POWERTORQUE MAGAZINE Issue #88 April/May 2019

BRISBANE

TRUCK

AND

TRAILER

SHOW

PREVIEW

Incorporating

ISSUE 88 APR/MAY 2019 RRP: $8.95

www.powertorque.com.au

ISSUE 88 APRIL / MAY 2019

MACK R-700 RESTORATION NEW: INTERNATIONAL PROSTAR KENWORTH T410 • VOLVO FH DUAL CLUTCH AROCS 8X4 • SCANIA P 360 T610 TRI-AXLE AND QUAD DOG

ISUZU TRUCKS

Thirty years and still number one*.

*Currently 30 years leadership (1989-2018) according to T-Mark industry statistics. FSA/ISZ12233

14 Prostar Perfect

74 Brave New World

18 Wide Angle

78 Alive and Well

24 Family Traditions

82 Knight of the Road

30 Sweet Shifter

86 Straight and True

Internationals are back on track with Booyal Quarries First drive of the new Kenworth T410

The ‘One Team – One Dream’ mantra of the Porthaul business

Volvo introduces its dual-clutch transmission

36 MAN on Pole Position

Motorsport is an important part of Penske Commercial Vehicles

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Scania’s next-generation P360 Rigid Ed Higginson visits Alive Technologies Group in Tasmania

Driver Ian Booth gives an insight into his enjoyment out on the road

PowerTorque interviews the axle guru Bruce Reilly, founder of Truck Align

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90 ShowTime

The Australian Expo heads into Brisbane

40 Horses for Courses

Aiming for high horsepower can become very personal

46 Super Sumo

Fuso’s top-weight prime mover

52 Running on Gas

The trend towards LNG- and CNG-fuelled trucks is closer than you think

56 Extending the Friendship

International adds the longer cab version to its Prostar line-up

60 Good Looker

The Arocs makes an imposing front loader for the waste industry

64 Sustainability

Scania’s global chief puts the Euro spin on the need to manage climate change

66 Shed Security

93 TRAILER TORQUE 98 Living the Life

The latest live floor technologies for PBS operation

106 Fine Tuning

Panus Oceania brings its latest trailer designs to the Australian market

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108 PBS and Innovation

Pushing the envelope delivers dividends for Porthaul

112 B risbane Truck Show Trailer Review

Trailer technology takes a step forwards for added efficiency

120 Constructorfest

Munich is big on its festivals – bauma 2019

Stockpiling chemicals and fluids needs a planned strategy

Follow PowerTorque on

70 The Spirit of Adventure Mack R-700

Local history and a large dose of nostalgia For all editorial information and subscriptions please contact: Managing Editor - Chris Mullett Road Test Editors - Brenton O’Connor

Ed Higginson Contributing Writers - Stuart Martin Warren Caves Photography - Jonathan Wood

Geoff Parrington

Warren Caves

Charlie Suriano

Goodman Photography Designer - Steven Foster Account Manager - Maree Mullett Editorial Division, PO Box 271AB, Airlie Beach, Qld 4802 Telephone: +61 (0) 7 4946 4658 Email: edit@powertorque.com.au Website: www.powertorque.com.au

For advertising rates and information please contact: Motoring Matters Magazine Group National business development manager: Email: edit@motoringmatters.com.au Telephone: +61 (0) 7 4946 4658 Website: www.motoringmatters.com.au Newsagency disitrbution by: Integrated Publications Solutions, A division of Fairfax Newspapers.

Disclaimer: Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information the publisher will not accept responsibility for errors or omissions or for any consequence arising from the reliance on information published. The opinions expressed in PowerTorque are not necessarily the opinions of, or endorsed by the publisher.

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Chris Mullett

FORWARD

TORQUE

A

ustralian transport operators are a pretty unique bunch of people. They cope with distances greater than most countries can imagine, temperatures that can fry an egg on the truck bonnet, and floods that can turn a dusty track into an almost limitless lake.

They run elaborate and technically sophisticated vehicles with satellite technology, and they can monitor every aspect of its performance if they wish. They manage to handle legislation that differs in most states, meaning that universal laws are still an aiming point in the future, and they cope with governments that vary their support for the transport industry dependent on whether the electorate is sensitive to trucks or dislikes them intensely.

In an interview with PowerTorque, Henrik Henrikssen, the global president and CEO of Scania CV AB, explains the importance of adopting low-emission technologies to ensure the transport industry is sustainable for future generations. Companies that don’t recognise the importance of sustainability may see their markets disappear and go out of business. It’s that significant for our future as an industry.

Whether or not our various governments believe in climate change, global warming, the melting of the polar ice caps or the unnecessary deaths of city populations that result from exhaust emissions, our transport operators stay ahead of the game.

Truck operators and their customers are the drivers of change when it comes to the health of our population. If you want to run a fleet to maximum efficiency, you do so currently with Euro6 engines and low emissions. Never mind the fact that government cannot make any decision on emissions and would probably endorse the industry returning to the days of the Stanley Steamer, especially if it meant commissioning another coal-fired power station.

Transport operators know their customers want clean energy that doesn’t pollute our cities and make the inhabitants cough, wheeze and die earlier than necessary.

To these ends we are developing alternative fuels, removing engines that pollute and making city life more pleasant.

Perhaps, in time, governments in Australia will also realise the benefits of these strategies and introduce incentives to promote the change and reward the early adopters.

If the European truck shows are getting their story right, trucks running into our cities will be cleaner and greener than ever, running on electricity, alternative fuels and hybrid options. What will be interesting is whether the 6

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Brisbane Truck Show provides the same message to the industry, that the environment needs our support and operators and manufacturers are prepared to try new technologies for a cleaner future.

May is going to be a major month for the transport industry, with the annual NATRoad conference the day before the opening of the Truck Show in Brisbane providing the perfect start to a week of discussion about the future of the industry.

The global truckmakers also have to consider that a move to autonomous vehicles may delete the passion behind the purchase of a truck. After all, if the driver is replaced, the selection of the vehicle becomes similar to that of white goods, where you buy a fridge expecting it to work and not because you want to wear a hat sporting the maker’s name.

Take this a little further and consider the current generation of youngsters that don’t want to buy a car, in many cases not even bothering to obtain a driving licence. If they don’t have an interest in vehicles and don’t understand the skillset required to drive them, will they be interested in motorsport? Without the audience the sport will flounder.

And now to this issue of PowerTorque, where our writers head out across the country reporting back on the extended cab version of the International Prostar, plus we interview Booyal Quarries to determine how the new Internationals in their fleet are performing.

Ed Higginson interviews Porthaul of Portland and heads across Bass Strait to visit operators in Tasmania. Warren Caves reports on the new Fuso Super Great prime mover, admires the restoration of a classic R700 Mack, plus he delves into the technical advantages of correct wheel alignment. Warren also brings us his report on a new tridrive concept developed by Muscat Trailers, and drives the Scania New Truck Generation (NTG) P-Series eight-wheeler.

Brenton O’Connor talks to a long-term subbie with Dyers Gippsland Transport, and I head back on the road at the wheel of the new T-410 Kenworth, Volvo’s new dual clutch FH-Series, and accompany industry stalwart Bill Manon to drive a road train-spec Mack SuperLiner. And of course, there’s more to read, with a visit to B&Y Waste Services for a look at its new AROCS eight-wheeler front loader, as well as visiting DJR Team Penske Racing as it takes delivery of a new MAN TGX D38 XXL prime mover.

As always, thanks for joining the PowerTorque team.

Safe travels and enjoy the drive.

Chris Mullett – Managing Editor/Publisher

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WHEEL

AT THE W A R R E N

C A V E S

L O O K S

I

f you worked in an office or factory environment and your employer said to you, “when you have finished the set amount of work you have been allocated you can go home for the day, regardless of what time it is, and with a full day’s pay” − would you get stuck into it and get it done an hour earlier than normal? Perhaps you might even skip your lunch break, or take it at your desk or workstation, if it meant you could spend an extra hour with the kids. I’m guessing most people would jump at the chance.

This analogy can also be applied to the transport industry and, in particular, to trip or kilometre rates.

When applied to company employee drivers (owner-driver situations are a little different) are trip rates good for the industry? I personally think not.

What greater way to incentivise non-compliance of laws and regulations than basically saying − the quicker you get the load completed, the quicker you get home and effectively earn an increased hourly rate of pay. Who doesn’t like a pay rise?

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If the weather turns bad or there is a crash causing traffic delays, effectively the hourly rate is reduced commensurate to the delay suffered. The company still receives the same amount of return on the freight, but the driver feels cheated by delays beyond their control and may be inclined to try and make the time up.

My point is that set rates can, in some circumstances, encourage flaunting of the rules. It is basically rewarding speedy performance − which in some instances (not all) can equate to dangerous driving.

Traffic, roadworks, accident delays or even detours are all factors beyond the control of the driver. The major companies are getting their fixed rate and have fixed costs for the driver’s wages; yet at less than $30 per hour, cost imposition caused by delays is being placed on the link in the chain that can probably least afford it.

“Set rates can, in some circumstances, encourage flaunting of the rules. It is basically rewarding speedy performance”

My first driving job was working for an international fast food company delivering to outlets across Sydney and NSW. The job was all hand-unloading, up to 18 to 20 tonnes per night on a trolley.

At the beginning of our shift we received our multi-drop run, which was computer-generated to factor in drive times and an allowance for unloading a set volumetric amount of product per hour. This was calculated, and a set run time would be identified at the top of the page, which could be 12 to 13 hours dependent on the load. We would get paid for those 12 to 13 hours, regardless of how long it actually took to do the run.

I recently applied for part-time work for a national refrigerated freight company to source some changeover work on a casual basis to fit in with my obligations here at PowerTorque.

I was also still doing some casual work for my previous employer on Sundays, being paid an hourly rate, which was around $65 per hour (double time). The refrigerated freight company asked me if I could do Sunday changeovers, to which I asked if it attracted an increased rate over mid-week runs? It did not. It’s not hard to work out whose truck I was driving on Sunday.

Are drivers working on weekends for kilometre rates missing out on penalty rates? If trip rate drivers were paid a fair hourly rate for total hours worked, would they not be more inclined to adhere to speed and rest regulations?

Most fleets now have satellite tracking, so sorting out the occasional disappearing act shouldn’t be a problem these days.

How many hours did it take to do those 12-to-13-hour runs? Substantially less. We would go like scalded cats all night and get it done in as little as 8 to 9 hours and go home. We would load up trolleys with insane amounts of goods (up to 250 kg) and literally run down a ramp from the trailer deck to the ground and push it into a greasyfloored, fast food store.

I have worked for trip rates in the past and suffered delays from breakdowns, road closures, bushfires, unloading delays and traffic. All these delays do, even for the most fastidious of operator, is create a heightened sense of urgency once the driver is able to once again get on the move.

A driver running Tarcutta changeovers is paid a fixed amount for that run. He/she completes that run in 9.5 hours every night, which equates to an hourly rate determined by the renumeration paid and hours worked.

A question to ponder. If drivers were paid for the hours of work they entered into work diaries (including loading and unloading), would the diaries read differently to the way they do now?

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Safe trucking, Warren Caves.

100 YEARS AND WE’RE JUST GETTING STARTED. CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF BUILDING AUSTRALIA It’s almost impossible to imagine the amount of work done by Mack Trucks building this nation over the last century. For one hundred years, Mack is proud to have stood behind our customers with trucks built to get the job done. But we never stop striving. We’re constantly innovating to improve our engineering and performance.

Durability and reliability. So stay tuned. We’re just getting started.

Mack Trucks. Born Ready.

Watch our video celebrating Australia’s hardworking transport industry at macktrucks.com.au/Driving-Australia-Forward

LEGAL TORQUE TR A NSPORT L AW EX PERT GILLI A N BRISTOW PROV IDES SOUND A DV ICE FOR OPER ATORS Dealing with customers and insolvency It can be tough to survive in the heavy transport industry – it is characterised by low barriers to entry, high levels of competition and resultant low margins.

Last year, over 350 companies in the industry entered some form of external administration as a result of insolvency. Sourced from ASIC, this figure does not include partnerships and sole traders or businesses that simply closed down or significantly down-sized.

Insolvency can have a devastating ripple effect: the failure of one transport business may also be felt by subcontractors and other creditors who are owed money by the insolvent business. Creditors often do not understand the various forms of insolvency administration and how they will be affected.

The most common insolvency procedures are voluntary administration and liquidation.

Voluntary administration Voluntary administration (VA) usually occurs when the directors of a company appoint an administrator who will decide whether the insolvent company can be rescued. VA aims to maximise the chances of the company continuing to operate. If that is not possible, VA often provides a mechanism for creditors to get a better return than from an immediate winding up.

Entering VA effectively results in a stay on any claims taken against the company and its assets. Except in very limited circumstances: • A creditor cannot enforce a charge on the company’s property; • The owner or lessor of property that is used by, or in possession of, the company cannot take possession of that property; • A proceeding in a court cannot be commenced or proceeded with; • A guarantee cannot be enforced against a director.

The administrator will investigate the financial affairs of the company. From this investigation, the administrator may recommend that the company be wound up and a liquidator appointed or that the creditors execute a Deed of Company Administration (DOCA).

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Liquidation Liquidation may result from a voluntary winding up (upon a resolution passed by the company’s creditors or shareholders) or a court-ordered winding up. In both instances a liquidator will wind up the company and undertake the orderly resolution of its affairs. This includes realising the company’s assets, working out what debts are payable by the company and distributing the proceeds of the realised assets among the company’s creditors.

The effect of winding up is that the company ceases to carry on business. Unsecured creditors (such as subcontractors) are prohibited from commencing enforcement proceedings against the company without leave of the court. Funds collected by the liquidator are used to pay liquidation expenses, secured creditors and certain employee claims and the balance remaining (if any) is used to pay a dividend to unsecured creditors.

So how can you guard against ending up as an unsecured creditor of an insolvent company?

Here are some tips: 1. Be careful of to whom you offer credit. Do proper checks on the businesses that apply for credit.

2. Have your customers sign a credit application form.

This helps to document your credit arrangements and to know exactly who is engaging your services.

For example, many businesses offer credit in circumstances where they do not even check the ABN of the customer.

3. Consider obtaining directors’ guarantees or some other form of security.

4. Ensure that your conditions of carriage and storage give you the right to exercise a lien for unpaid charges (allowing you, in some circumstances, to hold the customer’s goods if you have not been paid).

5. Monitor your customer’s outstanding balances and follow up payment regularly.

6. Consider taking out trade credit insurance.

7. Watch for these signs of insolvency: • Slow payments • Paying lump sums, not invoice values • Issue of post-dated cheques • Special arrangements with creditors to pay by instalments If you would like to discuss any of these issues, please contact Gillian Bristow at gillian@bristowlegal.com.au.

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OLIVER T H E

ABROAD

L AT E S T

N E W S

F R O M

N O R T H

Volkswagen’s decision to shelve the IPO of its Traton truck unit – or at least to postpone it – comes at a febrile time for the global truck industry.

Commenting on the decision – which came just 24 hours after Volkswagen AG held it s Capital Markets day - Volkswagen Group’s Chief Financial Officer Frank Witter said: “We regret having to distance ourselves, because of currently weak market conditions, from a stock market listing of Traton SE.” He does have a point about weak market conditions. Times have been much better in the truck industry, but we do rather have to wonder when – if now is not an optimal moment – they will present themselves as more favorable to an IPO. 2019 does not look to be shaping up to be a year to be remembered and one has to squint very hard indeed to see much by way of attraction in 2020 either. If Volkswagen has pulled the plug now, it becomes pretty difficult to see when it might enthusiastically be inclined to return to the IPO project.

Of late, automotive IPOs have hardly been things of beauty; Aston Martin listed last year and is now trading at a discount of 40 percent, while Geely decided not to bother with a listing of the Volvo passenger car business.

As legacy projects go, the Traton IPO is a big one, and if that legacy is no longer on offer, why hang around?

Should Renschler choose to move on, he will do so at a time in Traton’s evolution that has high demands his skill PowerTorque ISSUE 88

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set, primarily his proven ability to manage the merging of brands. Renschler is not lacking in respect from within the truck industry and it is a respect that has been both hard won and is well-deserved. While no one is irreplaceable, his loss would be highly significant and very deleterious to Traton and the Volkswagen Group.

“ Mergers, acquisitions and partnerships are on the agenda for discussion amongst the global truck makers”

This move throws up some questions. From Volkswagen’s perspective, will current Traton chief Andreas Renschler now be committed to see out his term?

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A M E R I C A

Next up is consideration of the broader implications for the truck industry. Daimler AG’s decision to split into three divisions has been seen my many as a precursor to an IPO for its truck business. If Daimler follows Volkswagen’s example then this too may be put on hold, with such a restricted future able to promote a move to the door on the part of some of the Daimler Trucks senior management team.

Similarly, the recent restructuring of CNH bears many hallmarks of a divestment project in the making, and it must be reasonable to at least assume that there are a couple of furrowed brows right now in Turin.

The Traton IPO always had a likely capacity to add as an ignition point for a new round of IPO and M&A activity.

Now that ignition source has been – albeit temporarily – postponed, we seem less likely to see much by way of such activity over the coming months.

Financially, this is a negative for all involved. The call on resources as the truck industry moves quickly into a new era – think electrification – is going to be a significant one and IPOs are helpful things when resources are in demand.

Strategically too it raises some questions. If the assumed resources stemming from an IPO are no longer to hand, it’s likely that some hard choices will have to be made in terms of prioritizing R&D projects. We are not calling the death of diesel here, but we are saying that its continued existence may just have got a little bit more parlous.

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STORES

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DAYS

FEATURE

PROSTAR

Internationals are back on track with Booyal Quarries

T

here’s something rather nostalgic about thinking back to when you were first allowed to ‘drive’ a vehicle. For Booyal Quarries owner Bruce Evans, that experience was at the age of eight, at the controls of his father’s International Harvester bulldozer.

Bruce eventually graduated from the ‘dozer to drive his first truck, an International AA 164 Series. For devotees of the brand, the AA Series was sold in Australia from 1958 until 1962, with GVMs ranging in those days from 1900 to 15,000 kg.

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This early association with International products continued into Bruce’s working life, with the subsequent purchase of Transtars, Eagles, S-Lines and A and C model ACCOs through the intervening years.

Based south-west of Bundaberg, Booyal Quarries today remains a family-owned business, with Bruce and his family continuing to supply aggregates and road base material, usually operating within a 200 kilometre radius of the site. Bruce’s daughter Vicki handles the day-today organisation of vehicles and loads, while son Brett manages the crushing plant operation. Bruce can still be found behind the wheel when work demands run high.

INTERNATIONAL PROSTAR

PERFECT

Some 60 years on, Bruce’s affiliation with the International brand remains, as illustrated by the arrival of two new ProStar day cab prime movers. Power for both trucks comes in the form of Cummins X15 engines rated at 550 hp (410 kW) and producing a torque rating of 2050 lb ft (2780 Nm). The drivelines are completed by Eaton Roadranger 18-speed manual transmissions, and both trucks were supplied through Tony Reeves, heavy truck sales specialist of IVECO Trucks, Brisbane.

“I’ve had International in my blood since I was a young lad, so with the brand coming back to Australia, there was not much chance of us getting anything else,” Bruce said. “All the International trucks I’ve owned over the years have done a great job.”

The new ProStars have joined an International Transtar 4700 powered by a 525hp (391 kW) N14 Cummins, and an IVECO Powerstar 7800 already in the fleet. The Powerstar is interesting in itself, as it is configured as a heavy-duty road train-rated prime mover and has been around the clock nearly three times.

Powered by a Cummins Signature 620hp (462 kW) engine and rated at 131 tonnes, it was re-engined at 1.4 million kilometres and the replacement engine has already notched up over an additional million kilometres without a problem.

“It’s used for hauling a Drake 4 x 4 lines, full-widening float plus dolly, usually carrying a mobile crushing plant that weighs in at a gross weight of around 80 tonnes, providing us with a payload capacity of around 52 tonnes,” Bruce said.

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FEATURE Since both ProStars joined the Booyal Quarries fleet last year, they’ve been put to work hauling two 19-metre B-double bogie/bogie Stag trailers and one 25-metre tri/ tri Stag trailer. Supplied by Lusty EMS, the Stag trailers in B-double form are manufactured from 6mm aluminium plate for the floors and 5mm aluminium plate for the walls, with a one-piece extruded top rail Huck-bolted to the side sheets.

“Both of the ProStars have regular drivers. I like to keep drivers with the one truck, because I think the equipment gets looked after better,” he said.

Booyal Quarries has standardised on Hendrickson PRIMAAX axles for each of the Stag trailer combinations, which provide low tare weight benefits with warranty protection of one million kilometre distances. In the bogie/ bogie 19m configuration, the length of the A trailer is 8.3m, and this is extended to 9.6m with the tri/tri axle configuration of the 25m overall unit. When not hauling the Stag trailers, the ProStars are occasionally called upon to haul side-tippers.

“I can understand the attraction of an AMT for city driving where you’re starting and stopping all the time, but for us the Eaton manual Roadrangers work well. Once you’re rolling and on the open road there aren’t many gear changes needed. Although it’s a standard trip of 200 km you probably will stay in the top section of the ‘box, with just an occasional split.”

The total distances covered by both of the ProStars are still relatively low, and at the time of writing had reached 70,000 and 45,000 kilometres on their respective odometers. Despite being barely run-in, according to Bruce they are returning excellent fuel figures.

“I’ve had International in my blood since I was a young lad”

“We’re getting around 2.2 km/litre combined (6.2 mpg, 45.45 L/100km) which I’m happy with. The 19-metre B-double is normally operating around the 56-tonne mark while the 25-metre trailers have us at around 65 tonnes,” Bruce said.

According to Bruce, the Cummins and Eaton Roadranger components provide a well-proven combination for heavyduty earthworks. Prior to finalising this specification, he consulted with his drivers to get their thoughts.

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“They’re both very experienced, having spent a long time driving road trains. Each of them told me they would prefer the manual, so that’s the way we went.

With considerable roadwork and subdivision activity occurring in the region, the ProStars are on the road five days a week and often have to put in big days, so the drivers are appreciative of the new equipment.

“The drivers comment on the comfort, the ample power and the excellent visibility, particularly when they’re driving through built-up areas,” Bruce said.

“The trucks are giving us the payload we need, the power we want and the right fuel efficiency. We often get asked by others about what the ProStars are like and have no hesitation in telling them that they go well and that we really like them. I can’t think of a bad thing to say about them.”

And yes, Bruce still uses International ‘dozers, including a 45-tonne unit running a Cummins QSX 15 powerplant, highlighting a great combination of the International brand with Cummins Engines.

Booyal Quarries Proprietor, Bruce Evans

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FEATURE

WIDE ANGLE First drive of the new Kenworth T410 - Words and images by Chris Mullett

T

he introduction of a totally new product range is never an overnight project; rather, it’s a series of well-developed strategies that build over time as different models join the product line-up.

That’s certainly the scenario with the introduction of the latest Kenworth wide cab developed by PACCAR Australia at its Bayswater manufacturing plant, which also houses the company’s research and engineering development team.

The T610 and its twin, the T610 SAR, were the first cabs (literally) off the rank in November 2016, replacing the Cummins-powered T409 and T409SAR. Now it’s the turn of the T410 to benefit from additional width, as it replaces the PACCAR-powered T409 and T409SAR and extends its cab width from 1.8 out to 2.1 metres. Following the T410, the T360 will replace the T359 in March this year, with its public release scheduled to coincide with the Brisbane Truck Show. It will be available as a day cab.

Replacing a narrow cab with a wider version may seem an easy upgrade, but there’s a host of detailed changes in design that need to be accomplished before the cab can be lowered onto the corresponding chassis. One engineer estimated the challenge equating to around 500 detailed specification changes before the project was signed off.

