Site for sore eyes!
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Last week's 32nd Site Equipment Demonstration was bigger and better attended than ever, but remarkably the only truck manufacturer to show up was Foden, with its latest Alpha range, writes Bryan Jarvis. Considering that everything got to the Milton Keynes showground by road, it would have been a fine opportunity to impress the heavy haulage brigade.
Many exhibits were fresh from last month's BAUMA extravaganza, which was good news for operators who missed Munich. There was a crop of new designs from Andover Trailers, Broshuis, Faymonville, King Trailers, Nicolas, Wootton Trailers and Nooteboom. Building material suppliers weren't forgotten: Hymix, Gort, Leibherr and Mulder all gave their latest concrete mixers an SED airing, while crane manufacturers such as HMF and Cormach also revealed new models. The Plant Theft Action Group (PTAG) were on hand to remind hauliers and plant owners that thieves are taking £600m from their sites each and every year, and much of it goes to support the drug scene and terrorism. PTAG can be contacted on 0171 273 3489/3833. Its message is: "Don't drop your guard". That's good advice for any haulier.
ANDOVER'S RANGE OF EXHIBITS included T&M Plant's eye-catching combination of an immaculate two-year-old Scania P124L-360 6x2 hauling a lightweight dropwell lowloader rated at 46 tonnes GM/. The trailer's designed for single-lane, rear-end loading but has a normal detachable neck for loading machines over the front. Powered toe ramps and shallow bridge plates help to get pavers or rollers onto the front deck, which runs 1.2m ahead of the kingpin. This is one of two lookalike rigs operating all over the UK out of T&M's Charlwood, Gatwick yard; features include an 8,000Ib electric winch, clip-on sides and a self-steering rear axle. HMF SHOWED OFF TWO new additions to its Danish-built crane range. One is the fast-loading 4.0tm 400 Series in the 3.0-5.0-tonne range for jobbing builders, hire companies and the like: the heavier duty 2500/2800 Series ranges from 2528tm. With fly jib and manual extensions the 2820 on display at SED can carry almost 250kg at a distance of more than 28m. It costs around £30,000; a price has yet to be announced for the 400 Series, which is due to arrive in August. SED SEEMED A LOGICAL PLACE for Wilson DoubleDeck Trailers to demonstrate the final version of its demountable forklift. After all, building materials need to be delivered and positioned, either for storage or immediate use. Following extensive prototype demonstrations the Hitch-Fork now has a 27hp (20kW) Lister four-pot diesel with four-wheel drive to handle deliveries along rutted tracks.lt weighs 2.0 tonnes, can raise its own weight to -.I just over 3.0m and retails at around £31,000. After the show the Hitch-Fork went straight into Canute's fleet for evaluation. THIS LIEBHERR HIM 704 8m3 MIXER for Pioneer is based on a Scania P1 14c 340 eightlegger chassis. It's one of more than 100 sold so far this year to major UK pre-mix companies. Liebherr mixers are renowned for their hard-wearing drum spirals, closely fixed subframes and unusual U-clamp mountings; but they can also use ZF's latest PLM combined drum drive/water pump assemblies. These range from 8m3 and 10m3 to the latest 13m3 version for heavier trailer-mounted mixers.
WITH ITS MASSIVE STEEL OUTRIGGERS and 52m of pumping line, Pochin's latest yellow cement spewer must look like an enormous mechanical insect from above. This is the first of a new breed of concrete pumping stations. It's based on a five-axled Mercedes-Benz 4853 chassis which is a heavy-duty stretched eight-legger with an extra BPW hydraulic steer axle on its tail. Like the twin-steer axles this is shod with wide-single tyres; the bogie uses conventional twins. This is the third 52m unit to join Pochin's 100-plus pumping fleet. It set the firm back a cool £560,000 but can deliver an awful lot of barrow loads at an impressive 200m3 an hour. IF TEMPERATURES CONTINUE to soar this summer the Nairn-built Scot Track 1700 could be kept busy helping to counter forest and moorland fires. Versions in service with the Grampian, North Yorkshire and Strathclyde brigades carry fogging and other fire fighting equipment: one example is kept on standby close to the M74 with Strathclyde police service. Powered by a 46hp (34kW) Kubota diesel with Rexroth hydraulics and a duplex/triplex chain-driven transmission, the rig has just two simple steer/drive controls and a brake pedal. Speed is limited to 19km/h but it can haul 750kg for eight hours over the boggiest ground, handling grades up to 40°.
