s would be legal and just about feasible.
Some drivers occasionally comment that they could do with a little more power even at 32 tons but Willmotts believe that 230bhp at this weight gives the right balance between fuel consumption, performance ar purchase price.
On the subject of fuel col sumption, the Willmott DAFs ai averaging 3 9. 8lit/ 1 0 0 k: (7.1mpg) which Eric describE as "reasonable", bearing mind that they are operating or near maximum weight for large proportion of the time ar that the South-west area rather hilly.
This consumption is an over fleet average and so includi pulling a mixed trailer fle which is made up of 30 boxvar 30 flats, eight curtainsiders ar six refrigerated trailers.
Willmotts did experiment wi a roof-mounted wind deflect but found little difference. Ei conceded that there could be slight improvement in consum tion with a wind deflector b that the interchangeability units and trailers could quid destroy this — the gains the di lector gives with a box trail could be wiped out by the di lector's extra drag with a f trailer.
Reliability was the one quirement in the Willmc original specification that coi only be proven with time. E was glad to be able to report a reliability of the engine and t unit overall has been good am significant improvement on t Mandators, leading to a redt tion in downtime.
Nothing major has failed w the exception of one "rogue" gine that suffered, amonc other things, a cracked al; bearing housing and was placed under warranty withou quibble. Eric Willmott belies that the DAF system of pist cooling contributes towards t reliability. The piston crowns i oil-cooled from beneath wh DAF claims reduces excess piston expansion.
Eric also singled out for pma the brakes on the 2300. He s they stop well and have a v slow rate of wear; Willrnc have replaced only one set linings and that was becausi wheel brake cylinder bled none of the linings have actur worn out, even on the old 200,000 mile DAF.
Eric puts this down to unusually large lining area 6,225sqcm (965sq1n) which significantly greater than rm units, including genuine 40-t ners.
Willmotts also like the ZF ni
peed gearbox used in the 2300, 'referring its range-change to a plitter on the grounds that it's 3ss open to abuse. DAF offers NO rear axle ratios on the 2300; .49:1 as standard which gives a naximum road speed at ,400rpm of 64mph, and a low 3tio of 5.03:1 which gives a 3ad speed of 57mph.
When first buying the DAF, Villmotts were undecided which atio to choose. They needed oth with two-thirds of the fleet lough most of the mileage is lotorway running demanding le higher ratio, the driver also aye a 20-mile run through the lendips to reach either the M4 r M5 from Wells.
So, Willmotts have chosen oth with two-thirds of the fleet tted with the lower ratio and le remainder with the higher ne. On the units with a high itio rear axle, Willmotts also fit Transport Efficiency road)eed governor.
Before making the decision to iy DAF, Willmotts looked into e price of spare parts. "I would ay they're probably the teapest of the imported menucturers," commented Eric. 3ut about 20 per cent dearer an the average British parts. le prices seem to be pretty )nuine, in keeping with the tality of the part."
When the 2300 was launched ire in 1976, its cab was one of the more luxurious ones around. Time has caught up with it to an extent and there are others now that are plusher. Admitted Eric Willmott: "It hasn't got all the carpeting you'd find in the Volvo. But that's not so much of a disadvantage.
"The more carpet you have the more difficult it is to keep clean. The drivers realise this, and they're quite happy with the DAF — all the instruments and controls are right and they're what really count."
The switch to DAFs also lead to a change in Willmotts' livery from yellow lettering on a darkgreen background to green lettering on yellow. This was because neither of the two standard DAF greens were quite right so Willmotts reversed the livery to utilise the standard DAF yellow as the base colour. This saves having a new unit resprayed and most people agree that the livery is far more attractive.
As mentioned earlier, Willmotts fit an extra fuel tank on their units. Rather than fit the flat type across the top of the chassis, they chose an identical cylindrical tank as the original equipment, mounting it on the opposite side of the chassis.
This doubles the capacity from 325 litres (71 gallons) to 650 litres (142 gallons), giving a range of about 1,000 miles. As Eric Willmott commented, very useful during fuel shortages but also cheaper the whole year round when you can sail past garages selling diesel at 155p per gallon.
Willmotts plan to keep the DAFs for six years. This was originally going to be five years but the current economic climate has understandably added a year.
Commented Eric: "Fortunately the foodstuff market hasn't suffered too much and it's been relatively stable. Even so we've laid up the Mandators. We don't think it's a good idea to sell them; firstly because secondhand values are so low at the moment, and secondly you could never afford to replace them quickly enough when economy does eventually p up."
Did he think that the hauls market is showing signs of covery? "Well, we're sligr busier now than we were months ago but it's very patc The important thing is that WE surviving."
Beautiful though Wells t doubtedly is, it's not the id location for a haulage compai It's a very old historic cathed city with very narrow streets 32-ton artics are not exactly w corned by the locals.
West Country holiday traffic the area (Wookey Hole caves E also nearby) adds to the prc lem, though the M4 and M5 lieves much of the through-tr fic that once used to block Wells.
Despite being as environmE tally conscious as possib Willmotts have been under a I of local pressure and in abc five months time will be movii to a new depot eight miles aw near Shepton Mallet. It's at disused quarry in a very sm. village where lorries will cau least disturbance.
If as a result of the Armitat Report maximum lorry weigh do go up and so Willmot wanted heavier units would tht automatically move up the IN range and plump for the 2800?
"No", said Eric Willmott, would re-draw our ideal spec fication at the higher weight ar see what came closes this tirn So we might end up with tr 2800 but equally well we migl not,"