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As with the T610, both the T410 and T360 have also received the latest in engine cooling systems to cope with Australia’s ambient temperatures approaching 50° Celsius. Both vehicles also feature SCR engine after-treatment technology, with Exhaust Gas Recirculation not being required.

As a re-cap of the previous T409 models which featured the traditional narrower 1.8m-width cabin, the engine choices extended upwards to include the Cummins ISX and Signature engines with EGR and DPF, followed by the X15 Euro 5, and then supplemented by the PACCAR MX 13-litre. The new T410 models define their positioning in the product range more tightly, now available with the PACCAR MX 13-litre as the sole engine choice.

The T410 is available as a day cab model, a 600mm Aero sleeper, a 760mm mid-roof or 860mm Aero roof sleeper – all with the 2.1m-width cabin. There’s a choice of two trim levels, ranging from a fleet spec’ trim level to the more luxurious traditional diamond trim design.

Those wanting a 15-litre will be moving up the product line to the T610 and T610SAR, where their choice is confined to the Cummins X15 Euro 5, available in power outputs of 485/500/525/550/600 hp (362/373/391/410/447 kW) and with torque ratings of 1650 lb-ft to 2050 lb-ft (2237 and 2780 Nm).

KENWORTH T410

The T610 is available as a day cab, a 600mm Aero roof sleeper, a 760mm mid-roof sleeper, an 860mm Aero roof sleeper and as a 1400mm Aero roof sleeper, also to be released in May at the Brisbane Truck Show The T410 comes with the PACCAR MX 13-litre in power options of 460 to 510 hp and with torque ratings of 1700 lb-ft to 1850 lb-ft. When fitted with the PACCAR automated 12-speed transmission, the GCM rating peaks at the 50-tonne mark. Those customers seeking higher GCMs or looking for a manual transmission will be adding the Eaton Roadranger in manual or UltraShift PLUS AMT format to their shopping list.

Service workshops will appreciate the ease of access to components, with plenty of space around the front end once the bonnet has been tilted. The same comment applies to those chasing electrical access, as the removal of a cover on the passenger side of the dashboard makes life very easy for auto electricians, as well as for technicians requiring access to the HVAC (Heating,

Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems. Incidentally, the HVAC system maintains a consistent temperature control once set by the driver. Continuing the theme, access to the top of the transmission is easily achieved by removing the access hatch in the cab floor.

Driver access into the cab is much improved over the previous T409, with wider opening doors and well-placed grab handles. The extra width is obvious, but it’s when you drive the T410 that you really appreciate the benefits. The sloping bonnet has dramatically improved forward vision almost to cabover standards, and that impression continues with the wider windscreen and large mirror heads.

Pre-trip checks of the lighting system are now handled by an automatic cycle that works its way through all lighting combinations to confirm all globes or LED lights are working properly. LED lighting is used for the parking or side light systems, but headlamps remain with incandescent globes on the base model, with LED headlamps optional.

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FEATURE

There’s room on the dash for a large infotainment screen, although the early prototype unit available for our evaluation had not been fitted with a corresponding head unit. A major improvement, though, comes in the form of the transmission and exhaust brake selector stalk.

Mounted on the right-hand side of the steering column, the selection for Drive, Reverse and Park – plus the incremental application of the engine and exhaust brake in selectable stages – finally rivals the best of the Europeans.

Once on board and ready to roll, the first impression is certainly the improvement in all-round visibility. The interior is a major step forwards in space and ergonomics, with all controls within easy reach.

Coupled to a tri-axled Freighter curtainsider and running at a GVM of a fraction under 40 tonnes, the MX13 engine and PACCAR 12-speed transmission showed just how much has been accomplished by the development team as a result of Kenworth techs having worked alongside those of Eaton Australia.

I often hear drivers who trialled an early AutoShift say they would never move to an AMT because of the poor shift quality of those original transmissions. We’ve moved on a long way from those early days and the shift quality from the PACCAR 12-speed is truly excellent. It’s predictive on load and gradient and shifts seamlessly through the ratios, skip-shifting where applicable and holding ratios when on a decline.

The new column-mounted selector is also excellent – easy to use and providing total manual control where needed. It also activates the PACCAR 13-litre engine brake and exhaust brake in graduated selectable steps. The hydraulically operated compression brake is integrated in the valve rocker groups and combined 20

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with the pneumatically-operated exhaust brake. When collaborating together between 1100 rpm and 2100 rpm, the engine brake generates upwards of 400 hp (320 kW) of energy, to which the exhaust brake adds up to a further 200 hp (150 kW).

On the highway the truck steering is positive, and the prime mover turns in to corners and holds its line without the driver having to constantly correct the truck’s position. Combined with the smoothness and effectiveness of the PACCAR 12-speed automated transmission, the driving process becomes a very relaxed affair, showing the progress made by the engineers in matching the entire driveline.

Our drive from Bayswater out around Yea provided some realistic hill climbs and descents, such as the road through Mount Slide. Despite the often narrow and twisting road providing its own share of potholes and broken road edges, the T410 remained very stable and settled, and was easy to position at all times. Visibility from the power-adjusted side mirrors was also excellent.

The driveline match on a rural run was impressive and resulted in a fuel consumption figure of 52 L/100 km (1.92 km/L). Considering it was a virtually new vehicle with a driver that was neither familiar with the truck nor the district, this showed how this combination can be expected to return well over the 2 km/L mark. A previous driver over the same route a day earlier had returned 58 L/100km, showing how driving styles differ and affect TCO. In a world where manufacturers strive for total driveline integration, the PACCAR 12-speed is based on the Eaton Endurant design available in the North American market.

It was designed from the outset to function only as an Automated transmission and it differs substantially from the Roadranger, which was developed originally as a

KENWORTH T410 fully manual gearbox and was subsequently upgraded to become an AMT, firstly with the AutoSelect, then AutoShift and now the UltraShift PLUS.

Other benefits include 400,000-kilometre oil change intervals for linehaul applications, resulting in reduced downtime and maintenance costs.

Weight savings can add to a fleet’s bottom line and the PACCAR 12-speed transmission is claimed to be the lightest, most efficient 1850 lb-ft (2508 Nm) capable heavy-duty transmission available today, at more than 45 kg lighter than other competing transmissions.

A maintenance-free, 430 mm self-adjust clutch requires no grease and the transmission needs only 7.5 litres of oil, about half the amount of competitor models. A replaceable input shaft sleeve allows for affordable and quick repair, while competitive transmissions require a costly and time-consuming full teardown.

To prove out its reliability, the PACCAR 12-speed went through an extensive component validation test programme at the Eaton Proving Grounds in Marshall, Michigan, including the high heat of Death Valley, California, and minus 40-degree temperatures in northern Minnesota. This gruelling testing regimen resulted in more than two million equivalent field test miles.

The clean-sheet approach to its design has resulted in a host of unique features and benefits, including internal electrical system routing that minimises exposure and corrosion to wires and connectors for improved reliability, with a new smart prognostics feature providing clutch replacement notification to better plan maintenance scheduling. An industry-exclusive transmission fluid pressure sensor notifies drivers of low oil levels to provide burn-up warranty coverage.

Shift strategies are smooth and intuitive while predictive shifting using look-ahead technology to execute shift decisions improves fuel efficiency. Among linehaul transmissions, the PACCAR 12-speed has the deepest reverse ratio in the industry for slow-speed manoeuvring, and the casing features a standard, eight-bolt PTO opening.

Although the PACCAR MX 13 engine is available in 24 Volt form in DAF products for the Australian market, when fitted to Kenworth products the engine electrics are stepped down to 12 Volts in line with the North American common practice. Changing to a 12V system, Kenworth was better able to integrate the engine with the cab and chassis electrical systems, while also being able to eliminate inverters, simplifying the installation.

With the introduction of the T410, the vehicle electrical system will transition to a 12 Volt system. In this format it achieves full compatibility with the Bendix Fusion system of safety features which bring in the advantages of ABS, drag torque control, lane departure assist, active cruise braking, collision mitigation system with AEB, stability control and traction control. Drum brakes remain the standard fitment, but disc brakes are optionally available.

As many operators will already appreciate, the chassis of the T410 continues the wheelbase options created for the T409, maintaining the incremental pre-drilling at 10mm intervals that simplifies component and bodywork mounting requirements. It also includes a 100mm reduction in BBC, offering operators flexibility with trailer size or allowing shorter wheelbases.

Kenworth maintains its position as a leading force in Australian truck building and is reinforcing that status with a continuing expansion and investment programme costing $37 million over the next three years to raise production levels to 20 trucks per shift.

As Brad May, PACCAR Australia’s sales and marketing director told PowerTorque: “The market will continue to grow, and we want to be part of that through having the ability to build both DAF and Kenworth products on the same production line.

“The 2.1 m wide cab forms 30 percent of our build plans and the future holds exciting opportunities for the introduction of the new generation of DAF products as they move to Euro 6 emissions levels.

“DAF trucks have transitioned to featuring the full European specification suspensions, and as one of the leading brands in Europe they form the perfect partner for the Kenworth brand to provide the right choice for operators selecting an engine and chassis to suit a specific size and application.”

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FEATURE

FAMILY TRADITIONS

The Williamson family is the key to success for the ‘One Team – One Dream’ mantra of the Porthaul business - Words by Ed Higginson, images by Goodman Photography

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here’s a wealth of history surrounding the Victorian coastal town of Portland, about 350 km west of Melbourne. Located on Portland Bay, the town proudly proclaims it is the oldest European settlement in the State of Victoria, as well as being the main urban centre in the Shire of Glenelg.

He went to a couple of the Portland businesses and said he’d take it over if they would support him. So, when they agreed, he took it over the next day to keep everyone employed and we still work for those original customers to this day. He was originally a farmer, then owned the pub in town before getting into trucks.”

With its origins dating back to 1800, early industry included whaling, fishing and farming. In recent decades Portland has added factories producing aluminum, fertiliser, wood processing and, more recently, wind turbine assembly.

It might not be your normal route into transport, but it shows you the strength that can be achieved when local communities stick together, subsequently driving Porthaul to the successful position it has achieved today.

PowerTorque’s reason for visiting Portland was to catch up with local transport business Porthaul. Some thirty years ago, Brian Williamson bought local company BulkHaul and in the intervening years, this family-ownedand-operated business has grown to a fleet of 60 trucks, plus a further 20 full-time contractors servicing all of the local industries.

Brian’s oldest son and general manager, James Williamson, explains; “Dad started in 1990 when he heard a local business called BulkHaul was closing down.

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In the past 10 years, Brian has been joined by his three sons − James, Edward and Charles − each of whom returned to Portland after university and travels.

“On returning from the city, I came to help dad just at the start of the forestry boom in the area. We kicked off the forestry division, growing from one B-double and a single trailer operation, to 15 singles and 35 B-doubles today,” James adds.

PORTHAUL Initially carting bulk fertiliser from the local factory to farmers in Western Victoria and SA, with grain as a return load to the Port for export, Porthaul has continued to expand in response to other opportunities that have developed along the way.

James explains: “We have grown organically over the years, as we are always focused on trying to find a better way of doing things.”

Porthaul’s transport division is split into a few areas, being forestry, bulk transport, general freight, refrigerated and quarry services.

“The forestry division now transports roughly two million tonnes of wood annually, including logs, wood chips, bark and fines residue,” James says.

With Portland being home to some unique unloading hoppers in the Port, Porthaul has developed B-double tip-through trailers specifically for the task.

These combinations slide together on the 30-metre-long tipping ramps, which then rise roughly 20 metres into the sky, emptying the entire combination in a matter of minutes.

“Our general freight division mainly carries wool, moving nearly 50,000 bales a year from the region into Geelong and Melbourne. We have also used containers for the past two years, packing and delivering a wide range of products directly from the local area into the Port of Melbourne − mainly timber products and ingots from the local smelter.”

With a passion for finding better ways of doing things, Porthaul has moved its container packing operation back into the local area, rather than maintaining it in Melbourne as favoured by some of its competitors.

“There are a lot of raw products that come from this area and we are the only packing house in Portland.

Other companies bring groceries or products from Melbourne, then look to take goods back. But now we’ve gone to A-doubles for moving two 40-foot containers at a time, it makes more sense to unpack the imported containers here, then reload and send them back to Melbourne full. We’ve just moved the goal posts to the local area.

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FEATURE “Our bulk division is split into two areas, grain and fertiliser.

We unload about 400,000 tonnes of fertiliser a year off the ships in Portland, so we use a lot of truck and dog combinations for this. Then we have the customers that require fertiliser on the farms, so we use B-doubles to cart the longer distances and return with grain.

“We used to bring grain back to Portland; however, this is the first year that we haven’t seen one tonne of grain being exported in bulk through Portland.

“But this has also opened up the opportunity to bring grain back to Portland for packing into containers for transport into Melbourne wharf. Coming back from Melbourne, we then get a lot of imported wind farm components that we unpack here for the local wind turbine assembly factory, so our A-doubles have made a big difference.

“We also have the refrigerated division that we use to unload the trawlers in Portland Bay, taking fresh fish into Melbourne, with 60 percent of Melbourne’s fish coming from the Portland area.

“We currently have about 60 trucks, plus 20 full-time contractors. We then have tautliners, flat-tops, refrigerated trailers, bulk tippers, container skels, tip-through trailers, and grain tipper bodies with pins so we can easily swap them around. We are also about to pick up a new set of railliners that we’ve created with MaxiTRANS (Hamelex White) that are tautliners on skels. This design again enables us to swap them with other bodies as the work changes.”

James recalls: “Dad’s first truck was a Louisville, but Porthaul has mainly been a Kenworth fleet. Then, over the last five years, we’ve started to get into the European trucks because we feel they are better with emissions and fuel economy.

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“We usually use Kenworths for our bush work because they hold up well off-road. Then with our containers, we are using the new Actros 2663, plus we also use Scania R620s and R580s for our general freight work. With an eye to the future we have decided to trial one of the New Generation Scania trucks alongside a Mercedes in the forest to see how they both hold up. So far they have been great.”

As with many families that grew up with trucking in their blood, Brian and his three sons are all skilled at getting behind the wheel. “All of us drive, sometimes on weekends just to see what’s going on. We never expect anyone to do something we can’t do ourselves, so we can drive every truck and every piece of civil machinery. It’s good for the team, too, when they know we can help out when needed.

“We also like to trial the new technology as it comes out.

It’s why we originally went with the Mercedes, to trial all the latest safety features coming with autonomous trucks.

“We have three Actros units that run together from Melbourne to Portland, so we have been platooning them to monitor the benefits. Our drivers steer them on the dual lane section of the highway and the technology keeps them running just six metres apart. There is a fuel saving, maybe not with the first truck, but definitely when averaged across the three.”

James adds: “I still like the Kenworth products, but we also like the cab ride of the Europeans and the features that come with them. The Kenworths have a better resale value than the Europeans, but that may change overtime.

PORTHAUL We have drivers who will only love Kenworths, but one jumped into the Mercedes and he’s still in it, three years later.”

The business also has a civil construction division, now roughly similar in size to the transport division. This is also highly successful and is currently completing projects such as Portland’s Maritime Discovery Centre, Vesta’s blade factory, an Aldi Store in Colac, plus many road and housing estate projects. This adds a range of machinery and low loaders to the fleet mix, including graders, excavators, bulldozers, front end loaders, rollers, water tankers, and skid steers.

With business going strongly and with his sons managing the operations, Brian is now focused on property development, which includes the purchase of a large parcel of land on the outskirts of Portland. With plans to build an intermodal terminal, a new depot, warehousing, fertiliser sheds, biomass storage for the waste wood, and possibly a truck fuel station, Porthaul looks set to continue to expand in the region.

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*

FEATURE

SWEET SHIFTER Volvo goes for one-upmanship by introducing its dual-clutch transmission – Report by Chris Mullett

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very year, the technology race brings new solutions to ease the task of shifting cargo, never overlooking that profitability needs to be an important element of running a trucking business.

The ability to drive a truck effectively and efficiently goes way beyond the sheer mastery of an 18-speed constant mesh gearbox. Like it or not, today’s driver needs to understand the requirements of modern technology and work with it, rather than against it, in order to keep efficiency high and TCO (Total Cost of Operation) low.

The past 15 years has seen the introduction of automated manual transmissions (AMTs) in all categories of vehicle, from small hatchbacks to prime movers hauling roadtrains.

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Not all of these applications have been totally successful − particularly with the lighter passenger vehicles and small commercial vehicles, where the wider engine rpm operating band resulted in surging of power application rather than a smooth transition between ratios. The next step forwards took in continuously variable transmissions (CVTs), which blended power application more smoothly, resulting in progressive, rather than jerky, ratio shifting through the transmission.

A full fluid automatic transmission still remains an option, with some light commercial and passenger car

VOLVO DUAL CLUTCH

The narrower rpm operating bands of heavy vehicles make the application of AMT and DSG technology much more attractive than with smaller vehicles, as it reduces the lag inherent from waiting for an engine to raise or lower its rpm level to match the selection criteria for the next ratio.

The introduction of AMT technology is proven to reduce driveline shock, while certainly improving the ability of the driver to benefit from the vehicle always being in the correct ratio.

This benefit applies to all drivers, whether or not they are proficient in changing gears with a traditional manual transmission. Align the ability to always be in the correct ratio with advanced ‘over the horizon’ vision capability through telematics, and there’s even more reason to appreciate the vehicle being in the right ratio, at the right speed and with greatly reduced driver fatigue.

With the improved technology surrounding DSG transmissions now well established, it was only a matter of time before a heavy truck maker would offer this next upgrade.

Volvo has stepped up to the plate, introducing the I-Shift Dual Clutch into the Australian and New Zealand markets as the first transmission on the market with a dual-clutch system for heavy vehicles.

Thanks to power-shift gear changes, torque is maintained without any interruption in power delivery or losing any perceptible speed during gear changes. For the driver, the result is more comfortable and efficient progress on the road.

The I-Shift Dual Clutch gearbox is based on the standard I-Shift transmission and is best described as two gearboxes linked together. There are two input shafts, each of which is equipped with its own clutch, meaning that two gears can be selected at the same time. It is the dual clutch that determines which of the gears is currently active.

makers now offering eight or even 10-speed automatic transmissions. But in a heavy truck application these hydraulic options, such as provided by Allison, remain better suited to urban operations with fixed criteria such as waste disposal or inner-city deliveries.

Into this mix of options comes a further choice with the introduction of dual-clutch technology. Volkswagen was a front-runner in releasing its version called the Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG). It has not been without its technical problems and while it produced very expensive repair bills for early VW adopters, further modifications have now improved reliability and operating smoothness.

When one gearbox is active, the next gear is preselected in the other gearbox and spins up to speed, ready for instant engagement. During gear changing, the first gearbox is disconnected at the same instant as the second gearbox is connected, so gear changes take place without any interruption in power delivery. The exception to this is when making a range change, which takes place when shifting from sixth to seventh gear. When driving in conditions where it is more optimal for the transmission to skip a few gears, the transmission changes gear just like a regular I-Shift unit.

The choice of starting gear is influenced by the gross weight and road gradient, with onward performance shifting and more gentle changes achieved through the utilisation of the engine brake, the dual clutch and a special transmission brake. The enhanced shift strategy is achieved by interacting with EBS and ECS and it automatically selects the right gear to maximise the VEB braking effect by so the engine operates at a higher rpm.

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FEATURE Despite its many new components, the new I-Shift Dual Clutch version is just 12 cm longer than a regular I-Shift unit, but the front half of the gearbox has been redesigned with entirely new components.

Smooth, gentle gear changes cut wear on the driveline and the rest of the vehicle, while fuel consumption with the I-Shift Dual Clutch is quoted by the manufacturer as being the same as with the standard I-Shift. It is available on 13-litre Volvo FH and FM Euro 5 models with 500 hp and 540 hp (373 kW and 403kW) as an alternative to the I-Shift and manual transmission options.

Order applications for the I-Shift with Dual Clutch were announced back in Q4 of 2018, and supplies are now starting to filter through the system for an on-sale date of Q2 of this year.

PowerTorque was invited to evaluate the first I-Shift Dual Clutch FH available in the Australian market and joined Matt Wood, Fuel Efficiency Manager for Volvo Group Australia, for a run up and down the Toowoomba Range from Brisbane.

With consistent 10 percent gradients, it would be hard to find a better route to highlight engine and transmission matching. Throughout the uphill and downhill return runs, the Volvo really showed its ability.

The FH 540 with its 12-speed I-Shift Dual Clutch transmission was hauling a standard tri-tri-axled B-double set that was running on 385/55R22.5 wide single trailer tyres.

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With its 3.4:1 axle ratios, the FH was rated at 70 tonnes GCW, well within the maximum rating for the transmission of 80 tonnes.

The latest FH is certainly an impressive piece of gear, with its high roof cab and a fully equipped cabin interior that includes storage options that are well above normal expectations.

Easy to access, the seating position and relationship of the driver to the controls is excellent. It’s the design touches that are impressive, and Volvo manages to even make its door-mounted mirror heads look stylish,

VOLVO DUAL CLUTCH especially when compared to some West Coast designs that rattle and vibrate, with minimal power adjustment.

As PowerTorque’s Warren Caves has mentioned in a recent truck review, a driver these days needs time to assimilate all the various controls, learning and understanding the options before clicking off the park brake and shifting the selector into D for Drive.

There’s a lot of information available on the dashboard, but the driver should select their own display preferences before turning a wheel.

Playing with buttons and column stalks while on the move is counter-productive and can become a major distraction, reducing the levels of safety that this vehicle provides.

Safety systems such as lane departure assist, cruise control, hill start assist, adaptive cruise control and a plethora of other options should be capable of operation without a driver having to second-guess which button to press. This comes down familiarity and the exposure of the driver to proper training in order to appreciate how to control the way the systems function and operate.

VGA’s Matt Wood profiled the application areas for the FH with the new I-Shift Dual Clutch as being especially suited for livestock and tanker operations, since the seamless gear changes prompt less movement in the cargo itself.

The Toowoomba Range has claimed more than its fair share of major accidents, but technologies such as the dual-clutch transmission make ascent and descent a safe event, provided the driver uses all the available aids.

It’s one thing to call a gearshift seamless, but quite another to experience it in practice. Seamless in this instance means that the ratio shift is imperceptible, other than a slight increase in engine rpm noise level as a result of the ratio swap. There is no driveline connect and reconnect noticeable that could damage components or cause stress in the driveline.

The dual-clutch gear change only works on full ratio swaps and not on half gears. On more level sections such as the “saddle” on the range ascent, the driver still needs to select manual on the approach to override the opportunity for the unit to misread requirements and throw in a sudden gearchange and then have to re-select almost immediately. Once past the saddle and back on the steep ascent, the driver can shift the selector back to Auto and once again enjoy the view.

The downhill descent was again completed without mishap, with the 55 tonnes of the total GCM being well controlled by varying the descent speed through toggling the EVB and engine brake column-mounted stalk with the gear selector in third or fourth gear. Over a route that once held a potentially dangerous outcome, the trip was completed under the utmost safety constraints.

With I-Shift Dual Clutch power-shifting there is less risk of losing traction on slippery or uneven roads, but there’s always the option of adding in the power divider or cross-axle diff locks prior to starting to further minimise the loss of traction. For those familiar with the Toowoomba Range, the fuel economy over the trip starting and finishing at Pinkenbar in Brisbane and running at 55 tonnes GCW, with heavy traffic, averaged 61.1 l/100km (1.6 km/litre).

At a time when the entire transport industry is focusing on improved safety and reduced fatigue, it’s options such as these incorporated by Volvo that should now form part of the purchase equation for any fleet.

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FEATURE

MAN ON POLE POSITION Motorsport is an important part of trucking and transport for Penske Commercial Vehicles.

