T he big CAT drives at the mountain of coal, scoops
Page 105
Page 106
Page 107
Page 108
Page 109
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
some into its grab and dumps it unceremoniously in the back of a waiting tipper. A few more scoops and the tipper turns, drives on to the weighbridge where its load is checked before heading out of the colliery gate. The whole process has taken barely five minutes. The departing vehicle's place is quickly taken by a tipper from another haulier waiting for a slice of the action. This is Tower Colliery,
South Wales, in its own way a modern miracle. .
Less thati two years ago, British Coal announced its closure and handed the miners their redundancy cheques. They responded by pooling dteir money, organising a nationwide raffle ti) raise more funds, and making a successful bid to reopen the colliery as a workers' co-oper ive. Work res r ted just before Christmas 1995 and within ayear the pit was able to announce a profit. From the initial doom and gloom jobs had been saved—and not just within the colliery.
Ryan Transport at Cardiff Dock has been a major beneficiary: it transports up to 5,000 tonnes a week of the 13,000 tonnes of industrial and domestic fuel mined at Tower. The work is worth more than Lim a yeai which expects to turn over Om th: total. "If Tower had gone, it would L dramatic effect on the business," adi Davies, Ryan's managing director.
In many ways, Ryan's recent hist lets Tower's plucky survival. Until the company was owned by the mining group which also had intere US and in computer software. T Group decided to dispose of its sul and concentrate on open-cast mini' transport arm was offered for sail takes up the story: "We were faced w being bought by someone else or I( and placed on the dole." The ripple closure would have affected drivers own 34-vehicle fleet and around 10( tractors for which it provides regi I "Luckily we always operated as a subsidiary of Ryans, with a bank ai our own at Barclays."
With the bank's help and the su Coopers and Lybrand. Davies and th managers engineered a buyout in S(
their value better than cheaper models but very few come into the used truck market: if they're any good they are sold on privately. While I see other six-wheelers from time to time I have had only a handful of Scania sixwheelers in the past 10 years.
"The P93 280 is the most sought-after model," Bingham concludes. "It has a nice power-to-weight ratio. It's well put together and the inside of the cab stands up well too. A 1992 model on a FIC plate with insulated body would sell for between £22,000 and £15p00. That's six or seven thousand pounds more than you might expect to pay for something like a Seddon Atkinson of the same age, for example."
While the operators we spoke to mentioned one or two minor shortcoming, the P93 seems to incorporate the traditional Scania virtues: ifs tough enough to thrive in a harsh environment; dealer back-up is dependable and productivity is well up to par. Its 8.5-litre engine is certainly good for 500,000km while the twospring bogie does the job well.
However, this is not the lightest six-wheeler on the market.
Scanias aren't known as bargain basement vehicles but as other manufacturers' prices have risen the big Swedes have become more competitive, with excellent residuals. As a result late used models are hard to find but they're worth looking for and as Scania continues to increase its market share more used vehicles are bound to find their way on to the market. CM's verdict? A good used buy.
ii by Bill Brock ing and the two-spring bogie but there have been no major problems. Where there has been a claim on the
warranty the vehicle has been put right and back on the road quickly although it sometimes takes a bit longer to sort the paperwork out. The 93 is a good allround reliable truck but that does not stop me looking at other makes."
Asfare, a road planning company based at Wolvey near Leicester, operates its one remaining Scania P93 280 6x4 tipper on solo and drawbar work. In the morning the vehicle runs empty to the site coupled to a threeaxled trailer carrying the road planing equipment. Then the six-wheeler runs solo all day to transport the top surface for recycling.
Two earlier models have now been replaced with 113 320s which cope with the 36 tonne drawbar application easier," says Les Daw. "We have a couple of low loaders as well rated at 81 tonnes. They're all Scanias. We've been running drawbars for about seven years and started out with 250s, but as the weight of the equipment got heavier we increased power to maintain performance. Five years ago the P93 280 looked a bit pricey and overweight. It's still on the heavy side but the prices have held pretty steady and they're better value today than they were then. Residuals are good and they're reliable, so overall they're not expensive to run. "We sell them privately after about four years and it's never a problem disposing of them," he adds. "Our fuel consumption would shock some tipper operators though. We only get 6.5mpg, but that includes standing time and the drawbar work. The tipper on its own gives us a payload of over 16 tonnes.
"Kelly Trucks, which is just five miles away, looks after them for us under a repair-and-maintenance contract," says Daw. "They fit them in in the middle of the week which is our quietest time and we don't have many problems. Tyres on the drive axles wear quickly. They tend to skip a little when the tipper runs empty with the loaded trailer. We only use Michelin as we find they're the best value, but we get through a set in 45,000km. I think the two-spring bogie helps to improve traction. The brakes are no problem. We fit Tehna transmission brakes to our low loaders. They cost about 14,500 but they pay for themselves in lass than two years—the trailer brakes last two years instead of six months."
"I really ain't knock the P93 280," he concludes. "Its on an L-reg and is our oldest motor. It's done over 500,000km going strong. I intend to stick with very impressed by the 4 Series and buy a six-wheeler next year."
Reliable Vehicles of Renfrew prot more multi-wheelers than any ott dealer. Jim Kearney looks after the sales and says that he keeps up to 4 in stock depending on the time of ti finds that six-wheelers usually sell first half of the year: "We have s 1989 onwards and they turn ro quickly," he says. "The 24/26-tonne 1 more plentiful but wealso sell quite P93s with the lift axle. Most open buy used Scanias do so because t there's a lot of life left in them and still have a residual value when thi ished with them.
