"The inside is wel personal gear sum itted out and there's room for
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3s wet weather clothing" Dave Bishop
JF Bishop and Sons of Hemel Hempstead added one of the UK's first 3110hp 850F eight-wheelers to its 14-strong skip-hire fleet of older Mercedes-Benz eight-wheelers and smaller 45 and 55 Series Oafs. Dave Bishop runs the family business started by his father in 1958.
"We put the 850F 380 on the road at the beginning of the year and we have another on order," he says. "It services our demolition sites and we operate a licensed transfer station so a certain amount of material is returned to landfill sites. It's got good ground clearance and the radiators and engine compartment are well protected underneath. Our older Mercedes-Benz 30.25s are 10 years old now and the 30.39 is six years old. We wanted to move away from Mercedes-Benz because parts availability has not been good. We looked at the Volvo FM and the Foden. We quite liked the Foden but we settled on the 850F because of the good service we have received on parts for our smaller Daf trucks.
"Parts prices are competitive as well, and the few times we have called on help from Daf Aid with our smaller trucks It has been brilliant, The truck mainly works within 20 miles of Hemel and we wanted something with a bit of oomph to get It through the traffic. It's better an the hills, and journey times are better overall. The hefty level of torque will prove its worth in most site conditions.
"The 85CF runs with a 45yd3 body and is equipped with POE Deesink roll-on/off loader equipment. The 580 comes with the Eaton 12-speed Twin Splitter transmission and a gearbox PTO provides the hydraulic power for the hook. Automatic bogie blocking speeds up turnaround time as we don't need stabiliser legs. Unladen it weighs in at about 11 tonnes.
"The cab is mounted quite high but access is safe for the driver. It doesn't have a suspension seat but the ride is OK without it. The inside is well fitted out and there's room for personal gear such as wet weather clothing.
"The first service was carried out by Watford Daf, our local dealer, but we have looked after it in-house since then. We've only had one problem—a plastic brake valve got knocked off on the tip. We have protected it new. Fuel consumption is not bad. About 90% of the work is in town conditions and we're getting about 8.0mpg. All new-generation trucks carry a lot of plastic trim, That's fine as far as preventing corrosion but in a harsh operating environment such as ours they are prone to getting knocked off.
"The Mercedes eight-wheelers are heavy but solid. I like the 85CF, but it has still to be seen whether it will last as long."