Truck Shite

[oman5]

Nearly all Automatic now eh, Blimey. No more Eaton double-splinted halfpiece malarkey then.

That eaton twin split seperates the men from the boys. Great once you had the knack, but until then a royal pain in the bum..two stage clutch with transmission brake too

[wuvvum]

They're building a housing estate at the end of my road at the moment, and they've also just demolished some garages to build more stuff on, so it's crawling with Hinos round here.

[quicksilver]

Older Hino FYs can also be seen if you look carefully

 

 

That brings back memories. The SJT plate tells me it came from S&J Tippers, who were based a few miles from here and ran nothing but Hinos. All gone now though.

[gordonbennet]

I keep asking for a Hino, nearest thing now to a proper 80s/90s lorry, designed to be a real working vehicle not a bloody sales reps media centre destined to spend half its life being diagnosed on a bloody laptop.

 

I detest all modern european lorries, they're shit, increasingly the driver is reduced to a steering wheel operative, lowest common denominator rules.

It's almost impossible to take a pride in the job any more, at one time you had to be a competent lorry driver and a strong one at that to even get the bastard out the gate, no power steering, no air assisted clutches, constant mesh gearboxes.

Loads that needed to be handballed on or off or both, then  roped and sheeted on, an art in itself and something you were quietly marked on by your peers, so great pride was taken in doing that well as respect had to be earned.

 

Modern lorries a bloody chimp could drive, and judging by the antics i see on the road a sizeable minority do, active cruise, auto emergency braking, electric parking brakes, lane departure warning, blind spot beepers etc etc, even the idiot's sat nav...what drivers fail to realise with all this shit they think is wonderful is that its all designed to replace THEM, and sooner than they think.

 

No, i don't want to go back to the days of no power steering and handballing 21 tons of fertilizer on and off, but too many babies have been thrown out with the bathwater.

Drivers, being their own worst enemas have as usual shot themselves in the bloody foot, they wanted easy, they didn't want to touch the load just be chauffers of big bling shiny tat (Christ some of them seem to struggle opening the back doors and now they have to strap the load due to VOSA taking an interest are stamping their little feet), they wanted self driving self gearchanging superlight and they've got it, the trouble is that now any bloody fool can attend the steering wheel of a modern lorry there lots of bloody fools doing it and the job has been cheapened and deskilled as a result.

 

And whilst on a roll....what the fuck is the idea of covering the roof of a lorry in bloody spotlights, somehow before limiters we managed quite adequately at well over 80mph with two bloody headlights, why do they now need 20 million lumens to cruise at 53mph.

 

I'd like to have the pleasure of actually driving a proper lorry again to see me last 6 or 7 years out with, i want to change gears meself again, i want simple functional reliable without having to fight or trick the default electronics into allowing me to control the bloody thing.

 

Rant over.

 

Back to reality Tuesday when i'm back on shift, ZF ASchronic gearbox from hell, and there's not a single redeeeming feature of that poxy box i can think of, the only time its any bloody use is when its locked in manual mode in top gear....still it could be worse, i do have the Profi version so am able to override the auto function and make some attempt at normal progress attempting to drive it in manual, some of the fleet spec ASchronics have no manual function, oh joy.

[Split_Pin]

I was speaking with my brother in law last night who works for DAF and he said future transmissions will be controlled by GPS. The trans will 'learn' the route and calculate the most fuel efficient gear, taking note of any manual input from the driver for next time. Crazy.

[gordonbennet]

I was speaking with my brother in law last night who works for DAF and he said future transmissions will be controlled by GPS. The trans will 'learn' the route and calculate the most fuel efficient gear, taking note of any manual input from the driver for next time. Crazy.

Couple of my workmates have used a demo Merc recently, thats linked to GPS too, climbing the M1 bank Northbound between jcts 9 and 10 it was down to 35mph, empty.

 

My mate searched the menus and managed to turn the device off and ran it without using cruise after that, bloody dangerous that speed, its supposed to cut the throttle as you near the peak of a hill to allow the vehicle to overrun down the other side....if companies still recruited proper well trained lorry drivers they would be doing this anyway to save fuel but judging each and every situation on its merits not a pre programmed mapping.

 

Far too much crap to go wrong anyway,  we won't be seeing this rubbish at Gaydon 30 years hence, if we're still upright.

