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20th May 1993, Page 30
20th May 1993
Page 30
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Page 30, 20th May 1993 — Serious business
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If nothing else, last week's Institute of Road Transport Engineers' exhibition proved that truck manufacturers, and truck buyers, have no need for a megabuck Birmingham-style Motor Show. The days of huge show stands beseiged by kids asking for stickers have finally gone, and few hauliers will mourn their passing.

The question now is not whether IRTE will continue, but whether it will continue at Telford, even with the extra show hall now giving everyone some more elbow room.

Just as Telford was the birthplace of the industrial revolution, IRTE is the place for transport evolution. This year there were more low-height chassis conversions than ever before. The advent of new manual handling regs means that they're here to stay—and not just for the breweries and drinks trade.

The flurry of double-deck trailers at Telford also underlines the fact that, as ever, operators are looking to get the maximum use from their vehicles.

With the Euro-1 emission regs deadline less than five months away the emphasis is clearly on clean, green diesels. That probably means adding electronic control, if not for Euro-1 then certainly for Euro2 and beyond. Although the majority of Cummins' eight, 10 and 14-litre engines meet Euro-1 without electronics (as does Perkins' Tx Eagle and many manufacturers' "in-house" engines) ERF and Foden report a growing operator interest in Cummins' electronic power units: the Celect diesels were featured in both the ERF EC range and Foden's 4000 Series.

• ERF's EC tractive unit made its public debut at Telford-, the EC10.35 LX 4x2 on show was fitted with Hendrickson Norde drive-axle air suspension. Below the cab floor was a Cummins L10 Celect 350, also making its UK show debut: only the cruise control switches in the cab give the clue to the engine's electronic controls.

EC 4x2 rigids and multi-wheelers will join the range in September.

ERF's Sandbach neighbour Foden was also showing a Cummins L10 350 Celect-powered tractor. The 1350 with ECAS (electronically controlled air suspension) was joined by a 4380 in Rugby Cement livery, fitted with another new Cummins, the 14litre N380. This engine achieves the Euro-1 limits without electronic controls. MAN's concept SIN 2000 4x2 rigid was beamed in from the Continent for its first UK appearance. The 7.5-tonne rigid is powered by a horizontal underfloor 110kW (147hp) four-cylinder charge-cooled engine, driving the front wheels through a ninespeed automatic gearbox. Other features include pneumatically controlled coach-type outward swinging doors, four-wheel steering, standing headroom in the cab and hydro-pneumatic suspension with rear height adjustment.

Front-wheel-drive allows for a very low load floor height, with easy access from the tilting cab. So will it make the change from motor show concept to production line reality? MAN says yes, so watch this space!

The Bavarians also gave the Roadhaus high-roof F90 cab its

UK show debut. The 6x2 twinsteer in Fransen Transport livery is destined for the Russian run, as the script on its roof suggests. Fransen has bought two for temperature-controlled deliveries and they will be covering around 90,000km per year.

Renault chose IRTE to launch its ACS (automatic clutch system) in the UK. The 17.0-tonne Manager G230ti.18D will be bad news for hands-on-knobs drivers: there's no clutch pedal, the standard clutch is activated by pressure on the gear lever so resting a hand on it will keep the clutch permanently disengaged.

Pulling away is simple, says Renault, just select first and press the accelerator; electronics will feed in the clutch as revs rise. ACS is available on Manager G220 and 230ti models and Maxter multiwheelers. Either the G406 sixspeed or B9 synchro boxes will take the system and it should be a hit for multi-drop distribution work.

The show vehicle was fitted with a DonBur Slide-A-Side body, full aerodynamic kit, Henderson widelathe shutter and Hydris RSC 1500 1.5-tonne cantilever tail-lift.

Drab green Drab green generally signifies an MoD order and the Manager

G300.18D 4x4 on the stand was

one of a dozen winging its way to the RAF. The Reynolds Boughton alloy dropside body with canopy, lashing rings, bow shackles and ISO twist locks will take 10ft containers.

Star of the Volvo stand was the FL10 Geartronic, which made its UK show debut at Telford. It's the first time many potential buyers have set eyes on Volvo's impressive automated cog-swapping system and the driving seat was kept warm for the two days of the show.

Bespoke tailoring featured on the Swedish truck maker's stand in the form of a low-cabbed FL10 car transporter, operated by Walon, which shaves 130mm off the standard FL cab, Also on display was an FL614 six-wheeler which can have a laden chassis as low as 830mm, depending on tyres (the third axle was from Hendrickson Europe).

As one Volvo engineer put it: "If you could put the load platform on the ground breweries would buy it."

For many visitors this was also their first sight of the Langleybuilt Iveco Ford SuperCargo 17IP" 11 tormer. The 170E23 shared the stand with two EuroTech 400E34s and a TurboDaily with GRP Cartwright walk-through van body in TNT livery.

EuroStar hunters will have to wait until next year for the Iveco Ford flagship.

