"The chassis are heavy but they never crack or
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need any work" David Bell
About 20 years ago P4+.1 Church established his plant hire, bulk excavation and aggregate recycling operation high on the southern edge of the Cotswolds at Marshfield near Chippenham. Today the company employs around 100 people operating and maintaining some 60 items of plant and 26 tippers.
Alongside two Renault Keraxes and four Maxters, general manager David Bell runs 20 MAN 8x4s. "Our association with MAN began with a couple of 292s back in 1987," he says. "Then in 1994 we put out tenders to three manufacturers for 10 trucks. MAN came in with the keenest warranty, price and specification package. It was the biggest single order MAN had received for its F90 8x4 at the time and they were our first trucks with the fivecylinder unit. Since then we have added 10 rated at 340hp and the latest, in April this year, took the last of the five-cylinder engines.
"Some carry stone and the others are used on muckaway work," he adds. "For the past four years we have specified them with Swedish steel bodies, made by RVBB in South Wales, and Hytec tipping equipment. For muckaway work we keep the sides of the bodies quite low so that they can't be overloaded. Payload is more important to us if we carry stone. The chassis are heavy, but they never crack or need any work. At 32 tonnes we get about 1915 tonnes payload.
"Locally, we are operating in hilly conditions and cover about 80,000km a year so fuel can be a problem," Bell explains. "Returns can range from 6.5 to 9.5mpg but overall we are averaging about 7.0 mpg.
"Our policy for truck replacement is the same as for our plant," he says. "We like to change them every five years but circumstances dictate whether we make that sooner or later. We usually part-exchange them, and as we do look after them we have been happy with the residuals.
"With MAN the changeover has to be planned as the lead time is
about three months. We deal w MAN South-West based in Brh I only 25 miles away. About 95% replacements we buy are genii MAN parts, which we find 2 comparable on price, and dealer will deliver twice a d MAN's headquarters will supply if we're stuck for a part, but find it's easier through the deal
"I believe drum brakes on 1 front are an option on 1 Continent but not in the UK,' says. "I don't see any benefit fitting discs. The pads we quicker than linings so over there is little time saved in 1 workshop. The five-cylin c engines have been very relia t although three years ago we + have two new 322s suffer w broken piston rings. All our ear rience with ECIC has been go Clutches last between 200,0 and 300,000km depending an 1 the driver.
"At about P-reg, MAN charl the rear spring pack with fey
ayes and we started to get few breakages until they langed back again to the rger 14-spring pack," he :ports. "At the front the ibber bushes are a major aar problem. Replacing lem is difficult as the air nks and exhaust have to be ,moved. Before, the steel ishes had grease nipples id never needed changing. le alloy cross-axle differenil switch on the axle corlies and needs changing at lout 18 months; and anti!! bar bearings also need langing on a regular basis. "There is ample room in the cab," says Bell. "It's easy to pe down clean. MAN has bber mats fitted now, lich makes better sense. im could be a bit stronger] still get door handles Iled off.
"The drivers like the ZF nchromesh box but the exhaust brake is not a lot of good," he says. "We've looked at the Intarder but the oncost outweighs any financial benefit. We get a lot of tyre damage so all of our tippers run on 295/80 remoulds.
"The plastic front bumper with the under-valance gave us ground-clearance problems," he says. "MAN has reverted to a steel bumper and placed the step more out of the way. But ground clearance is not bad with the brake chamber high out of the way and a sump guard giving protection at the front end.
"We have added an extra mud flap on the second axle to prevent mud build ing up on the exhaust.
"LED marker lights with American rear light clusters have virtually solved our replacement bulb problems which, over the fleet, were costing over £200 a month," be concludes.