Special and heavy transport, one might say the final boss of road transport, a job done by specialists. In this final part of the 2017 WSI Truck Show tour we walk along some of the heaviest and most powerful on-road vehicles.
Parked at the entrance was this 2014 Scania R520 with a 2001 Broshuis low bed semi-trailer, the load is a Caterpillar 329FL. The semi-trailer’s legal maximum payload capacity is 40,920 kg (90,213 lbs).
The renowned and globally operating Mammoet (Mammoth) company owns this new Volvo FH tractor with a Palfinger crane. The second and third axle are the tractor’s drive axles. The front axle is legally rated at a maximum axle load of 10,000 kg (22,046 lbs).
1989 FTF 8×4 tractor with a 460 hp two-stroke Detroit Diesel 8V92TA engine, a ZF transmission and Steyr drive axles. FTF rated the total axle load at 46,000 kg: 10 metric tons per steering axle and 26 metric tons for the Steyr tandem. The tractor also has a lowered cab.
Old heavy haulage glory, from the days that the big truck manufacturers didn’t offer extra heavy and powerful special products yet.
2010 Volvo FH 8×4 with a 700 hp 16.1 liter inline-6 engine, towing a Broshuis low bed semi-trailer with six axles, four of them are steering axles.
Another Broshuis, and a brand new Scania S730 6×2 tractor. Today’s load: an Aixam GTO, that’s right, and a Merlo Roto telehandler.
Right, this is it. The world’s most powerful factory on-highway tractor these days: the 750 hp Volvo FH16. The Brouwer company shows their 2016 heavy haulage tractor.
Registered as a 2000 Scania T144 with a 460 hp V8 engine, this magnificent conventional Scania 4-series tow truck. On the grille it says 164 and 480, probably it got a 16 liter 480 hp V8 at some point. The Scania 16 liter V8 was introduced in 2000, available with 480 or 580 hp.
2016 Volvo FH16, another Swedish 750 hp beast. Koninklijke (Royal) Nooteboom Trailers, a Dutch company dating back to 1881, built the 2011 low bed semi-trailer.
Legal maximum axle loads in kg from front to rear: 10,000 – 8,000 – 9,500 – 9,500. Factory ratings: 10,000 – 9,000 – 13,000 – 13,000.
2014 Scania R490 8×2 container carrier with a Palfinger crane.
2015 Mercedes-Benz Actros 6×4 tractor, 580 hp from its 15.6 liter inline-6 engine.
The Benz tows a Nooteboom low bed semi-trailer with a 66,800 kg (147,269 lbs) legal maximum payload capacity and, naturally, it has multiple steering axles.
1996 Scania T143E heavy haulage tractor. The letter E means that it has the Extra Heavy-Duty chassis.
Some footage of the Scania tractor at work, in the colors of its previous owner, plus a Big Red Cat.
And a longer video, filmed from inside the cab. Enjoy the only distinctive big truck diesel sound left, after the death of the air cooled behemoths and the two-stroke Detroit Devils.
From Belgium, a Scania R500 low bed truck for hauling all kinds of machinery. On the trailer a Volvo FH for the Truck Pulling competition.
A low bed needs low profile tires. I don’t think The Roadleader is overloaded.
A short video, featuring the Geuens Scania. Note that the old school steering wheel is adjusted to an almost vertical position, many drivers like it that way.
The most powerful engine in a DAF these days is the 510 hp version of the DAF/PACCAR MX-13. It’s available in the mid-size CF and the top model XF, yet not enough for the endgame of trucking. Pictured above a 2015 DAF XF 510.
The most impressive rig at the show, without any doubt, was this 750 hp 2016 Volvo FH16 tractor with a Nooteboom Mega Windmill Transporter. And with this monster the show -and tour- comes to an end.
I kinda wish these big COE’s were available in North America, like what Scania did in the ’90’s, and what Hyundai/Western Star will be doing in Canada… One can’t get enough snub-nose big rigs can’t they?
Your comment made me curious, so I did a bit of searching. Do you mean Hyundai and Western Star as separate brands or some sort of cooperation between the two brands ?
I did find a modern, top segment Hyundai COE (the Xcient), but on the Western Star site I see only conventionals.
Western Star is a Daimler Trucks company, which happens to be the world’s largest big truck manufacturer. They have Class 8 COE models readily available if needed, like the Freightliner Argosy and the Mercedes-Benz Actros.
They are nice to drive those Scania and Volvo cabovers with the windows up almost silent inside, smooth riding and very comfortable.
What I like about the big truck landscape in NZ, and also Australia, is the mixture of Asian, American and European brands.
Not so much here. Scania, Volvo, DAF, Mercedes-Benz, MAN, Iveco and Renault. That’s it. And note that nowadays a Renault is merely a Volvo with a funny French face.
A “Japanese truck invasion” never, ever happened, not even by a long shot. By the early eighties their trucks were at least a full decade behind the domestics. Simply because the evolution of the big Euro trucks went so mighty fast in the seventies and early eighties. Compare a 1975 Volvo F89 with a 1980 Volvo F12 Globetrotter and you’ll see what I mean.
To this day that situation hasn’t changed a bit.
There was never a “Japanese truck invasion” in Canada either if you mean big rigs. Smaller cabovers or bonneted versions of them are very popular as box trucks or flatbeds but other than that they are nonexistant, and American trucks reign supreme. We no longer even have any Canadian trucks of our own, they were all absorbed by Paccar etc or shut down due to being unprofitable in the 1970’s and ’80s.
Simply said, Japanese (or Korean) brands are nonexistant in all segments. Light trucks like the Fuso Canter and Isuzu N-series are being offered, but they only sell a handful of them on a yearly base.
If you want a light box truck or flatbed here you buy -or lease- something like the Benz Atego below or one of its Euro-competitors.
Having so little variety must get a little dull, but at the same time it’s cool that Europe was able to keep so many of its truck makes. Too far for America (besides DAF), too sophisticated for Japan?
Well, don’t forget that especially Daimler (Mercedes) and Volvo (the Swedish truck manufacturer, not the Chinese owned car division) are huge, globally operating companies.
Volvo is very well represented in North America, they also own Mack. And Daimler Trucks owns Freightliner, Western Star, Detroit Diesel and Mitsubishi Fuso. I assume the latter does quite well in Japan…
I noticed you don,’t see many lowboy with removable goosenecks in European truck pics. Thou the FTF seems to have one. Seems every construction company around here has one. Kind of cool to see in operation.
I have really enjoyed this, Johannes. Thanks.
This seems like a good time to plug Iwona Blechasczyk’s YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/TruckinGirlIwona
She currently transports 60-meter wind turbine blades but has been hauling stuff around Europe for several years. Her narration is in Polish so you will need to click the CC box for English subtitles.
Oops, I spelled Iwona’s name wrong – it is Blecharczyk.
Great, tough-looking trucks. That big tow truck looks like it could hook up and pull anything.