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10-year switch
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Truck manufacturers can't hope to have the right truck for every possible occasion, particularly when it comes to custom-made 'specials'. Fortunately, Inter UK Engineering likes nothing better than to build something different. Brian Weatherley reports on the Suffolk-based converter that's busy turning tractors into re-born rigids.
• By his own admission, Keith Hughes is a man who likes a challenge. According to the Joint managing director of Inter UK Engineering: "We like to work with anyone iiho wants something different." The ir truck makers should be thankful., . irobably doing them a big favour.
hy? Because Inter UK's speciality is rting tractors into rigids—and same tractors could just as easily re l 'Hering up the forecourts of dealwho are having to shift ever growing lumbers of ex-contract-hire machines. Tr) make matters worse, many will have ications that hardly set the pulses truck buyers racing. Turning an artic into a rigid has clear attractions, insists Hughes: "Tractors make damn good rigds. They usually have bigger engines and fuel tanks and even have a diff-lock as standard. And, as many come with a nice big cab, you end up with a very high-spec rigid."
Equally significant, says joint MD Tony Ruffles, is the vehicle's working life: "We've effectively extended the life of the chassis by another 10 years—and there's an environmental issue in there too." it also means the manufacturers get a second chance to earn money through parts and servicing.
Yet historically, truck makers have been reluctant to create new trucks from old. During 20 years in new and used-truck sales at
Purfieet-based Scantruck, Hughes was a keen advocate of conversions, not least from the early days of 38-tonne operation when few manufacturers had a 6x2 ready off-the shelf.
"I was doing it all the time. The manufacturers said: 'You can't do that.' But truck manufacturers can't sit in their HQ and say what people will and won't buy—it's customer-driven. Operators wanted conversions but you couldn't get It done anywhere. I was told no manufacturer wants you to interfere with their vehicle, But it could be done if you had the right transport engineers. I was selling them all over the country, including to places like Scotland."
Hughes already knew Ruffles through the latter's employment at Boniface Engineering. "One day I said to Tony: 'If you ever fancy doing anything together, let me know.' Then in 1994 we started it up," Initially, Hughes remained at Scantruck while his wife Sylvie and Ruffles ran the company, before he joined Inter UK full-time in 1998.
Turnover doubled
'We needed to tiring it up to another level. I'd done my work at Scantruck. I left very amicably, and we've still kept our work with them.
"But we moved the business (to Inter UK's current site at Bardwelfl, doubled the turnover and got new customers." There's clearly no shortage of the latter. The company is currently doing between 300-350 conversions a year, generating a turnover of some 21.25m.
Inter UK's 'product portfolio' ranges from simple jobs like fitting a fifth wheel or changing the wheelbase on a 7.5-tonnen through to adding a 14-tonne fourth axle on a 6x4 heavy haulage tractor and creating an 8x2 rigid out of a 4x2 tractor.
"A popular one now is the 4x2 Oaf 85CF FT, which we convert into a long wheelbase rigid for furniture vans, and also P-cab Scania chassis," says Ruffles. "The weirdest one we've done is to create a 10x2 that's all steering." The work involved taking an original 4x2 R-cabbed
420hp Scania tractor, extending the chassis, adding a rear-steer axle and a mid-lift in front of the drive axle as well as a lifting self-steer. The vehicle has gone to recovery operator Kartec, and Ruffles reports: "Does that handle comers well! You can get it around any country road."
Conversion paperwork
To convert a 4x2 tractor into a 6x2 rigid normally takes between 90-100 hours including the chassis extension, "Two people can do one in a week if they know what they're doing," says Ruffles. "We use a variety of axles—Gigant, Hendrickson, Granning and SAF—but we always try to pick the best axle to suit the purpose."
Then the conversion is recorded under a VTG10 notifiable alteration document. "It depends where the customers live—but effectively we handle all the paperwork," says Ruffles. 'All the operator has to do is present the vehicle to their local test station and put the bodywork on. However, if necessary well take the vehicle to a test station ourselves." While Inter UK creates its own specialised bodywork, it avoids general bodybuilding. "There's no profit in it," declares Ruffles. 'There are simply too many people around, not least within a 25 mile radius of us! it's too easy to get into, as all you need is a kit nowadays."
"Our main business is adding axles and hydraulics, and special bodywork like a beavertail," confirms Hughes. 'Me also fa cranes—we are an agent for Cormach--although if a customer wants their own crane, we'll fit it."
Despite Hughes' background in selling new and used trucks, Inter UK leaves the chassis choice to customers. "We might point them in the right direction," he says. "But if I started selling second-hand trucks, people like Ro-Truck wouldn't come back. We convert all makes—that way there's no conflict of interest."
Hughes says that while the company could increase its production rate, "we're already 85-90% busy. We really are about where we want to be".
• Contact: 01359 250500 or website: www.inter-uk.co.uk