Besides capturing lightweights along my walking routes over the past months, it speaks for itself that I also paid attention to the more weighty rides, only driven by professionals. So Ho-Ho-Ho let’s get this show on the road.
Starting at the local furniture factory, an Iveco Stralis Hi-Way 4×2 tractor with a tridem axle curtainsider. The combination’s homeland is Bosnia and Herzegovina.
A similar combination from Denmark, the tractor is a MAN TGX, the truck maker’s top model.
And another one, arriving empty (see lifted semi-trailer axles) at the same location. The Schmitz curtainsider is towed by a Volvo FM.
2009 DAF CF 75 4×2 box truck. Dachser, founded in 1930, is a globally operating transport giant, based in Germany.
2012 Scania R560 V8 Topline XL 6×2 tractor. Vlastuin Truckopbouw extended the factory sleeper cab, hence XL.
The Vlastuin company & partners also work their magic on the current generation of heavy Scanias, an example is this S730 V8 6×2 tractor. Order XL for 30 cm (11.8”) extra cab length or XXL for one additional meter (39.4”).
Open door policy, a 2018 Volvo FM tractor with a steering, single axle semi-trailer. A combo like this eats tight corners for lunch.
2019 Scania P280 6×2 box truck with a steering and liftable tag axle, powered by an inline-five engine (9.3 liter displacement).
The Elcar company built the truck body, Dhollandia supplied the cantilever liftgate.
An oldie at the weekly market, a 1988 Scania 93m 4×2 truck with a day cab; a prime example of a short-distance delivery truck.
Just like this flower transporter, a 2009 MAN TGL 10.220, the lightest of the collection.
In motion, a Volvo FH truck (Globetrotter XL cab) with a full trailer, carrying swap bodies. The truck is equipped with a slider liftgate.
Things are getting truly weighty here with this 2009 Volvo FH 10×4 dump truck, rated at a GVM of 49 metric tons (108,027 lbs). It has three steering axles, obviously.
2019 Scania R520 V8 tractor with a steering and liftable pusher axle, a common heavy tractor configuration.
The two Swedes, side by side. There’s another one lurking in the background.
Brand spanking new, a tridem axle DAF CF 480 flatbed truck with a rolloader crane. Both the pusher and the tag axle are steering and liftable. The driver inspects the place before unloading.
Just a few moments later, he went upstairs to operate the crane. With a GVM-rating of 36 metric tons (79,366 lbs), this DAF chassis means business. Owner Excluton ordered 10 of them, with matching Pacton tandem axle trailers.
Ending the tour with an entirely different Excluton vehicle. The company makes a wide variety of concrete end products and has its own fleet for bringing dry cement to the plant. Here’s one of their MAN TGX tractors with an FFB Feldbinder dry bulk tanker. The PTO-driven air compressor, for unloading the semi-trailer, is mounted on the tractor’s right side, directly ahead of the drive axle.
DAF is one of my favorite semi truck brands but there are two things that bug me to this very day
1) the CF and XF cabs should have been a joint development like Mercedes Benz’s Actros lineup, or the Volvo FM and FH.
2) their cabs’ basic design are now 33 (XF) and 28 (CF) years old…. like, the last competitors with old cabs, Iveco and Volvo (FM) just replaced them now, and they are at risk of lagging behind the competition at this point
Just a little patience, SB. Loyal DAF customers are already (field)testing the next gen heavy DAFs. Most likely, also a modular model (CF and XF).
Regarding the current CF and XF: yes, the basic structures go back many years, but the interiors and exteriors have been upgraded and modernized to this day.
Thanks for sharing these photos. I love seeing the variety of trucks from across the pond.