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Original idea was right first time
Page 68
Page 69
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...says Steve Gray of Ford popular D-Series range, which he has road-tested in its latest and most economical form. But driver comfort has not been neglected either, Pics by Brian Weatherley.
FORD'S ubiquitous D-Series range of trucks has remained • almost unaltered since its introduction 14 years ago. Any updating during that time has been minor, the most recent being an external facelift and small engine mods just before last year's NEC Show, Even so, it's been a process of refining the model rather than 'making dramatic changes. Perhaps this indicates that the original concept was dead right. Indeed the design of the 0Series was based on that of an American Ford delivery vehicle which is still going strong in that country.
When Ford offered us a D 1311 for test then, we decided it would be a good idea to see the current state of play with the British vehicle.
The D-Series has been a success particularly in the distribution field, and appropriately our test vehicle was fitted with a boxvan body built by Coachwork Conversions. It also had two fuel-saving devices — an air deflector on the cab and a Holset Thermo fan. These helped give the Ford an impressive fuel consumption over our new Midlands route of 21.34 lit/ 100km (13.24mpg).
I say impressive — but in fact, as this' is the first vehicle to complete the course, we really have no comparison. Nevertheless, I wouldn't have expected a flat platform vehicle to achieve this kind of result, let alone a truck with a box body.
As regular readers will know, our new route replaced the former Midlands test circuit for vehicles between 3.5 and 16.0 tonnes, and the occasional urban artic. It starts at Mernbury services on the M4 and almost one-third is motorway, running down to junction 24.
Here the route takes us on to the A449 bound for Monmouth. Leaving Monmouth on the A40, we eventually join the A45 and pass through Hereford, out on the A438 road for Ledbury. Making a detour down the B4213 to avoid a bridge limit at Tewksbury, the route runs through Cheltenham, then Northleach on the A40. Turning off at Witney on the A415, we eventually rejoin the motorway via the A338 at junction 14 to complete the journey back to Membury services.
There are a couple of steep hills the first the long drag out Monmouth — and many of the roads are twisty. There's also plenty of town work — something we believe was missing on our previous Midland circuit.
The Ford coped with all these different conditions without apparent effort. It is a phenomenon of the D-Series, it seems to me, that they all need
to be "driven" — by that, I mean plenty of gearchanging and keeping the revs up.
In fact the D-Series power unit fitted to our test vehicle — the 6.2-litre naturally-aspirated unit — was despeeded, fitted with different pistons, lower compression ratio and a revised fuel pump as part of the search for better efficiency. The result, a drop of 200 rpm from 2800 to 2600 maximum has, says Ford, improved efficiency by 5%. Maximum DIN is 85kW (116bhp) for the unit in this
application, which gives the 1311 a power-to-weight ratio of 6.6kW/tonne (8.9bhp /ton) — not exactly sparkling, but sufficient for the job.
Our D1311 was fitted with the optional heavy-duty clutch (costing £31.91) and Ford's 6.600 six-speed gearbox — again an option at £211.58. This combination gave the Ford good flexibility. It was able to restart easily on a 1-in-5, but as I've said, it lacked speed on the motorway.
The gear-lever comes easily to hand but I didn't particularly like the selection of gears. Third had to "felt" in as it was a very short movement from second across the gate. However, it didn't take long to get used to the box and I soon felt at home.
The 0-Series has always been an easy vehicle to drive, with the emphasis on car-like comfort. This has further been improved by the use of the export versions (designated NSeries) trim on all but the tipper and six-wheeler chassis. Most of the trim changes are minor, such as orange surrounds to the dashboard and heater control panel but new door trims and fancy striped seats are now used.
One item that has been neglected on the D-Series is the provision of a grab-handle to ease entry to the cab. The tendency is to get hold of the steering wheel rim to pull oneself up and this increases the risk of damage to the column bushes — exacerbated on a .distribution vehicle like the D1311, where the driver is constantly jumping in and out.
Once inside, though, the DSeries cab is a pleasant enough place to work. Curiously our test vehicle came with a speedometer rather than a tacho graph. As a "delete option' it costs £198.15 less, Another option on our test vehicle was power steering — to my mind essential on any vehicle bigger than eight tons gross and used mainly for distribution. Certainly the power steering on the Ford made lowspeed work and manoeuvring much more pleasant. But it still allowed the driver complete control at speed, with none of the lightness often associated with power steering.
Like the steering, the brakes too were very effective. They were easily capable of stopping the vehicle under all conditions and gave a good account of themselves under full-pressure stops at MIRA.
I particularly liked the parkbrake control, which is located between the driver's and passenger's seats. It's a small neat little air switch — a far cry from the original D-Series which had a diabolical walking-stick lever mounted on the dashboard.
More often than not, it wouldn't release first time and even the addition of air assistance didn't do much to solve the problem. The latest control is just right and there's little delay as the brakes go off.
All other controls are similarly well placed and easy to use, except for the windscreen wash/wipe unit on the floor. It's too far away to be easily reached with one's left foot and it's an awkward thing to press anyway.
The D-Series has always been an easy vehicle to get at as tar as maintenance is con cerned. Although not the first vehicle on the UK market to offer a tilt cab — Fodens claim they were first — the D cab tilts quickly and easily to a maximum of 50 and exposes the power unit very effectively. It also makes it easy to reach the ancillaries such as air compressor and so on.
To tilt the cab, the gear lever has to be moved through 1 80' and a large, handled bolt removed behind the seats. With these taken care of, it's a one man job to tilt the cab, which is retained in the open position by a sturdy stay. Coolant level is checked by means of a translucent plastic header tank mounted behind the cab on the rear cross-member.
To check the oil level, a small hinged flap is raised on the offside, inside the cab behind the driver's seat. At the front outside of the cab, two separate plates can be removed to give access to fuses and clutch fluid reservoir. However, a pressed metal bar which links the wipers looks as if it could cause injury to the back of one's hand when changing fuses, especially in the dark.
Topping up the clutch fluid level looks OK, although care is needed to avoid spilling fluid down the panel, which could take off the paint. There is a small spill tray round the filler neck to catch surplus fluid.
The twin reservoirs for the air/hydraulic service brakes on the Ford are mounted on the offside, behind the battery. This stops a lot of mud and water from reaching the plastic containers and thus infiltrating the brake fluid.
Summary In spite of the age of the original design, the Ford D-Series is still in the forefront of distribution vehicles. With nearly 1/2 million sold, it clearly appeals to operators in a big way. Our test showed it to be economical, comfortable and easy to service. It's a reasonably cheap vehicle to buy too, and the combination of optional extras means a basic model can be tailored to individual requirements easily and without too much cost. The price as tested of the chassis cab was £9460.40 while the body added a further £1814 40. The basic vehicle price is £8535.00.