50/50 TESTING TRUCKS 50 YEARS APART

50/50

TESTING TRUCKS 50 YEARS APART

The latest Volvo FM is a state-of-the-art 21st century truck, a Volvo F86 was the first truck built by Volvo in Australia. PowerTorque takes them both out the road to see how times have changed.

Often when taking a truck out for a test drive, it is difficult to put all of the new features in context with where a truck has come from. The latest trucks are full of highly sophisticated electronics and make life easy for the driver, plus they are much safer. This was certainly not the case back in 1968 when the Volvo F 86 PowerTorque took for a test drive was built.

In 2021, Volvo launched its latest model the FM, a truck which comes through a long line of heritage over the years on the Australian market. This is not the flagship heavy duty prime mover, this is the workhorse, local distribution prime mover which does a lot of the heavy lifting in the food supply chain around the cities and intrastate applications.

The kind of jobs which are being done by this modern FM model were being handled by trucks like the Volvo F86 back in the 70s. When the Volvo assembly plant started production in Australia, the first truck down the line was an F86.

To get some perspective on just how far the modern trucks have come from those days, PowerTorque decided to drive one of the you beaut 2021 FM prime movers over the same route, up against an F 86. Unfortunately, that first truck down the production line in Australia for Volvo has been lost in time, but Volvo still owns a 1968 F86 with which we can run a comparison.

When I started my truck driving career back in 1977, it was driving a Ford D Series and, at the time, what I would’ve given to be able to drive an F86 instead? Now, I finally have got my chance just to see how life has changed in those intervening years.

This new Volvo FM sees the redesign, which arrived a few years ago in the FH model, move down to the smaller prime mover. This new shape represents a major step up from a cabin which had not changed very much since the early 1990s. The change also gives Volvo the opportunity to include all of the latest sophisticated electronics and safety features. Something which is becoming the norm on heavy duty trucks in Australia today.

Back in the 1970s, Volvo offered two choices, the large heavy duty F88 or G88 prime mover or the smaller F86, which could handle some heavy duty applications and was running around as a prime mover and as a large rigid heavy duty.

During this period the Volvo truck brand was expanding out of its original domestic market in Sweden and moving across Europe, plus arriving here in Australia to compete toe-to-toe with the more traditional trucks of that era. One of the strengths of the Volvo brand was the overall build quality of the truck, and tare weight performance with the lighter turbocharged engine up against normally aspirated heavier engine blocks.

The numbers around the F86 are hard to believe when looking at a truck from 2021. The seven litre engine put out 150 hp without and 210 hp with a turbo. A prime mover at the time would be expected to handle overloaded trailers on substandard roads for long hours. Operators found out where the limitations of these trucks were by simply pushing them until they broke. One of the indicators that the operator was running the truck beyond its capabilities would be when the driveshaft finally snapped or the differential blew up.

NEW VS OLD Climbing up into the smooth new cabin of the FM is like entering a different world to the trucks of that long gone era. The new FM now has the Euro 6 version of the 13 litre engine and puts out 460 hp, from 900 rpm all the way past 1400 rpm. Truck design takes all or most of the worry out of pushing a truck too hard, these vehicles have been engineered and tested to be able to handle a heavy load, while maintaining considerable durability.

Sitting in the driver’s seat of the new FM, shows us it has a number of familiar features from its predecessor. The basic dashboard layout is about the same as it has been in the past with most of the controls in familiar positions. The adoption of a more upright cab design does mean that visibility has been improved. There is also a higher roof and more headroom for the driver.

This is a 2021 truck and turning the key fires up the quiet rumble of the engine and it’s simply a matter of hitting the button on the controller for the I-Shift AMT and releasing the park brake. Then we start off by pushing the foot down on the throttle, and there’s a smooth take off

across the road train breakdown pad at Gatton in Queensland.

Manoeuvring out onto the highway delivers a present surprise. This particular model has the optional Volvo Dynamic Steering fitted and, as a result, the lightness of the steering is instantly noticeable.

The VDS has been available on Volvo trucks for some time, but has certainly not been universally accepted as necessary. The normal power steering is effective, but the VDS does bring a few things to the driving experience which lead to an improvement.

