A delightful presentation, rolled into a former military hangar in the east of the Netherlands. Scania’s legendary, first V8 turbodiesel engine and Mack’s first military 6×6 truck. An artillery tractor, more precisely.
We’re starting at the front though, where the latest eight-cylinder of the Swedes hammers joyfully as soon as it runs.
A 2021 Scania R650 V8 6×2 tractor, facing the bright, late September sun. Silver with a black striping, always a perfect color combination.
The tractor follows the traditional 6×2 recipe, which means there’s a liftable tag axle (obviously the rearmost axle) with dual wheels.
No matter how you configure a duo of rear axles, they’re always rated at 19 tonnes (41,888 lbs) total axle weight. One drive axle, two drive axles, pusher or tag axle, single or dual wheels, steering or non-steering, liftable or earthbound: the sum of the two axle weight ratings is always 19 tonnes.
Right then, this engine was the starting point for Scania’s premium, King of the Road image, still standing to this day. The 14.2 liter V8 turbodiesel with individual heads, introduced in the 1969 140-series of cabovers, initially with a maximum power output of 350 hp. Preferred by those who had to climb mountains.
The displacement of the truck maker’s current V8 is 16.4 liter and it’s good for 770 hp in top form. A unique selling point, as no other manufacturer offers a V8 nowadays. Especially small hauling companies and owner-operators love them.
But guess what, for the time being, it’s not our biggest and most powerful truck diesel anymore. Just recently, Volvo unveiled a 780 hp, 17.3 liter (!) inline-six. And the battle of the Vikings goes on (while all others can only watch).
This old soldier was also taken on the leisure weekend trip. During the Second World War, Mack built the NM-series of 6×6 military chassis.
Old Macks, you can’t get enough of them, military or civil. You just know they always mean business.
‘Prime mover’, as in artillery tractor. These Macks were powered by the inline-six, 707 cu.in. (11.6 liter) EY gasoline engine, an in-house power unit. The five-speed transmission was also a Mack product, whereas Timken-Detroit supplied the transfer case.
On a related note, once upon a time, Mack and Scania were partners in co-developing diesel engines and diesel engine technology. For quite some time, actually, the V8 included. Some in-depth information can be found on BigMackTrucks.com.
Both the Scania V8 and the Mack are resting on a 2020 Kässbohrer semi-low loader with four axles. The Kässbohrer name may sound familiar, especially if you’re also interested in buses and coaches.
Given the registered axle weight ratings, the maximum gross combination weight of the tractor plus semi-trailer is 67 tonnes (147,710 lbs). Well, in that case, the tractor’s 650 hp certainly isn’t ‘overkill’. Not even in the flat lands. Keeping up with the rest of the traffic and all that.
Meet owner Dijkstra and see for yourself what a smooth and effortless operation it is to keep that beast under control. Note the manual transmission, a rarity these days in top segment trucks and tractors, as automated manual transmissions have become the norm.
I love watching those Dutch Scania V8 truck shows in YT. What a sound!
Many may say it’s noise. I’m not one of them.
Sure wish Volvo would bring some over 500 HP diesel engines to the USA market for heavy haul applications.
EPA certification is probably prohibitive here, though.
Wonder how they do it in Europe?
500hp is kinda small these days and a 500hp Scania is a gutless piece of shit @ 60tonnes, grossly underpowered on hills, Scania automated trans missions are a herky jerky affair with too few gears and the manual versions are awfull, I spent weeks in a 500hp manual Scania the ride was ok but it was a very basic truck, The 700+ Scanias and Volvos are not 700+ all the time empty the derate to less than half max HP & torque but Volvos have a great transmission better than ANY other automatic
Odd, as Volvo’s 13 liter engine (also used by Mack and Renault) is available up to 397 kW/540 DIN-hp here (I just checked their website).
Euro 6 is the current emission standard here for diesels. I don’t know how that translates to EPA.
Thanks for the link. I’ve been wanting to do a post on the Mack V8 for years, but just haven’t gotten around to it (enjoying my retirement too much).
That trailer is called a QUAD, ours have a steering rear axle that has a locker to keep it straight for reversing which isnt great when the pin wont drop in when reverse is selected, not mentioned is the ride height of this rig the moment the key is turned Scanias rise to ride height, and there is a remote adjustment next to the drivers seat
As you know by now, using as much steering axles as possible is a national sports here.
I like the old iron. KiwiBryce apparently is an expert on the new trucks. Information is absorbed and appreciated. Thanks to Johannes and Kiwi.
Great post. I didn’t know Volvo brought out a monster 780 hp/17.3 liter. And nice to see Kassbohrer is still making products.
Thanks Jim. These days, Kässbohrer is a major and renowned semi-trailer manufacturer.
https://www.kaessbohrer.com/en
Surely the Mack can’t weigh 47 & 1/8 ton? (And for that matter, if it is, why even worry by the 1/8th by that stage, call it 49 and live a little!). Or do I misunderstand the term “shipping tonnage”?
Military trucks were not shipped empty. It was probably full of artillery shells and gear for the gun crew.
That does sound wrong, unless it is shipped fully-laden with gold or something.
Mind you, the ‘Lenght’ makes me doubt the accuracy!
Interesting photos, mind.
See Midsommar’s comment below.
285” = 7.24 meters. That sounds about right for a conventional 6×6 tractor, because that’s what the Mack essentially is (after all, there’s not much going on behind the short cab).
For comparison purposes, the registered overall length of the Scania 6×2 tractor is 6.82 meters.
I’ve got a feeling all those numbers are highly accurate.
Highly unlikely even this beast weighs in over 95,000 lbs even fully loaded. It’s possible that’s the rating for Military usage including a towed vehicle or trailer though. Most USA states have a standard axle limit around 20K lbs with a 3 axle total at 54K +/-… Of course the Military often has heavier duty equipment.
A shipping ton (also: freight ton) is a measure of volume used for shipments of freight in trucks, trains or ships. It is n o t a measure of weight.
Ha, well that ends all the confusion about just one, minor number! Thank you, I’m glad at least someone took the trouble to look it up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipping_ton
This is obviously a road going tractor with one drive axle and those side locker lights only centimeters off the road. I would expect a dedicated construction equipment hauler to be 6×4 with more ground clearance.
FWIW the US made Volvo VNX heavy comes with either a 500hp Volvo or 600hp Cummins as power options
I’ll get back to that soon enough in an upcoming article, but the norm in Europe is one drive axle for combination vehicles. This also applies to our 50 tonnes brick haulers and concrete mixer semis, both are obviously also directly involved in construction.
See here, none of them has two drive axles, all of them are as low as Dijkstra’s tractor:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-global-heavy-brick-haulers-photoreport-the-river-delta-is-their-home-base/
Speaking for NL, serious construction sites first get a temporary road of steel plates before anything else happens. The soil would be way too soft anyway, no matter 6×2 or 6×4. As mentioned, in both cases the legal maximum axle weight for the tandem is 19 tonnes.