Tip-top trucks

New materials and technology are beginning to reach the region's tipper trucks.

Tipper truck bodies have remained virtually the same the whole world over since the first serious examples were developed for use on the Hoover Dam back in the 1920s. Now, though new materials and specifications are being introduced to cope with the weight, punishment and abrasion hauling rocks, sand and gravel can inflict. Both roadgoing and non-road trucks suffer from the same problems - wear, damage and carry back. All of which add up to a loss of productivity and profit.

A firm building truck bodies in Dubai has received an order specifying a modern and extremely hard material as the main component.

Jebel Ali-based Gorica is building the trailers for a client who found that regular steel bodies wore out too quickly when tipping gravel over three shifts per day.

The material is known as ‘Hardox', and it may be most familiar to PMV readers as one of the special hardened metal used in bucket tips and the like.

However, now it is being used to make complete bodies in what is thought to be a first for the country. Gorica's Paul Austin Price said; "There's no other tipper manufacturer in the UAE who is using Hardox at the moment." In KSA the material is distributed by Shahab and Sons Co.

"As soon as they are finished, they are gone., they are not for use in Dubai as they are too small. Here's an indication of what they use it for - Sand and building materials are very abrasive - even digger buckets can wear out."

Hardox

At SSAB, the steelmill where Hardox is made, another experimental dump truck body has been developed. SSAB's prototype body for an articulated dump truck is made of Hardox 450. The U-shaped free hanging dumper body design weighs just half as much as a traditional body. The new design takes maximum advantage of the properties of the steel for a more wear-resistant and impact resistant product.

"For end customers the design offers an increased load capacity and lower weight when empty, lower fuel consumption, and fewer and shorter maintenance breaks. The new design also offers advantages to manufacturers, such as shorter production time and simpler, less expensive production process," says Per-Olof Stark, Vice President Marketing, Sales and Product Development SSAB Plate.

SSAB's prototype has been tested since 2008 in a road construction project on the E18 highway outside Enköping, Sweden. The dumper body has been in operation for a total of 820 hours and transported over 86,000 tons of rock.

"The trial results show that load capacity increased by about 9 percent, providing increased revenue for the contractor. The reduced weight also results in less wear on the engine and drive trains," says Hans Konradsson, Manager of Market Projects at SSAB Plate.

"During the spring we visited some of the major manufacturers of dumpers and presented our new design concept. We received many favorable reactions," says Per-Olof Stark, Vice President Marketing, Sales and Product Development SSAB Plate.

Making bodies that tip out of harder material is one way of holding back wear, but Caterpillar has come up with an entirely different concept: Simply make the ejector system differently, so that the load is pushed out, rather than lifting the back. Of course these are for non-road trucks, but the firm is now offering some ADTs as a chassis-only option, leaving the customer free to chose any type of body required.

Ejector

The new body can be found on the 730 Ejector articulated truck, which incorporates the self-cleaning ejector mechanism that allows material to be spread and dumped on the move without lifting the body. Because the body is not raised, the ejector truck can work efficiently on sites. As such, the truck can work on sites where stability issues or overhead obstacles limit the the use of conventional dump trucks. The ejector body also offers clean load ejection to eliminate production-robbing carry-back, where material is not fully ejected from the truck.

The load ejection concept delivers many benefits. Material can be spread while the truck is moving to cut cycle time, decrease power train loads and reduce the amount of support equipment needed for spreading and dozing.

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