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AVOID FULL FROWNS
Page 65
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Mandatory front under-run bars sound like a good idea, unless you're running a tipper off
road. Brian Weatherley explains how some
vehicles are exempt from the regulations.
Since August 2003 every CV above 3.5 tonnes GVW has been required to carry front under-run protection systems — FITS for short— under European Directive 2000/40/EC.The law demands a full-width protection system on the front of a truck that measures no more than 400mm from the ground to the bottom of the bumper when the vehicle is unladen.
On the face of it FUPS makes sound sense. Given the typical gap between the bottom of the bumper on many larger HGVs and the road surface its not hard to see why the bureaucrats in Brussels were so keen to reduce it. In the event of a head-on collision between a truck and car Ft ;PS certainly reduces the chance of the HGV running over the smaller vehicle.
But while accepting the safety benefits of FUPS, operators of tippers and other off-road vehicles have long been concerned that this safety equipment increases the risk of grounding the front end of a truck on rough terrain. Fortunately, when FUPs legislation was being drafted the bureaucrats took account of those worries and allowed certain exemptions for offroad vehicles.rIb qualify for such an exemption within 95/53/EC an 'off-road truck' must firstly: • Have at least half its wheels driven • Have at least one differential locking mechanism • Be capable, as a solo vehicle, of climbing a 25% gradient Secondly, it must satisfy at least four of the following six criteria: • Its approach angle must he at least 25' • Its departure angle must be at least 25" • Its ramp angle must he at least 25° • The ground clearance under the front axle must heat least 250mm • The ground clearance between the axles must heat least 300mm ',The ground clearance under the rear axle must be at least 250mm.
As a result of this exemption, two distinct types of tippers are appearing on the road, and in Commercial Motor roadtests.Those with FUPs are typically used for on-road operations with the odd off road requirement; exempted vehicles are primarily used on heavy site and muckaway work where ground clearance, especially at the front end, is paramount.
If you think your operation justifies a FE JPS exemption the first thing you should do is sit down with your dealer or manufacturer's applications engineer and look hard at your specification. Not surprisingly, tyre equipment will be a major factor to consider. If you want to beat the FUPS rap you'll probably be speccing I2R22.5s on the front, with straight-beam axles in order to get the necessary 250mm ground clearance. Bear in mind that raising the vehicle will affect cab step heights, so these might be subject to changes.
It's also important to remember the potential drawback of fitting ancillary equipment onto the chassis. If you have any special kit added by a bodybuilder or dealer make sure it doesn't intrude into the ramp angle area beneath the chassis, otherwise it may bring the vehicle back within the scope of FUPs, Likewise, vehicles with equipment mounted behind the rear axles, such as refuse collection vehicles, probably won't meet the necessary departure-angle requirement. Indeed, the toughest criteria to meet look like being approach angle, ramp angle and rear-axle ground clearance.
However, rather than simply assuming that your next vehicle will be exempt, CM's advice is to contact the sales engineering team at your favoured chassis manufacturer well in advance and get some professional advice.
Ironically. while it's easy to understand the need for a RIPS exemption for those trucks that spend a lot of time off-road, it does seem strange that those same vehicles will inevitably have a higher-than-normal ground clearance when they are driven on normal roads. Which brings us to the inevitable question: wasn't that exactly what FUPS was meant to avoid in the first place? •