"The 280hp 6x4 models with t bogie are the most popular versions work," Kearney reports. "A steel froi gives a good approach and the gro ance is not bad underneath either. 'I up about 60,000 miles a year on tipi tion. A 6x4 on aJ-plate will set you t £26,000—I've just sold a 1993, on a insulated body for £32,500."
John Bingham of Western Truc specialises in Volvos but as an inc dealer he also buys and sells other trucks.
"If stone, tarmac, waste or grail transported in large quantities ther wheel tipper is going to give a betti he points out. "Six-wheelers fill a r ket for operators who have to get where access is difficult. I think t and Scania make the best six-wheell "The Scania P92/93 has a solid re he adds. "It tends to be on the heav it's reliable. The new price looks and for that reason it's the better who buy them and look after them.' rear and 60,000 from the middle axles; it looks as though we should get 85,000km front and rear and 100,000km on the middle.
"The older cab is showing a bit of rust along the top of the screen but it's a good size for our type of work," he adds. "A full-width cab is no good for our job as it would make it difficult to get onto some sites. The exhaust stack is bolted to the gearbox; we've modified the bracket to let it flex a bit so it doesn't break. The drivers like the Scanias; 280hp is about the right power for 26 tonnes, the cab is big enough and there's a tray to keep dockets together. The latest one came with electric windows and heated mirrors. It's covered by Scania's Two plus Two warranty which covers all parts and servicing apart from tyres for the first two years. It even covers the brakes—I've never known anyone to do that before. We get through two sets a year and at £100 a wheel it's quite a saving. We buy extra cover for the third and fourth years at about £650 a year but that doesn't cover the brakes."
Further down country Peter Hooper runs the family haulage and plant-hire business started by his father in 1930. He runs 10 trucks, all of them tippers.
"We've run everything else but 80% of the fleet is now six and eight-wheeler Sean ias," he says. "They're a bit on the heavy side for fourwheel operation; at the start of the eighties we were running Seddon Atkinsons and Leyland Dafs. Scania came into the area in 1982 and we tried out a demonstrator. We liked it and we have been buying Scania ever since. West Trucks at Exeter is our main dealer. Although they are 80 miles away we get daily delivery on parts and they're rarely caught out. The backup is good but we don't have to call upon it too often.
"Scanias are a little bit dearer than most,he adds, "but it's a premium truck so it will always cost a bit more than the run of the mill. I think paying a bit extra initially has paid off over the past 13 years in whole-life costs. Residual values hold up better as well but they do seem to go on for longer. We normally plan to move on after seven years but I have one that is 12 years old, but we also have four 93-280s.
"When you get this side of Exeter the roads either go up or down," Hooper adds. It's very hard terrain on tyres and fuel. On average we expect to get about 8.5inpg from the sixwheelers which is as good as we have ever bad. We keep on top of maintenance and I believe you get out what you put in. The 93 is good and strong; ideal for site work. It's a bit heavy but it gives us a 17-tonne payload with the right body—we specified Wilcox with Edbro front end tipping gear. The drivetrain is right. We did over 500,000km with the eight-litre engine before it needed a major overhaul; I expect that the 8.5-litre will do even more.
"M 280hp it's running a gear higher on most of the hills," he says. "The exhaust brake on the brake pedal helps to extend service brake life. I think the cab is too good for tipper work so I would normally go for the standard spec. But its a good size, it will go anywhere. We a had a small problem with the load sens generally available on six-wheelers and another to be specified on eight-wheelers. The 6x4 and 6x2 chassis were both listed with the DS8 7.79-litre turbo-diesel rated at 210hp; the
DS9 power unit arrived in 1985 with the P92. With a capacity increase to 8.5 litres it produced 243hp. A number of improvements were made to this unit for 1988 but power output was not affected.
The adoption of charge-cooling increased the six-cylinder engine's rating to 275hp in 1991. That was the same year that Scania launched its two-spring bogie which gave a weight saving of 346kg over the non-reactive fourspring set-up, reducing the 6x4 chassis-cab weight to 7.7 tonnes in the run-up to introduction of the 26 tonne limit at the start of 1993 All of Scania's engines, at 8.5, 11 or 11 litres. met Euro-1 and will conform to Eum-2 ahead of the October deadline when we can expect the full Series 4 range to emerge.
Leylands, Mercedes-Benzes, Seddon Atkinsons and Volvos he runs three Scania 6x4s and one Scania eight-wheeler. All four Scan ias are used on tipper work and the oldest is a D-reg P92 which has covered some 600,000km over the past nine and a half years.
"I used to buy Fords and Leylands before that," he says. "but the engines didn't last." Even though the nearest dealer is about 50 miles away he also runs two P93 280 sixwheelers, The latest is on a N-plate running at 26 tonnes with a payload of 17 tonnes—about 1.4 tonne more than its stablemate which still runs at the lower gross weight.
"I get between 7.5 and 8.0mpg on average and they all fill up on site," says Pengelly. "They do between 200 and 300 miles a day. The N-registered one was put on the road last August and has already covered over 75,000km."
Pengelly tends to keep his vehicles for a long time and then scrap them. "All of the Scanias are very reliable," he says. -We've had nothing major go wrong with the latest ones. There was a problem with the rockers on the P92 and Scania changed the engine early on under warranty. Then it went 500,0001cm before we needed to replace the cam followers. We get the odd electrical problem, like the wires to the splitter switch breaking, but the newer ones have a range-change box. The two-leaf rear suspension has been OK up to now but it's early days yet. The old sevenspring pack didn't give us any trouble for the first three years. Tyre wear looks better on the latest one. We used to get 45,000km front and