Hands at home shows off its new Mini-Drop trailer
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THE latest addition to its standard range of semi-trailers, and axles fitted with air-spring versions of the Hands/Neway suspension, were displayed last week at the first of a series of "at homes" held by Hands (Letchworth) Ltd., at Hatfield. Also demonstrated were the ride characteristics of laden and unladen semitrailers.
The new trailer, ITFLL20 (called the Mini-Drop), employs the Hands/ Neway non-reactive suspension which dispenses with two of the road springs, replacing them with balance beams.
A feature of the frame design is a drop of 10 in. from the head to the well and this is achieved. by overlapping both head and well members.
The Tbeams used for the members measure 10 in. by 5 in. for the head and 14 in.
by 5 in. for the well. The hardwood deck height at the centre of the bogie is 47.5 in. on 9.00-20 twin tyres and with this loading height the 5 in. up and down articulation of the axles is not in any way impaired, says Hands.
Overall length of the trailer is 33 ft., with a well length of 26 ft. 6 in., and 8 ft. 2.5 in. width. Fitted with a hardwood deck the trailer has an unladen weight of 4 tons 1.5 cwt.
Available in two basic model series, the Hands/Neway air suspension is of the trailing-arm type and uses two arms connected through rubber to the tubular axle. Each equalizing beam extends to the rear of the axle and terminates in the mounting for the air bag, which is of rolling-lobe type.
Forked at the front, the equalizing beams are clamped on to either end of a transverse torsion bar which is provided as an anti-roll device and is most essential on air suspension systems.
Shock absorbers are fitted to each air bag mounting and slope inwards in pairs to a common central mounting on the main frame.
One or two levelling valves are provided, depending on whether one or two axles are used, and a separate reservoir is supplied to feed the
air suspension and is isolated from the brake reservoir by a non-return valve. A pressurereducing valve is also fitted in the line to the reservoir as the suspension air pressure is 65 p.s.i. The axles are located on top of the equalized beams.
The AR series has capacities up to 25,000 lb. per axle for singleand multi-axle suspensions and the ARL series has capacities up to 20,000 lb. and is suitable for single-axle suspensions only.
An advantage of the Neway air suspension claimed by Hands is that should an air bag collapse for any reason the lower mounting plate will come into contact with the bump stop, thus enabling the trailer to reach home safely. With rubber mountings, maintenance is reduced and the ride characteristics are approximately the same in both the light and laden conditions.
During a demonstration the load-sensing valve on the tractive unit was disconnected and when the brakes were applied the result was a nasty jack-knife. Load-sensing equipment may not be the complete answer to jack-knifing but it certainly appears to help.
Operators who require load-sensing valves to be fitted on trailers will be advised by Hands to have the tractive units converted as well.
In answer to queries on whether oil-filled hubs would be standard fittings, Hands confirmed that if the manufacture and fitting of the hubs proved costly, it might offer the rights to other makers.