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Used 6x4 will be snapped up, given Alpha chance...
Page 72
Page 73
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This week CM Takes Stock at a Foden and Isuzu dealer in Carlisle to check out a 6x4 tractor that has been well maintained throughout its life.
These days industry experts lament manufacturers pandering to 'big engine/ big cab' demands to prop up future residuals. So it is refreshing to see a truck built for the job it is meant to do. A 6x4 tractor caters for specialist markets and is generally designed to meet its challenge on equal terms — approximately 10hp/tonne, a single bunk for the driver and decent transmission for its likely terrain.
Although the double-drive is a strong market for Foden, it is anticipating fleet-spec tractors to return soon, after a recent change of tack with its sales force, but there is still plenty of demand for its strong two-axle driven products. A prime example sits on the forecourt: it's a 6x4 Alpha 3000 with a sleeper cab registered in December 1999 and with 358,000km on the clock, which equates to less than 120,000km a year.
In its first life, based in Hexham, Northumberland, it moved timber and was owned outright by R&H Scott. It is specced with a fixed Big D fifth wheel, metal plates over the chassis at the rear to stop anything getting tangled, and has two capped pipes behind the fifth wheel for trailer mounted cranes.
It is plated to 44 tonnes. while under the driver's feet is a Euro-2 Cummins M11 405hp engine linked to an Eaton 16-speed rangechange splitter gearbox. Since it has come back to Cumbria Truck Centre the vehicle has been out on hire for more titnberwork and even travelled as far as Kent for waste management duty with an ejector trailer. However, sales representative Robbie Williamson felt this was too far away to hire it out and still keep an eye on the vehicle, so V346 DI1H winged its way back to the Carlisle forecourt.
Condition
It has been on the road four years, and its appearance reflects that.The paint job is still in good nick and the metal plate over the back end of the chassis does not have any dents.The rear wheelarches are clean and the steps are in their original position.All this suggests that V346 DHH has been used and maintained properly. Inside the callthe single bunk compartment is remarkably clean and odour freexonsidering it has worked logs and waste haulage — after all, the latter normally means some harsh environments. There is a cigarette burn in the driver's seat and two sets of holes from aftermarket phone mountings on the dash but otherwise it is clean.
We drove round north Carlisle and the immediate response was how well the driveline has aged.There was a little resistance going into the top and bottom left (1/5 and 2/6) positions on the gearstick, and although cold timing when empty and driver error were all at the root of the problem, there was also evidence of linkage or synchromesh damage.
Either way Foden assured us it will be sorted.
At £24,000 (ex-VAT) including a three-month driveline warranty, the dealer's value is more than CAP's recommended book price, which suggests £19,750 (ex-VAT). Supply and demand for purpose-built tractors is such, however, that there is inevitably an operator who will pay the asking price.
Bottom line
Demand for double-drive tractors seems to be coming from areas where they are not generally sold new. CumbriaTruck Centre has already sold some into London and V346 DHH, having worked timber in core 6x4 country, as well as hiking south to be hired out to a refuse and waste company, confirms this trend.
The low mileage is down to the sort of local, repetitive distances which 6x4 tractors travel. It's clean throughout, and although the gearbox didn't behave as it should,V346 DHH will find a new owner sooner rather than later. •