[willswitchengage]

It's probably worth noting that, although I empathise that it's something to get emosh about as a profession is diluted, it makes perfect sense for the fleet operator customer. The new trucks are safer and, although I don't want to get into the fuel effiency debate, more frugal. The human mind hasn't had millions of euros (not pounds, lets not kid ourselves) of R&D behind it and been programmed with fuel efficiency maps of how its engine behaves.

 

Cynically speaking it also works well from an HR perspective. Replacing manuals with automatics gives a bargaining card for the operator and, more importantly, reduces the driver's necessary skillset. Lorry driving is very close to full automation and manufacturers and customers are desparate to remove the driver completely. It's happening with trains and aircraft, DARPA is doing it with military trucks (albeit with a greater incentive due the extra hazards) and you only have to look at Google's cars to see that only legal barriers remain from getting them on the street. Although I'd love to see them try and use them in British roads that actually have "features"...

[scruff]

Hey lorry nuts!! Check this out - 80s driver-turned-journo Laurence Kiely has published a load of his stories and Long Distance Diaries as an e-book. And it's free!

 

http://www.777v666.com/

[Noel Tidybeard]

i just "bought" it

[Junkman]

Get a load of this delightful EFTA whore!

 

 

[willswitchengage]

^ MAN kept making them a la ERF. Did they get different engine options or anything?

 

[Junkman]

Steyr merely used MAN cabs from 1994 onward. Underneath, they are gleefully Steyr.

Civilian truck production ended in Austria in 2003, but they are still built in China by SinoTruk (sic),

even with the old Steyr cab.

 

[AldridgePrior]

In my line of work I get to drive allsorts.

 

Last week, I was (un)fortunate enough to jump into an old ERF. It had an eaton twin splitter held together with insulatingt tape. The seat was damp and the whole cab stunk of B.O.

 

I don,t know what fairground ride I was pulling or what 'Fair' business owned it.

'One or two more riders and away we go!' That was after plumes of blue smoke and a bit of an air leak.

[quicksilver]

I spotted one of the Steyr's English bastard cousins last week - the infamous ERF ES

G765 SND by quicksilver coaches, on Flickr

 

Even showmen don't seem to have taken to these as I've only ever seen two on the fairs.

[Grundig]

[Felly Magic]

A pair of Incontinentals seen at a rally in Essex way back in 2006!

 

 

 

[shellac]

Get some pics up Fred! 

 

I actually saw a Cargo in the wild today and it was not only a non-horsebox but a friggin 3828 tractor unit     all signwritten up, I think "Rileys of Hartswell" and hauling a flat loaded with straw bales on the A61 just outside Chesterfield. 

 

This one?

More rumbling by fryske, on Flickr

[shellac]

This needed/needs saving

Rare as.... by fryske, on Flickr

Get a load of this delightful EFTA whore!

 

 

 

[shellac]

Still in action in the Black Country

Steel working by fryske, on Flickr

[brickwall]

Those are pretty snazzy.

[scruff]

That's the one Fryske!!

[scruff]

Those Steyrs are supposed to be nice bits of kit, I think I read the drivetrain was all pretty well known stuff with a eaton twin splitter but they were very expensive?

[Split_Pin]

That EC 11 is ace!

[shellac]

That EC 11 is ace!

Certainly is

Steel working by fryske, on Flickr

[shellac]

Those Steyrs are supposed to be nice bits of kit, I think I read the drivetrain was all pretty well known stuff with a eaton twin splitter but they were very expensive?

I imagine they rusted enthusiastically too?

[shellac]

That's the one Fryske!!

IIRC he uses it for work and showing

[oman5]

Another of Leyland's fuck ups was to close AEC southall. AEC was at the cutting edge of production methods, using very advanced computer controlled production and were leagues ahead of Leyland.

Just like Scammell and Albion, once the marques had been killed off customers did not automatically buy a Leyland product as had been hoped

[dangerousdave]

I keep asking for a Hino, nearest thing now to a proper 80s/90s lorry, designed to be a real working vehicle not a bloody sales reps media centre destined to spend half its life being diagnosed on a bloody laptop.

 

I detest all modern european lorries, they're shit, increasingly the driver is reduced to a steering wheel operative, lowest common denominator rules.

