Mercedes fights the flab on tractive units 1 %.. MERCEDES-BENZ'S
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1 trucks of the future will be offered with a range of weight saving options to overcome the problem of the weight of its tractive unit compared with its competitors in the UK.
Aluminium air reservoirs and Mel tanks will be optional on the new 1635 and 1644 models which will be introduced here next year (CM October 2 6 ) and in the longer term, glass reinforced plastic (GRP) springs may replace or he optional to the tapered leaf steel springs currently tined_ 1)airnler-lienz development engineers see -good prospectsfor (RP as a substitute for steel in springs, and have
prototypes undergoing test which are half the weight or a conventional parabolic spring.
However, they concede that there still is a problem in fixing the eye to the spring with glass reirdbrced plastic.
The new lighter singlechannel estate frame which replaced the Mercedes double channel type on the 1633 in the UK about a year ago will be standard On the 1635 and 1644, and on all Mercedes with the new engines.
The Alcoa aluminium wheels, developed specially to a Mercedes specification and which have been an option in the UK for some time.