Heavier going at Harrogate
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• This year's Harrogate show may not be awash with new models, but they are certainly heavier. Five months ago C&U regs were changed to allow 26 tonnes for a six-wheeler and 32 tonnes for an eight-legger. But whether operators will pay for the weight increase through the higher VED — remains to be seen.
A cloud still hangs over Leyland Daf which went into administrative receivership in February. While the Dutch end of the organisation is back in business building the latest 75 and 85 Series tippers — they make their UK debut at TipCon — the planned MBO at Leyland has yet to go through. Dal's 6x4 75 and 8x4 85 Series (CM 15-21 April) come with revised Euro-1 engines beneath the stylish new
Daf cab: the current 70 and 80 Series (Constructor) multi-wheelers built at Leyland don't and seem set to fall by the wayside.
Iveco Ford's new lightweight six-wheeler, topped off by the same cab as the 17 -tonne SuperCargo and powered by the 7.7-litre, chargecooled, 198kW (266hp), six-cylinder Iveco engine is at TipCon. Plated for 26 tonnes it replaces the old Cummins/ Deutz-powered Cargo 6x4. Ready for mixer, haulage or tipper work it comes with an Iveco nine-speed box, Rockwell back bogie and rubber suspension.
However, operators looking for a replacement for the venerable Maggie eight-wheeler will have to wait until autumn before Iveco's new eight-leggers break cover.
While Foden has 26 and 32tonne models on show, its custombuild philosophy means it can
also build 25-tonne and 31-tonne six and eight-wheelers that offer vehicle excise duty savings: plating your 8x4 at 31 tonnes saves a cool £1.000 over a 32-tonner. The Sandbach truck maker has no fewer than nine wagons at TipCon including a 4000 Series twin-steer tractor featuring the latest Perkins Euro-1 Tx335 engine, which replaces the old non-Euro-1 Tx325.
MAN's G90 7.5-tonner is at the show with a Euro-1 engine. The 109kW (146hp) six-pot meets the emission standard without turbo
charging or charge-cooling a novelty in itself! MAN is offering a special 31-tonne eight-legger for a down-plated option at a small cost.
Mercedes-Benz is showing its new 2527 26-tonner (for an exclusive driving impressions see next week's issue). It is powered by the vee-six OM401LA charged-cooled LEV (Low Emission Engine) 9.6-litre with 203kW (272hp) and 1,090Nm of torque on tap. UK operators will have to wait until October before the new 3234K 8x4 arrives here.
Alongside its new 6x4, M-B (UK) is also showing a 2538 twinsteer — the 283kW (380hp) LEV tractor is also offered as a 6x4.
TipCon will be the first showing "proper" of the Renault Maxter 6x4 and 8x4s ready for 26 and 32-tonne operation (CM 8-14 October 1992). Renault has won a choice order from Yuill and Dodds for 15 Maxter eight-wheelers and will obviously be looking to the Maxter to improve its heavy truck sales this year. Scania launched its Euro-1 engines a full year ahead of this October's deadline and they get an airing on the Swedish maker's stand. All Smnia's Euro-1 engines are tiow charge-cooled — including the nine-litre range. At Harrogate you'll find uprated 26tonners and 32-tonners, both with the current two-spring back bogie. The recently-launched GR801 eight-speed box can now be specified in the UK for mixer operation, complete with sandwich power take-off.
Underfloor gear
With the new weights there is fresh interest in underfloor gear. Until now Harsh has had things its own way with such kit. Not any more. There are new underfloor tipgears from Stallion (CM 8-14 April) and Hyva at Harrogate.
An underfloor system from Edbro is understood to be in the prototype stage too.
Harsh is making much of the stability of its underfloor gear. A Wisbech Bulk System's triaxle tipping trailer with Harsh gear recently tilt-tested to a record 12°. The previous record with a similar trailer fitted with a frontend ram was 950 A full report on all the latest chassis, bodywork and equipment at TipCon will be in our 6.12 May issue.