It's almost impossible to take a pride in the job any more, at one time you had to be a competent lorry driver and a strong one at that to even get the bastard out the gate, no power steering, no air assisted clutches, constant mesh gearboxes.

Loads that needed to be handballed on or off or both, then  roped and sheeted on, an art in itself and something you were quietly marked on by your peers, so great pride was taken in doing that well as respect had to be earned.

 

Modern lorries a bloody chimp could drive, and judging by the antics i see on the road a sizeable minority do, active cruise, auto emergency braking, electric parking brakes, lane departure warning, blind spot beepers etc etc, even the idiot's sat nav...what drivers fail to realise with all this shit they think is wonderful is that its all designed to replace THEM, and sooner than they think.

 

No, i don't want to go back to the days of no power steering and handballing 21 tons of fertilizer on and off, but too many babies have been thrown out with the bathwater.

Drivers, being their own worst enemas have as usual shot themselves in the bloody foot, they wanted easy, they didn't want to touch the load just be chauffers of big bling shiny tat (Christ some of them seem to struggle opening the back doors and now they have to strap the load due to VOSA taking an interest are stamping their little feet), they wanted self driving self gearchanging superlight and they've got it, the trouble is that now any bloody fool can attend the steering wheel of a modern lorry there lots of bloody fools doing it and the job has been cheapened and deskilled as a result.

 

And whilst on a roll....what the fuck is the idea of covering the roof of a lorry in bloody spotlights, somehow before limiters we managed quite adequately at well over 80mph with two bloody headlights, why do they now need 20 million lumens to cruise at 53mph.

 

I'd like to have the pleasure of actually driving a proper lorry again to see me last 6 or 7 years out with, i want to change gears meself again, i want simple functional reliable without having to fight or trick the default electronics into allowing me to control the bloody thing.

 

Rant over.

 

Back to reality Tuesday when i'm back on shift, ZF ASchronic gearbox from hell, and there's not a single redeeeming feature of that poxy box i can think of, the only time its any bloody use is when its locked in manual mode in top gear....still it could be worse, i do have the Profi version so am able to override the auto function and make some attempt at normal progress attempting to drive it in manual, some of the fleet spec ASchronics have no manual function, oh joy.

as a lorry driver myself I do get a lot of what your saying but having only passed in 09 don't remember the 80,s lorries but have never driven an auto one yet I have driven a man 8-150 a couple of daf cfs and now use merc ategos quite nice trucks power steering but manual box the only experience ive had of a modern auto box is in a brand new fuso 7.5 tonner and what a bag of crap it is it changes when it feels like it and not when it should

[dangerousdave]

We've hills all around our town and what really bugs me is coming back home from a job at normal road speed (90km/h) and trying to maintain a smooth ride and average speed downhill without going over the limit. Either, I let the bugger chug all the way down on the exhaust brake (which annoys me), or I let off the throttle a bit and it then immediately decides to change up a gear, increasing the speed. I'm not one to sit on the brake if I can help it but it's the only way, quite often. 

 

Occasionally, when the thing breaks or goes in for one of its many services, we get an old International like this:

 

 

 

Or a Mitsubishi like this:

 

 

 

Or if we're really lucky, an ex-UK Dennis like this:

 

 

I bloody love these; the one we had came with stadium type lighting on top, an excellent pump, is purpose built on a proper chassis and is bloody quick, with the bonus of laying a thick layer of clag in its wake when you press on uphill. Fantastic

talking of dennis fire trucks reminds me of a story a friend told me a few years ago he used to work as a security guard at this place and there was always one ignorant pillock who would park his new merc blocking a fire exit so my mate saw him one day and told him he cant park there as its blocking a fire exit the the guy said "im not moving " my mate said "move it or dennis will" so he said whos dennis que dennis fire engine coming round the corner my mate goes "that's dennis" the guy soon shifted his car

[oman5]

 

 

 

Or if we're really lucky, an ex-UK Dennis like this:

 

 

I bloody love these; the one we had came with stadium type lighting on top, an excellent pump, is purpose built on a proper chassis and is bloody quick, with the bonus of laying a thick layer of clag in its wake when you press on uphill. Fantastic

 

 

I seem to remember these had a Perkins V8. Sounds incredible!