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New artic weight fear
Page 14
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• Tractive unit designs will have to change to comply with the new legislation on trailer lengths, says Leyland Dars homologation and legislation manager Nigel Hunt.
Hunt explains that the increase in the trailer length limit to 13.61m from 1 January next year could cause problems for operators of tractors with standard wheelbases of 3.25m or 3.5m (CM 14-20 September).
"The main problem is if we move the fifth wheel rearwards to accommodate the increase in the front trailer overhang we could, depending upon the imposed load, overload the rear axle," he says.
He predicts that the legislation will "create new wheel bases so that ideal coupling clearances and imposed loads can be accommodated".
Under the new legislation all artics over 15.5m long will have to incorporate a turning
circle of 12.5m or less and a minimum cut in radius of 5.3m. Hunt warns that this will have repercussions on operators using 6x2 tractors with tandem axles. The turning circle limits could produce an overloading of the trailer bogie, he says, because the rear overhang would need to be around 4.2m to comply with the law.
Hunt says that operators using 3+2 combinations might be forced to switch to 3+3 combinations to overcome overloading problems.
0 Leyland Daf will show its Roadrunner 8.15 at the Scottish Motor Show, alongside a Freighter 17.18 and an FTG 95.380 SpaceCab 6+2 twinsteer tractor unit.