G iven the choice, and the money, few operators would turn
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down the chance to replace their worn-out fleet trucks with new vehicles. But as profit margins are squeezed tighter the number of hauliers who can afford to buy new is getting ever smaller. The alternative is to try the secondhand market, but that leaves the problem of finding a wagon with the right spec for the job—no easy task considering how many no-frills "cooking" tractors there are coming back from the manufacturers to clutter up used truck dealers' yards. You can always take a used truck and convert it into what you want, but is that a cost-effective solution—or a cheap compromise?
Keith Hughes, used sales manager at Purfleet, Essex-based Scania dealer Scantruck, has been supplying specialist conversions to operators for a number of years. He says: "Although the cost is reduced it's not done on the cheap." His impressive photo album of customers' rigs is proof of the popularity of conversions.
Ironically Scantruck's early forays into the business were to solve a specific problem, as Hughes explains. "Years ago it seemed at the time it was a means of selling low-powered tractor units by turning them into rigids." Now that problem is an opportunity—and taking a fleet artic and turning it into a multi-wheeler is just one of the jobs Scantruck will undertake.
"If we haven't got it, we'll make it, "says Hughes. "People ring us up looking for unusual equipment and we'll build it to their spec—it's tailor-made, to the inch."
Fleet tractors are still at the heart of most Scantruck conversions "Usually we'll be starting with a 4x2 tractor," says Hughes. "Mostly a sleeper, although it can be a day cab. Either way it's no problem it's nothing for us to do a cab swap.
"It will typically have around 400,000km on the clock; that's nothing for a truck really, that's what they're built for," he adds. "The secondhand market for 250-280hp tractors is not that good. There isn't a big demand for low-power, small-cab artics so we look to turn them into rigids. A lot of the ones that we do will be 6x2s and if you rate it at 21,000kg the VED is cheaper than for a conventional 17-tonner. Many operators struggle to get 10 tonnes on a two-axle rigid but with a six-wheeler you'll get 12 tonnes plus." Fleet tractors aren't the only starting point, says Hughes: "We've taken a number of R143 Topline artics and turned them into 6x2 rigids." Other conversions involve body swaps or modifications on existing vehicles, such as fitting uprated front axles.
Make a tractor into a rigid and you get the benefits of an artic driveline including a larger capacity, higher-powered engine, clifflocks and a 10-speed gearbox.
To convert a 4x2 into a 6x2, Scantruck will fit an air-sprung Scania bogie, either a new or reconditioned unit depending on the customer.
Compared with a new chassis a conversion also offers a faster turnround, says Hughes. "It takes 14 working days for the chassis to be modified and, depending on the type of body, it works out at around three weeks with seven working days to paint. In total we're talking eight weeks maximum— that's much quicker than on a new chassis."
So what kind of saving could an operator expect if he opts for the conversion route? Hughes cites a typical example of a customer who had a six-year-old P93-280 tractor turned into a rigid and fitted with a curtainsider for just under £30,000. "If he was buying new he'd have had to pay another L25,000," he says. "It's a very costeffective way of buying because at the time of delivery we've refurbished it and done everything to it that needs to be done."
While there are savings to be had, Hughes warns: "You can't skimp. It's not done on the cheap." That's certainly true of the chassis modifications.
Scantruck has built up an impressive customer portfolio for its conversions with operators coming back for more. And many pass the message on: "We get a lot of calls through word of mouth," says Hughes. "An operator rings up and says, 'I hear you can sort something out for us'—we usually can." — by Brian Weatherley