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Wrecking crew
Page 32
Page 33
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Boniface Engineering took over a test track for a day in order to show off some the firm's latest projects, plus CM got to test drive one of its recovery vehicles.
worric / Images: Cohn Barnett These aren't the easiest of times for anyone in the truck industry, hut if one of your key revenue streams comes from building high-value, long-life specialist bodies, it's all too easy for your customers to squeeze an extra year or two out of their kit.
So, in order to stimulate its own sector,Thetford's Boniface Engineering took the unprecedented step of hiring the Bruntingthorpe test track for a day to showcase its products to existing and potential customers.
Boniface Engineering is owned by American firm Miller Industries, but is still run with a fair amount of autonomy by founder Mike Boniface.
The day included hospitality and a static display of stock and newly sold products in Manheim's Bruntingthorpe auction hall. Outside, a display area hosted recovery demos. while three assorted wreckers were available for track test drives The event generated three definite orders for Boniface and a lot more potential business.
NYR
The undoubted star of the outside display was the newly commissioned 8x4 tridem-axled Kenworth T800 from NYR of Snodland, Kent. At the front end of the 7772mm (306") wheelbase is a Cummins 1SX 550 engine and 18-speed Fuller transmission. The imposing bonnet leads onto the 1,574mm 62" Aerodyne sleeper cab.
The business end of the 100-tonne GCW unit consists of a Boniface 1075 360-degree rotator, with a maximum 75-tonne lift, and an SDU4 Maxi-reach lowline H-boom underlift, with 4.2' )0mm reach. If anything eclipsed the NYR Kenworth, it was the Scania belonging to local operator. Crouch Recovery, located on the A6 at Kibworth. The 10x4 Scania R620 is a celebration of the family firm's history that dates back to 1948, and the cab airbrushing shows trucks and personalities from that period.
In case you're in doubt, it definitely does have five axles, but boss Adam
Crouch didn't like the look, so had the nine-tonne lifting centre axle well hidden.
With a similar 75-tonne rotator and five-winch set-up to the Kenworth, the Scania cost the thick end of £400,000.
According to Mike Boniface: "It probably has more lights than I've fitted to any other vehicle."
It's not all show, though, as this Scania is kitted out to cope with any event this side of a nuclear war.
By coincidence, you can read a full account of the thick in the May issue of Truck & Driver, on sale now. The five winches fitted are a pair of 60,000lb main winches, another pair of 20,00016 turret winches and a 50,0001b drag winch. The hydraulics are all controllec by proportional radio remote control.
Needless to say. the Boniface body is equipped with everything needed for its new life carrying out day-to-c recoveries around the South-East. as well as being mac to handle the most severe major incidents.
NYR boss Neil Yates described the day as "a great success in showing not only the vehicles that are bespo to the recovery industry and their operators' prefereno but some of their capabilities".
Driving
Not everyone involved in the recovery industry gets hands-on experience of what the job involves. A key pa of the Boniface day was the opportunity to try a variet■ of wreckers towing realistic casualties.
During CM's visit, we managed the four-mile lap of Bruntingthorpe at the wheel of a Volvo FH520 8x4 wit] 45 tonnes of overloaded DAF on the under-lift, albeit rather more slowly than the track's 200mph potential.
The power is transmitted via Volvo's venerable three-speed with splitter and range-change manual gearbox, with overall gearing through the hub reductioi axles seeing a top speed of around the 56mph limiter.
Even at 67 tonnes all-up, the outfit accelerated briskl: enough not to get in the way of traffic. We were prepart for the worst when it came to handling, but apart from ; little more cut-in than a regular artic, it was astonishing] easy to drive.Trundling along at about 45mph, we askec the man from Boniface how it would cope with an emergency stop. and were to told to try it for ourselves.
He said the wrecker was powering the casualty trailei brakes, with only the DAF's rear brakes not contributin so the result was a drama-free stop in next-to-no distant If you were foolish enough to need to brake hard whi cornering too fast, though, you'd deserve the result.
Among the recovery demonstrations, techniques shown included the NYR Kenworth righting a toppled artic tanker from the front, and a five-axle Scania from Auto Recovery Services using four straps to right a box trailer with minimal damage. •