Swaps save journeys
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• Bass Brewers' Northern Region has pioneered a drinks distribution system using truck swap bodies on drawbar and artic outfits which halves the number of journeys between its Sheffield depot and customers in Grimsby.
It is based on a pair of 21-tonne Volvo FS7 6x2 rigids with pusher axles pulling King centre-axled trailers with deck heights of 1.1m.
Bass fleet engineers have ensured correct brake balancing between the two.
A special low version of Ray Smith's self-aligning drop-body system is used to serve 7.8m Marshall systems, each carrying nine tonnes of drinks. Now a rig can make full deliveries or drop a trailer while the rigid takes its load elsewhere.
The swap bodies have front rollers that run on guide rails on the chassis.
Drive and trailer-axle air suspension raise the bodies so that their standing legs can be retracted or lowered.