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Equipment to raise workshop standards
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Page 141
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• The Workshop Conference with the theme "Setting standards" was supported by an exhibition in the lower hall at Telford Exhibition Centre at which a number of firms had displays to help workshops in attaining standards.
Four demonstrations at the exhibition proved a popular feature with conference delegates and could also be observed by VIP visitors.
Discussing tyre problems
Equipment on display ranged from mobile post lifts to computer programs for workshop organising.
A large, inflatable Michelin man sited on top of the company's stand dominated the exhibition. As well as the normal display of premium truck tyres, the latest literature was available. Some delegates took the opportunity to discuss their tyre problems at length. Nobody comes onto a tyre stand happy, says Michelin's Barry Tulby, but he was confident that those who came onto the stand went away better informed and reasonably happy. ATS used standards as the theme for its display. British standards on tyre and rim selection, regrooving, puncture repairs and remoulding are all adhered to by Europe's largest tyre distributor. Its retread plant in County Durham has just been awarded BS 5750 Part 2 and its tyre fitters hold more City and Guilds certificates than the other members of the National Tyre Distributors Association put together. Interest was also shown in two gauges used for checking wheel fixings. One checks conical fixings and the other stud holes for spiggot-mounted wheels.
Another exhibitor achieving standards was Somers Handling. The Somers mobile vehicle lift manufacturing plant has just passed re-assessment for the military AQAP4 standard. All the company's vehicle lifts are manufactured to this standard. Using four of its column lifts and a specially designed beam, Somers demonstrated lifting a full-size tandem-axle semi-trailer.
Wheel-a-Bench appeared for the second time at the exhibition and showed its recently introduced Drawer Receiver. This unit is bolted onto recovery vehicles and, when called out, a fitter can transfer his tools drawer by drawer into the receiver. The new unit will accept only the later Wheel-a-Bench drawers with roller bearing runners and costs £95 plus valueadded tax.
Workshop equipment and service tools were also displayed on the Rubery OwenRockwell stand. A brake anchor pin reaming tool was displayed along with the company's range of service literature and a wheel dolly. The dolly caused interest because it can be easily and quickly dismantled into four parts and be carried in a van or the boot of a car.
Tilts repaired
Since appearing at last year's exhibition, Jaggards Taman has become part of Jantar PLC. Equipment for the repair of torn tilts and curtains was on show along with the company's range of cargo restraint parts and fittings. Hefac has been appointed as national distributor for Isri seats and, through a nationwide network of distributors, is now offering replacement seats for any make of truck. Also on display was a demonstration of the Raychem Thermoline fuelheating system showing the dewaxing of cooled diesel and the current required for the element.
The recently developed 430 singleplate, pull-type clutch was to be seen on the Spicer Drive Train stand. Pegaso, the Spanish truck builder, has taken 100 of these units capable of transmitting 2,000Nm (1,500 lbft) for fitting as original equipment in some of its vehicles. Also on the stand was the Chelsea 812 power take-off. This unit is specially designed for low-input shaft rotation speed as found in gearboxes like the Eaton Twin Splitter. As the EC bureaucrats start to look at introducing legislation on smoke emission for vehicles in service, the forwardlooking delegates took the opportunity to pick up details on a portable smoke meter from Sun Electrics UK. Its DSM900 unit is fully portable, can work off 12 volts and costs £1,250 exluding VAT.
Additions to the range offered by European Truck Parts include service exchange alternators and starter motors for Continental trucks. All other items offered by the company are new and to the original vehicle manufacturer's specification. The stand had a huge array of parts for Continental-manufactured vehicles.
Hereford Profiles was exhibiting the versatility of its mobile column Prolift. Being equipped with swinging-fork carriages, the Prolift will compensate if the columns are slightly out of position and can also allow one end of the vehicle to be raised significantly higher than the other to facilitate the removal of major components. A twice yearly, 35-point service and safety check can be included in the price if the purchaser requires. A platform adapter is also available to enable multiwded low-loader trailers to be lifted.
Well known for its vehicle price guides, Glass's also produces a wide range of reference material suitable for workshops. Heavy commercial vehicle technical service data, ICME manuals, wall charts and frame dimension manuals are all available from Glass's and created some interest at its stand.