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he fortunes of motorsport competition and heavy transport seem to be indelibly intertwined, perhaps not least because without trucks, the race cars can’t get to the racetrack, and neither can the support crews, with their spare engines, mechanics and tools of their trade.

The Shell V-Power Racing Team brings together the expertise of Dick Johnson Racing and the proven entrepreneurial flair and ability of Roger Penske and Penske Racing to create a major force in Supercars racing.

The results on track revealed one of the most productive campaigns in recent memory with 10 race wins, 13 pole positions and 22 podium results across the No. 12 and No. 17 Shell V-Power Ford Falcons teams. The final result for 2018 saw Scott McLaughlin crowned the 2018 Virgin Australia Supercars Champion. The experience and enthusiasm of the team today has culminated this year in the preparation of two Ford Mustang V8 race cars to contest the 2019 season with drivers Fabian Coulthard and Scott McLaughlin.

Now a third element joins DJR Team Penske for the 2019 season in the form of a MAN TGX D38 26.580 XXL prime mover taking pole position as the lead vehicle for transporting the team to race meetings across Australia.

The XXL cab is over 200mm taller than the XLX version and almost 500mm taller than the XL cab. The TGX itself includes an impressive list of safety features with lane departure assist, emergency stop signalling, adaptive cruise control, automatic low beam headlamps and wiper system with sensors, plus cornering lights. Also included is ESP (electronic stability programme), automatic braking system, ABS and anti-slip regulator, brake assistant and emergency brake assist.

The D38 engine range conforms to the latest global Euro 6 emissions legislation. Power comes from the MAN 15.2 litre, D38 six-cylinder diesel engine with two-stage turbocharging and intercooling, producing 427kW (580 hp) at 1800 rpm. Peak torque of 2900 Nm is rated at 930-1350 rpm. Completing the driveline is the latest 12-speed ZF TraXon automated transmission.

These legends in motorsport combined in 2014 to embark on a learning curve on vehicle development. By 2018, DJR Team Penske had well established its credentials, following up having won its impressive team title from the previous season with its first driver’s championship.

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There are certainly advantages in having a partnership with Roger Penske, not least that Penske Commercial Vehicles is the Australian distributor of MAN, Western Star and Dennis Eagle commercial vehicles, plus the corporation provides sales and service support for Detroit and MTU diesel engines. There’s also the additional benefit of the input from Team Penske, the American professional motorsports organisation which runs teams involved in open wheel, stock car and sports car racing.

While visiting the DJR Team Penske team headquarters at Stapylton, near Yatala on the Gold Coast PowerTorque took the opportunity to discuss the performance of Penske Commercial Vehicles with Randall Seymore, president

DJR TEAM PENSKE of Penske Transportation Group International and Kevin Dennis, managing director of Penske Commercial Vehicles.

PT: How important is motorsport to Penske Corporation and its growth in the Australian and New Zealand markets.

Randall Seymore: “It’s an approach that Roger (Penske) has taken for the past 50 years. Firstly, internally it’s a common thread in what we do. With over 1000 employees in Australia and New Zealand, and with over 400 of these being technicians, so many (of our people) have that appeal for motorsport. Roger brings along a legacy of what Team Penske has brought (to the market). It’s a very significant part of what we do.

Kevin Dennis: “Our focus with Western Star is to look at the whole US conventional segment. With the growth of the market to 14,400 units in the heavy duty segment some 2,700 were 15-litre conventionals.

“We’ve had some good wins and have done a lot of work internally to raise the bar to what we offer. Our feedback is that we are now releasing the best quality into the market.

We have just released a new 4700 agitator programme to our dealers, plus we recently released the new 5800FE, which we believe it will be a hands down winner.

“Primarily, we use this as a major part of our customer relations. Our VIP guests can watch the race from our pit hospitality area and participate in the event. They can meet senior executives and share in the excellence that happens on the race track as we spread the same level of excellence that we try to achieve in our business.

“We now have the new Ford Mustang Supercars – it’s been a great branding tool for us to align with the Penske brand, together with Western Star, MAN and Dennis Eagle.

PT: MAN sales have grown by approximately 50 per cent since the launch of the TGX D38. Is this sustainable?

Kevin Dennis: “We see opportunities in all segments of the market, especially with the 6x4 prime mover models. It’s also a good entry into the all-wheel-drive segment and other innovations. We see that growing and want to have a strong presence in the European cabover space that’s going to be equal to the current Europeans. We now have MAN into large major fleets with good TCO and reliability and we see a very bright future in this space.

“With 640 hp available with the MAN D38 and with the optional XXL extended cab on the 540hp, 580hp and 640hp models, we are finishing the test programmes that we have been running to the West in South Australia and to the north east from Victoria. We want to make sure that everything is in place in the background before a major release as we launch into this market.

PT: The TRATON Group conglomerate of VW Commercial Vehicles that includes both Scania and MAN products has stated that Scania Opticruise transmissions will become available across other brands such as MAN. Will this affect your strategy in the Australian and New Zealand markets?

Kevin Dennis: “The 640hp rated Scania transmission offers us an option. Initially we will run with the ZF TraXon and consider the sharing of other components from phase two of our launch programmes. There will be very distinct walls between the marketing of MAN and Scania brands in Australia.

PT: MAN sales performance has exceeded that of the Western Star products. What plans do you have to renew interest in the North American brand prior to the introduction of the new platform and next generation models in 2021?

Randall Seymore, president of Penske Transportation Group International and Kevin Dennis, managing director of Penske Commercial Vehicles

“We have worked extensively with Western Star to improve quality control and assembly coming out of the Portland, Oregon manufacturing plant. Our protocols are now much more stringent, and we are doing more from a comprehensive pre-delivery perspective at Wacol, resulting in much less pre-delivery inspection work to be completed at dealer level.”

PT: Will Australia be seeing the 16-litre Detroit engine option?

Kevin Dennis: “The 16-litre will not be available until the introduction of the new platform. We have the 15-litre performing at its highest level as the best it’s been with an uptick in fuel economy and power responsiveness.

Reliability levels are also running to a very high standard, with warranty problems having dropped to almost nothing.

“The Cummins X15 accounts for around 40 percent of our sales and with AMTs we will be offering the DT12 with the new platform.

“In 13-litre options we will be using the using the Detroit 13-litre. I can’t answer at this stage whether we will include the Endurant transmission for GVMs up to 50 tonnes.

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FEATURE Logistics because we could supply a Euro 6 option. Fuel use drops by a couple of percent. There’s less heat rejection, and less AdBlue usage.

PT: Will we see an increased level of telematics and vehicle to dealership connectivity in the short term?

Randall Seymore: “The longterm plan for Australia is to introduce connectivity between the dealer and truck and we see this requirement as being driven by the customer.

It makes all the sense in the world when both MAN and Western Star are offering that level of connectivity in their own markets and this is 100 percent where the industry is going to go.

“We will probably see the front axles go in-house and change to the Detroit product. The preference for rear axles is still a point of discussion, given the local preference in Australia for other brand options.

“In terms of timing we see the introduction of the new platform for Western Star as being a few years away.

Testing has not yet started in Australia but has already commenced in the US. PT: What is your prophesy for Western Star?

Kevin Dennis: “Our objective is to get our QC and ducks in line. With the new platform over time we can compete as the most up to date conventional truck in the market. As they make changes in the US we will get those changes flowing through with all updates coming in a far quicker process and enjoy the economies of scale of what’s happening in the US. “The move to Euro 6 compliance is an interesting position.

Governments should be dictating where we go. Taking older emission trucks off the road should be led by the Government.

“It’s unique that the industry is pushing for emission controls rather than Government, but we are hearing it from customers. We won the fleet business with G1

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“Our biggest focus has been on our dealer network. The mantra from Penske Commercial Vehicles is all about how we look after our customers. Five years ago, we had one company owned dealership. We now have nine in Australia and three in New Zealand.

“We’ll never be the manufacturer or the OEM, but we are the importer and distributor, supported by regional independent dealerships. Our focus has to be on high quality repair and maintenance with efficient communication between our customers and the dealerships.

“Our ongoing theme is “The Power of Loyalty”. Penske Truck rental has over 200 units between rental and leasing in five major capital cities. This figure will extend to 300 plus in the next two years, dependent on the type of lease business.

“As we expand the rental and leasing operation it’s interesting to compare offerings as to who really has a national footprint, rather than a regional presence.

“Some providers have a fragmented approach with trucks and some trailers. With Penske Truck Rental we offer 6x4 prime movers from MAN and Western Star, together with 14-pallet Western Star 2800 rigids with Cummins engines and Allison transmissions. We stick to that as it has touch points throughout the Penske organisation, reinforced with the lessons we have learnt from operating a global rental and leasing fleet in excess of 300,000 vehicles,” added Randall.

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FEATURE

HORSES FOR COURSES Aiming for high horsepower can become very personal – Report

by Chris Mullett

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MACK

T

here’s no justification for hauling a single semi-trailer with 685 hp; but, as a tipper operator once told me, “It’s my truck, I work hard, and I like it that way”.

That’s just one of the reasons why this industry is so fascinating. If the work is there, together with the right profit margin, it’s possible to treat yourself to something that goes a little further in appeal than simply aiming for the common-sense solution.

Mack Trucks Australia recently offered PowerTorque the opportunity to join Bill Manton, product customer trainer and driver trainer with Volvo Group Australia, to experience a 90 tonnes-rated road train-spec SuperLiner 6x4 High-Rise Sleeper. Who wouldn’t jump at that?

With the full 685 hp 16-litre, Mack MP10 engine under the long bonnet, the SuperLiner certainly justifies the description of being imposing on the highway. This model heads up the Mack product line as the most powerful conventional truck on the Australian market and it comes with all the comforts of a small studio apartment, in the form of a 52-inch sleeper that sits back from the ISRI Big Boy air-suspended driver’s seat.

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FEATURE The full 685hp (525kW) comes through from 1500 to 1900 rpm to a maximum engine speed of 2000 rpm. Peak torque of 2300 lb-ft (3118 Nm) is rated at 1000 to 1500 rpm, and maximum engine braking generates 570hp (425kW) at 2200 rpm.

Because of the limitations placed on coupling up to a B-double and staying within length requirements for our day on the road, about the best we could manage in terms of availability and weight was to couple up to a single triaxled semi-trailer and aim for an all-up weight of 44 tonnes.

At 685hp and with 3118 Nm of torque the word “overkill” did come to mind, but, in recalling the comments of the tipper operator mentioned earlier, it was a case of just looking forward to the drive and enjoying too much of everything.

Being Mack, you have to get used to the American brand using different terminology when describing its features, such as incorporating Grade Gripper (that anyone else calls hill start) and PowerLeash (ditto engine and exhaust brake), although Road Stability Advantage seems close enough to electronic stability programme not to warrant a specifically unique title.

With a 5550 mm wheelbase and a front-to-back bumper measurement for the prime mover of 8068 mm, this is all street legal for a B-triple combination that couples within an overall length dimension of 35 metres, with a typical length of 32.5 to 33.5 metres. This is less than the maximum overall length of an A-double, which is 36.5 metres. If you can coax the budget to give you the best ride comfort in this category then head for the 6250 mm wheelbase option and you can enjoy a fuel capacity of

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1950 litres, augmented by a further 150 litres of AdBlue to supply the SCR system. If you suffer from claustrophobia, you can extend your sleeper area to 58 inches and enjoy an extended roof height of 72 inches (1829 mm).

At this spec level, the driveline componentry is very much decided upon by the personal preferences of the driver.

Those keen to take advantage of the M-Drive automated manual transmission get the 12-speed, a maximum torque capacity of 3186 Nm (2350 lb-ft), and the full 685 hp version. Those specifying the Eaton RTLO-22918B with its maximum torque capacity of 3050 Nm (2250 lb-ft), limit themselves to the MP10 engine rated at 600 hp (447 kW).

Mack has not yet brought its product offering up to the Euro6 emissions level, currently staying at Euro 5 until the next generation of the new models hit the Australian market.

Cooling requirements are taken care of by a radiator that boasts a frontal area of 1.13 sq. metres (1757 sq. in), which is assisted by a Behr Visco drive (electric over viscous fan clutch) that dimensionally is almost a metre in width at 813 mm and sports an 11-blade nylon fan.

Under the front end is a Mack FXL steer axle with unitised hubs positioned forward with a clearance of 1058 mm from the front. If you run 295/80R22.5 tyres you’ll be opting for a 6.5 tonnes rating, whereas by adopting a set of 385/65R22.5s you’ll be gaining extra leeway to run at a 6.7 tonnes rating. At the rear were the industry standard 11R22.5 sized Michelin X Multi D radials.

Under the rear end on this particular unit was the Meritor RT46-160GP drive axle rated at 20.9 tonnes, running on Mack AP-460 air suspension.

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Brake Components

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Steering and Suspension Components

FEATURE With the reticence of the livestock sector to join the rest of the world and include disc brakes, the brake spec was as Grand Pappy would have wanted, with S-Cam drum brakes all round. Disc brakes remain optional. Surprisingly, nobody had ticked the box for spider hubs, so we were running on 10-stud polished alloy disc wheels. ABS with traction control were also standard inclusions.

When out in the desert and running for days without seeing people, it’s good to have something to do to keep you moving and motivated. This is where the American heritage of cabin design comes to the fore, with switches on the centre console for everything from lights to wipers, washers, mirror adjustment, power dividers, cross-axle diff locks, radios, audio and infotainment systems, not forgetting the gear selector buttons for manually choosing your ratios or clicking back onto automatic when nobody is watching. Power windows are optional, as are selfcancelling indicators and central locking.

The M-Drive AMT fitted to the SuperLiner included the Heavy-Duty Shift option. Selecting this function moves the shift protocol into a single ratio shift in place of skip shifting, also enabling the engine rpm to head to higher levels than normal. As you can imagine, with higher engine rpm and single rather than skip shifting going on beneath you, the fuel consumption is going to top out higher than normal; but what you sacrifice in fuel you gain in overall performance and ability when really up in the high weight area.

There’s so much to admire about the SuperLiner in its Road Train trim that you could be forgiven for wondering if we did actually turn a wheel on the road. Yes, we did, and I couldn’t think of a better host to accompany any potential Mack convert than Bill Manton.

As mentioned, Bill spends his time showing drivers and fleet operators the best way to get the maximum performance from their Mack. Performance also includes fuel economy, and it’s here that Bill is an absolute legend when it comes to imparting his knowledge and experience to newcomers to the breed.

It’s easy to think that after 40 years’ driving, you might muddle through what you might not know and come out alright on the other side. With Bill in the passenger seat, “muddling through” is not an option. A long-distance driver throughout his career, he’s got a wealth of experience from working in the Top End, and he’s honed his teaching skills through the years as the national training manager for Simon’s National Carriers.

These days Bill is part of the driver training team at Volvo Group Australia, comprising Paul Munro, Tim Sweeney and Jeff Smith.

He probably knows the average journey time and potential fuel economy for every major truck route in the country, but he’ll also clearly make the point that profitability for an operator comes from what you can save, as well as reducing what you can spend.

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MACK “In open country on relatively flat running you’ll save 8 percent on fuel consumption by running at 90 km/h maximum speeds rather than 100 km/h. On the SydneyMelbourne run that saving is 5 percent. In journey time, dropping the maximum speed to 90 km/h will add just 23 minutes to the Sydney-Brisbane run or 52 minutes to the Melbourne-Toowoomba route,” Bill said.

“Think about your vehicle spec. You might want 1200 litres of fuel capacity, but do you need it? Check how often you refill with 1200 litres. Can you run 1000 litres and gain 200 kg additional payload? ABS, traction control, electronic stability programmes and disc brakes are a far more important safety feature and benefit than extra fuel tank capacity.

“Let your weight contribute to pushing your vehicle along rather than always using your acceleration. Turn your engine brake off unless you are using it, as that absorbs more fuel. Use cruise control only on the flatter sections, and turn it off and drive manually on hillier areas. Endeavour to coast where you can, and if driving a new vehicle look at the power and torque curves and see where the sweet spot lies to focus on performance and economy.”

Through driving with Bill, it’s impossible not to take up the challenge of trying to match his fuel economy figures while aligning your average speed to match his performance. It’s unlikely that with his background he is going to improve his performance overnight, whereas as a newcomer to the vehicle, there was considerable potential for me to gain ground. That said, with my figures of 1.87 km/litre somewhat obscured by his return of 2.1 km/litre he wasn’t letting me off lightly.

As Bill mentioned quietly, when spending a week running from Brisbane to Darwin return and notching up a regular 7500 to 8000 km, the difference in employing either of us could equate to a cost saving for the operator approximating $670 per 8000 km trip (469 litres of fuel); which, at $1.43 per litre, saves close to $35,000 per year.

Undoubtedly, a drive of a 90-tonnes rated road train hauling one semi-trailer at 44 tonnes when you have 685 hp on tap is an amazing indulgence. That said, the SuperLiner handled the transition to single work with such ease that it would leave any driver wanting the extra power and torque just to make the day easier.

Interior noise levels are low, the standard and quality of the interior trim is a cut above the average, and there’s plenty of space to move around when you park up for whatever remains of the night. Despite not having wide singles on the front axle, the prime mover proved to be easy to position on the highway and turned into corners with precision and good control.

Traditionalists may have to accept change and no doubt that change is coming, with the new platform in the nottoo-distant future. Expect also that timing to coincide with the introduction of Euro 6 exhaust emission compliance, together with Bendix Wingman Fusion advanced safety features that will further align the North American products with those of Europe.

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SUPER SUMO FEATURE

Warren Caves drives an early prototype of Fuso’s top-weight prime mover

T

he Fuso Canter was renowned for its marketing campaign featuring three Sumo wrestlers in the “Not So Squeezy” adverts, and quickly developed a high retention factor amongst TV viewers. We reckon that to gain instant recognition, the truck maker’s top-weight prime mover needs a better moniker than “Super Great”. Hence, from this day forth, we’re calling it the Super Sumo, offering this excellent option for brand positioning at no cost to the manufacturer.

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As Fuso Trucks winds up final testing and evaluation in the local market of its soon-to-be-released next-generation heavy truck range, PowerTorque took the opportunity to experience an on-road test drive ahead of its official arrival.

As a prototype vehicle with a distinctively bold patchwork of red, black and grey tones, our test truck was definitely not trying to hide. There are also another two prototype vehicles with customers on local evaluation, one with Australia Post and in a more conventional colour scheme.

FUSO Largely unchanged since 2011, the Fuso heavy-duty range is due for an injection of emerging technology, including safety, emission and driveline advancements.

to use Fuso’s existing chassis and differentials as its platform, and there is no manual gearbox transmission version available.

Its competitors have all recently released updated models; Isuzu’s Giga, Hino’s 700 series and the Quon from UD with significant advancements in these areas of development.

That being said, Fuso still tops the sales tally in respect of the plus-400 hp, Japanese heavy-duty truck sector.

Emissions ratings have been lifted from the previous Euro 5 specification – FV and FP models to pPNLT Japanese levels, which are equivalent to Euro 6 standards by way of incorporating SCR, EGR and DPF aftertreatment technologies.

Clearly wanting to maintain that sales edge, the timing of the pending release of Fuso’s new Heavy Range in the second half of this year gels quite nicely with the Brisbane Truck Show, where the new model will most likely be unveiled officially.

While not at complete Australian spec, our test vehicle did provide a preview of the safety and driveline features that we can expect to see when the truck is released locally later this year.

Codenamed the TC heavy series and with an engineering project name of “Black Panther”, Fuso management is welcome to adopt PowerTorque’s suggestion of Super Sumo as being somewhat more inspired than the Japanese market title of “The Super Great”.

Featuring core structure framework from the previous FV/ FP models, the facelifted, next-generation, heavy-duty Fuso truck range wears an all-new interior, has advanced driveline technology, and heaps of new tech and safety inclusions. Two cab variations will be available, being the low roof (as tested) and a high roof version.

Powering our test vehicle is the Daimler-sourced and proven, OM 470 10.7-litre engine, rated at 460 ps (455 hp) with 2200 Nm (1623 lb-ft) of torque mated to a 12-speed AMT which can be controlled manually, or left to select appropriate ratios automatically. The new model continues

Fuso’s Senior Manager of Product Planning and Engineering, Romesh Rodrigo, says the main purpose of implementing the prototype into Australian testing was primarily to evaluate the driveline and safety aspects of the truck. This explains why our test vehicle had Japanese-styled mirrors, leaf spring suspension, steel fuel tank, aggressive tyre tread pattern and the like, being based on popular Japanese specifications.

Safety enhancements come from the inclusion of a driver’s SRS airbag, ABS, lane departure warning, stability control, LED low-beam headlights, adaptive (radar) cruise control, auto headlights and wipers, and for the test vehicle, infrared fatigue detection.

Romesh says the Australian build will have air suspension, door-mounted mirrors and an alloy fuel tank, along with minor detail changes from the test unit.

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FEATURE The next generation models will be available in configurations of 4x2, 6x4 and 8x4, targeting heavy rigid applications as well as local, regional and intra-state prime mover tasks.

Steering wheel buttons control functions such as audio and phone features, as well as cruise control and the multi-information screen located in the main dash panel between the speedo and tacho.

After overcoming the garish colour scheme, entering the truck cabin from the low entry point and three-step arrangement was a breeze, enhanced by the wideopening door and well-placed grab handles.

A small bunk is located behind the seats and would suffice for the occasional night’s rest or a power-nap during the day, but it’s not of generous proportions, and nor is the mattress overly opulent. There are reading lamps in the bunk area and a large fluoro light above the centre console, which would be a godsend when filling out work diaries in the wee small hours.

All-round visibility from the driving position was good, and while the Japanese-styled mirrors do nothing to enhance the aesthetics of the truck, there’s no denying their merit in affording a broader field of view in all directions. Unlike door-mounted mirrors, they also have an added benefit of being viewed through a wiper-swept portion of the windscreen in wet weather. Ugly or not, this type of arrangement is well worthy of future consideration.

The driver’s air ride seat was comfortable enough, with manual adjustments for firmness, height, lumbar and slide, and an armrest fitted to the inboard side. While it’s not on par with the likes of an ISRI seat, it is adequate for its intended use.

The new dash layout is modern and functional, with the main controls falling easily to hand. A noticeable omission, which is fast becoming a growing trend, was the lack of a separate trailer brake control. Hopefully this will be factored into the prime mover model in local Aussie trim.

A multimedia unit resides in the slightly angled centre console, providing audio, phone and Bluetooth connectivity as well as truck-specific satellite navigation.

Weight dimensions and configurations can be pre-set into the sat/nav, thereby reducing the chance of experiencing any off-route incidents or low bridge confrontations.

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Following a brief orientation of the main controls, the transmission takes its instructions from a column stalk on the left-hand side of the steering wheel. A quick roll of the gear selector switch to ‘D’, and I set off from the Hartwig’s dealership in Lavington, for a relatively short run up Highway 31 to Tarcutta, a total of around 135 km.

My load for the day was strapped down in a Barker triaxle, curtain-sided trailer fitted with a nose cone and loaded to give a total GCM of around 38 tonnes. After negotiating a couple of roundabouts and a set of lights, we were soon on the Hume Highway for a direct run to Tarcutta.

Immediately noticeable were the NVH levels within the cab.

When moving off the mark from a standstill under load, the engine noise was remarkably well subdued, driveline vibration was minimal and the shifts from the AMT were smooth and intuitive.

Upon entering the highway and encountering sunken truck wheel ruts in the road surface, I was introduced to the lane departure warning system as the vehicle followed

FUSO the ruts and destabilised the steering enough to send me outside the white lines momentarily.

At maximum speed the noise levels were still remarkably low – the only exception being the level of tyre hum from the aggressive tread pattern. The ride comfort was also impressive, with only a single ‘buck’ jump from a bridge joint to remind me of the leaf spring suspension under the rear of the truck.

