Douglas shunter's semi-trailer raiser
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• A pneumatic-lift coupling designed for yard shunting has been developed by ML Douglas Equipment of Cheltenham. The raising fifth-wheel is designed to lift 14 tonnes through the kingpin and will extend by 400mm, enabling the semitrailer landing legs to be left down. It can handle loaded trailers for 44 tonnes GCW operation.
The coupling is produced as a self-contained sub-assembly which can be bolted onto a truck chassis in place of a normal fifthwheel coupling. The only modification required to the tractive unit is to increase the air reservoir capacity to 160 litres.
All operations apart from coupling an air line can be carried out from the cab. The coupling jaws are pneumatically activated; a safety lock prevents accidental detachment when raised.
The Douglas air-shunt costs £5,000 (ex-VAT).