VEHICLE NEWS EXTRA
Page 14
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With Foden and Daf sharing the same parent company it was only a matter of time before they began to share some major components—not least cabs. But while Foden's new Alpha range may look a lot like a Daf 85CF there's a clear difference belween the two, especially when it comes to the driveline.
by Brian Weatherley
• The gap between the two European members of the Paccar group has closed with the launch of Foden's new Alpha range which sports a stylised version of the all-steel Daf 85175 Series cab, but atop a proprietary driveline.
The Alpha 2000 and 3000 line-up runs from 17-tonners to 38-tonne 4x2 and 6x2 tractors. Both ranges will make their debut at the RI-IA TipCon Show next month, along with a facelifted 4000 Series.
Foden has adopted a steel cab for the Alpha range, but the 4000 Series will soldier on with a GRP cab for the foreseeable future. Foden's Dutch boss Aad Goudriaan says the company is assessing options for the 4000 Series, but adds that with steel cabs available from Daf it would have been a "silly management decision to build a brand new cab" for the Alpha.
Alpha cabs are built at Daf s Westerlo factory in Belgium and shipped complete to Foden's Sandbach assembly plant. While the Alpha and 85 Series cabs do have a family likeness. Foden has added a number of styling tweaks. The doors, side panels, front wings and interior trim are all pure Foden.
Foden is obviously planning to win more volume business and the move to an all-steel cab is designed to help it build, and sell, more trucks, more costeffectively. Bowing to industry trends, it has also adopted synchromesh gearboxes as standard across the Alpha range, although constant-mesh Eaton transmis
sions do remain on the options list. The old Cable Craft cable linkage has been replaced by a conventional rod linkage.
Cummins and Cat engines are fitted throughout the Alpha range. There's no longer a Perkins option and Goudriaan stresses that Daf engines will not power Fodens.
Foden's chief engineer Dennis Culloty is not commenting on the chances of a Cat C12 engine for the Alpha 3000, although there's room under the cab to fit the 12-litre engine which is about the same size (not least as the 3000's cab sits 100mm higher on the frame than the 2000 model). In any case a C12 will be shown in the facelifted 4000 Series at TipCon.
Revised chassis
The new Alpha cab sits on a revised chassis, riding on a four-point mounting system of coil springs and dampers. Foden's high-tensile steel and bolted-alloy cross-member frame construction method is retained, but the Alpha features a cranked forward chassis section.
Mentor drive axles are fitted as standard at the rear; the front end is taken care of by Kirkstall and Mentor steer axles, both with 7.1 and 7.5-tonne capacities. Alpha 6x2 tractors will have a non-steering, lifting Hendrickson axle.
To back up the new range Foden has re-focused its marketing campaign out of its established niche and into the general haulage market.
According to Goudriaan: "Foden has become truly market driven." To support its new sales strategy Foden is offering a two-year "bumper-tobumper" vehicle warranty with a three-year driveline warranty on all Cat and Cummins engines equipped with electronic "ID" and "Road Relay" diagnostic functions.
Other incentives include one, two and three-year fixed insurance premiums through Norwich Union; used truck finance packages with contract hire, leasing and guaranteed buybacks; and a guaranteed noon-next-day parts delivery service with a money-back pledge for non-delivery.
Operators are bound to be interested in the relative kerbweights of the Alpha and the 85CF range. The Alpha is rumoured to be lighter on a likefor-like basis: Foden quotes a kerbweight of 6.44 tonnes for an Mil-powered 3.8m-wheelbase Alpha 3000 4x2 tractor with 20 litres of fuel but no driver.
A full technical description of the Foden Alpha range will be published in next week's Commercial Motor,
Foden Alpha range at a glance
Alpha 2000 17-tonners with day and sleeper cabs. Driveline options: • Cummins 5.9-litre BSeries engine at 215 and 235hp; • Caterpillar 7.2-litre 3126 engine at 275 and 300hp; • Eaton six/nine-speed, and ZF nine-speed synchro boxes; • Mentor (Rockwell) 5153E/5180E 11.5-tonne drive axles.
NB: Cummins' B-Series is a non-electronic engine.
Alpha 3000 26/32-tonne rigids and 38-tonne tractive units with day and sleeper cabs. Driveline options: • Caterpillar 7.2-litre 3126 at 275 and 300hp; • Caterpillar 10-litre Cl 0 at 340 and 380hp; • Cummins 11-litre M11 at 340, 380 and 405hp; • Eaton S-Series eight and 16-speed synchro boxes with optional Twin Splitter and nine-speed constantmesh transmissions; • Mentor (Rockwell) Si 80E drive axles and R152-1 53P bogie. NB: 4x2 tractor units will be offered with 3.3, 3.5 and 3.8m wheelbases; the 6x2 mid-lift tractor will have a 3.9m outer axle spread,