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!tan Am i !tan Am i Actros s ready o dig in for Kocurek
Page 17
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Colin Barnett y haulage is the ultimate niche marin the UK there might be a dozer in a good year, with Germany taking ) 35. Unlikely as it may seem, the significant market at the moment is lark, due to the massive proafera)f wind farms there—all those giant ?.s need transporting to site.
M was on hand to see the handover a latest addition to the UK's part of ies; one that's rather unusual in ; run by an own-account operator. rek Excavator's Mercedes-Benz Actros is the first of its breed to be here—this example is an Actros SLT 8x4 which came equipped with the Distance cab.
From its base in Stuttgart, Titan contributes around 70 units each year to the market This example c)me off the Worth production line as a regular 2653 6x2, before the long list of Titan mods was added. The most obvious is the second steering axle, the only Dne of the four to have disc brakes. The ithassis, a 9.5mmthick tipper-based item with local reinforcement, can be rated at 250 tonnes COW for drawbar use, but in this case, with a Ming fifth-wheel, it runs at 100 tonnes. A fixed coupling would raise its limit t )150 tonnes.
iT e other major change is the pack at the rear of the cab, whicf incorporates air tanks. a 900fit fuel tank, batteries and the tanks and coolers for the trans /11890h hydraulics. The ransmission is the most unusual part of ':he base vehicle's spec—a conventional manual 16speeder is driven by a coupling system that includes a dry-plate clutch and conventional torque converter with its own mechanical lock-up clutch. The 523hp V8 engine is mundane by comparison.
The operator
David Kocurek is an engireer of the old schoal , who admits to having started his metal fabrication business "because I like making things". Kocurek Excavators was started by David and his mother Rita in 1979 and soon dog itself a useful niche in the market lay manufacturing extended excavator booms. Its big break came with the enforced demise of the tradi tional ball-and-chain demolition technique, leaving an industry desperate for more controllable equipment.
A set of Kocurek booms can add £20C,000 to a machine that already costs £250,000, but can involve up to 3,000 man hours of labour. The longest telescopic booms can reach a height of 45m or an outreach of 35m, but at the other extreme, it also makes digging booms for mini-excavators.
Kocurek makes as much of the finished product as possible in-house, even down to parts as diverse as hydraulic rams, pipe clips and many of the more specialised nuts and bolts.
This approach is carried over to its haulage. It could easily become dependent on outside hauliers, but while it does contract-in help for some jobs, most of its transport is handled by its own fleet of Mercs. A number of Sprinters and an unusual Atego 7.5-tonner, with storage cabin, crane and flatbed body take care of routine transport; the Titan Actros will be hauling the bigger stuff on a six-axle Nooteboom trailer.
That "bigger stuff" includes excavators up to 18ft wide, although 11ft is more usual. Weight is not usually a major consideration, with 85-tonne loads being about it. Kocurek's regular driver reckons on a cruising speed of around 45mph being typical with the firm's old SK tractor. Fuel consumption is secondary to getting the job done, but is certainly capable of being measured in miles per gallon, rather than vice-versa.
On the road
CM was privileged to be invited to deliver the Titan from vendor, Orwell Trucks, to its new home. Although a 10mile drive around the outskirts of Ipswich in a solo tractive unit hardly constitutes a full test, it did present a rare opportunity to drive a rare vehicle, The first novel feature we discovered was the mechanism that prevents the throttle pedal having any effect until the clutch is fully engaged. Thanks to the unique transmission arrangement, there is an odd sensation as the clutch appears to "slip", followed by another as the torque converter locks. The slapacross range-change is very positive, suffering none of the tendency to bounce back that some systems of this type are prone to.
As you might expect, 523hp propelling less than 13 tonnes makes for a lively performance, but the double-drive rear end ensures that traction is not a problem. In fact, if there is a problem running un-coupled, its that traction can overcome steering grip—the throttle demands respect when accelerating out of a bend or roundabout if you're to avoid learning the meaning of power-on understeer the hard way.
Unladen, that sophisticated transmis sion means that you can start off in any gear—the only difference is the rate of acceleration. Reailstically, with only a sight downwards gradient, we were able to start off in 5L with no problem at all.
Once under way, top gear performance is more than adequate to keep up with any traffic situation. At road speeds, the steering is surprisingly nimble for such a big beast, and it really is easy to drive. No doubt it's a different story when running full freighted.
Kocurek's truck was specified with left-hand drive for ease of manoeuvring in tight spaces and to facilitate the frequent jumping in and out of the cab that heavy haulage tends to entail, although right-hand steering is also available.