1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194 
SMASHING GRAB
Page 42
Page 44
Page 45
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Municipal and specialist vehicles have limited appeal but can generate impressive residuals.
CM tests a rare late-year tipper with grabs.
As we go to print, it is possible that this month's used test vehicle X587 BNE has already kicked off its next assignment. It is a high investment, low mileage truck. Our recent visits to the auctions have provided evidence of the interest of trades in specialist vehicles and end users save significant lead-time on body and ancillary fitting via a specialist body builder. Normally over the winter as various contracted work winds up or comes to a halt tippers become widely available, but finding tippers fitted with grabs or other ancillary equipment can prove a little more difficult.
Local authorities, construction, landscaping or road maintenance companies will most likely keep these vehicles, especially if they own them outright, to the bitter end before offloading them.
Increasingly,these set-ups have turned to rental companies for long-term agreements or spot hire, reducing responsibility for vehicle maintenance, overheads and ownership to keep tight margins and viability This has placed rental companies in the position of freshening up their fleets every three or four years, offering the used trade specialist vehicles in excellent condition.
Produd profile
And so it goes for March's used roadtest —a Mercedes-Benz Atego 2628B, registered X587 BNE and plated on 26 September 2000.11 is fitted with a Lancashire Tippers steel body and Atlas three-boom (including telescopic boom) grab on a 6x4 chassis frame.The two-seater extended cab stretches to an extra 390mm.
The engine is the Euro-2 in-house built 0M906LA six-cylinder 6.37-litre direct injec tion diesel delivering 279hp at 2300rpm. Its prime torque is between 1,250 and 1,500rpm and it generates a maximum of 1,100Nm. It comes with the once much-vaunted Reduced Pollution Certificate.
The gearbox is a straight forward six-slot spread. with splitters rather than the range change associated with other 12-speed transmissions.The low axle gearing,5.26:1 fitted as standard. means plenty of revs are available for low speed manoeuvring on site and through urban traffic. When it passes 40mph on the open road the box has an overdrive top gear to keep the revs and fuel consumption down.
To stop the driver consistently damaging the front end on site there is 294mm ground clearance, plus the front axle has an eighttonne weight limit.The rear bogie has 231mm ground clearance and 19-tonne UK authorised weight limit. Gross vehicle weight is 26 tonnes.
The first three years of its life were spent on contract hire with TES RentalThe service history is generated by its in-house maintenance scheme and not available to DaimlerChrysler 12K Services, but nothing had been replaced, repaired or broken beyond the standard wear and tear. It's difficult to know whether X587 BNE spent its life with one customer on lease or spot hired to many, but the extraordinary low mileage suggests it saw very little action either way.
Mercedes-Benz Approved Used Commercials issues a six-month warranty with six months MoT or six months' approved warranty. Mercedes-Benz has given it a £39.000 (ex-VAT) price tag for an outright sale, but it's more likely it will be sent out via a finance package. CAP's Red Book for used Commercial Values for February suggests £32,000 (ex-VAT) as an asking price.
Bottom line
The figure to highlight here is the A-road rcsult.This is the type of environment where it will spend most of its time and it's unlikely to be driven for more than four hours in one day. X587 BNE might see some motorway activity, especially with the yellow "Motorway Maintenance" sticker tacked on to the rear, but even then it won't be doing too many miles up and down the motorway network.
From the start point at Hinckley, around the west Midlands through Wales and on to Rosson-Wye, it clocked up 9.41mpg at a pretty steady but unremarkable 33.7mph.The Welsh love their roadworks and, despite only a handful on the A458 and A483 and one classic on Dolfor Hill making one of the timed hill climbs redundant, the traffic flow was held up only by us sticking to the national speed limit.
On the motorway fuel consumption improved to 10.37mpg. but at 26 tonnes it's barely above what you'd expect from something at 40 or 44 tonnes.We halted on the AS half a mile from wrapping up for the day thanks to more roadworks.The average speed on this section was 48.4mph, down on more motorway-friendly tractors and rigids, but steady nevertheless.The motorway figure helped push the overall fuel consumption up to 9.71mpg, and improve the average road speed to 37.6mph.
An overcast opening day worked to our favour as temperatures rose slightly and the wind died down completely, producing tran quil conditions.but the concluding day saw darker clouds, rain, although no road surface water, and a light north-westerly breeze.
If you were to buy X.587 BNE and strip off the grab and tipper body, the kerbweight would be about 7,220kg. However, it's unlikely anyone would do that, so the overall standing weight of the steel body and grab, minus a load, is 6,030kg, giving the operator an overall net payload of 12,750kg.
On the road
TLS Rental vehicles number in their thousands. So on your travels looking for a second-hand vehicle through auctions and dealerships, regardless of specification, you are likely to hear the name bandied around as a previous owner.That is only part of the equation, finding out exactly what it did and with whom is a little more difficult.
When we queried the mileage, DaimlerChrysler UK confirmed that 40,700km was the true and legitimate figure. Short trip to site, load up during the day. perhaps one or two trips to the local quarry or refuse site, then back to camp. All done inside a couple of postcodes.
There were no complaints about the driveline,and at 26 tonnes 280hp is certainly more than enough.Although momentum into hill climbs at 40mph isn't good, regardless of the vehicle and weight. there is more action down the box than when you take a run up.
With such low mileage. it is questionable whether it's been truly run in and spent more time working idle than actual journey time. It will certainly have experienced more stop/ start activity than any long-distance running.
Some gear shifts in the higher ratios were a little sticky when rushed, maybe due to a lack of use or to adjustment, hut once warm it cooperated smoothly enough.The position is a little awkward as the stick is quite long and the throws are little further than they ought to be.
The 12-speed box though is the perfect antidote to multi-axle rigids with low final drive axle ratios like 526:1. It doesn't matter where you are and on what gradient slope, there is no excuse for over-revving or not being in the right gear.
The solid green band stretches from 1,200rpm round to 1,80Orpm.At 56mph on the cruise control, the rev counter sits at 1,900rpm and this with an overdrive box saving valuable fuel.At 50mph ifs working at 1.700rpm, but down at 40mph,where we spent most of our time.it worked economically at 1,300rpm on the A-road section.
The one-stage engine brake, backed up by sufficient revs, works well enough, as we found on the descent of Dinmore Hill.This, coupled with the double drive axle, works as an added bonus in slowing the vehicle back to 40 after rolling out at 45mph. much to the disgust of the French-plated truck sat tight up our backside.
The Dinmore Hill climb was impressive, claiming two minutes 37 seconds. It is as good as anything else we have cruised in regardless of weight. It quickly settled into 4H— two full changes down the box.
We did have a little problem with the battery, but a dead cell is a dead cell — it can happen to the best. Our thanks go to the R Davies Builders' driver in a 7.5-tonne truck at the hotel in Llandrindod Wells who, despite a dodgy starter motor of his own, bailed us out.
Cab quality
The extended cab certainly makes life easier for the driver and passenger. Previous tests in day cabs have resulted in futile promises to travel lighter, but this time we were able to shove our luggage behind the seats without damaging anything.
The cab design is minimal but not spartan. There is a centre tray. side pockets and two separate trays above the windscreen, with extra storage space behind the driver.
We had an electric window for the passenger and electric wing mirrors. Ground clearance is slightly raised and the bottom step is movable in case it meets anything that isn't.
Its overall condition looks used, with a typically dust-coloured hue from wet mud.But it looks clean and undamaged after four years..