An end dump semi-trailer with three axles, towed by a 4×2 tractor. On the European continent, that’s the classic configuration for the over-the-road transportation of all types of grains, granules and meals. Hauling company Van der Heijden doesn’t go against the grain with their orderly Mercedes-Benz and Stas combo.
Tidy and straightforward, this 2021 Mercedes-Benz Actros 2142 tractor. There’s not one superfluous item on the whole vehicle. For example, note the total absense of aftermarket, auxiliary lighting.
The Actros is powered by a second generation OM 471 engine, a 12.8 liter inline-six. The maximum power output of the current series ranges from 421 to 530 hp. The Detroit DD13 is the American version of this power unit.
The number 2142 on the tractor’s doors tells us that the owner opted for a chassis legally rated at 20.5 metric tons GVW, rounded to 21, and a 420 hp engine. One horse got away.
The semi-trailer was made by Stas (or STAS) from Belgium, a renowned name in this line of business. The S300CX Agrostar is only 11.50 m (37’9”) long. Solidly built though, given its payload capacity of 32,440 kg (71,518 lbs).
As long as it doesn’t go international, I must add. For instance, if the fully loaded semi wants to visit our eastern neighbors, like Dr. August Oetker, it has to lose 6,400 kg at the Dutch-German border (or simply put: 46,400 kg GCVW in the Netherlands vs 40,000 kg gross weight limit in Germany).
In Dutch, this is often referred to as a Franse klep, a French tailgate. The top hinged tailgate is basically a pivoting frame with cargo doors and -in this case- two grain hatches.
Our importer of the Stas semi-trailers posted the same combination on their FB-site. Evidently, both the first and third axle of the tridem are liftable (courtesy of Van der Peet).
A short Stas video, showing an Agrostar at work. It’s long enough to give you a good impression of both the loading and the unloading process. Enjoy your meal!
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There are a few different grades of Actros it seems top of the new versions have the camera mirrors and the lower spec have external mirrors,
Huge extra light arrays are next to useless on highway trucks as you can use them in traffic so why fit them at all, its not like the regular headlights are useless they are very good at least on the previous model I drove recently they were,
Interest triaxle on that trailer lift both axles when empty for less tyre wear and ease of reversing less drag too for better fuel consumption, yeah nice rig.
Yes, the Actros-series ranges from an 18 tons delivery truck to a 250 tons heavy-haulage tractor. Day cab, sleeper cab, narrow, wide, tall, taller, extra tall (GigaSpace cab). The whole shebang in on-highway trucking.
Sometimes that one horse is all you need to slide under the regs. Here in Oregon, you see trucks with posted 29,995 GVW. Why? because you don’t need a commercial drivers license to drive one. Add that extra 5lbs, and you do.
It does have 421 hp alright (as in 310 kW, also according to its registration), but the number 42 implies 420 hp. So there’s that.
From 3,500 to 7,500 kg GVW, you’ll need a C1 commercial drivers license here. For a heavy truck (more than 7,500 kg GVW) it’s a C license.
But that’s not all. For towing a trailer or semi-trailer you need the letter E license too. So C1E and CE, respectively.
Extra training is required for professional drivers, called Code 95 (valid for 5 years).
In short: the driver of the article’s Benz & Stas couple needs drivers license CE plus Code 95.
Driving a “full-size” motorhome? You’ll need license C1, without Code 95. A car drivers license is not enough.
The engine fans are really massive with the onset of the tougher emission standards. That’s going to soak up some serious horsepower to spin that thing when it is engaged.
The other item I noticed is the telescopic hoist used. We had used a few of these on our plow trucks. Much lighter than the scissors hoist we used. Some stability issues. Plow trucks with tailgate salt spreaders are often running down the road with the dump box in the air which causes stability issues and additional stress on the hoists. Yes, the dump box has been known to hit the occasional bridge which can cause some pretty extraordinary damage.
The fan looks like something off an air-cooled engine, or perhaps a big factory aircon system! It’s massive.
I wonder why an electric thermo fan (or fans) isn’t used? With modern variable speed controllers, you’d think they would be more efficient. The viscous clutch seems old-fashioned.
Lots of things to consider for fan drives. I’ll give my experiences.
We have a fan drive manufacturer based very close to the shop I ran.
Our aerial bucket trucks obviously need to be left running when the truck is in use. If it was hot the fan would cycle on and off quite often especially if the A/C was on. The solution was to add some magnets on the fan hub, there was enough drag with the magnets to cause fan rotation with enough airflow that the fan would rarely engage for full blast air flow.
However we found a downside for this type of fan drives on our plow trucks, The air movement was too much at idle and would make it difficult to maintain temperature, winter fronts were back to keep the temp up.
The emission requirement side affects were the radiators nearly doubled in size, cooled EGR was one of the main causes, exhaust dumped back into the combustion chamber to reduce combustion temp which lower NOX output.
Viscous fan drives were not very popular as there was not external controls, slow reacting and had a poor reliability reputation.
Electric fans simply cannot move the amount of air that is needed.
One hope that was coming is a externally controlled viscous fan. It seemed to have the advantages of the viscous fan with the air fans external control.
The A/C system takes a real beating if you don’t have good control of your fan, poor airflow thru the condenser means excessive head pressure and a compressor failure in short order. A compressor that has ground itself to death is a real mess to fix, metal debris circulated thru the entire system.
A self contained A/C unit on the roof like the old days except using an elec driven compressor would be nice.
A/C systems on big trucks are notoriously unreliable. As soon as the weather turned warm the A/C work started to roll in until the temps dropped off again in the fall.
I’m confuzzed. What was the problem with the on/off fan cycling? Isn’t that what they’re supposed to do? What problem did the magnets solve; how did they add drag, and how did that drag change the fan behaviour?
I do agree today’s truck/HDV fans are much noisier than many of those from the past. Obnoxiously so; I see they’ve put a ring on the fan in the engine pictured in this post, to reduce blade tip turbulence and its noise. Yay! I wish they’d go further and do this for more airflow with less drag and less noise.
The summer temps are high enough that the A/C is on all the time so the crew doesn’t have to crawl into a cab that’s 130 degrees. Some units use a switch in the high pressure side of the A/C system to signal the ECM to turn on the fan. The head pressure drops, the fan shuts off, the head pressure rises and the fan turns back on, 30-60 seconds, fan on, fan off, the fans pull a fair amount of power, belts chirp, fan clutch disc wears away. Not to mention sometimes when the fan pops on it scares the crap out of unsuspecting people. 2-3 years and the fan hubs are junk. The clutch slips a bit on engagement heating up the hub bearings and cooking the grease.
With the rare earth magnets attached to the fan hub, the spinning drive hub would “drag” along the fan hub, the fan would turn fast enough to pull enough air thru the radiator & condenser to keep the A/C head pressure down and minimize full fan engagement.
These fans on the newer trucks move a lot of air and it is a bit tricky to get it allow working right. There can be a lot of movement going on under the cab or hood. Some trucks were mounting the radiator module off the front of the engine to minimize fan to shroud clearances.
IIRC the larger fans are pulling around 75 hp when pulling max engine RPM.
75 hp! Lordy, I can see what size an electric motor would have to be to work.
Thanks for your answer, btw. From other stuff you’ve said over time, you clearly have heaps of hard-won and interesting knowledge in the big machine field.