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Sheffield Cleansing is more than just a transport operation—it runs a multi-million-pound incinerator, a giant landfill site and even a small power station—but the city's hills demand special vehicles. How practical is an automatic gearbox for a 32-tonne off-roader?
by Toby Clark • No one can still be under the impression that waste disposal is a low-tech industry: as legislation multiplies and operators become ever more competitive, technology has become ever more sophisticated. Sheffield Cleansing is an excellent example: originally a local council department, it now operates throughout the country and spends millions on equipment. Among its latest purchases are seven Iveco Ford EuroTrakkers fitted with ZF Ecomat five-speed automatic gearboxes and integral retarders; the first in the UK.
Sheffield Cleansing is part of the area's Metropolitan District Council (the meeting room shows pictures of Cleansing Department vehicles dating back to 1915) but following compulsory competitive tendering it now works on an entirely commercial footing. SC won its current contract, worth £8m per year, in 1988, with a six-year renewal, in 1994. Margins are extremely tight for straightforward street cleansing and waste disposal, so the firm has branched out into trade waste from sites such as the giant Meadowhall shopping centre, and specialist medical waste from as far afield as the Hammersmith and Royal Free hospitals in London, for which it runs a dedicated incinerator.
Another sideline is energy production: waste heat from the company's main incinerator, which burns 500 tonnes of refuse a day, is supplied to Sheffield Heat and Power for water heating; a replacement incinerator will supply electricity generated from turbines running on waste gas. The .C9m cost of the new incinerator is a nasty fact of life: new European standards on emissions are not restricted to vehicles, it seems.
Sheffield Cleansing's work includes collecting trade skips up to 40m3 in volume from amenity or trade sites. These can hold around 12 tonnes of uncompacted waste; compacted waste or incinerator residue is up to three times as dense. Incinerator residue also has to be chilled, so it gets damp, increasing its density further and causing corrosion problems. The longer journey times associated with trade work and the decreasing number of landfill sites have made it economi
cal to collect compacted waste, so average loads have been increasing.
The hooklift-equipped trucks that SC has used until now have been 6x4 Leyland Daf or Foden tipper chassis, but these were running the risk of overloading at 26 tonnes. Clearly a 32-tormer was called for. The next choice was the driveline; there was no need for massive power, as the vehicles would rarely run at top weight, but automatic transmission had already proved its worth in Allison-equipped Fodens doing a similar mix of onand off-road work. These had also shown that high-quality filtration was essential in dusty landfill conditions, even though the vehicles average little more than 15,000km a year.
Transport manager Keith Firth sums up his requirements: "Basically we want a vehicle that would have better off-road performance and bet ter reliability and
longevity."
A retarder was considered essential—
Sheffield is pretty hilly—but there had been problems with the Telma units fitted to SC's Leyland Dais: mud from landfill sites became baked on to the casing, causing overheating.
Another important consideration was ser vice backup: the tender demanded a 24hour service. Workshop manager Keith Allen, now retired, had built up a modern, 15-bay workshop for SC's 210vehicle fleet, but specialist support would be needed for the unconventional transmission systems.
In the end, there were eight tenders for the Sheffield contract, and the winner was Iveco Ford dealer Sherwoods. A local firm specialising in
municipal work, Sherwood has been supplying Sheffield Cleansing for decades; it was a Leyland Daf franchise until the 1993 Daf collapse.
Sherwoods offered the 340hp EuroTrakker in its heavy-duty form, with parabolic steel springs at both ends and with a design GTW of 44 tonnes. This promised useful off-road performance with plenty of strength in hand.
The Iveco was fitted with ZF's Ecomat automatic gearbox (Allison could not offer an integral retarder like the ZF Intarder, which promised to reduce cooling problems). Some re-engineering was needed in conjunction with tipping gear supplier Multilift, as the PTO would now come off the gearbox instead of the engine. These are the first vehicles in the UK to be fitted with the EcomatiIntarder combination; they were converted by IFT dealer North East Truck & Van.
An obvious worry with such an unusual vehicle is reliability, but Firth has negotiated a "satisfactory" warranty arrangement with Sherwoods.
Using synthetic oil the Econiat requires an oil and filter change every 30,000km or 1,000 hours, equating to an annual change for the Sheffield vehicles. They get a service or inspection every six weeks or so, and they've been returning around 4.6mpg.
With all their extras these trucks aren't cheap: Firth reckons the conversion adds around £18,000 to the basic chassis price, "but over a five-year nominal life it's a good deal", he says. "It saves on clutches and gearboxes." Then there's the saving in wear and tear on the drivers.
The decision to go for the EuroTrakker was not only made by Firth. "The key to everything is this fella here," he says, pointing at driver Rick Parker. "If you haven't got your drivers with you they can make you or break you."
Parker comments: "I've got to give Keith credit—I've been involved from the start." He's been driving for Sheffield Cleansing for 10 years and is well pleased by the EuroTrakker: "My only complaint is it's not got a built-in Teasmader
Driving impressions
We drove with Parker, taking a load up to the Sheffield Cleansing landfill at Beighton. This impressive site was opened in the '50s with room for 1.2 million cubic metres of waste. It is now almost full; by next year SC will have to start using private landfill, increasing distances and costs and providing further impetus for improving efficiency.
Our 9.5-tonne load of chilled incinerator residue in a 40in3 container took the truck's gross weight up to just under 26 tonnes, so as you'd expect the truck had plenty in reserve up hills. Feather Diesels tuned the engines, optimising power and torque for the auto box with gear changes at around 1,700rpm. The EuroTrakker had no trouble in the slippery conditions at Beighton and was
comfortable and easy to drive. It's even fitted with the USdesigned Pioneer canopy sheeting system, though Parker has his doubts about the longevity of the spindly sheeting arms. If the Iveco is competent uphill, it's impressive downhill: Firth had evidently spent time optimising the braking system. The exhaust brake is rarely used as the retarder is so effective. Originally it was triggered by lifting off the accelerator but some drivers didn't like that system so now it's operated from the brake pedal. It reacts very quickly, like a giant hand, and gre.atly increases the feeling of control.
It's useful when encountering some of Sheffield's unexpected hazards, such as the tram lines installed over the past few years which become treacherously slippery in the wet.
SPECIFICATIONS
Model: Ivaco Ford MP340E34F1 EuroTrakker 8x4.
GVVV: 32 tonnes.
Engine: Iveco 8460 TCA. Capacity: 9.50 litres. Power: 340hp (254kW) at 2,200rpm. Torque: 1,069Ibft (1,450Nm) at 1,20Orpm. Gearbox: ZF Ecornat 5HP600 five-speed automatic gearbox with secondary brake ZF Intarder, Other equipment: Multilift HL32-56 tipping hooklift setup with
Pioneer auto-sheeting system.