Firstly, there is the smoothness of the steering and its ability to return to a central straight-line position when the driver takes their hand off the wheel. Secondly, there is the more nuanced control system on this latest model which adjusts the level of assistance the VDS will use, depending upon road speed or driver preference. For example, it does all of the work when manoeuvring slowly, but puts in much less effort at 100 km/h out on the highway.

In PowerTorque’s experience, the real strength of the VDS comes into play when reversing a truck, especially something with multiple trailers. The quick response of the VDS to the driver input means it is possible to catch up with any any error in steering much quicker than it would be using normal power steering.

Unfortunately, there was little opportunity to really compare this highly sophisticated steering on the FM to that available on the F86. The older truck, unfortunately, did not have a turntable, therefore was only available to be driven bobtail. This meant that the steering felt quite light, but this is due to the fact that there is very little weight over the steering axle.

There is little need to comment much more on the Volvo AMT. It is a very smooth transmission which does its job extremely well. Meanwhile, the F86 eight speed manual gearbox was a much more unforgiving proposition. Luckily, it is a synchromesh gearbox and there was no need to brush up on our rusty double declutching technique. In fact, after a few hesitant gear changes moving towards the highway, the muscle memory from back in the 1970s came into play and made changing quick and quite smooth.

A 1968 vintage ashtray

The gearbox layout and slack in the gearstick linkage did mean that there was the occasional wrong ratio selected, however.

BACK IN TIME In terms of visibility, the F86 ‘bubble’ cabin is pretty well designed and this may well have been one of the reasons for its success against its competitors. All round visibility was not much of a priority for truck designers at that time. At the heavier end of the market the F88 also had small windows and limited all round visibility for the driver. The large windows, front and back, on the F86 were a revelation at the time.

In terms of driver comfort, the F86 does have a suspended driver seat, but it is ineffective and compares very poorly with the driver’s seat in the new FM, with limitless adjustment available. There is also plenty of adjustment available in the FM on the steering wheel both in the normal manner, and in extra neck adjustment, to get that steering wheel in exactly the right position for the long haul.

Back in the 1970s the driver would have to adjust their body to suit seat and steering wheel design, rather than vice versa. Hence the dodgy back, shoulder issues and occasional neck pain suffered today by driver’s of that generation.

One of the major features that Volvo talked about at the launch of new FM model is the vast array of safety features available on the truck. The specification for this FM 460 includes a long list of abbreviations, many of which we are becoming more and more familiar with.

There is forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, lane keeping, adaptive cruise control, an engine brake which can control truck speed on long descents, the list goes on and the safety standard continues to rise.

Experience suggests all of these systems will find their place in the lives of most people driving trucks, as they make life easier and safer. There is always resistance each time a new system gets introduced, probably because they appear to be taking an element of control from the driver.

First it was cruise control, then ABS, more recently stability control, and now these braking systems which activate if the computer sees a dangerous situation developing, and they activate right over the top of the driver’s control. All of these safety elements have been added in small

steps and over time, we stop noticing that yet another truck system is able to work independently from the driver’s control.

If you took a driver from the F86 back in the seventies and put them into the latest FM, they would freak out completely. However, gradually adding each new system in a drip-drip fashion over the course of a life’s career and it appears a bit more natural. This comparison exercise was a wake up call and a reminder of just how much has changed and what a fantastic achievement it has been for the truck makers to get us from A to B.

In terms of safety, there were issues back at that time for trucks like the F86. Among some people, the talk was about the fact that the F86 had been fitted with smaller brake shoes than its competitors. Gossip on the road talked about shoes wearing out too quickly and presenting a danger to the driver.

At the same time there was also doubt about fitting a turbo on a truck engine. Turbos mean there is higher pressure in the combustion chamber, which gives the driveline that extra boost of power. Some, at the time, were saying that extra

Climbing up into the smooth new cabin of the FM is like entering a different world to the trucks of that long gone era.

pressure also led to problems with blown head gaskets.

Every time you introduce some new technology, there will always be someone who will find a problem with it. Eventually, the problem gets forgotten and the new technology gains acceptance. Meanwhile, back at places like Volvo HQ, the boffins are coming up with some other dastardly new device or system for the sceptical to criticise. It is just a never ending process of renewal.

That is probably the main takeaway from this comparison test drive. It is not just how much things have changed in the intervening 50 years, but how many times they have changed, how often some new idea or technique pops up and changes the life of the truckie, in terms of safety, comfort or productivity, or all three.