"The cab is superb...it has
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quite a high spec." John Crowley
John Crowley has been an owner-driver for co years; for the past 20 months he has run an Atego 2628B 64 on contract with London Concrete, which has seven plants throughout Greater London. LC buys the chassis and supplies them to its owner-drivers over a five-year period via a lease-purchase agreement. Managing director Derek Casey likes the reliability and the image that the three-pointed star gives to his customers.
"The six-wheelers are equipped with 6m3 Liebherr barrels which leaves a payload of between 13 and 14 tonnes when running at just under 26 tonnes maximum," Crowley reports. "We operate in the London area all of the time and with a concrete mixer it's the nature of the work that we may have to stand on site for a long time with the engine running. Fuel consumption suffers on both counts. Overall we average about 5.5mpg which, however, is about 20% better than the old M-B 2527 returned.
"Because the 6.37-litre unit qualifies as a low-emission engine we are able to claim a rebate on the road tax. Performance is good. The truck accelerates well and we don't have any trouble keeping up with the London traffic. The small cab and the 6x4's tight turning circle mean that I can get into sites in built up areas that a larger truck wouldn't be able to negotiate.
"Off road the rear anti-roll bar can ground if the surface becomes a bit soft or uneven but this type of work hasn't caused any prob lems for the disc brakes. It's specified with a vertical exhaust so there are no ground clearance problems on that count, but it does make the cab a bit noisier.
"The cab is superb. It's certainly big enough for me—visibility is above average and it has quite a high spec that includes electric windows. The trim is easy to keep clean and there are plenty of places to put my bits and pieces.
"I hold a CPC and operate on my own 0-licence. The truck does about 35,000 miles a year and servicing and inspections are covered by a contract maintenance agreement with
the MercedesBenz dealer on the Edgware Road. The truck goes in overnight and is ready for me the next day.
"It's not been r00% reliable; I have had a couple of problems with the splitter. [lost the lower range of gears so I was lefl with a six-speed box. It slowed me down a bit but it didn't stop me from working altogether. The dealer plugged it in to their computer but they couldn't find out what was wrong at first. It turned out just to be a sensor, which they replaced.
"A bolt that holds the clutch booster onto the chassis sheared. I think it was just a bad design and they have modified it. Tyre wear is very good—the first set on the front lasted 12 months and the rears for 19 months. I expect those on the middle axle to go on for another four months."