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Eight-leg braker

7th March 1981, Page 23
7th March 1981
Page 23
Page 23, 7th March 1981 — Eight-leg braker
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HE VOLVO factory at Irvine has eceived an order from Switzerand for some eight-wheelers iased around the F12 (CM, Febuary 28).

In Switzerland last week, /olvo made available for the )ress some examples of models )roduced at Irvine both on the itandard line and also in the Vlodified Vehicle Assembly MVA) shop (the latter being res)onsible for the CH230 Swiss rehicles).

Switzerland has a number of peculiar domestic regulations relating to commercial vehicles including not only the well-publicised 2.3m (7ft 6in) maximumwidth restriction but also an auxiliary brake requirement.

The latter specifies a minimum retardation figure for specific gradients using an auxiliary brake on the laden vehicle. This means in practice that an exhaust brake can cope with a two-axle rigid but is a little stretched with anything heavier — hence Volvo's decision to fit a Telma retarder to the CH230 models for Switzerland.

CM test drove two versions, a 4x2 rigid drawbar outfit and a 6x4 solo rigid, and most of the following comments are applicable to both vehicles.

The Telma was a useful addition as the Volvo exhaust brake was on a par with most of the opposition (that is to say, not particularly effective).

With a F12 driveline lurking under the F7 cab, the acceleration was impressive even allowing for the 6.14 tipper axle ratio in the six-wheeler.

The major cab difference between an F7 and the F12/CH230 specification is the floor pan, which is slightly modified to clear the bulk of the TD120G engine. The front mountings are also modified with the whole cab being raised 220mm (8.7in) compared with the F7.

One of the side effects of this design was that the usual organtype pedals would not fit in so the pendant variety are used in the Swiss models.

The cab modification was designed at Irvine but it is incorporated into the standard cab production line at Gothenburg.

Volvo's Scottish offshoot is achieving no small success in the Swiss market by virtue of its ability to produce relatively lowvolume "specials" at a viable price, a performance underlined by the recent Swiss request for CH230 eight-wheelers.

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