Power from the 10.7-litre engine hauled the prime mover and single trailer combination up the long gradual gradients without much fuss, and the AMT seemed well in tune with the engine’s optimal torque span.

The engine, by its low-revving nature, seemed quite at home lugging down from 1800 rpm at 100 km/h to 1100 to 1200 rpm before initiating a downshift, which positioned the engine within the peak torque range for further performance during the ascent.

At one point I switched to manual mode to see if manually downshifting a little earlier would improve performance and increase my speed when pulling up hills. The answer here was no, it didn’t. The engine revved out a little harder, but seemed to top out at around 1800 rpm, where it held that speed. At that point an upshift, initiated by me while still climbing the hill, resulted in the truck accelerating and increasing speed while still climbing.

Speed retardation comes from the three-position engine combustion brake, applied via the same lever used for gear selection being pushed forward towards the dashboard. The efficiency of the engine brake was such that if service brake application was required it needed only very light application, even on the steepest of downhill grades.

While Fuso is clearly marketing toward urban delivery tasks and regional use, the latest TC heavy-duty truck is also capable of B-double work with a 63-tonne GCM. Though this may not be its targeted or intended use, it makes for greater versatility for interstate fleets utilising local trucks for final destination deliveries.

On such a short trip the average fuel consumption figure is speculative, showing a figure of two kilometre per litre at journey’s end. This is a reasonable result given the 4.66:1 final drive ratio being more suited to city or quarrytype tipper work. A ratio closer to 4:1 would surely yield more favourable figures on highway work, with the low peak torque curve still providing good performance from standstill at a weight suitable for single trailer work.

The reduction in displacement from the outgoing 12-litre, Euro 5 engine, to the 10.7-litre Euro 6 version should yield benefits for the operator’s bottom line and the environment alike, additionally bringing Fuso’s next-generation Heavy Range on par with developments across the industry.

The adaptive radar cruise control worked well in controlling speed and maintaining pre-set distances from vehicles ahead. The ECO roll function drops the engine back to idle for coasting downhill to conserve fuel, although in the majority of these instances during our test drive, the ECO roll duration was cut short by the need to retard speed to avoid the risk of over-running downhill.

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FEATURE

RUNNING ON GAS

A

s Australia sweltered through a summer with temperatures ranging up to 45 degrees, it certainly brought climate change and renewable energy policies into sharper focus.

One outstanding feature of last year’s IAA commercial vehicle show in Hanover was the emphasis placed by all manufacturers on renewable energy and alternative fuels.

It’s no longer just a suggestion of a different drive system for small vans and light trucks; the options now extend through the distribution chain, to large rigids and prime movers.

At the time of the IAA Show, the decision by IVECO not to have a diesel engine on display was initially a surprise. But as senior management headed by IVECO Brand President Pierre Lahutte were quick to point out, the company was keen to remove the doubt for truck operators relating to gas versus diesel.

IVECO is proving in European testing that its Natural Power (NP) Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) technology is a viable and financially profitable solution to achieve sustainable long-haul transport. More than 3000 Stralis NP units are being used in the fleets of more than 400 logistics operators on the major European transport routes. More than 1000 orders in 12 European countries were placed for Stralis NP 460 prime movers with IVECO just eight months after its launch.

“We knew our latest Stralis 480 XP was very good and positioned already among the top market players in terms of fuel efficiency, but our Stralis NP 460 achieved breakthrough results in tests conducted by leading European publications in real driving conditions. It tops the ranking with a significant margin over all traditional diesel trucks,” Mr Lahutte said.

“In a year, a Stralis NP 460 clocking up 150,000 km can deliver savings in excess of 10,000 euro ($AUD15,900) on the owner’s TCO compared to an equivalent truck running on diesel and urea.”

The Stralis NP 460 in single-fuel version with double LNG tanks has a range of up to 1600 km and delivers performance equal to an equivalent diesel truck, with the advantage of exceptionally low fuel consumption. It uses up to 15 per cent less fuel which, added to the lower cost of natural gas compared to diesel, results in significant savings.

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The trend towards LNGand CNG-fuelled trucks is closer than you think

LNG & CNG FUEL Unlike the inclusion of Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology with diesel engines, the use of LNG does not require AdBlue (urea), further cutting TCO. These factors, together with the long service intervals of 90,000 km, deliver TCO savings of 9 per cent compared to a diesel truck.

The Stralis NP 460 is the first natural gas truck with the latest-generation automated transmission. The new 12-speed HI-TRONIX gearbox offers the most advanced technology in its category, with 99.7 per cent efficiency, exceptional durability, plus a best-in-class gear spread of 16.7 and torque-to-weight ratio.

This new transmission reduces shifting time by 10 percent compared to the previous model, and offers additional functionalities such as rocking function, four reverse gears and a new offer of PTOs.

based predictive driving functions such as the predictive gear change and predictive eco-roll, plus EcoSwitch which automatically adapts the engine power and torque to the truck load. Together they ensure outstanding fuel economy, especially when driving on hilly routes and on partial load.

The IVECO Cursor 13 NP engine is protected by two patents: the first is the FPT Industrial proprietary knock control that makes it possible to increase the performance, enables the widest fuel compatibility, and protects the engine and three-way catalyst from misfiring. The second one is FPT Industrial’s proprietary reactive air-flow control management system, a new stoichiometric ratio control logic that is applied during gearshifts. This ensures a continuous torque delivery during AMT ratio shifts, which enables maximised performance and the fastest gearshift.

The HI-TRONIX comes with standard integrated hydraulic retarder and hill-holder function. Standard features included with the HI-CRUISE option bring in a set of GPS-

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FEATURE No amount of new technology is sustainable without unrestricted fuel supply. European logistics operators looking to convert their fleets to natural gas can rely on a fast-expanding LNG distribution network, supported

by European Commission initiatives such as the Blue Corridors Project and government incentives introduced across Europe to encourage the widespread use of natural gas and biomethane in transport.

The network initially covered the main European freight routes with more than 150 refuelling stations, and was expected to reach more than 300 stations by the end of 2018. This development is accompanied by an increase in the production and transport capacity of LNG to meet the growing demand.

As part of the LNG trial, an IVECO Stralis NP 460hp truck from the UK completed what is believed to be the longestever journey by road on a single fill of LNG to demonstrate the suitability of natural gas-powered vehicles for domestic and European road transport.

Setting off from London, the Stralis NP 4×2 prime mover was pulling a tri-axle box trailer and running at a gross vehicle weight of 30 tonnes. After a short ferry crossing from Dover to Calais, it completed the 1728km road journey without needing to refuel – exceeding the vehicle’s official range of 1600km to set a new distance record. This equates to an impressive LNG fuel cost saving of circa £200 ($AUD365) for the outward journey, or 40 percent of a typical diesel engine alternative.

Martin Flach, Alternative Fuels Director of IVECO, says: “It was a chance to demonstrate how fuel-efficient the Stralis NP is, and to put our latest 460 hp gas-powered engine to the ultimate test.

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“We brimmed the tank before we left London, and the first time we stopped for fuel was in Madrid two-and-a-half days later. Running on 100 percent natural power means there’s no diesel or AdBlue to worry about, making it the simplest solution for both the fleet manager and the driver.”

Despite the heavy traffic on the UK side of the English Channel, a strong head wind in France, and the hilly Spanish section of the route, the Stralis NP recorded an impressive average fuel consumption of 22.6 kg per 100 km.

IVECO was using the journey to demonstrate that natural gas – including CNG, LNG and biomethane – are all viable, realistic, safe and cost-effective alternatives to diesel, available from a growing network of fuel providers in the UK and across the continent.

Compared with an equivalent Euro VI diesel, a Stralis NP running on LNG emits around 90 per cent less NO2 emissions, 99 per cent less particulate matter, and up to 15 per cent less CO2 – rising to 95 per cent less CO2 when using biomethane.

The Stralis NP is available in Europe as a 4×2 and 6×2 maximum weight prime mover, with power outputs of 400 or 460 hp. IVECO also offers medium and heavy rigid trucks running on natural gas, together with an extensive range of Daily Natural Power light commercial vehicles from 3.5 to 7.2 tonnes.

IVECO was the first commercial vehicle manufacturer to look at the potential of natural gas in 1991. This early experience allowed the company to develop a full range of natural gas trucks, vans and buses, with more than 25,000 IVECO gas-powered vehicles delivered into service.

LIFE SAVERS

It’s about as Australian as you can get; going all out to ensure the safety of others in the community. Like when we invented the three point seat belt in 1959 and passed on the design to our competitors around the world. Sixty years on and countless lives saved, it’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the safety innovation we pack into every Volvo truck. Trucks like the incredible Volvo FH, built right here in Australia for Australian conditions to the exacting standards of our Australian customers.

volvotrucks.com.au

FEATURE

EXTENDING THE FRIENDSHIP International adds the longer cab version to its ProStar line-up – Words by Brenton O’Connor

After a solid introduction of the relaunched International brand onto the Australian truck market at the 2017 Brisbane Truck Show, the iconic marque has experienced a slow start. Through 2018, its ProStar range managed to find just 61 homes, despite an overall heavy truck market that achieved growth compared to the previous year.

As a way to sharpen its focus on the Australian market, International and its parent company, Navistar North America, late last year appointed industry stalwart Paul Dinicol to manage both key accounts and national retail sales. In this role, Paul will work with the existing Iveco dealer network and specific dealers that have taken up the franchise.

There’s no better way to discuss trucks than while driving them, so it was a pleasure for PowerTorque to have Paul join us in the cab for a day while evaluating International’s new addition to the family, the extended cab ProStar.

Having driven AMTs virtually without exception in recent months, it was almost a nostalgic event to once again tackle an Eaton manual transmission. Our last International evaluations had centred upon a 40-inch high-roof ProStar B-double with curtainsider trailers and a rigid 6x4 tipper and dog trailer, both fitted with the Eaton UltraShift Plus AMT, back in 2018.

Spending time with Paul, his passion for the International brand is obvious, extending back to the 1970s when he and his family used a variety of International trucks in their Garden Yard business in the eastern suburbs

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of Melbourne. The company’s Internationals were predominately powered with the infamous Cummins V8 903 engines, and Paul recalls his father wouldn’t specify trucks with engine brakes as he was told by his mechanic they produced excessive wear on the cam shaft.

Following the sale of the family business, Paul then proceeded to sell International products such as the 9200 and 9900 models, while employed by Melbourne Truck Centre at Dandenong, until the brand left the Australian market.

During our drive in the ProStar, Paul explained the objectives of the International brand in Australia and also some of the plans already in place to create greater exposure for the new brand, and ultimately to lift numbers.

For 2019, Paul’s aim is to raise sales performance to triple-digit levels, a position that would appear to be realistic. Part of this action is supported by two ProStar trucks currently being used to demonstrate the brand features and benefits.

These include the extended cabin ProStar that formed the drive vehicle featured in this editorial, plus a ProStar with a 40-inch hi-rise sleeper cabin, which Paul and Glen Jones from Cummins have taken directly on

INTERNATIONAL PROSTAR a number of road shows to regional centres, visiting the local fleets in the areas in the process.

Paul and the team at International Trucks Australia see the ProStar as ideally fitting into small- to medium-sized regional and country fleets, which typically run North American-bonneted trucks. These local fleets complete most of their own basic servicing and maintenance requirements using their on-site facilities and their own expertise. This type of operation is more realistic in country fleets, as it overcomes the disadvantage of often being located a substantial distance from an authorised parts and service dealer.

Paul’s justification for this view is that the ProStar, like many other North American truck designs, possesses a driveline that is easily understood and easy to work on, and runs established engines, transmissions and other components, with the key difference being the cabin. The ProStar, like its other North American brethren, runs a Cummins engine, Eaton transmission, Meritor axles and Hendrickson rear suspension, plus being fitted with drum brakes that have been the mainstay of transport in this country for more than 50 years.

Upon tilting the bonnet of the ProStar, engine access for service and maintenance is quite good, despite its relatively short BBC (bumper to back of cab) of 112 inches. The air cleaner is positioned under the bonnet and is quickly removable to either blow out or replace the filter element.

In terms of grease points, it’s fairly standard with kingpins, slack adjusters, S-Cams and steering linkages. Suspension hangers and components do not require greasing.

I was very much looking forward to driving this ProStar, as it was my first experience of the manual version. Secondly, it was the first time I’ve ever driven an American truck with an air-assisted clutch.

Because of the high levels of traffic congestion prevalent in our capital cities, a daily drive in a truck with a manual transmission can easily become a laborious task, especially where standard-fitment mechanical clutches can be heavy to operate. It was here the air-assisted clutch made light work of the changes, encouraging use when many drivers might revert to not using the clutch when shifting gears with an Eaton constant-mesh manual.

The gearshift itself was light and direct, with a short throw between ratio changes. The angle of the gearstick shaft is quite unusual as it’s not straight up through the floor as you would expect, such as in a Freightliner. Nevertheless, it all worked well, allowing for positive and quick shifting.

Access in and out of the ProStar cabin is both easy and safe, due to the low overall cab floor height and the wide, non-slip steps mounted to the round fuel tanks either side. The ProStar at this stage is only available with a maximum of 720 litres of fuel (wheelbase dependent), however additional fuel packaging is being developed as many linehaul operators will want to carry 1000-plus litres of fuel.

As with all ProStar models, the interior contains the same familiar dashboard environment, although this truck wasn’t fitted with the optional touchscreen audio/navigation system we encountered previously on the 40-inch bunk version. The interior trim is quite plain and doesn’t have woodgrain as normally found in a North American truck. Standard leather seats, the dash-mat, lambswool seat covers, and the aluminum-look dashboard surround all made for a pleasant environment.

The biggest drawback for me (at a height of 6’4” or 193 cm) was the restricted seat travel.

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FEATURE There is a limitation on rearward adjustment due to the bed position, and while I did not find this to be an issue in the 40-inch hi-rise sleeper or day cabin, on the extended cab it affected the selection of an ideal driving position. Future alternatives might include raising the mattress on struts while driving to allow further seat travel, or to recess the mattress directly behind the driver’s seat as featured by Scania and Volvo.

What has impressed me about every ProStar I’ve driven has been build quality, and each time I’m pleasantly surprised that the truck doesn’t rattle! The doors shut and seal well, with little to no wind noise ingress into the cabin at highway speeds.

A feature common to all ProStars I have driven is the lack of noise within the cabin. This always leaves me with the impression it is the quietest American conventional truck I’ve ever driven.

Local engineering has removed the in-cab cup holder tray, which has rattled on previous trucks I’ve driven.

Unfortunately, there is no place for water bottles or coffee cups, but Adrian and the local engineering team are working on a replacement to solve this problem. There’s a neat shelf on the back of the firewall, beneath the dash, to put personal belongings such as wallet, pens and the like.

The weather conditions during our drive from TruckLine in Hallam, in Melbourne’s outer east, down to the West Sale Aerodrome was a sweltering 45 degrees Celsius, made worse by accompanying gale force westerly winds. The in-cab airconditioning of the ProStar put in a solid effort, and given the terrible conditions, kept up its performance.

Standard equipment on the truck is impressive, with niceties such as dual exhausts, LED headlights, power windows and power mirrors all standard items.

Furthermore, some customers have identified the quarter window that opens in the doors as a unique feature to allow extra airflow into the cabin.

Fan-on time was higher than usual, as to be expected, but by no means intrusive when pulling our 40 tonnes gross weight. For the test we were coupled to a drop-deck trailer from RentCo, loaded with 22 pallets of brake drums to provide ballast for our test. Our thanks go to the guys at TruckLine Hallam for lending them to us for the day.

The ride quality of the ProStar, which features three-leaf parabolic springs on the steer and Hendrickson PrimaaxEX air suspension on the rear, provides for a high standard that’s not overly soft or ponderous, particularly when cornering through roundabouts. The cabin suspension is a three-point system, designed to reduce noise, vibration and hardness. Talking about future plans for ProStar in this country, Paul and the team are dedicated to giving the truck more exposure and spreading the word that International is back in business in Australia and has a flexible truck, with a wide variety of specifications to suit various applications.

With a Cummins X15 up-front, rated at 550 hp and 1850 lb-ft of torque (410 kW/2508 Nm), the 40-tonne gross weight was hardly noticeable. Up the only really steep pull on the route, the Tynong hill, the big Cummins sailed over the top at 85 km/h. Like the other ProStars I have tested, this particular truck was fitted with Meritor RT46-160GP tandem axles, with 4.1:1 rear axle ratio, which propels the truck to 100 km/h at just over 1500 rpm.

I questioned Paul on the purpose of the extended cabin version, and where he sees this model fitting into International’s sales plans. Paul said it would be an ideal truck where low overall height is important, such as tipper or tanker work, and also where a full sleeper cabin is not required. The ability for the odd night away in the truck is feasible, with space for storage of personal belongings.

When aiming for a decent night’s rest, the mattress is certainly adequate and would be better than some European offerings at 660 mm wide.

Adrian Wright, engineering manager for ProStar, has developed a local aero kit to suit the extended cabin for those requiring an air deflector on the roof.

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Further development of the truck in Australia is ongoing, with the development of Bendix Wingman underway to provide the safety demanded by many fleets. Also in the pipeline for the ProStar is the introduction of a 51-inch sleeper cabin that has been specifically designed for those fleets requiring big bunks – think grain and livestock carriers. But to see this new truck, you will need to visit Paul and the team at the International Trucks stands at the Brisbane Truck Show later this year.

FEATURE

GOOD LOOKER

I

t’s always great to be first to take a look at a new product, and when it comes to eight-wheelers for the waste industry there’s nothing shinier than the first Mercedes-Benz Arocs that has entered service with Sunshine Coast company B & Y Waste Services.

PowerTorque travelled to Wamuran, near the Queensland Sunshine Coast, to catch up with brothers Marty and Sam Kuhlewein and see at first-hand how their new Arocs is performing. With Mercedes-Benz no longer offering an eightwheeler product within its Actros range, lovers of the German brand have to upsize to the Arocs to get the job done.

The arrival of the Arocs coincided with several firsts, being the first Arocs eight-wheeler sold into the waste industry in Australia and the first Arocs to feature the latest front loader compactor body from Melbourne-based Bucher Municipal.

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The Arocs makes an imposing front loader for the waste industry

B & Y Waste Services specialises in the clearance of domestic liquid waste and septic tanks, operating a fleet of 33 trucks of varying sizes, ranging from Isuzu in the lighter-weight category to Mercedes-Benz, Scania and Volvo.

The company also operates a school bus and charter division,

MB AROCS servicing three school catchment areas in which it uses MAN chassis with King Long bodies plus a fleet of Mitsubishi Rosa buses.

Founded in 1998, the majority of the larger vehicles in the company’s waste disposal division are from Mercedes-Benz, with a predominantly Actros-based fleet. The arrival of the first Arocs is a precursor to a change in product, heralding the imminent arrival of a further two Arocs, one of which will be an Arocs 3258 8x4 twin-steer bodied as a tanker, powered by the 15.6-litre OM470 that produces 425 kW (578 hp) and 2800 Nm of torque with a 6050mm wheelbase.

“Because of our rural location, our vehicles operate over much longer distances that would be typical with a citybased fleet,” said Sam Kuhlewein. “Whereas city waste removal trucks might operate within a 30 km radius of their home base, it’s not unusual for our vehicles to be travelling within a 100 km radius of our depot.

“Service and maintenance requirements link in with fuel economy when you operate over a larger area, and on these criteria, Mercedes-Benz is standing out for its extended service intervals and reduction in fuel consumption. With vehicles in our fleet operating power take-off (PTO) drive units for long durations, we service on an engine hour rate. With the Arocs operating over longer routes and with less time spent with a PTO operating, we service on distance.”

The Arocs is covered by the complimentary Daimler service plan that includes all scheduled servicing for 250,000 km or three years, and supported by the standard manufacturer’s warranty of two years bumper to bumper, and four years/800,000 km on the driveline.

B & Y Waste Services runs its own in-house service division handling the regular maintenance requirements for its fleet of ISUZU light and medium trucks, right up to the Actros and new Arocs.

“Our fleet purchase programme differs dependent on vehicle type and application. We replace the Isuzus usually around the five-year mark, but with a premium product such as the Actros or Arocs we might keep them in the fleet for 10 years,” Sam said.

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FEATURE Supplied by David Hughes, heavy commercial vehicle sales manager of Daimler Trucks Sunshine Coast, the Arocs runs on an airbag rear suspension with a loadsharing spring front suspension. With disc brakes on all axles, it requires only a short timeframe to replace disc pads, reducing any downtime that might apply to replacing or adjusting a conventional drum brake system.

The front loader bodywork features a 33.5 cubic metre capacity and the equipment design enables the captured material to be compacted within the body after loading to ensure correct weight distribution.

“I really like the parallel chassis used in the Arocs. With 50mm holes pre-drilled along the length of the chassis, it makes it much easier to achieve a perfect match when it comes to mounting components or bodywork,” Sam said.

One member of staff particularly impressed about the new Arocs is company driver Patrice Trampenau. “It’s just spectacular,” she said. “For the long-distance runs I cover, it easily handles the hills and does everything with ease and with a high degree of comfort. I couldn’t believe the performance when I first drove it, and it just gets better every day.

“My father also drove waste removal vehicles through his life, and he is almost as excited about the new truck as we are.”

Sam added: “The Arocs just looks really strong in its appearance and is being noticed on its runs around the district. It’s hard to make a front loader look attractive, but the styling of the grille and cabin really complements the lifting equipment. It’s a real ambassador for the company.”

The Bucher Municipal FORCE front loader offers a capacity of 28.5 cubic metres in a 6x4 configuration, rising to 33.5m3 when configured as an 8x4 unit.

“The name FORCE stands for Front Operating Refuse Collection Equipment and is positioned as the most efficient front loader on the road today,” said Wayne Hogan, major accounts manager for Bucher Municipal.

“We have achieved industry leading productivity with a 2500kg lift capacity, a 12 second lift cycle time, and pack-on-the-run capability allowing the driver to pick up more bins per shift.

Productivity is further enhanced by the hydraulic system and scissor-type compaction design, delivering a higher compaction force and greater payload.

“Our FrontZONE System is available as an optional fitment to the Arocs and is part of our Zone Object Notification Equipment. This is a motion detection system that senses any object that has entered the danger zone of a front loader while a bin is being lowered, notifying the

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operator with a visual and audible warning before shutting down the bin lifter automatically.

“The bin lifter can only continue after the operator has checked and acknowledged that the danger zone is clear and activates the override command. The Front ZONE system uses infrared laser technology to ensure that objects can be detected, even in a low-light operation. This optional safety feature is of particular value to operators working in inner city and congested environments.”

The Mercedes-Benz Arocs can be configured as a 6x4 at 26 tonnes, an 8x2 or 8x4 at 32 tonnes, a 6x6 at 33 tonnes or an 8x4 at 41 tonnes.

Power comes from the 10.7-litre, Mercedes-Benz OM 470 engine that produces 335 kW (455 hp), with peak torque rated at 2200 Nm (1623 lb-ft) and fitted with a high-performance engine brake. Conforming to the latest Euro 6 emissions legislation, the driveline incorporates the G282 12-speed “Powershift” automated manual transmission with a rear axle ratio of 3.077:1.

The eight-wheeler configuration is achieved through the twin-steer 7.5 tonnes-rated front axle with 7.5 tonnesrated three-leaf spring packs to exceed the requirements of the 6759kg frontal tare weight.

The drive line incorporates RT390 hypoid rear axles with diff locks, each rated at 10 tonnes with an eight airbag suspension system. Disc brakes are fitted on all axles and combine with the electronic braking system with ABS and ASR. The 5150mm wheelbase provides ample storage for the 390-litre aluminium fuel tank and 25 litre AdBlue tank, plus ancillary equipment. The GVM is 32,000 kg, with a GCM rating of up to 44,000 kg.

