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Muldoon boss: ‘I should have been at the seminar’

1st September 2011
Page 18
Page 18, 1st September 2011 — Muldoon boss: ‘I should have been at the seminar’
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

I WAS disappointed I wasn’t invited to the CM Legal seminar held in Harrogate earlier this summer to share my company’s experiences with longer trailers (“Longer trailers under the microscope” CM 11 August). I could have helped to answer many questions, and feel that the haulage industry may be throwing away a great opportunity to run a national leet with more lexibility than ever.

The seminar speakers conveyed their views purely from a commercial point of view, and lacked the indepth knowledge of what has been achieved from an engineering point of view. For instance, at Muldoon we have videos of our 15.65m trailer in a working environment during our road tests, which would have helped to show the visual impact and the performance that is possible with this type of trailer Also, the talk of a possible one metre increase with the use of a passive steer is a move I would consider unsafe. These steering systems are ine in the market where tyre wear is the main consideration and axle spreads are equal, however, in a 14.65m-plus trailer design the passive steer axle would be in the region of 1,700mm behind the unsteered axle, presenting a real danger. The axle manufacturers design is ine, however if not maintained satisfactorily by greasing, etc, it can – and has – lead to failure.

The quoted igure in the article of a 1,250kg weight penalty is inaccurate. It’s a possible penalty, but not the norm. Through the use of a single-axle rear steering system, the weight penalty is a lot less. The article also says that opinion at the seminar was mixed, but I found it focused mainly on the negative speakers and didn’t portray the “mixed views” as much. Gerald Muldoon MD and chief designer Muldoon Transport Systems

Editor’s note: The CM legal seminar at Tip-Ex 2011 was free for anyone in the industry to attend.

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