"Drive axle tyres last
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anything up to 35,000 to 100,000 miles."
Trevor Stacey
• "You identify the waste and we'll provide the solution" is the promise that the Cleansing Service Group makes to its customers nationwide. Britain's largest privately owned waste management group, based at Botley near Southampton, was founded in 1934. Today the company operates more than zoo vehicles at 17 tonnes and above. It is predominantly a tanker fleet equipped for bulk collection but also includes front-end loaders and roll-on/off hook-loaders.
"We run mostly Mercedes-Benz and Daf eight-wheelers with more than 75% corning from Daf," fleet manager Trevor Stacey reports. "The 85CF Series was a natural progression from the earlier 85 Series eight-wheelers we operated. We have always enjoyed a good relationship with Oaf, both at dealer and manufacturer levels. When something goes wrong what is then important is how quickly it is put right. We have more than 8o 85 Series now. We plan to run them over a five-year span but we haven't sold any 85 Series yet—the fleet just gets bigger, although our replacement programme is under review "They are pretty well fully depreciated by the time we sell them and, although residual value is still important, it's not our number one priority. It's what it costs to run over its complete life that counts. The equipment that we add can easily more than double the price of the chassis. Payload is about middle of the road when compared with other makes; a 4,000-gallon tanker will weigh in at about 14 tonnes.
"Fuel consumption is not very meaningful because of the variation in the type of operation and widely differing static running times. But overall the 85CFs are not much different in that respect from other makes of truck we operate. Drive axle tyres last anything from 35,000 to io0,000 miles, again depending on the type of operation.
"We specify the low horsepower option. All of our 85CFs are 34ohp models. If a truck has surplus power the driver will still use it. Faster acceleration not only uses more fuel, it also has a bearing on brake life. We encourage the drivers to use the exhaust brake but we haven't evaluated the engine brake on the 12.6-litre engine yet. One of the reasons we bought the latest 85 Series is that they are about the last of the non-electronic-injection engines.
"Our local dealer is Adams Morely at Southampton. Nearly all of our servicing is done by Daf dealers around the country, out of hours. If the specification is kept simple there is less to go wrong. One thing we do like about electronic engine management is the extra security it can provide. We buy a three-year driveline warranty and any problem is dealt with amicably.
"Any early problems have been well sorted out now. The CF didn't bring any of its own. Daf has just introduced a heavyduty dutch and we will be interested in that. It would be nice to have an inhibitor that prevented the truck being driven off in too high a gear. The eight-speed gearbox is very easy to drive but there are times that a split on the top two gears would be useful. Sometimes a change of a frill gear on the motorway is just a bit more than is needed. Our drivers quite like the cab. It's quite easy to keep dean and they have enough space for spare clothing. We provide a chassis locker for contaminated overalls so they don't have to take them into the cab.
"We have just refurbished a cab after six years for a new contract. There were few signs of rust. The one thing that sets Daf apart from other manufacturers is the backup. It's second to none."