Patrice Trampenau

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FEATURE

SUSTAINABILITY Scania’s global chief puts the Euro spin on the need to manage climate change

T

here’s a pivotal change blowing through transport in Australia as global companies take the initiative to move forward into a sustainable future. When individual companies act on climate change in advance of any Government commitment, it should send a strong signal to Federal and State parliamentarians, as well as to local councils, that public interest in climate change demands action to reduce levels of greenhouse gases.

The quest to significantly lower pollution or embrace zero emission targets is becoming a driving force in progress for Australia. A recent visit to our market by Henrik Henriksson, global president and chief executive officer of Scania Trucks, typified the European drive for change and also served as a stark reminder that Australia lags well behind what are considered the minimum standards currently being embraced in Europe.

The rapid acceptance of Euro6 technology legislation globally has resulted in 70 percent of new Scania vehicles conforming to Euro6 emissions levels. In Australia, the company now supplies 90 percent of its vehicles as Euro6 compliant.

“We are on a quest to have a clear purpose to drive a shift towards more sustainable transport solutions,” Mr

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Henriksson said. “Transport is part of the problem, but we want to be part of the solution. And we believe that we need to drive this change, we cannot just sit and wait for it to happen, which means that we need to engage with our customers, with our customers’ customers, with fuel suppliers, energy suppliers, policy makers, politicians, global organisations and NGOs to be able to drive this change.

“Transport is responsible for 20 percent of global emissions. Companies that do not entertain programmes for sustainability in the future will not survive. We can utilise renewables to produce biofuels – then electrification will apply. The future focus will be on sustainably produced bio-fuels through waste materials, and this course of action can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 90 percent.

“Customers are sophisticated in Australia with a worldclass focus on safety. I haven’t seen it anywhere else in the world it’s that focused, and this makes it even more surprising that the country is still on Euro 5.”

Scania is well involved in the technology necessary to support vehicle autonomy and Mr Henriksson sees the initial growth of this technology to suit closed site operations such as mining, ports and container-handling.

Henrik Henriksson, global president and chief executive officer of Scania Trucks

SCANIA “In port operations or in mining there are many examples each day where vehicles are standing in a queue. This is an obvious area where vehicle autonomous control can reduce the standing costs of time-wasting attributed to queuing,” Mr Henriksson said.

“When it comes to platooning, we believe the fuel savings are dramatic. There is less driver fatigue and it is possible to make a strong business case for its application in specific operations.”

Different countries are already trying different solutions, with Spain changing legislation to promote the use of ethanol, which previously was not classed as a commercial fuel and attracted the same level of taxation as alcohol.

“I truly believe myself that as a leader of a big international company, if you do not do this transformation and turn your company into a sustainable one, you will simply not survive. Because soon, no one will buy your products or services, no one will invest money in your company, and no one will like to work for you. So, this is a matter of survival of the company as well. But we need to do this in partnership. Partnership with our customers and our customers’ customers and we need to make sure that we build alliances, sometimes unexpected alliances, to create this change.”

“We need to ensure everything is sustainable from the well to the wheel,” Mr Henriksson said. “We can then benefit from carbon dioxide reduction of 90-95 percent with biofuel production for renewable fuels. Investment in technology as a broad base should be the aim to decarbonise the whole transport industry by 2050.

“Costs of batteries for electrical power are not reducing, but there is a shortage of supply plus a shortage of the infrastructure needed to charge vehicles electrically to the point where we can achieve TCO (Total Cost of Operation) parity. We believe it will come eventually. At the city level we are now seeing local mayors making the decisions to reduce diesel use by offering zero road tax concessions for operators turning to gas or electric alternatives.

Henrik Henriksson

“We (Scania) have come into Australia with a broad range of alternative fuel source options to see what works here.

We agreed in Paris to abide by reduction quotas and that may lead to more hybrid and bio-fuel integration.

Electrification is a way to move forwards, but not if that electricity is generated from coal-fired power stations.

“In the UK, the Waitrose supermarket chain produces its own bio-gas from waste products from its stores as a fuel for its distribution vehicles, and one of my favourite statistics is that it takes 600 toilets to produce enough bio-gas to run one bus. Governments have shifted the tax burden from renewables to fossil fuel production to promote development. This brings in the savings in health care costs that are directly attributed to the reduction of carbon.”

The points made by Mr Henriksson are no doubt similar to those expressed by the heads of all the major truck manufacturers, and come off the back of Scania having invested two billion Euros in the New Generation Truck (NGT) range globally. But the focus on sustainability extends much further than simply road transport, with Scania’s powertrain development spreading across marine and power generation activities, plus providing driveline options for other companies that are members of the TRATON Group such as MAN, VW Heavy Commercials, and International Navistar.

The seriousness of the need for Australia to react quickly and decisively to promote climate change was summed up concisely by Mr Henriksson:

Mikael Jansson and Henrik Henriksson

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FEATURE

SHED SECURITY The stockpiling of chemicals and fluids needs a planned strategy to stay legal and prevent spills and leakages

M

odern warehousing and storage options make the difference when it comes to providing your workforce and goods in transit with safe, undercover all-weather protection. As well as looking at the big picture in terms of large single-span buildings that facilitate an easy drive-through for loading and unloading, it’s equally important to provide safe and secure storage for the chemicals and fluids required to run your business.

More transport operators now store their own supplies of AdBlue for the added convenience and lower cost benefits of bulk storage. But do you store your bulk fluids in a safe and secure environment, or do you pick a clear spot on the shed floor on which to dump the container, running the risk of impact with a forklift or other vehicle?

Not all companies follow correct storage procedure, but help is available for those realising their shortcomings from specialist suppliers such as Transportable Shade Sheds.

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As a preferred supplier to the EPA, mining companies and more than 500 councils across Australia, this Landsborough, Sunshine Coast business supplies specialist sheds designed to conform to all statutory requirements for the storage of flammable liquids, chemicals and lubricants contained in Australian Standard AS 1940-2004, AS 2507-1998 and AS 3780-2008.

The range of products supplied by Transportable Shade Sheds extends from large warehouses down to individual storage options designed specifically to prevent leakage, contamination and the potential for injury.

Louise Nail, the company’s business manager, explained to PowerTorque that for some companies, the solution may lie simply in a storage facility for an AdBlue Pod.

TRANSPORTABLE SHADE SHEDS “Our AdBlue sheds accept two standard pods and enables them to be forked in to a raised storage level that provides a gravity feed to a truck when a top-up is needed. That saves the addition of pumps and bowsers, while keeping the fluid away from any risk of contamination,” she said.

“In similar fashion, our lube oil sheds, chemical storage sheds, flammable liquid storage sheds, waste oil storage sheds and acid and battery storage sheds satisfy all legal requirements for companies aware of their liability with on-site storage.

“Many of our buyers locate these smaller sheds within a larger shed complex and this enables them to maintain good housekeeping standards with ease of access by their employees.”

The full range of standard flammable and dangerous goods storage sheds conforms to the relevant AS criteria and includes features such as a galvanised steel frame construction (50 mm x 50 mm), with floor supports constructed from 50 mm x 75 mm galvanised steel beams. Steel ventilation grilles are located at floor and ceiling levels to prevent gas build-up within a confined space, avoiding the potential for an explosion, whilst also ensuring the chemicals stored within the facility are kept cool and well ventilated. Doors can be fitted with double lock security; the design can include 200-litre shower facilities in the event of a worker becoming contaminated; and all appropriate safety signs are included as standard features in these compliant storage facilities.

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FEATURE Where relocations may occur, standard designs such as the range of chemical storage sheds can be supplied as a stand-alone unit for permanent fixture, or mounted on an optional I-beam sled.

The team at Transportable Shade Sheds offers full customer service from the initial order through to delivery on-site, anywhere in Australia.

It’s not unusual for the company to supply its sheds anywhere from Queensland to Western Australia. They can be supplied in flat pack or, or in most cases fully assembled, thanks to the company fleet of MercedesBenz Atego tilt-tray rigids now augmented by the recent addition of a brand new Actros prime mover. Trailer selection includes a Hammar side-loader and a Southern Cross drop-deck.

As Rob Salomon, Group General Manager, told PowerTorque: “We have a long association with Daimler Trucks Sunshine Coast where salesman David Hughes looks after the relationship between our companies.

“The Actros has completed its first return trip from the east coast to the west and we have been immediately impressed by the fuel economy. Despite headwinds when heading to WA, the overall fuel return was much better than expected, with real savings evident on the return leg.

“Safety is very important to our company, and the new Actros embodies all the latest features such as Lane Departure Assist, Attention Assist, Active Brake Assist and Proximity Control Assist.”

The new Actros 2651 was supplied by Daimler Trucks Sunshine Coast where David Hughes, heavy commercial vehicle sales specialist, explained the specification including the 12.8-litre, OM471 engine that produces 375 kW (510 hp) with peak torque of 2500 Nm (1844 lb-ft).

Rob Salomon

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“Fitted with the L-Cab Classic Space cab of 2.30m, the driveline includes the G281 12-speed, Powershift automated manual transmission with a rear axle ratio of 2.86:1. It uses the twin leaf spring 7.5 tonnes-rated front axle with an 8 x airbag rear suspension with 13.0 tonnes rated hypoid rear axles with diff locks,” David said.

“With disc brakes all round, including EBS, ABS, ASR and stability control, fuel tank capacity is 580 litres with AdBlue capacity of 60 litres. The exhaust emissions compliance is to Euro 6 standards.”

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FEATURE

U T N E V D A

Warren Caves enjoys some local history and a large dose of nostalgia

C

hildhood memories can hold a special place in the heart − a trusty family dog, a favourite push-bike or matchbox car, or special experiences long held dear.

For those with truck-driving fathers, sometimes those experiences come from school holiday adventures riding shotgun with Dad to far-off places.

For Bowral, NSW-based Rod Preston, this is exactly how he remembers his childhood holidays and, in particular, his father Roger’s R-700 Mack prime mover.

From around 10 years of age, a young Rod recalls school holiday adventures with his father on trips from Sydney to Darwin − firstly in an R-600 Mack, followed by an R-700.

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Darwin,” Rod recalled. “He would load Oregon timber, Cypress pine flooring or fibro from James Hardie in Sydney, and he was also a prime contractor for Tubemakers, carting pipes to NT uranium mines.

“In those days, road trains had to be coupled at Barringun in Queensland for the run up to Darwin, although it was common practice for double road trains to be hitched in Dubbo at midnight and set off from there under cover of darkness.

“Originally Dad bought an R-600 Mack, but it wasn’t long before he realised that it was not going to be ideal up the arduous Sydney-to-Darwin freight run, which was in those days 1000 miles (1600 km) of gravel roads. Ultimately, this led to him buying his R-700, which he had custom-built for the job and purchased from Mack Trucks at Rocklea.”

MACK REBUILD The R-700 is recognisable by its long bonnet, being 12 inches longer than an R-600 to accommodate largersized engines. Roger’s R-700 featured a Thermodyne V8 engine rated at 375 hp (280 kW) and 1040 ft/lb (1410 Nm) of torque. Cog swapping was done via the 12-speed Maxitorque twin-stick splitter transmission and it rode on 44,000 lb diffs and Camel-back springs. If anyone doubted it was a true Mack, the sounds of the trademark air start announcing it was time to head up the highway soon dispelled any ideas others might have had about sleeping in a little longer.

Rod says his Dad was always on top of maintenance, and used the best equipment he could find. Fruehauf provided his choice of trailer and in true pioneering fashion in 1978, he requested Fruehauf build him a quad-axle trailer to carry the sometimes 50-tonne payloads on each trailer.

Rod explained: “The R-700 was the truck I learned to drive in. I actually reached the point where I was driving so frequently that when Dad returned from a Darwin trip once he told me that the policeman from Avon Downs Station in the NT had told him it was about time I got my truck licence. I said ‘OK, then, I’ll have to drop in and see him on the next trip’, to which Dad quipped back ‘there’s no

need for that, he’s seen you driving enough, he sent your licence back with me’. I was 18 years old.”

Unbeknown to Rod at the time, those carefree days of trucking with his Dad would light a fire deep inside that would smoulder for years. Those long-haul trips created an itch for Rod that would one day need to be scratched, whatever it took.

Rod had always wondered what had happened to his Dad’s truck after he sold it in 1979. For a while they kept track of it, as it was initially sold to one of Roger’s mates, Barry Handorf. Unfortunately, contact with the truck was eventually lost when Barry traded it in for an early-model Mack SuperLiner. After that it was believed to have had numerous owners throughout the NT and Queensland, although its location was by then unknown.

Utilising the bush telegraph, Rod had been trying to locate the R-700 since 2009, eventually getting a tip-off that the truck was at a property in Alpha, Queensland.

Rod managed to contact the owner who had been using the truck to cart tractors and machinery on a low-loader trailer. Rod’s plans were to try and buy the truck back and restore it.

Life doesn’t always go as planned and ill health required Rod to refocus on something more important, so the R-700 project was placed on the backburner for a time.

By 2014, Rod was again ready to focus on that insatiable desire to see the R-700 return to its original owner. He made a call to the property owner in Alpha, only to be told the truck had been sold to a collector/restorer in Toowoomba, Glen Buetel. Rod was heartbroken and thought his quest was at an end.

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FEATURE However, Glen had heard of Rod’s efforts to track down this particular truck, and his connection to it. Glen wanted to restore the truck to its totally original condition and who better to help with photos and memories of all the small details about the truck than Rod and Roger?

Throughout the re-build project, Glen and Rod regularly collaborated on various stages to achieve Glen’s vision for the truck, although a surprise was in store for Rod. Glen asked Rod if, at the end of the rebuild, would he like to buy the truck? Rod didn’t hesitate to answer that he certainly would.

Rod had one condition, though – he would only buy it if the retro-fitted Caterpillar engine was removed and replaced by an original V8 Thermodyne. Rod felt that the heart and soul of that truck was its engine, and he would accept nothing less than that unmistakeable Mack V8 rumble.

This stipulation posed yet another challenge to the project, as these engines are getting harder to come by. However, an engine was finally located just outside Sydney, and a subsequent inspection from a mechanic deemed it sound.

During the restoration it was found that the cab had too much rust, so a replacement was sourced and fitted. The bunk was also replaced after finding an identical unit that exactly matched the original. Rod said a lot of parts were either missing or not original, and enormous effort has been put in to replicate the original truck. “Most of the interior trimming has had to be manufactured from scratch, as you just can’t get this stuff anymore,” he said.

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The R-700 project really gained momentum in the last few years, with the finishing touches winding up in 2018. There was just one thing left to do. Rod had not told his father he was buying the truck. Although Roger knew of the restoration and had even dropped in for a visit to see and drive it, until that stage he looked on his involvement as simply being grateful for that experience.

When the truck was ready, Rod rang his father and told him that he had some business in Brisbane and was planning to head out to Toowoomba to catch up with Glen Buetel and John Grossman, the sales manager at Mack Trucks Brisbane, and suggested Roger might like to tag along. Roger thought it would be a nice day out and a good opportunity to spend some time with his grandson Warwick (Rod’s son) who also came along.

Upon arrival at the Mack dealership, the R-700 was parked up in the delivery bay in all its 1970s glory. Rod conveyed to Roger that, sadly, the truck had been sold to a private collector, to which Roger seemed disappointed after all the hard work that had been put into the project. Rod then went on to explain that the good news was that the private collector lives in Bowral NSW, and that Rod had come to pick up his new truck. “It was Dad’s 79th birthday.”

It was at this point, Rod said, that “Dad was quite a bit overcome and emotional”. After some time to take in and talk over the situation, it was time to drive the R-700 home to Bowral via Brisbane, to drop Roger at his current home. Rod asked if Roger would like to drive the truck

MACK REBUILD home − to which he replied, “no, I drove it out from the Rocklea dealership when it was new, it’s now your turn”.

And with that, three generations of Preston men drove out of Toowoomba’s Mack dealership in a fully restored 1976 R-700 and into their family history album.

Roger Preston is still driving trucks, working in the truck relocation field delivering trucks which, while unladen, would still give a much more comfortable ride than the old R-700.

In 2018, Roger was inducted into the Road Transport Hall of Fame in Alice Springs.

L-R Rod Preston, Warwick Preston, John Grossman, Roger Preston , Glen Buetel

Rod Preston

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FEATURE

BRAVE NEW S

cania’s New Truck Generation (NTG) design was launched in 2018 to replace the previous long-serving platform that arrived on the scene back in 2004.

The introduction of the NTG range was heralded by an Australia-wide roadshow featuring a G500 and an R620, in a mixture of B-double and road train configurations.

These effectively criss-crossed the continent, piloted by a combination of Scania driver trainers and media.

My first NTG experience centred around driving the R620 on a leg between Kalgoorlie and Perth in Western Australia, a run that left me considerably impressed by its abilities.

Although the long-haul prime mover usually takes centre stage, PowerTorque traditionally covers both ends of the trucking spectrum. For this evaluation we looked at the baby end of Scania’s NTG spectrum in the form of the P-series cab variant.

Unlike the rugged, red dirt beauty of Western Australia’s goldfields region, my most recent experience of the NTG began at Scania’s Sydney dealership at Prestons, from which I collected the NTG P360 model.

Over the next few hours my drive was purely through the local area, giving me the opportunity to realistically evaluate the merits of the smaller P-series, which is powered by Scania’s DCO9, nine-litre, five-cylinder 360 hp (268 kW) engine mated to the GRS895R direct-drive, 12-speed, Opticruise automated transmission.

A thorough induction and familiarisation of the truck’s features and controls was presented prior to departure by Scania’s driver/trades assistant Anthony Wall. This served as a handy re-introduction to the location and operation of the NTG systems and functions.

My chosen route was to take the P-series southward on the Hume Highway to Narellan Road, then turn towards rural Picton over the famous Razorback Range. This was followed by turning eastward for the run down to the south coast via the steep descent of Mt Ousley, after which I retraced the outbound journey for the return to the Scania dealership.

Entering the low-positioned cab via the 90-degree door opening and two-step access is an unencumbered task, with well-positioned grab handles. Once seated in the leather-appointed seats, finding a comfortable position was made easy by the ample adjustments on offer including multiple lumbar, tilt, slide and firmness adjustments. The steering column offers tilt as well as reach, which in conjunction with the seating caters to a broad cross-section of driver shapes and sizes.

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Once seated, immediately noticeable is the uninhibited forward vision from the driver’s seat. The large front glass and low-set dashboard position offers excellent vision forward of the cab, and the minimalist A-pillar construction reduces what sometimes − when combined with a large wing mirror − can be a substantial blind spot, capable of creating a dangerous situation particularly on entry to roundabouts.

Viewing the main dash panel and central instrument display is a breeze, with the main information display flanked by the speedo on one side, and the tacho on the other. All are clearly visible through the steering wheel opening. As well as steering the vehicle, the wheel serves as a protector of the driver, housing an SRS airbag to complement the side curtain airbags.

A simple roll of the transmission selector, located on the left column stalk, engaged the desired gearing and I set off.

I predominantly left the transmission in Eco mode for the duration of the test drive. There are a further two modes available, standard and power, which are easily selected on the move by toggling the switches on the right steering wheel spoke. The selected mode is then displayed in the central dash display, along with fuel, trip statistics and driver performance tallied by a progressive star scoreboard. The reasoning behind the use of ECO mode for the drive was that the truck was only lightly loaded with a payload of concrete blocks totalling four tonnes.

The drive along the M7/ Hume Highway section highlighted the comfort and quietness of the Scania, with the truck easily reaching the maximum posted speed limit, spurred on by a spirited merge onto a congested M7 motorway.

The best way I could describe the feeling of driving the P-series Scania would be, “car-like”. Thanks to its seamless gearchanges and excellent ride quality, it would be easy to forget you are driving a heavy rigid vehicle. Part of the credit for the comfort and ride control goes to the inclusion of airbag suspension on all axles, a factor that illustrates its European heritage.

The gear shift protocols built into our test truck did a marvellous job of selecting the correct ratio for the duration of the whole test drive. This included the descent and ascent of both the Razorback Range and Mt Ousley, which were traversed in fully automatic mode, although this result was perhaps in part made easier by the low gross weight of the vehicle.

At the base of the climb up the Razorback Range, I selected the power mode. This increased throttle response and initiated downshifts a little earlier. For the duration of the climb, the tacho never registered more

WORLD than 1600 rpm, with the five-cylinder 360 hp engine not showing any signs of stress.

Safety is featured as a primary focus for the Scania NTG. Complementing the cabin airbags are automatic seat belt pre-tensioners, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), ABS-equipped disc braking to all wheels, ESC and traction control, lane departure warning and forwardlooking camera, adaptive cruise control, and rain sensors.

SCANIA P360 Scania continues the growth of its next-generation models with the P360 Rigid.

Words by Warren Caves, images by Torque it Up.

The lane departure warning seemed a bit hit-and-miss for my drive duration. It would sometimes activate by way of a chirping sound imitating a bunch of crickets, coming from the speakers on the side of the truck to which the vehicle is deviating. At other times (with the same line markings) it would fail to operate. I reported this upon my returning the vehicle and was advised that the dealership would carry out a recalibration.

On the open road I took the opportunity to assess the adaptive cruise control, which allows the distance to the vehicle in front to be set to five varying increments at any selected speed. The system will, by way of the front-mounted radar unit, constantly monitor the distance to the vehicle in front and adjust speed accordingly. The system worked well with the dash display showing the preselected parameters.

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FEATURE Driving aids also include a Hill Hold function, which worked well, and ECO roll, which coasts the truck at idle under small downhill rolling conditions. At 100km/h the tacho was registering just short of 1600 rpm, influenced by a rear axle ratio of 3.08:1.

The run down Mt Ousley and back up again was an area I was keen to evaluate. I decided to drive this section of road only in fully automatic mode, as I believe this is where the true test of an AMT can be illustrated, although I would have preferred more weight onboard.

I dropped off the top of the mountain with the downhill descent control set to 41 km/h, and the gear selector set to auto, I did not lock into any particular gear, instead allowing the computer systems to work it out. Initially the chosen gear was 10th with the various systems engaging and disengaging the retarder and exhaust brake to maintain my chosen 41km/h, all done at an engine speed of 1000 rpm. Never did the truck exceed my chosen limit.

Further down the descent, below the first safety ramp, the transmission downshifted to 8th gear with the engine now registering 1600 rpm on the tacho, which it did for the remainder of the descent.

After a few quick photos and a ham sandwich at Port Kembla, I was ready for the run back up Mt Ousley. The ascent, as mentioned earlier, was completed in auto mode.

The drive up the hill surprised me a bit. Historically, I would nearly always select manual mode for this run in an AMT-equipped truck. Climbing the hill, the transmission did not do anything I would not have done myself. At one point, I was caught in the left lane behind a slower truck which required a partial release of the throttle before a gap allowed a lane change. I was absolutely expecting an upshift from the transmission upon relieving some torque, but it did not upshift and maintained current gearing and, more importantly, momentum.

This intelligent decision-making can be attributed to a couple of in-built features. Firstly, the management systems are programmed to optimise the use of the

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engine’s low-down torque band to resist premature downshifts, working the engine as low as 950 to 1000 rpm. Secondly, this vehicle is fitted with Active Prediction Mapping. This technology utilises mapping topography and elevations to effectively see where the vehicle is and make decisions based on the actual surrounding environment at any given time. This feature is new to Scania’s NTG and has been proven by use in Europe since 2013.

A common complaint regarding AMT-equipped vehicles has long been that a truck cannot see a hill and does not react to the circumstances accordingly. With this technology being part of level-one autonomy, trucks now seem – theoretically, at least − to have eyes.

Vehicle speed at its lowest on the Mt Ousley climb was 50km/h, and, for a couple of sections, backing off the throttle was required in order to not exceed the 80km/h speed limit.

