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NEW BODIES AT A NEW VENUE
Page 121
Page 122
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NI There was plenty of innovation among the bodywork on show at the Institute of Road Transport Engineers conference and display — held for the first time in Telford. The change in venue from Solihull brought more exhibition space, and more exhibitors, making this the biggest IRTF show to date.
The event has become something of a showcase for distribution equipment, and highlights included a new reefer, more sophisticated curtain-siders and some light, versatile tail-lifts.
A strapless curtain-sided body with the streamlined treatment was launched by Vaille and Co on a 7.5-tonne gross MAN MT chassis. The moulded front collar was adapted from the company's parcel-van design, hut the full-width cab-roof pod has been developed to allow fitting out as a sleeper compartment (at an additional £1,000). Moulded side skirts are included in the basic £1,900 package. At the base the curtains hook under recessed side tracking.
A roof-hung version of the flexible Loadmaker insulated bulkhead was launched by Jack Robinson Supplies (Cardiff). Like the original verticallyhinged model, it is designed to be light enough for one person to lift. It slides longitudinally on runners (priced at £9.50 per 1.000mm) and instead of requiring webbing tensioners to secure it against the sides like the original model, it is locked by integral over-centre levers which force the plastic-capped polyurethane seals against the walls. It costs around £200 more than the equivalent folding version which sells at £850. The company says recent orders from leading supermarkets have included hatches of 36 and 50 of the original version.
Joluda and Ross and Bonnyrnan both launched tail-lifts with weight-saving aluminium alloy platforms at the IRTF show. Ross and Bonnyman commissioned special aluminium extrusions for features such as the leading edge of its new platform, which is offered on most models of its twin-column Slimline lift. Aluminium adds £300 to the price, which is still well under £2.000, but saves at least 858kg in weight on a 1.050mm platform. The Joloda lift is a new model with a deep platform that closes against the rear frame, rather than folding under the body as on existing models. Total weight of a one-tonne model is a respectable 227kg, but the price is just over £3,000.
Local Telford manufacturer Norteck Bodies, founded by Tan Norman (former managing director of Kurtans Developments), had an example of its high-specification curtain-sided semitrailer bodywork on display — its first for TIP Europe, although it has been a supplier to CR, (now taken over by TIP). Features include quick-acting ratchet tensioners and a sliding side pillar with a neat recessed over-centre locking plunger.
refrigerated semi-trailer from Southfields was unveiled during the show. It is built from plastic-plywood composite panels, tailor-made by Manton International of Ireland, and based on one of Southfields' own classics, with a special slimline neck giving a depth in the coupling-plate area of only 110mm. Premium features offered as standard include stainless-steel front and rear frames and door gear.
The show model also had moulded plastic side fairings, meat rails and five interior lights. Doors or other features can be built into the side panels, which are vacuum heat-pressed to ensure even density of the polyurethane foam insulation. Class C ATP certification •
An imaginative double-deck refrigerated semi-trailer was shown by Gray and Adams. The chassisless tri-axle design features SAF stub axles to allow the lower deck to be slung between them, giving a headroom of 1.83m on both decks within an overall height of 4.2m. There is room for 38 pallets or 75 roll cages. Refrigeration comes courtesy of a Carrier Euro-Phoenix front-mounted unit, with a remote evaporator for the lower deck. A double-tier Rateliff tail-lift is also fitted. Because of space constraints, the unusual lifting mechanism for the front axle features a horizontally-mounted air bag on each side. Gray and Adams is already selling dry-freight equivalents in Northern Ireland.
A do-it-yourself Luton kit for longwheelbase and extra-long-wheelbase Ford Transit chassis-cabs was launched by Commercial Vehicle Roofs with aluminium-alloy framework, 2mm reinforced-plastic panelling, and moulded-plastic air deflector and side skirts. The rear frame is steel; interior fittings include lashing strips and a plywood floor. Claimed assembly time for two people is seven hours; the kit weighs 460kg and costs £1,100 (including extras).
Two developments were announced at Telford by BCT Equipment. It has taken on all manufacturing and marketing rights to the former Scapa range of tipping gears, which are being reengineered and re-introduced under BCT's Dumpit banner. Arguably the most significant of these is a range of fully-gimballed three-way gears, which are for vehicles of up to 12-tonnes gross; but the launch example was a new frontend gear, mounted on a 7.5-tonne AWD chassis. It features bore-sealing rams with bronze ram nuts and revised long-life seals. BCT's other innovation is a hydraulic parcel lift for fitting inside a van body, with a small platform on the end of a single telescopic tube.
A demountable one-tonne cantilever tail-lift was shown by Ray Smith (Tail Lifts). It is the first in a new range of "Zoom" lifts which slide forward horizontally under the body during stowing and can be removed from the chassis and pulled clear on a hydraulic lift truck. The company reckons that removal takes less than two minutes— and says the cost is £500 less than on comparable zoom models.
A close-coupled drawbar trailer outfit in trial service with Whitbread was shown by Ray Smith Demountables. It features a revised version of Ray Smith's swap-body system, with a particularly shallow guiderail assembly, allowing the floor to be kept as low as a fixed-body vehicle (in this case 1,060mm). The trailer has SAF air suspension. Fourteen of the airsprung Scania chassis are already in service at Blackburn.
Two versions of a Ford Transit minibus conversion for police use, one with a high-roof conversion, were shown by Customline, alongside a coachbuilt Renault 50-Series welfare bus and a boxvan body on a 7.5-tonne Leyland Roadrunner for Carryfast, which has placed an order for 10.
Longton Commercial Vehicle Services is now part of the Don Bur Group, and showed a sleeper-cab conversion of the Leyland Roadrunner cab. It also carries Out chassis repairs and modifications, and manufactures the Sapphire range of side curtains and load-restraint equipment.
A centre-axle drawbar-trailer outfit for British Gas on the York stand incorporated many of the facets of the group's bodybuilding activities. It has sliding-door bodies by York Bodybuilders; an air-operated demountable system by group member Abel, and a York drawbar trailer with York Tecair air suspension. Inside the exhibition hall, attention was focussed on an example of York's Roof-Raiser curtain-sided trailer, whose roof can be fixed at either 4.56 or 4.2m to suit 38Continued on page 18