Scania's show stand included the Silentnight drawbar rig featured in last week's Bodybuilder news, alongside the latest twinsteer R113 tractor with centre lifting, positively steered second axle and air suspension on both rear axles. Completing the package was a 4x2 P93M1, 17.tonner with air all round, providing a chassis height 152mm lower than its steel-sprung stablemate.

Fitted in the Don Bur brewery body was the latest Lazerloda keg hoist.

Seddon Atkinson has also been chasing the drinks trade; it showed a pair of Strato 17-tanners converted to six-wheelers. They are part of an order for 24 destined for the AG Barr fleet.

Adding a Hendrickson-Norde tag ax le allows them to run at 21 tonnes with a 24ft body. While the front axle runs on 22.51n wheels, the rear and tag axles run on 19.5, providing a frame height of 920mm.

Lightweight

Leyland Daf's nearby exhibition site featured new 75 and 85 models and an interesting 50.160 lightweight Freighter with a Norwich Coachworks refrigerated scissorlift body. The Cummins-powered four-wheeler has an Allison automatic box; it is one of 16 sold by Vales Truck Centre to Forte Airport Services.

Tidd's latest Max-Pak twodeck step-frame trailer has plenty of reserve carrying capacity. With the floor lowered to step level it normally takes 43 standard roll cages, but with the second floor in use it carries an extra 27, bringing the total to 70; ideal for coping with seasonal peaks like the pre-Christmas rush.

The narrow (1,575mm) wheelbox gap is achieved using 315/80R 22.5s and by adapting SAF's independent swing-arm suspension, normally seen on glass carriers.

An anti-lock system at each side of the 21-tonne bogie gives quick reaction times and better balanced braking.

Evaluating Christie Tyler and Ryder are evaluating a 13.4m seven-deck trailer from York (and one from Transdek) before ordering more.

It offers versatility in loading arrangements and helps meet Manual Handling requirements.

The decks can hold up to 2.0 tonnes; each deck has its own tiedown points and separate,plug-in controls.

Noted of late for its streamlined trailers, Cartwright has built seven stylish 13.6m vans with two matching loadbays for Kelloggs. They all have Henderson airoperated rear shutters and Rollerkit auto-loading floors.

The Italian moving-floor system uses chain sets running in the deck for moving pallets or cases and has its controls externally mounted in an enclosed cabinet.

Don-Bur's Cover Haul slideback canopy clearly has its origins in coil carriers but provides a quick and easy sliding system when delivering into restricted urban areas. Hays had ordered another 42 of them for Scottish & Newcastle's primary distribution, Marshall has worked with P"

Whitbread to come up with a secure, quick-access body system for multi-drop drinks deliveries, based on an Iveco Cargo 80E15 6x2 rigid chassis.

Its counterbalanced sides open up manually, the upper panels lifting through an arc into the roof space and the lower two-piece section folding against the side. Later versions will have a deeper top section with a short bottom panel.

A similar urban delivery dray for Whitbread, also on an Iveco 6x2 chassis, came from Don-Bur in the form of a gull-wing-sided body.

It uses a hand-cranked chainand-sprocket system that lifts and folds the sides over the cant rail.

The operating lever is set into the front post and has infra-red pneumatic locking controls for security Load space The need for extra load space was behind Pickering Truck Bodies' decision to mount the side shutters on to a centre spine of a Leyland Daf 45-160 fire support vehicle. The vehicle at Telford was one of four built for Greater Manchester fire service; the units feature two rollers per side and a standard version at the rear. Whitacre handled the crewcab conversion.

Fresh from snapping up Charles Roberts Engineering, Thompson Tankers has begun moving into other sectors like milk tankers and gully emptiers. The 26,000-litre hazardous waste tanker at the show is a pressure/vacuum gully emptier with integral frame which is designed to meet ADR3 6:1/8 and IM04 requirements.

Based on RO-R TF,9000 axles, the stainless-steel tanker trailer

tares out at 8,750kg— aluminium versions are in the pipeline.

Thompson is also building eight tandem-axled Lowmax tankers for Conoco, as well as a series of milk tankers for the Scottish MMB.

Overloads M&G has developed its own deck and ride-height control system called Ride Rite with optional plug in auto-drop facility to prevent axle overloads.

It is available on all M&G trailers including its latest Master curtainsider range.

This is based on P8z0 Pandoro specification with input from both M&G and Don-Bur. M&G has recently built 41 trailers for the Past Office all had the Ride Rite system.

Scottish & Newcastle ordered a single axle urban artic trailer from Marshall which was on show at Telford. The 9.0m unit is rated at 21 tonnes GCW and features a neat bottle rack and durable looking Hydro-Impadek aluminium flooring, which is laterally laid in triple panel sets.secured only at the outer edges.Considering the rough treatment meted out by dray operatives its £1,200 on-cost looks a good investment.

The Parcel Force contract has attracted tenders from over 20 manufacturers, including Bedwas and Cartwright which exhibited a shapely Iveco Daily-based model.

Built using Polyfont's Carbofont panelling, it has a neat swivelling nearside door for kerbside deliveries.

It operates electrically via buttons on the dash and a lockable set of buttons on the outside. There will be an order for 150 such vans for the winner.

El by CM technical team


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