Volvo FL4 7.5 tonner soon
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VOLVO's new 7.5 tonner, the FL4, which is still officially under wraps, will go on sale in the UK next year. It will be the first 7.5 tonner on this market to have disc brakes on all wheels.
With the launch this week. (page 62 this issue) of its FL6, 11 to .16.26 tonne gv w range, Volvo becomes the first European truck manufacturer to fit disc brakes all round on any production model at this weight. The FL611, which will not be available in this country because Volvo sees no significant demand for 11 tonners here, is fitted with Lucas Girling hydraulic reaction beam disc brakes on both axles. Similar brakes will be used on the FL4 which will be launched in Europe next year to replace the F4.
At 12 tonnes gvw, Volvo reverts to drum brakes with its new models. According to Ragnar Fast, engineering vicepresident at Volvo, the main reason for this is that the 11 tonner will always be operated as a solo rigid, whereas the 12 tonner could he operated with a drawbar trailer, with drum brakes, and this could lead to a braking compatibility problem. However, he is convinced that disc brakes will be much more common on trucks at heavier weights in the future. "Ten years from now single plate discs will be common on 38 comers," he told CM.
Volvo sees the main advantages of discs over drums as better high speed braking characteristics, good lateral balance, light weight, and short pad replacement time.
Fast is confident that Volvo has solved the old CV disc brake disadvantage of rapid wear with the non-asbestos material used in the pads of the FL611 brakes. He expects pad life to be "at least 60,000k m.