Horses for course:
Page 30
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I must say straight away that many of us who rush up and down the motorways do not realise just how much effort has to be put into driving a lorry these days. Most of our time we simply head on to the M1 or M6 for three or four hours, dash along until we reach a predetermined exit, spill off into some convenient factory, tip load and dash off to some other conveniently-sited plant.
My recent visit to the valleys took me back many years when that sort of road condition was all we had and when the only respite from the hard work of it all was a trip into Norfolk or Lincolnshire, where gear changing and punching up hills was at a minimum.
I was extremely thankful for My eight-speed synchromesh gearbox during that 10 days, but was very aware of the high axle ratio I had chosen for my normal day-to-day traffic. My draw-bar trailer brakes suffered somewhat from overheating, too, and that was a good pointer to what might have proved to be a shortcoming had my outfit been destined to spend its whole life in the valleys.
Still, we completed the job with no more than a four per cent increase in fuel consumption and one more brake adjustment than usual for the mileage covered_
My outfit is single drive, and though we did not suffer wheelspin except when on some shale in one or two places, it was quite often obvious that sometimes we were near to losing traction and were punishing the driving tyres in no small way. This was obvious from the heavy road marking on all the steep gradients surmounted and I made a mental note to check the axle wear rate at 1,000 miles at the first opportunity.
When I was unfortunate enough to get stopped on some of the steeper gradients, the additional pasting the clutch suffered getting restarted also made me take special notice.
My average speeds over the roads were down considerably in relation to my normal performance, and I remembered the days when as an employed driver driving a very slow Foden on which I had to return 14 mph average (the standard return was 16 mph), I was allowed 12 mph when working west of
Chipstone or Exeter and I had to go like hell to do that sort of average.
I work my present journeys on an average of 33 mph, which in the normal course of events I can do easily — but the valleys had me down to around 25 mph. Again I made a mental note to remember this the next time I costed a job in the area. Once we determine the best overall spec, we can then place our priorities on things such as maximum road speed, starting gradeability and usability.
Under no circumstances must any of these be allowed to override the others without due consideration of the whole picture. The usability factor must take into account the premises served and the access to such places. On many occasions I have arrived at a company premises to find access to be more suitable to a short-wheelbase four-wheeler than my own draw-bar outfit.
In any case the awkward access was the exception rather than the rule so I could afford to waste a little time having to manoeuvre a lot to effect entry. But if such a job was a regular occurrence, I would have to weigh the time involved against the body space and access as to which would afford the greatest savings.
Note that I speak of body space and not carrying capacity. In many cases it is possible to secure a same tonneage capacity by making a body deeper and shorter. It is seldom as convenient but needs must when the devil drives, and all that. There is one thing tft certain when planning a vehicle or outfit — it pay spend some considerable investigating exactly what are expecting to do.
It may be that the outfit be a general purpose hack will spend its life trami around doing all sorts of 1, and carrying many diverse h of traffic. On the other hanc task may be completely spe ised and wide open to bi tailored for the job. There i. doubt that if the latter is case, a machine built spec for this specific job will pa■ handsomely.
Special -or tramp, howe take the time to discuss specifications fully wit specialist who understands problems fully.