In summary, the P-series 360 − which is available in 8x2 (as tested), 8x4, 6x4, 6x2 and 4x2 configurations − represents a good proposition for local and regional distribution roles. There is plenty of cabin storage space and the bunk area would suffice for day naps or the occasional night or two away.

With an 8x2 configuration, one would assume that payload is a primary consideration, which leads me to wonder why our test vehicle was equipped with a 360 hp engine; this, I would think, when loaded to its GVM of around 30 tonnes, would be a little wanting in the power department.

The large turning circle would also need consideration for some applications.

On the completion of our test evaluation, the trip meter showed 197 km travelled with a fuel consumption of 27 litres/100km (3.7 km/litre) at an average speed of 53 km/h.

All in all, the P360 is a good performer with heaps of tech and safety bundled up in a comfortable workspace. In a perfect world, I’d probably just like to see a power rating of 400 hp-plus for this type of configuration.

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FEATURE

ALIVE AND WELL Ed Higginson visits Alive Technologies Group in Tasmania.

T

he origins of a transport company usually fall into one of two categories − an owner-driver who has grown the business over the years, or a small business that realises the only way to effectively service its customers is to run its own fleet.

The history of Alive Technologies Group stems from when, after high school, David Bell started as a freelancer in the events industry. Over time he slowly built up a small amount of lighting and sound equipment for hire. As the business expanded, he officially started the Alive Technologies Group in 2000.

With a need to move equipment day and night, seven days a week, David decided in 2002 to start his own fleet, buying a Hino 500 Series 17-tonne medium rigid container truck. As a multi-purpose unit, the Hino could work on events most of the year, then carry a refrigerated container between December and February to cart cherries for his father’s farm.

Within two years, the addition of a Hino 700 Series prime mover improved vehicle flexibility, transporting cherries during summer and covering the transport requirements for the events business through the rest of the year.

Continuing expansion created a solid demand for the trucks to operate year-round, and it soon became obvious that there was a need for Alive Technologies Group to run a dedicated truck fleet, just to handle its own transport requirements.

Today, employing 21 full-time staff including 11 drivers plus casuals, Alive Event Production runs major annual events such as Dark Mofo, Party in the Paddock, Symphony Under the Stars, and tours for well-known artists such as The Foo Fighters, and Fatboy Slim.

On a Thursday evening in Launceston, I caught up with one of Alive‘s drivers, Jordan Carter, while the team was busy setting up the stage for the Symphony Under the Stars concert, to inspect Alive’s most recent fleet addition, an 8x4 DAF CF85.510 fitted with an unusual soft-sider Alltruck body.

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ALIVE TECHNOLOGIES The PACCAR MX 13 engine has been available for some time in the Kenworth T409 range as well as DAF’s flagship XF105 model rated at 510 hp (375 kW).

PACCAR Australia only recently made it available for the DAF CF85, which was a great decision.

Jordan said: “I love driving the DAF. It’s only done 5000 km but so far, it’s been awesome with the extra grunt and the safety features, including the Access system which gives us a touchscreen radio, Bluetooth, GPS, and a screen for the rear camera.

It would have been nice to have a couple of extra cameras fitted, though, which we may look for next time.”

Another key safety feature you may not usually appreciate is the option of air-horns. “As we usually move the trucks around parks after concerts to pack up, decent horns are essential to get revellers to move out of your way.”

With a mix of production equipment and a demand to take them anywhere, the fleet currently comprises several rigids set up to pull various trailer types. Until now, they have all been Hino − a 2009 Hino 816, along with a 2013 Hino 500 FM heavy rigid, a 2015 Hino 500 FC medium rigid, and a 2016 Hino 500 GH medium rigid, plus several vans and utes.

“When we started to look at 8x4 for improved loading, Hino couldn’t give us a load-sharing twin-steer, so we had to look elsewhere. We decided to go with the DAF as we heard it was a reliable brand and could meet the demands of our work,” Jordan said.

“Our warehouse team usually load the trucks ready for us to jump in and drive to events, so the 8x4 means we don’t need to worry too much about overloading our front axles and can easily spread the weight. It also handles so much better than the single steers on the twisty roads around Tasmania.

“We decided to go with the 510 hp because we often pull heavy trailers and go into some remote areas for the events. We also have two coupling points on the rear, a 75 mm ball for the small trailers and generators, then the 120 mm ball for the larger 15-tonne stage trailers and concrete counter-weights which hold down the stages. Some combinations may be too long with the 8x4, but we are looking at PBS for maximum efficiency.”

With 2500 Nm (1850 lb/ft) of torque available from around 1000 rpm, the CF85 is ideal for many rigid applications to pull heavy trailers, with maximum power delivered between 1500 rpm and 1900 rpm.

The CF85 with the 510 hp engine also gets the 16-speed ZF AS-Tronic Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) instead of the 12-speed fitted to the 460p engine.

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FEATURE It’s a similar driveline to the XF105.510 that I test-drove pulling Steve Richards’ B-Double motorsport trailers last year. It performed extremely well at much higher weights, so I imagine it has more than enough power for the CF85.

“The automatic is great in the city, then I often use manual mode on the twisty hills around Tasmania to hold the gear,” Jordan said.

One unusual aspect you may not notice initially, is that the DAF appears as a box van from the driver’s side, but a tautliner from the other.

Jordan explains: “The soft-sider concept is that we can forklift heavy crates and boxes through the curtain, then pack and tie them against the hard side to secure them.

The curtain side then has extra high gates that hinge open, making loading much easier. We always go with Alltruck bodies because we like them and don’t have any issues.”

To assist with loading, the DAF gets an Anteo three-tonne cantilever tail-lift.

When it comes to maintenance, Jordan adds: “All the maintenance and warranty will be done with CJD, who have been excellent. The Hinos still go back to the Hino dealer, then we have an in-house fabrication team for some specialty work, so they repair the trailers. They can also fabricate the trailers to suit our equipment. We have two stage trailers which were made here in-house, and they are currently working on a third.

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“We also own two stage trailers which are self-contained fold-out structures that are easy and quick to set up, so benefit clients who may be on a budget but still need a great-size stage. Generally, they are a one-truck-andtrailer setup which would normally be approximately three to four heavy trucks’ worth of equipment to transport.”

In the future, Alive Technologies Group is looking to expand further. Today, they are Tasmania’s largest event production company offering lighting and audio equipment, vision systems, staging, roof structures, plus more. They also run conferences around the country from Darwin to Perth, Cairns, and all down the Eastern seaboard.

“As the business grows, I personally believe we will end up with another prime mover and a few trailers to reduce manual handling, as well as having more capacity, but just need a bit more space for this,” Jordan said. “Things are forever growing, and we are trying to expand at the same rate, but often it’s a hard balance. We have just come out of the busiest festival season in our 19-year history and things are only looking bigger for the rest of the year.”

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FEATURE

KNIGHT OF THE ROAD

Driver Ian Booth gives an insight into his enjoyment out on the road – Words by Brenton O’Connor, images by Geoff Parrington

E

very truck driver can relate to working huge hours, being away from loved ones for extended periods of time, and coping with long periods of isolation as they “make a mile” up and down the country.

Some drivers struggle with life on the road, while others seem to thrive. Our profile this month highlights the latter alternative as we talk to Ian Booth.

Ian Booth and his wife Pam, of Bairnsdale in eastern Victoria, run a one-truck operation exclusively contracted to Dyers Gippsland Transport as a tow operator.

Meeting Ian is an uplifting experience. He loves his job, loves his truck, loves the company he works for, and loves spending time behind the wheel – during our time together he repeatedly marvels, “how lucky am I?”.

Ian comes from a non-trucking background and was born and bred in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. His father was a taxi owner-driver who worked exceptionally hard to put Ian and his sisters through school and into tertiary education.

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Upon completing high school, Ian received the marks required to be accepted into teacher’s college. After a year of study, he felt it wasn’t for him, and decided he wanted to follow an ambition to become a truck driver.

Without a family involvement in trucks, in the early 1970s he attended one of the early heavy vehicle driving schools in Melbourne to get his semi license. The test was undertaken in a one-tonne Dodge truck at the age of 18.5 years old.

Once licensed, Ian left Melbourne and headed east, approaching every transport company along the way hoping for a start. Given that he had zero experience with trucks, tarping or load restraint, no one was prepared to give him a go.

KENWORTH He finally arrived at Hancock’s Transport in Lakes Entrance, which in those days was a major player in the transport industry. During a brief introduction with John Hancock, Ian was asked: “Can you tarp a load? Do you know how to tie down a load?” (either ropes or chain and dogs) – to which Ian answered, “no”. Hancock replied, “well, at least you’re honest, get yourself a logbook and be back here at 3pm”.

Today, that partnership continues as they run their business with Ian handling the driving and Pam taking caring of the administration and compliance. Like many small businesses, their combined commitment makes it work.

Ian duly returned with logbook in hand, and was presented with his first truck, an AB160 petrol International hooked to a single axle flat-top semi-trailer and was sent on his way to Melbourne with a load of fresh fish. Out on the open road and with a smile from ear to ear, Ian said to himself: “How lucky am I? I’m getting paid to drive up and down the highway!”

Ian’s recollection is perhaps more relevant: “Those days were more old, than good!”

Ian adds: “In those days, truck drivers were paid particularly well, earning $175 in my first week, which was high compared to $80 for the average wage at the time.”

This began a career in road transport that now spans more than 40 years and continues today. It’s also how Ian met Pam, the “office girl” at Hancock’s Transport.

Many transport operators refer to the “good old days” of road transport, during which overloading, substance abuse, and regular speeding were commonplace.

One comment made by Ian that is relevant to my own upbringing was the ability of kids in days gone by to be able to attend a transport yard and travel with their Dad in a truck on school holidays. It was during this time that these kids learnt how to restrain a load, how to grease a truck and how to hook up a semi-trailer.

The price of progress and the importance of health and safety obligations today results in kids no longer allowed in most yards, or in the cabin of the truck with their father.

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FEATURE Ian and Pam run a Kenworth K200 Aerodyne that’s exclusively contracted to Dyers Gippsland Transport as a tow operator. The truck runs from Bairnsdale to Melbourne on a Sunday and Monday with a driver, then it does two trips a week from Bairnsdale through to Newcastle return with Ian at the helm.

Ian’s immaculately presented K200, which includes many extras such as second exhaust and second air intake snorkel, is powered by the X15 Cummins, with an Eaton 18-speed manual, and Meritor diffs with a 4.11:1 rear axle ratio.

Like many truck owners, Ian was dismayed when Caterpillar pulled out of the on-highway truck market, as he had run numerous Kenworths and Western Stars with the big yellow engine up-front.

Prior to Caterpillar pulling out of supplying engines to onhighway, Ian’s only Cummins engine experience had been somewhat limited.

Despite a poor run with an E5 Cummins in his previous truck, (a Kenworth T409 SAR), which was rebuilt at 300,000 km due to excessive oil consumption, the new X15 in the K200 has been performing much better. With over 500,000 km on the clock, oil consumption hasn’t been an issue. The truck is recording over two kilometers per litre on single trailer work, at high gross weights, a good result given the nature of the run from Bairnsdale through to Canberra is very steep and winding, with low overall speeds due to tight corners. Ian is at pains to explain Cummins was most helpful and supportive during the excessive oil consumption issues with his E5 and states their warranty is excellent.

Ian’s preference is for a bonneted truck, and ideally he would like a T909 with a large bunk. However, he is now pulling a PBS 52-foot Vawdrey fridge van for Dyers which necessitated the need for a cabover truck, a change from his previous 48-foot fridge pan which was OK length-wise behind the T409SAR with 36-inch Kenworth Hi-Rise bunk.

Questioned on the reasons behind the continued purchase of Kenworths, (except for a brief period of two Western Stars when Kenworths were in short supply in the boom year of 2007, prior to the GFC), Ian said it comes down to two reasons – firstly, the positive experience encountered at Gippsland Truck Centre (GTC), the local Kenworth dealer in Bairnsdale, which is only about five kilometres from his home.

Gary Harris has looked after him from a sales perspective for many years, and all work, including regular servicing at 30,000 km intervals, is done by the team at GTC. Ian is a big believer in preventative maintenance, and at each service does something in addition to an oil change, the most recent of which was having the belt tensioners and V-belts changed.

“As a single truck operator, reliability is everything. If my vehicle breaks down, I would need to go to the hassle and cost of hiring a replacement vehicle in order to meet my sub-contractor load commitments,” Ian says.

The second reason Ian buys Kenworth is resale value, and the ease of selling.

Ian is under no illusions about the nature of his job as a sub-contractor and the fact that a prime contractor needs to give just three months’ notice of termination. In such a scenario, Ian feels the Kenworth would be a much more saleable proposition than European makes, helping to remove any potential negative equity concerns.

Whilst that reasoning may underpin Ian’s thoughts on vehicle resale, he has nothing but admiration for Dyers Transport, and is thankful to them for the ongoing work opportunities that are both regular in terms of workload and payment terms.

“Even in the quiet times they still give me my regular loads each week, which is essential to both make a living and to be able to make the payments on my truck,” he says.

In a fleet of several hundred company trucks, Ian is clearly doing something right to maintain his unique position as a tow operator.

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Ian Booth

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gloomy outlook for jobs growth this year. succeed possess a modicum of integrity. anyshows more.ifathey

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PowerTorque ISSUE 35

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PRODUCT REVIEW

STRAIGHT AND TRUE Warren Caves talks with axle guru Bruce Reilly, founder of Truck Align, Narellan, NSW

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TRUCK ALIGN

T

urning a profit in the transport game is tough, and so saving money wherever you can is just as important as making money.

It’s also no secret that truck tyres are not cheap, so it stands to reason that maximising their tread life should be an important aspect of any profitable transport operation.

Regular pressure checks, alignments and balancing go a long way towards achieving maximum tyre life, but is this enough?

A common problem with trucks on Australian roads is the tendency to pull to the left, a condition created by the degree of road crown built into our roads and freeways to facilitate water run-off. This amount of crown can often vary anywhere from two to four degrees to the left – or, in less frequent cases, to the right.

This creates a constant battle for the driver to continually correct the pull-left action by pulling the steering wheel down on the right. You don’t have to be Einstein to realise that this continual correction is accelerating wear on the steer tyres by constantly trying to drive up the crown, generally resulting in shoulder wear on the outside of the left tyre and the inside of the right one.

This problem is exacerbated by the effect the centre of gravity places onto the left side of the vehicle by the forces of the road crown. As the road crown increases, so does the load imposed on the left-front spring and suspension components. This excessive left-side loading can be further increased in trucks carrying loads such as gravel or liquids, which will tend to shift left on high-crown roads, further compounding the problem and increasing tyre wear. This negative effect occurs because as the spring fatigues under the extra load, it starts to flatten out, which by way of the rear-swinging shackle design pushes the left axle backwards, further compounding the pull-left effect.

Tyres need to point straight ahead in order to roll with the least resistance. A tyre that deviates from straight ahead (on a flat road) by as little as 1.5 millimetres, will travel between 3 to 15 metres sideways for every kilometre it travels forward.

In a perfect world, roads would be snooker table flat, requiring steering geometry to generally be set at straightahead at which point tyres would wear perfectly and evenly across the entire tread surface. This is never going to happen.

Bruce Reilly Snr, a qualified engineer, has been involved in the truck alignment industry for some 40-plus years.

He has a number of design patents to his credit and has pioneered laser truck alignment systems used in 34 countries around the world.

Through his Narellan based Truck Align business, Bruce has developed a lifetime of experience and knowledge, through a good deal of trial and error to become known as an expert in his field. For many years, Bruce says he had a good relationship with Volvo, cold-bending 5000 new axles which came to him on pallets for alignment correction.

Truck Align manufactures laser wheel alignment equipment, and axle bending presses for the heavy transport industry.

It also has in-pit alignment systems in TAFE colleges around the country and provides training to teachers.

The pull-left effect, according to Bruce, has been acknowledged since the 1970s, with a variety of fixes attempted over the years with mixed success, while none have totally remedied the problem.

“Back in the ‘80s we used to loosen the U-bolts and centre bolt, then by use of a porta power we’d push the axle and spring leaves forward as much as we could before tightening everything back up again.

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PRODUCT REVIEW While this helped a little, it only really gave a forward position increase of around 6 mm maximum. This was not enough, and frontal wheel impact forces could see the improvement quickly lost as the axle reverted back to its previous position,” Bruce said.

Experimental cold axle bending and twisting of axles to try different camber and castor angles again made small improvements, however the problem of pulling left did not go away.

To find a long-term solution Bruce focused his attention on the problem and claims to have engineered a permanent fix for the pull-left condition.

Bruce has designed and patented a unique axle repositioning block. When fitted to RHD vehicles, the block is placed under the left-front spring and, by way of the off-centre locating hole for the spring centre bolt, positions the axle forward on the left side by either 12 or 14 mm, or at least double the 6 mm previously achieved.

According to Bruce, this moving of the axle forward on the left creates a conical alignment effect between the steer axle and the drive axles. This, in turn, drives the vehicle slightly to the right, alleviating the pull-left effect.

The easiest way to explain this is with the analogy of how a skateboard turns. As weight is applied to the right side of a skateboard, the gap between the left-side wheels increases and the right-side gap decreases, creating a cone shape which turns the skateboard to the right. The same principal applies to the axle repositioning block. If the steer axle is pushed forward on the left, the gap between the steer tyre on the left in comparison to the drive axles is greater than the gap between the steer tyre on the right and the drive axles. This results in the vehicle steering to the right a little, and counteracting the pull-left effect.

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Bruce has travelled the world evaluating different road conditions and alignment problems and believes his axle repositioning block has universal benefits. The one-off purchase can be fitted to LHD vehicles by simply turning it around and placing it on the right-front spring. LHD vehicles, according to Bruce, may require a block up to 16 mm as they suffer an added penalty of engine torque being thrown onto the right-side spring in conjunction with road crowning.

“We estimate that tyre wear savings could be up to 25 percent using the repositioning block, with a reduction in fuel consumption of 1 percent,” Bruce said. Additionally, a win for the environment is achieved by reducing the number of tyres going to landfill.

Bruce added: “Another important aspect of the modification is to consider the primary use of the vehicle.

We try to evaluate the type of vehicle, its intended use and type of road it will predominantly travel upon. We wouldn’t set up a truck that runs Sydney to Perth on predominantly single lane roads in the same way as we would a truck that runs from Sydney to Melbourne on motorways; the degree of road crown is totally different. This is why it is important to understand your customer’s operation.”

The axle repositioning block can be fitted in as little as 45 minutes with a wheel alignment and costs around $420, which Bruce said can be made back in the life of a single set of tyres.

The relatively small outlay for the axle repositioning block, the potentially large saving to be made by extending tyre life and reducing downtime, along with doing the environment a service, sounds like a win/win situation if you are constantly scrubbing the outside edges of steer tyres.

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FEATURE

SHOWTIME

The Australian Truck Show heads into Brisbane to highlight all the latest developments in truck and trailer design, plus the many technology advances made by the components and parts supply industries.

F

rom Thursday May 16th right through to Sunday May 19th the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre will play host, following on from the annual NatRoad conference, which takes place on Wednesday May 15th, at the same location.

This amalgamation of major trucking events is the first time that NatRoad and the Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia (HVIA) have joined forces, making it one of the largest transport events in the Southern Hemisphere.

The one-day NatRoad conference presents an opportunity for the Australian road transport industry to come together to discuss the latest developments and topical challenges, discover the latest industry trends and innovations and network with the road transport community at large.

The conference theme - Driving the Future - reflects NatRoad’s approach to the dynamic ecosystem in which we operate. The programme brings together a host of inspiring speakers to cover a range of key topics, presenting solutions to current challenges and highlighting new opportunities.

Some of the themes being addressed by the conference include whether businesses should invest immediately in evolving technologies or wait until the prove their relevance in aspects that include autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence (AI), deep-learning solutions and telematics to predictive and prescriptive analytics.

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Tomorrows business must be sustainable in terms of the environment, as well as the levels of service provided to its customers. A lack of recognition in relation to the ongoing sustainability of the environment in which that business operates could mean that its customers no longer wish to work together.

In 2019, NatRoad will drive the conversation on diversity within the road transport industry, enhancing the representation of women, youth and racially diverse people in industry. A position that should have come under closer scrutiny many years ago.

And now to the Brisbane Truck Show.

As the foremost transport expo in the Southern Hemisphere, Brisbane attracts all levels of participation, from the workshop floor to the boardroom.

The main auditorium will provide a complete snapshot of truck manufacturers contesting the Australian market.

PowerTorque will be reporting direct from the Brisbane Truck Show in the June/July issue with a full rundown of the most technological interesting products on display.

Here is a brief description of the stands that come under the category of “must visit� in your itinerary.

PACCAR Australia will be focussing on the latest models from DAF and Kenworth, with the availability of Euro6 emissions compliant trucks in medium and heavy categories. The latest Kenworth T610 Aero roof sleeper

BRISBANE TRUCK SHOW cab and T610 SAR will be joined by the T410 and the T360, replacing the traditional narrow can with the new wider version that adds so much more appeal to the ride and comfort of North American conventional models.

Undoubtedly there will be something special to appeal to those that love the long bonnets, stainless steel and chrome of the Legend Series.

the agenda, with the EActros 18-25-tonne rigids already in service in Europe.

DAF is growing its market share and as the most popular truck range on the UK market there’s much to commend the brand to those seeking the latest European technology.

Expect DAF to be showcasing its Euro6 emissions technology well in advance of any legal requirement.

Currently undergoing evaluation with a range of Australian customers, the SoloStar Concept maximises the living area of the cab and creates two different spaces, one for resting and another for sleeping.

Pride of place on the Mercedes-Benz will be the New Generation Actros, offering a larger mattress than the standard 750mm width version and featuring a clever lounge-style passenger seat arrangement.

Diamond Reo has returned to the Australian market imported by Daysworth International, best known for its market leadership in Terminal Tractors over the last 40 years.

With the bed folded up against the wall, the driver can enjoy a corner lounge-style seat that rests in the back corner of the cab and opens up a vast amount of legroom.

The lounge-style seat can be used by the driver during rest stops or as a traditional passenger seat. When not required, the passenger seat folds forward to allow the large bed to be folded down. There’s also a dual fridge below a fixed table, as well as a row of cabinets mounted high on the back wall.

Diamond Reo was the iconic reliable heavy-duty road truck that graced our highways in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s.

Check out the Diamond Reo Giant, a 540 HP 6×4 prime mover for inner city haulage, also available as an 8x4 for tilt tray, tipper, water tanker, hook lift and crane truck.

Moving down in the weight scale is Fuso Truck and Bus, with the Canter tipper celebrating an extra one tonnes payload while increasing capacity by 14 percent.

Check out Fuso’s Built-Ready range, designed to get any operator moving without delay.

Mercedes-Benz will be introducing its latest edition AROCS heavy duty models alongside recent revisions to the ACTROS range. Electric drive trucks are also on

The new Hino 500 Series Standard Cab range will headline the Hino Motors Sales Australia stand at this year’s Brisbane Truck Show.

Daimler Australia is well into its Cascadia test programme for the eventual replacement of the Coronado, with the Argosy still ranking competitively for those that prefer a cabover with a North American driveline.

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FEATURE

The all-new 500 Series Standard Cab offers Australian buyers the most comprehensive active safety package available from a Japanese manufacturer in the medium duty market. The standard safety package features the Hino Pre-Collision System (PCS) which includes Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), Pedestrian Detection (PD) and Safety Eye (SE), as well as Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Lane Departure Warning (LDWS).

There is also the Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) function which incorporates Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS) and traction control, another first for a Japanese brand in the medium duty market.

Another Hino worth a close look is the 300 Series 817 4x4.

In its first full year on sale in 2018 it exceeded sales targets by 50 per cent.

The 300 Series 817 4x4 remains the safest Japanese truck in its class and is the only 7500kg GVM 4x4 truck in Australia with VSC, driver and passenger airbags, cruise control and reversing camera as standard features.