DUTCH MANUFACTURER MULDER is staging a comeback in the Tilcon fleet after a fouryear break with a 6.5m3 cement mixer unit based on a 300hp Cat 3126-engined Foden Alpha 3000 6x4. The chassis was supplied by Manchester Truck Centre and the mixer unit was fitted by the maker's UK agent, Mixer Engineering of Accrington. Mulder also produces mixers from 1.5-15m3 for rigids to trailers with a wide range of complementary gear such as pumps and hydraulic chutes. PLASMOR GROUP'S haulage division, Translift Freight, is the owner of this Foden 4340 6x4 self-loading rigid with a Truckmate drawbar trailer. It's one of five supplied by Pelican Engineering and bodied by Mackworth of Derby for delivering up to 24-tonne loads of building blocks in and around central England. The driver/operator loads and off-loads using the HMF 1250 grab-crane mounted at the rear of the Foden chassis. Translift Freight has a fleet of 38; all Fodens bar a pair of ERFs. HALLET SILBERMANN IS WELL PLEASED with its new Faymonville Megamax low-loader; it will soon have it hitched to a double-drive Volvo FH12 420 tractor (supplied by Duff ields of Enfield) and hauling loads up to 150 tonnes. The new trailer has a payload of 44 tonnes at 80km/h or 55 tonnes at 40km/h. It's built to a fairly simple design with a 7.5m deck which can be extended to 12.5m. The neck is detachable with a tidy hydraulic multicoupling. Plug-in axle-steering controls can be located front and rear; in time these will be duplicated in the cab, enabling the driver to counter steer on the move. sec. CRANE BALLAST TRAILERS can now run at up to 100 tonnes GCW within STGO Cat 2 axle-weight limits (12.5 tonnes at 40mph), so there's renewed interest in these trailers. Peterhead Crane Company, which is currently extending its heavy transport division, has ordered several ballast carriers from King Trailers, including this new six-axle model. The 1.5m-high flat platform trailer, which is usually hauled by a double-drive tractor, steers via a Tridec hydraulic system linked to the four rearmost turntable axles. This gives it welcome extra manoeuvrability, especially off-road. For extra versatility the front pair can lift, but they all run with 425/60R 22.5 wide-single tyres.
WOKING-BASED WINTON ENGINEERING exhibited a smart PTO-driven power pack on a Ford Transit 190 Tipmaster tipper chassis which is destined for Hennelly's. It's one way for the firm's road, gas or cable repair teams to carry reinstating material, power tools and a digger on a small trailer. Using the Antlia underfloor system with a Maffei 105 vane compressor and Padmode generator it can deliver 110cfm at 8.0bar and 6kVA at 110/220V. That's enough to drive two jack hammers, lights and arc welding gear or a range of powered tools. Adding the Antlia system to your chassis will put £6,000-£7,500 on your overall bill, depending on the spec; Winton can supply them for trucks up to 17 tonnes.
TATA SHOWED OFF the latest 4x4 single-cab addition to its array of Loadbeta pickups. It attracted considerable interest, not least for its £9,995 (ex-VAT) price tag. It's powered by an 89hp (66kW) 2.0-litre chargecooled turbo-diesel with a fivespeed synchro box, electrically operated transfer box and automatic free-wheeling hubs. Braking is via front discs and rear drums. Payload is just 950kg and Tata is planning to boost its towing capability to 2.0 tonnes. For driving impressions see last week's CM (21-27 May). A TRIAXLED EURO 60 power-steered low-loader is the first of its kind from Nooteboom to join APC's fleet in Glasgow. Along with an extendible neck and an excavator trough to reduce the overall height, the trailer has Nooteboom's latest remote steering system. This includes automatic realigning and in-cab control of the steering axles while on the move. APC's low-loader carries a 450,000km warranty on the major steering components.
WOBURN LAND ROVER brought along a selection of the ubiquitous 4x4s, from a pickup through to the Range Rover and the latest Freelander. Although this is a high-quality on/off-roader with appropriate fully carpeted Sloanie interior, it clearly has the Land Rover pedigree. With the seats folded forward and the optional floor liner you have a useful little storage space that will accept tools, equipment or bales of straw for your little pony.
ONE LOOK AT THE Aussie-built Franna 14SB crane was enough to raise the hackles of anyone who's driven a rear-steer Iron Fairy or Jumbo crane. However, this all-terrain lift-and-carry mobile looked a far more capable beast: it can handle 14 tonnes at a 1.53m radius or a tonne extended to 15.85m, all under the watchful eye of a Wylie safe load system. The driveline is a familiar 136hp Perkins YD350 turbo-diesel; four-speed Allison; and two Rockwell SSHD axles with a hydraulic pivot steering at the centre. A fly jib, air conditioning and a 6.0-tonne machinery hook are optional. Franna makes around 18 machines a month in the 14-25tonne range for sales in and around the Pacific rim. European Cranes of Bicester is the Brisbane firm's UK agent; to date it has made six sales in the UK.
CORMACH EXHIBITED its first heavy-duty 8700HDK brick and block crane at SED. Complete with Kinshofer rotator and grab, the 7.63m boom can hike 1.55 tonnes at 4.09m;1.07 tonnes at 5.84m; or 810kg extended to 7.63m. Its dry weight is 1,210kg and it retails at around £10,000. With the dangers of bridge bashing in mind, Cormach's UK agent, Ernest Doe of Colchester, has devised its own over-height warning kit for truck/lorry loader combinations. It costs £125 (ex-VAT); for details contact 01206 871881.