Double season in the Borders
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by Colin Sowman • Borders Regional Council has taken the first two 6x6 Iveco Ford EuroTrakkers (330E34W) in the UK, The left-hand drive vehicles will be used for snow clearing/gritting through the winter and on road repairs during the summer.
According to transport manager Ronnie Linton the two activities fit together exceptionally well making the 6x6 productive throughout the year.
With only 103,000 people and 1900, miles of roads, Borders has problems keeping the population mobile when it snows. So it needs as many vehicles as possible for snow clearing. However, the EuroTrakkers cannot be allowed to stand around the rest of the time so the new regulations on road reinstatement allow a perfect summer job.
Also, as road mending is a low mileage use, Linton expects to be able to keep the EuroTrakkers operating for 10 years.
Utility companies now have to reinstate a road (following pipe repairs and the like) to its original standard first time— that requires hot tarmac. With a traditional insulated tipper this is no problem in the mornings but it can cool by the afternoon: "you can lose up to half a load," says Linton. To counter this the EuroTrakkers will be bodied with demountable hot boxes which are heated by gas or electricity to keep the tarmac hot all day and even through to the following morning.
One EuroTrakker is fitted with Econ gritter and hot box gear, the other has a Whale gritter and a Phoenix hot box. While the Econ-equipped vehicle has a single PTO driven from the transfer box; the other has one on the engine and a second on gearbox. A third EuroTrakker is on order but its specification might have to be altered as the Scottish Office has brought in new winter use requirements.
Despite only being available in left-hand drive, Linton went for the 6x6 EuroTrakkers as the council has had good service from its bonneted Maggies (both air and water cooled). Plated at 26 tonnes a hot-boxed EuroTrakker has a payload of around 12 tonnes and runs as a 6x4. Switching into 6x6 mode reduces the overall gearing by 60% giving a gradeability of over 40% (1 in 2.5).
Power from the 340hp (254kW) 9.5litre Iveco engine passes through a 16speed ZF (direct top) to the transfer box. This has a 1:1 ratio in 6x4 but drops to 1.6:1 when driving all the axles. Having to sit atop three 4.23:1 hub-reduction drive axles and all the transfer gear means the unladen chassis is 1.18m high—but it does allow plenty of ground clearance.
Driving impressions
having come off the older Maggies, regular driver Alec Blake is delighted with the EuroTrakker. We took his new charge for a spin round some of the smaller roads in the Borders.
You could be excused for thinking that you need crampons to get into the EuroTrakker—the cab is that high. There are three steps before getting to the cab floor. Also, with the load's centre of gravity being so high, banks and inclines must be taken with great caution. To help in this respect there are fore/aft and sideways tilt inclinometers in the cab—although they are not marked with safe limits!
The EuroTrakker's cab is a good working environment. Inside the noise levels are easily low enough to carry on a conversation and hard plastic is used everywhere except the seats.
Unladen on level ground it can pull away easily in 3H, skipping to 4H before leaving the bottom half of the box. And if you can keep a small degree of roll on entering a roundabout, there was no need to revisit it. The double-H gearchange is positive and there isn't much call to use the splits outside the top two gears.
The engine pulls from the 1,200 rpm start of the green band but it gets enthusiastic above 1,500rpm. Between 1,300 and 1,600 rpm there is a "double" green band with the single green ending at 1,900rpm.
In high range (6x4) the EuroTrakker has a geared speed of 105km/h (66mph) and is highly competent on the road. With its firm suspension, typical of off-road vehicles, you certainly feel in contact with the road. The steering on an unladen vehicle is a little light but it does give scope not only for loading but also for selecting all-wheel drive.