The 700 Series heavy duty range will be represented by an SH 2045 which tows the Hino Sports Deck display trailer. This is the first year of Hino Australia’s three-year extension of its Virgin Australia Supercars sponsorship.

Isuzu Trucks Australia this year celebrates 30 consecutive years as the leading supplier of commercial vehicles in the Australian market. It’s an amazing record of success and it is underpinned by the company’s ability 92

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to create specific vehicle specifications to suit the unique requirements of the domestic industry. Examine the full range from light trucks through to eight wheelers and heavy-duty prime movers on Booth 044 in the Foyer.

IVECO Trucks Australia boasts one of the most comprehensive ranges of electric and gas-powered truck ranges in Europe. This is your opportunity to discuss alternative energy options that will be available for global markets in the future.

Showgoers will get their first glimpse of the all-new, next generation Euro6 ACCO, also manufactured in Australia.

Still in the midst of extensive in-field development testing prior to launch later this year, the new ACCO will build on the toughness of its predecessor while delivering new levels of comfort and safety. On display will be a 6x4 model with Bucher compactor body and an 8x4 featuring a Hiab hooklift body.

Representing IVECO’s medium duty range is a Euro6 Eurocargo equipped with an INNOV8 attenuator body, while at the lighter end of the product offering is the market-leading Daily 70C van with 7 tonne GVM, 19.6m³ volume and Euro6 engine.

Off-road fans will be pleased to know that IVECO will also preview a prototype new version of its unstoppable Daily 4x4 with increased GVM capabilities of up to 7 tonnes and a raft of other enhancements including availability of IVECO’s market-leading Hi-Matic, 8-speed fully automatic transmission.

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FEATURE The display at Booth 047 in the Foyer highlights the latest IVECO and International products, with the ProStar highlighting the return of the brand to the Australian market.

Penske Commercial Vehicles Group brings together the legendary German excellence of MAN, now experiencing a rapid growth in sales since the launch of its D38 range of trucks that conform to Euro6 emissions standards. For those more traditional buyers the Western Star brand retains all the presence of a typical North American conventional. In the Municipal council area for waste collection it’s Dennis Eagle that brings in a reputation for ease of operation with ow floor cabs and ease of maintenance.

time in Australia. This green, clean and efficient vehicle carries twin large-capacity compressed natural gas tanks, and can offer vastly reduced CO2 emissions, making it ideal for operations in densely-populated urban delivery environments.

As with all Scania trucks offered in Australia, the eyecatching silver-painted display vehicles are all fitted with side curtain roll-over airbags to provide the highest level of crash protection available for driver and passenger.

The Detroit Diesel DD15 follows on from the Detroit Series 60 to score a solid reputation as one of the world’s leading selections for efficient and reliable powertrains.

All the Scania trucks on the stand are also equipped with state-of-the art LED head and taillamps, Advanced Emergency Braking, Lane Departure Warning, Adaptive Cruise Control and Electronic Stability Programme, underlining Scania’s commitment to providing its customers with the safest possible workplace.

At the Scania Trucks Australia stand there will be a comprehensive array of the New Truck Generation, demonstrating the shift to Euro6 exhaust emissions compliance and the class leading cab design.

In line with Scania’s leadership in offering Euro 6 to the Australian market, all the vehicles on the stand are Euro 6 compliant. Currently, Scania’s Euro6 sales account for 90 percent of deliveries in Australia.

Leading the charge will be the new 650 hp V8 Euro 6 engine fitted in an R-series prime mover, complete with 3300 Nm of torque. Right next to the V8 model are two G 500 six-cylinder Euro6 prime movers, one in G 500 road freight guise (for example inter-state high cubic capacity B-double work) and the second, as a G 500 XT specified for construction duties, complete with steel tipper body.

TATRA is growing its presence in the Australian heavyduty, off road market with expertise in transporting drilling rigs and working in mining areas. Importer Off Road Trucks Australia will be showcasing the latest models and showing why this Czech-Made brand is winning new friends and influencing others.

Rounding out the display will be a P 340 Euro6, 6x2 gas-fuelled rigid truck, a specification seen for the first

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Volvo Group Australia brings together the expertise of Volvo Trucks in Sweden, Mack Trucks of North America and UD Trucks of Japan. Each brand is iconic in its own

BRISBANE TRUCK SHOW right, with Volvo setting the pace for safety through the years, Mack illustrating its North American dependability and UD offering a strong, viable workhorse that’s popular in so many councils and local municipal operations.

The accessory and component displays are so numerous that it’s possible only to highlight some of the more interesting options in terms of the introduction of new technology.

PowerTorque recommends Carrier Transicold as being one of the leaders in refrigeration equipment and currently presenting alternative power sources for refrigerated freight requirements. You’ll find them in the Foyer on booth 062.

Almost next door in the Foyer at Booth 065 are the Castrol experts, where advice is always available to reduce TCO and improve the durability and life of your engines, transmissions and axles.

Cummins Engines (Booth 080 in the Foyer) is celebrating its 100th year and will showcase a range of legacy and future engines, ranging from a 3 hp, single-cylinder 1922 unit to our 600 hp X15 coupled to the allnew 12-speed Endurant automated transmission.

The two X15 engines and one X12 at the Brisbane show will be Euro6 versions. Both the 12-litre and 15-litre Cummins platforms are EGR-free for Euro6, using SCR/ AdBlue technology along with a diesel particulate filter (DPF) for compliance.

The X12, rated at 500 hp and 1700 lb ft of torque, achieves the highest power to weight ratio of any engine in the 10-to-16-litre class and will soon become available in a truck chassis in Australia.

Two versions of the X15 Euro 6 engine will be on display at Brisbane – the Efficiency Series and Performance Series – and each has a different set of hardware and software to achieve its objectives.

If you’re an Eaton transmission devotee you’ll be able to view the latest AMTs, including the PACCAR 12-speed known in the US as the Endurant and available now in selected T-Series models from Kenworth. This is a great step forwards in AMT technology and ability with a full display on Booth 079 also in the Foyer.

Gough Transport Solutions supplies a wide range of interesting components and systems ranging from Palfinger hydraulic cranes to Wabco braking systems, concrete pumping equipment and rail car conversions.

You’ll find them at Booth 066 in the Foyer.

Hella Australia (Booth 054 in the Foyer) Established in 1899, HELLA Australia has been a supplier of automotive original equipment for over 100 years. Today, it supplies the world’s leading vehicle manufacturers with a wide range of lighting and electronics products.

The all-new HELLA RokLUME 380 N LED driving light launched at the truck show provides 7500 lumen, more than double the performance of a comparable Xenon driving light. The 12 high-power LEDs create an extensive illumination at the colour temperature of 5000 Kelvin.

The colour temperature is warmer than that of common LED driving lights and works to reduce glare from highly reflective road signs.

The HELLA RokLUME 380 N LED Driving Light is built for durability, with an impact-resistant cover lens and a Nord-Lock screw system to ensure that the light remains secure and does not vibrate even on corrugated roads. It also has the highest rating in electromagnetic compatibility and will not interfere with communication systems.

Visit the HELLA Australia stand to view innovative new products and have a chat with the team of technical experts who will be on hand to define the solutions and answer all your questions.

Hendrickson Australia Booth 077 Foyer Renowned as the number one supplier of suspension and braking systems for heavy truck and trailer application, Hendrickson Australia’s range includes medium and heavy-duty mechanical, rubber block and air suspensions; integrated and nonintegrated axle and brake systems; tyre pressure control systems; auxiliary lift axle systems; parabolic and multileaf springs; stabilisers and bumpers.

The stand display will feature Hendrickson’s latest HAULMAAX suspension. This heavy-duty premium rubber suspension developed for trucks is designed for vocational applications where durability, light weight and ride comfort are essential.

Also on display is Henrickson’s HXL7 Premium Wheel End package and its industry leading INTRAAX integrated axle and air suspension system for trailer application.

Other exciting exhibits include PRIMAAX EXTREME and AIRTEK HCS truck suspension systems. With a history spanning over 100 years, Hendrickson will have a large number of components and suspensions on show, including four brand new displays never seen before in Australia ISRI Booth 068 Foyer Acknowledged as the leading supplier of commercial vehicle suspension seats, ISRI supplies original equipment to the majority of vehicle makers. Talk to the experts about upgrading your vehicle seating in all commercial vehicles from light vans to heavy trucks.

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FEATURE Check in with the Powerdown Workshop area to solve any technical questions that you may have on shock absorbers, height control valves and suspension components.

Schaeffler Australia Booth 153 Mezzanine With more than 92,000 employees and approximately 170 locations in 50 countries, Schaeffler boasts a worldwide network of manufacturing operations, research and development facilities and sales companies. It is one of the world’s largest suppliers of components to manufacturers of cars, commercial vehicles and agricultural machinery.

View the special Schaeffler Glass Online OEM Truck offering a 360º overview of the wide range of commercial vehicle products with product summaries, exploded views and videos on more than 50 products.

The LuK RepSet SmartTAC clutch repair solution for commercial vehicles not only makes repairs easy, it extends the service life of the vehicle’s operation.

Narva The Narva display of high-powered driving lamps such as the Ultima LED 175 and Ultima LED 225 have taken the transport industry and 4x4 off road enthusiasts by storm.

For long haul performance and reliability, the latest developments in LED technology has produced driving lamps of exceptional ability. Visit the NARVA booth (103 in the Foyer) to discuss your lighting requirements for trucks and trailers with the NARVA technicians.

Powerdown Booth 097 Foyer The Powerdown stand features the company’s vast range of shock absorbers, cab dampers and springs, height control valves and replacement bushes available for light, medium and heavy; American, European and Japanese trucks.

The company’s latest development is the new Precision adjustable shock absorber range. Based on the proven durable & reliable twin tube design, a remote reservoir cannister and a precision adjustment knob enable the fine tuning of the shock absorbers to improve ride quality and vehicle control.

Collaborating with Re-Oil, a local Newcastle oil and lubrication specialist company, Powerdown was instrumental in the development of the tailored highperformance shock absorber fluid made from sugar cane called BioShock Ultra. This fluid was designed to replace traditional semi synthetic oils currently used to fill shock absorbers. The base fluid selected for this application not only originates from a renewable plant-based resource but is also biodegradable, a major plus for the environment.

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Schaeffler’s SmarTAC (Travel Adjusted Clutch) reduces downtime and extends operating distances. This travelcontrolled, self-adjusting clutch system has been original equipment in the Mercedes-Benz ANTOS and ATEGO truck models since 2014.

Schaeffler’s FAG Repair Inset Unit (RIU) is a unique design of sealed wheel bearing for commercial vehicles that is pre-assembled and lubricated for life and allows operating distances of up to one million kilometres to be achieved Schaeffler’s FAG SmarSET long life is a ready-to-install repair wheel bearing solution for commercial vehicles, buses and trailers.

Talk to the Schaeffler team about these fast to install preassembled, pre-greased, precision fit sealed bearings with pre-positioned tapered rollers which eliminate additional turning of the wheel when setting the bearing, for a mistake free ZF Services Australia Foyer 074 As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of automotive transmissions ZF’s engineering team will be holding informative sessions on its display booth to highlight the advantages of the latest TraXon modular design of transmission.

Already available in the Australian market with the MAN D38 prime mover and heavy rigid truck range, the TraXon transmission will be expanding its range of applications in coming months with the latest Euro6 European heavy truck manufacturers.

THE LATEST INNOVATIONS IN

TRAILER TECHNOLOGY

TRAILERTORQUE

LIVING THE LIFE

Warren Caves looks at the latest live floor technologies for PBS operation.

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arge volumes of raw aggregate materials are transported each day into Australia’s cities from quarries, usually located within a travel distance of one hour. Of the tens of thousands of tonnes of raw materials used for concrete and road projects, some are transported by rail to distribution facilities and then trucked to various plants located across the cities.

Where the volumes required for daily demand cannot be facilitated by rail movements, it falls back to the road transport industry to pick up the shortfall.

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Traditional tipper design has remained largely unchanged for decades, other than where it has become influenced by changes of legislation through the adoption of PBS combinations to permit an increase in gross weights and payloads. The increase in safety through PBS compliance is also a major factor, thanks to the inclusion of ABS, EBS and roll stability control aligned with other braking and tyre requirements.

PBS When it comes to the discharge of products there has been little change. Raw materials are loaded into truck tipping bodies and trailers and transported to the site, bins are raised, and gravity pretty much takes care of the rest.

To find a solution to this level of risk management, TrailerTorque discussed what can be achieved by new ideas and designs with Troy Azzopardi, CEO of Muscat Trailers.

For the unskilled or unprepared, this can create a dangerous situation, as when heavy weights are lifted to elevated heights the subsequent lifting of the centre of gravity can lead to rollovers, particularly with dog trailers or semi tippers. Sticking or wet products, which can be reluctant to discharge until the bins are at or near full height, further compounds this risk.

Turps Tippers, a long-term client of Muscat Trailers which operates from Bargo on the southern fringe of Sydney, has been a quiet achiever over the past few years, building up its business from a single truck to the major fleet it runs today.

Add to this scenario the need to evaluate overhead risks such as trees, buildings and powerlines, and you can begin to appreciate the adverse safety issues caused by raising tipping bodies.

Large commodity companies have been on a mission to look for ways to improve safety on their sites and this has led to tipping exclusion zones, and the banning of trucks being moved with bins in the raised position. While these procedures can help control the risk, they do not remove the risk altogether.

Ian Turner, owner of Turps Tippers, has seen the focus on safety that the big commodity companies are implementing into operations, including his prime contractor, Holcim.

These safety requirements are constantly evolving, and astute operators and manufacturers can choose to sit back and wait, or get on the front foot and drive safety initiatives with regards to equipment.

A collaborative project between Turps Tippers, Muscat Trailers, Etnyre and Holcim has culminated in the latest combination to join the Turps Tippers fleet.

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TRAILERTORQUE Based on a T610 Kenworth tri-axle truck and quad-axle dog trailer, the Muscat Trailers-built Falcon Truck and Pup is a live floor, non-tipping discharge PBS combination that brings new levels of safety to the industry.

Ian Turner credits his daughter Maddison, who works within the company’s operations department, for the initial lightbulb moment that started a conversation.

Turps Tippers has within its fleet a number of asphalt trailers featuring the live floor discharge design, so this concept is not totally new to them. Although these systems have been operating in the USA since around 1996, it is perhaps only in the last five years that they have been appearing in Australian fleets, with the uptake largely dictated by safety concerns to prevent accidents and rollovers. Seeing this design at work, Maddison asked the simple question of why this type of set-up could not be fitted to the truck and dog combinations the company already operated extensively for aggregate and sand transport?

With that simple question began a design and manufacturing alliance between Ian Turner and Troy from Muscat Trailers that has culminated in the recent Falcon and Pup combination going into service.

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TRAILERTORQUE

MUSCAT As Troy explained the concept and design of this latest combination to TrailerTorque: “The main motivator for this project was the move within the industry towards increased safety.

“Rollovers and incidents are not uncommon, and we believed that we needed to get on the front foot in terms of offering different materials handling solutions Intro to complement our existing range. This design is not totally new in principle, asphalt trailers have been using this trailer application for some time with great success; however, I believe this to be the only combination of this design to be manufactured at 20 metres in length allowing operation on CML, HML and also on unrestricted routes with reduced weight.

“Our core design criteria were to maximise payloads and design in a way that allows water level loading with correct axle weight distribution. In this way we can maintain safe handling and manoeuvrability and facilitate the whole gamut of materials required to be transported.

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“I believe to get the most out of an investment such as this combination it should be operated at HML level. The gross PBS mass of 60.4 tonnes yields a payload of 39 tonnes.”

Troy acknowledges North American company Etnyre, and in particular, general manager of sales, Rich Wilsie, as an important contributor to this project. Based in Oregon, Illinois, Etynre supplies the bins used in the construction of the Falcon live floor and has a long history of manufacturing road building and asphalt handling equipment dating back to 1898.

With an inverted triangular bin design, one might expect there could be an increase in the vehicle’s centre of gravity. To help combat this, Muscat Trailers has lowered the floor height in comparison to a traditional trailer design by 80mm. The corresponding feedback from Brad Davey, the Turps Tippers driver operating the combination, is that the dynamics on the road feel no different to those of a standard truck and dog trailer unit.

The combination has the versatility to discharge over grates or into divided product stockpiles at concrete plants, much the same as a conventional truck and dog.

PBS

Discharge time for the combination is said to be around five minutes, with the unload process monitored from the driver’s seat via internal and external cameras with no hang-up or incomplete discharge. As an added benefit is there is no need for a wide exclusion zone around the vehicle during the unloading process, which can inhibit plant productivity.

According to Troy, maintenance on these units is comparable to the costs experienced on existing bin design when factored over the long term.

Troy says: “Our core business at the moment is still traditional tipper design, as it has been since my father started this business 45 years ago. What we are offering here is an alternate option for safer levels of commodity transfer.

“I believe this design concept will revolutionise the commodity logistics industry and has the potential to become the industry-best-practice solution. It has the potential to make the traditional elevating bin for tipping redundant.”

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By exploring this design, Muscat Trailers has chosen to innovate design concepts that simplify the unloading process for experienced and inexperienced operators alike, thereby negating the risk of a rollover occurring.

The continuing implementation of new technologies across the transport industry are designed to increase safety and reduce fatigue, setting achievable targets for industry to create an injury- and accident-free workplace, despite the shortage of highly experienced drivers in the workforce.

The culture of workplace safety that existed decades ago tended to ignore protocols if they interfered with productivity, sometimes with fatal consequences. That situation should never exist today, and with Workplace Health and Safety compliance uppermost in all company structures, the ability to reduce any risk becomes of strategic interest to management and workforce alike.

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TRAILERTORQUE

FINE TUNING Panus Oceania brings its latest trailer designs to the Australian market

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oday we live in a truly global world, where economies of scale linked to free trade agreements result in global products becoming available in local markets. Competition and volume production result in highly competitive pricing, even when transport and shipping costs are factored into the final quote.

In recent years, Thailand has advanced its position as being a favoured location for auto manufacturing to the point where the nation is often now described as the “Detroit of Asia”.

Unlike the Detroit of today that bears no resemblance to the major manufacturing hub it was during the 50s and 60s, Thailand continues to grow its manufacturing base and is today the largest single source of utes and pick-ups, as well as an increasing number of light and medium duty commercial vehicles of different makes.

With manufacturers such as Isuzu also establishing production facilities to supply local markets in Indonesia and Malaysia, it is not surprising to find associated industries such as trailer manufacturing and bodybuilding are also experiencing rapid growth.

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Although Panus Oceania is a relative newcomer to the Australian trailer market, this privately-owned company is Thailand’s largest trailer manufacturer, producing a diverse range that includes general freight and skeletal trailers, floats, car carriers and semi-tippers.

The company also manufactures vehicles for other sectors including mining, rail wagons, aviation and the military. The Panus Group also owns Bliss Fox, the manufacturer of ground support equipment, aircraft tugs and tractors and bonded fuel storage tanks.

Its move into the Australian market comes after a fiveyear test and development programme through which it has selectively refined its trailer designs to better suit the requirements of Australian operators.

PANUS As Ron Gysberts, International Sales Director for Panus Oceania told TrailerTorque;

“This form of supply enables us to establish the brand while offering a variety of specifications and components.

“We have a strong focus on developing the right product for the Australian market and have incorporated suspension systems, axles and braking systems that are recognised as being market leading products by Australian operators.

“Our suppliers at this stage include tri-axle road friendly air suspension systems from Hendrickson, Watson and Chalin, SAF-Holland and BPW, with Wabco brake kits, and LED multivolt lighting. As we move into the fleet space, we will add products from other locally well-known and trusted suppliers.”

“What interests us now is our ability to participate in markets that have already moved to adopt levels of higher technology such as Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan. Our products already conform to ISO9001: 2008 plus OHSAS 1800:2007/TIS 1800:2011 standards.

Components such as axles, suspension systems, king pins and lighting are all sourced in Australia and exported to Thailand for manufacturing and assembly.

This guarantees the components are commonly available in the Australian market and are supported by their suppliers, and that our trailers are completely ADR compliant.

Although the exact details of the trailers that will be on display at this year’s Brisbane Truck Show have yet to be finalised, designs under consideration include the company’s latest curtainsider and drop-deck semi-trailers.

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PBS AND INNOVATION Pushing the envelope delivers dividends for Porthaul.

Words by Ed Higginson, Images by Goodman Photography

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onsistent growth comes from a desire to always look for better ways of doing things, says the general manager of bulk transport and civil contractor Porthaul, James Williamson.

With depots in Portland, Mount Gambier and Melbourne, Porthaul operates throughout South Australia, Victoria, NSW, and extending up into QLD, with the occasional load to Western Australia for the oil and gas industry. It currently has more than 60 trucks in its fleet and 20 fulltime contractors on call.

“We’ve always pushed PBS (Performance-Based Standards). We don’t always look at building the biggest combination you can operate, but we focus on the most efficient way to do any job so that we can present the most competitive option,” James says.

“We’ve done most of the PBS process ourselves and own them internally. When we started looking at the A-double tippers, I’d regularly fly up to Queensland to sit down with NHVR (National Vehicle Heavy Regulator) when they were just getting going and discuss options and opportunities.

“Many PBS permits are from A to B, but for our forestry operations we might need to move from one plantation to another every few weeks, so we can’t wait a month for a new permit.

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“We had to create a network where we could operate anywhere in the region as the work moved. We started with the main networks, then had to work with the local councils, which we’ve been doing for about seven years.

Now our network is quite large with about 100 roads.

“We run level 2 PBS generally, but the restrictions apply from bridge constraints. We’d love to run at 85 tonnes, but the rating of the bridges can’t allow that. We look at our blanket weight of, say, 81.5 tonnes on the main VicRoads from Portland to the borders, after which it’s a case of dealing with the councils. If we talk to the council and explain that the plantation can take either 10 days with PBS combinations or 35 with standard trailers to clear, they are usually happy to give PBS access for a specific number of days.

PORTHAUL “Our local council is brilliant, going away to PBS courses with us so they fully understand what we are talking about with the trucks. In the early days, councils would often simply say that the larger trucks wouldn’t fit, but now they understand what the reports tell them.”

With a desire to constantly push the envelope and trial new products, Porthaul has recently taken delivery of its first set of B-double tippers from Graham Lusty Trailers.

The lead trailer body length is 9060 mm with a height of 2120 mm, while the tag trailer dimensions are 10,365 mm and 2120mm respectively. Floor thickness is 8 mm in the lead trailer and 6 mm in the tag trailer, with a common wall thickness of 5 mm.

“This is the first set of Graham Lusty tippers we’ve tried.

We are always happy to try new products and we know they have a great reputation. They look good and we know they will hold up really well, so we thought we’d give them a go,” James says.

With the lead tipper designed with a 46-cubic-metre capacity and the rear tipper with 53 cu. m, plus a combined tare weight of just 13.9 tonnes, the trailer set will perform well carting fertiliser and grain.

There’s a standard grain door on the centre of the tailgate and an access door in the front sheet on the passenger side.

The lead trailer features a JOST greaseless top fifthwheel coupling, together with a 45-tonne-rated Hidromas hydraulic ram. There’s a 60-tonne-rated Hidromas unit fitted to the tag trailer. The tyre fitment throughout is Kumho KRT03 11R22.5, mounted on Alcoa Dura-Bright polished outer rims.

The combination has been specced up with Hendrickson airbag suspension, 10-stud MAXX22T disc brake axles, with HXL7 parallel bearing hubs. Hendrickson offers a three-year/1.2 million km warranty on wheel-end packages and two years/unlimited warranty on shock absorbers. A dual-line Westinghouse braking system is equipped with Knorr Bremse EBS. “Everything is on EBS, which we decided to go with five years ago, knowing that it would become the norm. We’ve also now been able to hook it up with our weight scales, using Right Weigh gauges connected via Bluetooth to the driver’s phone and in-cab GPS,” James says.

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“The only issue we have now is when we are loading in the forest or on the farm on uneven ground, as we can get small variances. But we’ve been trialing improvements with this and hope it’ll be accurate to the kilogram very soon.”

Focusing on making the task of working with the equipment easier, Porthaul has specified the B-double tippers with Razor landing legs and Razor electric rollover PVC tarps with pelmets. The electronic motor-driven system raises and lowers landing legs at the touch of a button and can be operated from both sides of the trailer.

By simplifying the coupling and uncoupling process, it reduces the risk of injury or back strain.

This understanding of how to correctly specify the equipment comes from Brian Williamson and his three sons all driving trucks when they get the chance. “All of us drive, sometimes on weekends just to see what’s going on. We never expect anyone to do something we can’t do ourselves, so we can drive every truck and every piece of civil machinery,” James says.

As Porthaul has predominantly been a Kenworth fleet since it started, James decided to order a special K200 to pull its new set of GLT tippers. “It’s our 50th Kenworth that we bought from Barry Maney Group in Mount Gambier, so we thought we’d try a big cabover to match the GLT. The driver, Dave, is usually a T909 man but he was happy to try the K200 and loves it.”

Fitted with the Cummins X15 Euro 5 engine rated between 550-578 hp, it gives max power of 431 kW @ 1800 rpm and max torque of 2508 Nm @ 1200 rpm. Coupled to an 18 speed Fuller transmission and driving through Meritor RT46-160GP rear axles running a 4.30 ratio, the Kenworth is rated to a GCM of 97 tonnes.

“We put Groeneveld autogreasers on everything now, plus CTI and tyre pressure equalisers. We start by trialing equipment on the forestry trucks, then if we find that they work well and give us a benefit, we will roll them out across the entire fleet.”

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With the entire fleet running under NHVAS Mass, Maintenance, Fatigue, plus Truck Safe Accreditation and HML, the fleet is constantly monitored through GPS. “Every driver logs on to the trucks’ GPS so we can monitor their weights, speeds, location and times.”

PORTHAUL As well as the office getting access to the GPS, customers and the external workshop provider all get access to certain information to make everyone’s task easier.

Porthaul decided to outsource all of their maintenance from the beginning to a local repairer, L. Woods Transport Repairs based in Portland. James adds: “He has grown with us since the start. He’s very thorough and won’t let anything leave his yard until it’s safe and legal to travel.

We know he’s got our best interests at heart, so he’s got access to our GPS in order to monitor the service intervals, whilst also looking after our new equipment warranty, too.”

As well as the GLT combination, Porthaul also uses Barker Trailers for its woodchip operations. “Barkers build a beautiful walking floor, so we have a few of their trailers. We also have some Octaquads, which we built with Barkers under PBS using quad-axle trailers and 8x4 Kenworth T610s,” James says.

“The woodchip facility where they unload can’t accept B-doubles, so we measured the unloading point and designed the truck to fit accordingly. We can now get 35 tonnes on these 55-foot trailers instead of 25 tonnes.”

James puts the company’s success down to being able to give personal service to its local customers, being just a phone call away. Combined with a proven desire to always look for a better way of doing things, Porthaul’s future growth out of Portland is an excellent example of meeting customer expectations.

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Significant payload increases can be achieved through weight saving on your vehicle combinations. SAF can offer you this by utilising the latest techniques, modern materials and innovative designs.

TRAILERTORQUE

BRISBANE TRUCK SHOW TRAILER PREVIEW Trailer technology takes a step forwards for added efficiency

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midst the glamour and glitz of new technology, with low-emission engines on offer from most of the major truck makers, are the exhibits of companies that actually enable the prime movers and rigid trucks to carry a load.

PowerTorque readership surveys consistently show the popularity of our TrailerTorque section, where we highlight the latest technologies being developed by the bodybuiding and trailer manufacturing companies.

The Japanese truck makers have long been producing “ready to work” bodies that enable a transport operator to have an immediate solution to truck shortages. These pre-bodied units can hit the road immediately on the day of purchase, without a lengthy delay incurred sourcing a suitable body.

assistance to the vehicle combination when climbing steep inclines.

Regenerative braking, using a system similar to that of a Toyota Prius, creates its own electrical charge when running down a hill, which is then stored in a lithium-ion battery. It’s this stored electricity that can then be used for the motive trailer hubs to power up the next hill or assist with an overtake, or channelled elsewhere to power the fridge motor mounted on the trailer, removing the need for a further engine.

This level of technology may or may not break cover at the Brisbane Truck Show; but rest assured, if it doesn’t surface this year, it will be available in the future, assisting the reduction of fuel use and, correspondingly, lowering emissions.

European manufacturers, with the exception of Scania, have been slow to follow the path of the Japanese and, for no apparent reason, still prefer to distance themselves from supplying the complete solution as a single package.

With such a large number of exhibitors, it pays to select your preferences for visiting the different manufacturers into a hit list to ensure that you cover off your main interests, before you go wandering in general.

If the examples on display at the IAA Hanover Show in Germany last year are any indication of what lies ahead, stand by for the day when your new trailer will boast electric motors in the drive axles that provide motorised

TrailerTorque’s selection highlights the most advanced manufacturers in the trailer and bodybuilding industry, with a selection of must-see displays that will not disappoint show attendees.

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BRISBANE TRUCK SHOW TRAILER PREVIEW Barker Trailers, Booth 110 Foyer With more than 10,000 Barker Trailers on Australian roads, the company offers innovative designs for general freight, waste management, agriculture, forestry and heavy haulage applications.

Barker’s latest Curtainsider design is well worth a close look and the display stand includes break-out highlights of the design elements including lights, axles and running gear, and specialist paint treatment.

Specialist knowledge forms the background to the company’s ability to build immense strength into its designs of trailers for road train and mining applications, while also offering some of the lightest tare weights in Australia for the general and refrigerated freight cartage.

Bruce Rock Engineering also provides a comprehensive truck and trailer repair service, together with a wide selection of equipment for hire.

Byrne Trailers, Booth 048 Foyer Well known for its latest range of stainless-steel livestock trailers, Byrne Trailers will be displaying a selection of designs that not only include its latest stainless-steel units, but also new aluminium-bodied trailer designs featuring the Keith Walking Floor system.

The centrepiece of the Byrne display is a 45-foot agricultural walking floor trailer with a total length of 13.7 m, height of 4.3 m and a tare weight of 8320 kg to produce a GVM of 39,000 kg.

Fitted with SAF-HOLLAND tri-axle Intradrum airbag suspension and axles, the unit has drum brakes and 10stud alloy wheels fitted with 11R22.5-sized tyres.

Bruce Rock Engineering, Booth 131 Foyer Making the trip east from its home base in West Australia is Bruce Rock Engineering.

Renowned for its expertise in mining applications, this year Bruce Rock Engineering is also developing a new range of refrigerated trailers in conjunction with Wabash National trailer products, expanding its reach to a greater number of transport operators as the sole Australian distributor.

The company will be unveiling the next evolution of Wabash National’s refrigerated trailer technology at the Brisbane Show. The collaboration with the US trailer builder incorporates Wabash National’s moulded structural composite van technology with BRE’s chassis expertise. The new design offers a 20 percent efficiency improvement over the Arctic Lite series vans.

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The cubic-metre capacity is quoted as 94 and it’s fitted with a RAZOR electrically operated roll tarp. At the rear is a full-sized, manually operated barn door. You’ll find more details on RAZOR products on joint display with JOST Australia in the Foyer on Booth 078.

Bartlett Equipment, Booth 277 Plaza Connecting trailers safely to towing vehicles brings the expertise of Bartlett Equipment to Brisbane with examples on display of the company’s couplings, safety chains, towbars and fleet solutions.

The Bartlett Ball coupling is backlash-free to protect the driveline, gear train and other truck-and-trailer chassis and body components. It provides a high degree of oscillation for flexible and convenient manoeuvrability and optimised load distribution with smooth riding characteristics.

Carrier Transicold, Booth 062 Foyer Carrier Transicold is one of the leaders in refrigeration equipment and currently showcasing how alternative power sources can supply refrigerated freight requirements.

Convair Engineering, Booth 201 Plaza Convair is the specialist manufacturer of pneumatic dry bulk solutions, with a wide range of tankers and blowers, together with compressors for the transport and storage of dry bulk products, and it represents the brands of Feldbinder, CVS Engineering and Gardner Denver (Foyer booth 070).

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E-PLAS, Booth 286 Plaza E-PLAS, the engineering and plastics specialists, represents Tivar Systems performance linings, Quicksilver truck linings and Rochling Sustaplast, boasting decades of engineering plastics expertise to custom machine and fabricate solutions for industry.

BRISBANE TRUCK SHOW TRAILER PREVIEW Fibreglass Transport Equipment, Booth 122 Foyer FTE has more than 40 years’ manufacturing experience of the requirements of the cold chain logistics suppliers, and today produces high thermal efficiency lead and rear trailers and rigid bodies.

Graham Lusty Trailers, Booth 133 Foyer GLT is a real Australian success story, producing highquality trailers for many specialist applications including end-over tippers and side tippers, grain tippers and walking floor trailers. The company stole the show at the last Brisbane event, displaying a Red Bull Racing team transporter that was packed with innovation and technology and was subsequently acknowledged by receiving the PowerTorque Magazine award for advanced technology.

Groeneveld Lubrication Solutions, Booth 129 Foyer Groeneveld provides automatic lubrication systems that ensure high maintenance standards while reducing downtime and consequently cutting total cost of operation (TCO). The ability to lower TCO is driving the increasing popularity of these systems and follows the extended oil drain intervals now possible with Euro6 emissionscompliant vehicles.

Hamelex White, Booth 049 Foyer A division of MAXITrans Australia, the company offers the industry its unique designs for truck and dog, B-double operation, chassis tippers, tip over axle designs, moving floor options and PBS combinations.

HAMMAR Australia, Booth 067 Foyer HAMMAR is one of the country’s premier manufacturers of container sideloaders, and produces well over 50 percent of industry requirements.

SPECIALISTS IN ROAD TRANSPORT EQUIPMENT DESIGN, MANUFACTURE, MODIFICATION & MAINTENANCE • PBS specialists • Deck wideners and extendables • Skel trailers

• Evolution side tippers • Road train dollies • Flat tops, drop decks BRUCEROCKENGINEERING.COM.AU

• End tippers, bulk and TaREX quarry bodies • Wabash National refrigerated and dry vans • Etnyre live bottom trailers

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FREECALL 1300 611 253

NATIONWIDE SALES & SUPPORT

TRAILERTORQUE Holmwood Highgate, Booth 051 Foyer As Australia’s leading road tanker manufacturer, Holmwood Highgate specialises in all aspects including petroleum, chemical, bitumen and specialised tanker construction. A recently developed bitumen tanker using electric heating coils that warm the product while on the move is of particular interest for its cost-saving and timesaving reductions.

Howard Porter, Booth 132 Foyer Hailing from Western Australia, Howard Porter manufactures truck bodies and semi-trailers together with offering a full truck and trailer repair service. Recent developments include Super Quad road trains.

JOST Australia, Booth 078 in the Foyer As the country’s best-known supplier of fifth wheels, couplings, landing legs and turntables, JOST Australia has connection and coupling solutions to suit all applications. These include powered landing legs, or the technology to confirm correct coupling connections electronically, via a readout on your dashboard.

At this year’s Brisbane Truck Show, JOST Australia will unveil the latest developments in towing hitch technology from its multi-award-winning ROCKINGER range.

HELLA Australia, Booth 054 Foyer Established in 1899, HELLA Australia has been a supplier of automotive original equipment for more than 100 years. Today, it supplies the world’s leading vehicle manufacturers with a wide range of lighting and electronics products.

Hendrickson Australia, Booth 077 Foyer Renowned as the number one supplier of suspension and braking systems for heavy truck and trailer application, Hendrickson Australia’s range includes medium and heavy-duty mechanical, rubber block and air suspensions; integrated and non-integrated axle and brake systems; tyre pressure control systems; auxiliary lift axle systems; parabolic and multi-leaf springs; stabilisers and bumpers.

The stand display will feature Hendrickson’s latest HAULMAAX suspension. This heavy-duty premium rubber suspension developed for trucks is designed for vocational applications where durability, light weight and ride comfort are essential.

Also on display is Hendrickson’s HXL7 Premium Wheel End package and its industry-leading INTRAAX integrated axle and air suspension system for trailer application. Other exciting exhibits include PRIMAAX EXTREME and AIRTEK HCS truck suspension systems.

With a history spanning over 100 years, Hendrickson will have a large number of components and suspensions on show, including four products new to the Australian market.

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BRISBANE TRUCK SHOW TRAILER PREVIEW Keith Walking Floor Australia, Booth 141 Mezzanine Floor As the leading supplier of walking floor systems for cargo discharge, Keith Walking Floor can be found in use by virtually all trailer suppliers manufacturing for the waste disposal industries as well as in applications such as wood chip and with products where end-over tippers are prevented from operation loads, providing a safer and more efficient discharge system.

The ROCKINGER brand offers commercial vehicle operators a wide range of towing hitches for various different mounting points and every type of use. Groundbreaking safety features include the drawbar turn angle warning system, with a display in the driver’s cabin to provide reliable protection from shunting damage to couplings, drawbars and the rear of the vehicle.

The ROCKINGER RO*50E towing hitch is a robust, lowmaintenance design that is simple and safe in operation.

Using the original ROCKINGER release lever principle, it permits gentle coupling even at difficult drawbar eye angles.

All ROCKINGER towing hitches can be retrofitted with a variety of options for remote displays and remote controls.

The second generation of the “Piff Paff” pneumatic remote operation is controlled via the DUOMATIC connection to the truck’s brake hose. The opening procedure is easy and safe, as the air supply is only available when the trailer brake line is not connected to the prime mover and the trailer is securely braked via the spring-braked cylinder.

Acting as a driver’s third eye, ROCKINGER’s camera system shows the driver the exact position of the drawbar eye to enable engagement of the coupling in a targeted manner, without visual misalignment.

A unique towing hitch for 40-millimetre drawbar eyes, the RO*430 comfort coupling is slack-free and equipped with rubber suspension and hydraulic shock absorption, ensuring that possible impact stress between the truck and trailer is absorbed by the coupling. The RO*40CH, a strong towing hitch with proven ROCKINGER release lever technology, allowing the rotating bolt to be triggered safely and accurately, even on different drawbar eyes. This level of technology prevents incorrect coupling caused by the locking process being triggered too early or by jerky coupling.

This equipment manufacturer is renowned for its ability to unload trailers in total safety, quickly and efficiently, removing the risk posed by overhead power transmission lines in the vicinity of tipping trailers. See the latest installation on display at Byrne Trailers.

Knorr-Bremse Australia, Booth 098 in the Foyer The supplier of leading technology for all your needs for commercial vehicle braking systems, Knorr Bremse products incorporate the latest technology for electronic stability and rollover protection.

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TRAILERTORQUE freight and skeletal trailers, floats, car carriers and semitippers. The company also manufactures vehicles for other sectors including mining, rail wagons, aviation and the military.

The past five years have seen Panus Oceania evaluate the Australian market closely, and selectively manage the introduction of its products while refining its trailer designs to better suit the requirements of Australian operators.

Although the exact details of the trailers that will be on display at this year’s Brisbane Truck Show are yet to be finalised, designs under consideration include the company’s latest curtainsider and drop-deck semi-trailers.

SAF-HOLLAND, Booth 069 Foyer The SAF-HOLLAND Group now includes leading industry brand names such as SAF, Holland, NEWAY, V.ORLANDI and YORK. The SAF TRAKe Trailer Axle provides electric drive for recuperation and traction assistance. This high-voltage drive module generates electrical energy that can be used to power electrical equipment on the trailer and utilises stored energy to support the main drive engine for additional traction. The SAF TRAKe axle is developed to suit a wide range of trailers and driving conditions.

Krueger Transport Equipment, Booth 123 Foyer As a full-service supplier with manufacturing, rental, repair and new and used trailers within a family business, Krueger Transport Equipment is solutions-focused. Its trailer-building business specialises in refrigerated vans, curtainsiders, skeletals, flat tops, drop decks, prairie wagons and rigid bodies. It also offers improved versatility to operators through its Advantage trailer rental division.

Maxi-CUBE, Booth 049 Foyer A division of MaxiTRANS Australia, MaxiCube will be putting its best foot forward at the 2019 show. Visitors to its display stand can expect to view exciting displays and learn more about the company’s extensive range of products and services.

Narva, Booth 103 in the Foyer For long-haul performance and reliability, the latest developments in LED technology has produced lighting equipment of exceptional ability for trucks and trailers.

Visit NARVA to discuss your lighting requirements with the technicians.

OKUSLIDE, Booth 283 in the Plaza area A UV-protected OKUSLIDE plastic liner retrofitted to the bed of the tipper’s interior body will ensure that your load slides off quickly and cleanly. The material has integrated additives to ensure excellent sliding properties.

Panus Oceania, Booth 124 Foyer The leading trailer manufacturer in Thailand, Panus Oceania is a relative newcomer to the Australian trailer market. This privately-owned company boasts a diverse range of products in the trailer market including general 118

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Another product to look out for is the Electronic Lock Indicator – Technology-Enhanced, or ELI-te system.

The key to the ELI-te system is a visual indicator that provides confirmation of a successful coupling, and warning if something isn’t quite right. The ELI-te system helps drivers ensure a correct fifth wheel coupling is achieved each and every time.

Visitors to the SAF-HOLLAND stand will also have the opportunity to talk to the SAF-HOLLAND team about the complete range of SAF-HOLLAND products, including the range of high-quality Italian-manufactured V.ORLANDI couplings and drawbar attachments.

More reasons More locations Catch the braking news on Stand 98 in the main hall at the Brisbane Truck Show.

Knorr-Bremse TruckServices.

Your ADR trailer compliance partner.

Top of mind for 2019 will be the introduction of new safety standards for trailers with compulsory ADR demands on new trailers from July 2019 and all trailers from November 2019.

If you know trailers you know there is nothing more important than ensuring they are ADR compliant, in service and on the road. When it comes to road safety and stability there is no better partner than Knorr-Bremse, a world leader in braking technology.

Knorr-Bremse TruckServices.

At your service at a growing number of locations • Knorr-Bremse has relationships with over 30 major service centres around Australia on key transport routes, with many more to follow.

• There’s a Knorr-Bremse smartphone Service Locator App that pinpoints your nearest point of contact should you or your trailer need it.

So if you want to get real with the best thing that’s happening in trailer confidence insist on Knorr-Bremse.

In the event of a breakdown, you can access a 1300 number for assistance.

Download the TruckServices Locator App from your Smartphone to pinpoint the nearest TruckServices centre.

Phone 1300 309 991 Email cvs.aus@knorr-bremse.com Or visit www.knorr-bremse.com.au Download our Service Locator App

TRAILERTORQUE

CONSTRUCTORFEST Munich is big on its festivals, particularly for the construction and building industry Expos in Europe take on awe-inspiring dimensions and bauma 2019 promises to continue the tradition as it kicks off in Germany during the second week of April.

Following the trend of the bi-annual IAA Expo held in Hannover, bauma is huge, with the last event attracting 3425 exhibitors and 583,736 visitors for displays covering a surface area of 605,000 square metres.

For bauma 2019, a core topic is sustainability, with resource conservation and environmental issues taking a step forward in importance.

The avoidance or reduction of emissions of all kinds remains a major playground for technical innovations and improvements in the construction industry. For example, cold milling of old road pavements produces significant amounts of particulate matter—a hazard to the health of construction site workers, residents and passers-by.

Bomag GmbH from Boppard, Germany, for example, has developed ion dust shield technology to reduce the amounts of particulate matter.

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The system is installed in a box attached to the conveyor belt of the milling machine. An extraction system sucks the dust particles through an electric field. They become positively charged and are attracted by the negatively charged housing. This causes the fine dust to clump together permanently into less-hazardous coarser particles that can be removed together with the milled material.

Dust must also be bound during building demolition, surface mining and loading processes. In countries with extreme weather conditions, it may occur that the usual water mist cannot be used due to icy temperatures. In such a case, the new dust-binding machine, V22Orca from EmiControls of Bolzano in Italy simply produces snow.

The dust adheres to the flakes produced by this special snow cannon. Being a hybrid with a water mist and a snow mode, the device can be used at temperatures from +50° C to -25° C.

IAA EXPO The construction machinery industry has to control emissions of all kinds − not only of dust, but also, and especially, of exhaust gases and noise. The increased use of electric drives can make an important contribution in this respect.

The Wacker Neuson Group is expanding its product range in this area with the AS60e battery-powered rammer and the AP2560e battery-powered vibratory plate. A total of six products from the Munich-based manufacturer can now be operated with the same interchangeable rechargeable battery, enabling switching of battery packs to take place between different machines.

Under ideal ecological circumstances, the electricity for the operation of the electric engines comes from renewable energy sources. In order to allow the green electricity generated by wind farms to reach every electrical outlet in Germany, the country needs several thousand kilometres of new power lines. The trend for Germany is to provide power transmission lines in the form of underground cables, negating the need for high steel stanchions.

Herrenknecht AG from Schwanau, Germany, is showcasing a new, economical and environmentally friendly laying method at bauma 2019.

The modified E-Power Pipe drilling technology enables trenchless laying of cable conduits across comparatively long distances of more than one kilometre, close to the surface at a depth of two to four metres. This minimises interference with the landscape and does not impact on local scenery.

While on the subject of introducing alternative drive options, SAF-HOLLAND is showcasing its latest development of powered axles for trailers with a live demonstration of its hydraulically-driven SAF INTRA CD TRAK axle.

MAXIMUM SERVICE LIFE

Minimum downtime.

FAG SmartSET — the ready-to-fit repair solution for truck wheel bearings.

Pre-assembled, pre-greased, pre-positioned — the FAG SmartSET was developed exclusively for the spare parts market, based on the needs of the garage.

The new repair solution for truck and trailer simplifies installation, reduces assembly errors and ensures maximum reliability during use.

Discover more: www.schaeffler-aftermarket.com.au aftermarket.service.au@schaeffler.com

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This integrated additional drive option enables the trailer to provide its own tractive power, assisting the tow vehicle in areas of extreme gradients as typically found on construction sites.

Alexandre Charpiot, Vice-President Sales OEM & Aftermarket Europe at SAF-HOLLAND, said: “Our additional drive for semi-trailers, which is activated at the press of a button, is an economically viable alternative to complex driven tractor units, in particular for the construction industry. Our bauma presentation focuses on how construction vehicles can benefit from this in challenging environments.”

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In the live demonstration, SAF-HOLLAND shows how vehicles with the SAF INTRA CD TRAK can easily set off on hills, remain agile on difficult terrain, and move around reliably, even on loose ground. Available for new equipment or as a retro-fit to existing equipment, the additional power of the hydraulically driven axle primarily benefits tippers and vehicles which operate on-road and off-road at construction sites and landfills.

SAF-HOLLAND has been manufacturing the proven and technically sophisticated axle as a standard product since the middle of 2018, and the system is optimised for trailers in the nine-tonne standard range.

CUSTOM BUILT

TELESCOPIC HOISTS AND SPECIALISED CYLINDERS DELHOIST

Delhoist telescopic cylinders/hoists are the highest quality telescopic cylinders in the world offering unparalleled product life.

Engineered for the harsh Australian environments, Manufactured to perfection, Caterpillar SQEP

Phone: 03 6420 6900 Fax: 03 6424 6983 Email: jfwhite@delhyd.com.au jfwhite@dh.au.com

delhyd.com.au

THE ALL-NEW STREET SMART TRUCK HAS ARRIVED.

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