Just lately I have noticed payloads on 8x4 tippers of 19.5 tonnes max ,6 axle artic walking floors of 25 tonnes, then what a joke an artic with an adjustable wheel base trailer of 23 tonnes god on 6 axles .I think the daddy of them all is a ridged 4 axle tipper single steer then rear steer drag axle 16 ton…how do they make money ■■?
I i
Solved that one then it does not matter,we are on a race to see who can carry the least or better still run empty some of the trucks I see may aswell just do that
Don’t see why the single rear steer would have a lower payload. My 8x2 doesn’t. Still a 32t GVW.
You just have to keep more of the weight forwards as the rear bogie will only take 7.5t instead of 10.5t or 11.5t
My 8x4 carries 21 tonnes, and yes with regard to carrying sand and gravel etc payload is king.
A lot of its bonkers, used to carry a genuine 21 tons 40 years ago behind a standard tractor unit with a York 40ft trl, running at 32T GVW on 4 axles.
Sorry i forgot those 4 axle motors were destroying the roads apparently, 44 ton on 6 is much kinder 
, a quick examination of any road used by lorries will prove that conclusively 
, those 3 trailer axles never scrub 
, silent they are on turns fully loaded… 
In 1975 I ran a S 36 Foden with a C/F Tipper trailer at 32 Tonnes gross Payload 22 tonnes And a S21 Mickey Mouse Foden 8 wheel tipper 16 Tonne Payload, at 24 Tonne Gross.
On purely aggregate work, yes but even then I’ve seen asphalt tippers with payload cards saying 19.7 so 20t is becoming a holy grail it seems.
For us payload is only half of it, we want a jack of all trades body as we do aggregate sales, muck and haulage (not for the big firms, mind).
I can get 19.2 on mine but when a replacement comes it’s unlikely to have another Thompson Loadmaster. We had a CF Construction demo with a Loadmaster Lite that carried 19 exactly so I reckon that’ll be the future combination. I suggested to my boss that an alloy body built to muckshifting dimensions with a Quiksilver body liner might be an idea, but with Smiths getting only 700kgs more for a more expensive body he reckons it wouldn’t pay.
Plus we deliver aggregates per load, not on tonnage. The small builders/landscapers we have as customers seem to prefer it.
Would speccing a body without the spill/sheet guard (mine is huge and means you can’t see the load unsheeted through the rear window) save many kgs?
I do think that there is an environment angle to payload less payload means more journeys .In the case of the rush to walking floors for tar transport a miserly 25-26 ton is not a good return for 6 axles and all the extra parts of a walking floor.
fuse:
I do think that there is an environment angle to payload less payload means more journeys .In the case of the rush to walking floors for tar transport a miserly 25-26 ton is not a good return for 6 axles and all the extra parts of a walking floor.
Walking floors on tar is from a safety aspect I think (no hitting overhead wires etc.)
Having a superlite super flimsy body is no good if it’s constantly off the road being welded up.
Walking floors are not viable in the real world, only flying the h/s flag for the large quarry companies.
Payload was king years ago at the quarry I worked from, our TM wouldn’t let us out if we came onto the weighbridge at 30.30 tonnes (30.50 gvw) so we had to go back to the quarry for another 5cwt and then usually had to shovel some off as we would be overloaded! Still a 20 tonne payload though. However a few years later when I had a new 3000 series Foden eightlegger tipper plated at a possible 32 tonnes the gaffer had it downrated to 31 tonnes as he didn’t consider it worthwhile paying the extra licensing fee for the sake of a tonne, so obviously payload wasn’t the ‘be all and end all’ by then? 
Of course at one time some quarries paid a minimum load premium, 14 tonnes on a four wheeler, 17 on a six etc so it didn’t really matter what weight you had on but that all changed!
Pete.
windrush:
However a few years later when I had a new 3000 series Foden eightlegger tipper plated at a possible 32 tonnes the gaffer had it downrated to 31 tonnes as he didn’t consider it worthwhile paying the extra licensing fee for the sake of a tonne,Pete.
That explains why when Dad had Smiths first 3000 on an L reg and Curtis of Abingdon had two at the same time. Dads was plated to 32 (steel bodied, still got a good 20.200 on easy) but Curtis’ had alloys and could get over 19 but were plated to 31.
Tuckwells had an E reg FL7 with an alloy body that carried 20 at 30.5t. It proves there’s too much junk fitted to trucks these days. Maybe Paccar scored an own goal by not keeping and developing the fibreglass cab?
Come to think of it, if MAN had modernised the ERF cab then their 35.400 chassis would get a decent payload?
I do not think there is a safety problem with artic tippers or ridged ones.I am sorry to say the fault in the main lays with the wrong equipment or the driver ,the safe angle for the use of walking floors is bull…they are nothing but a folly to sit along side FORS, AND THE DRIVER CPC .
Nice one fuse you have got it spot on
Billy Big Balls subbie near us has just put a new 8w Scania R 500 (I think) with sleeper cab, loads of tat and the typical “Super” badge, Thompson Loadmaster…grand payload of 18t. According to weighbridge man today, he was still crying about rates, tip charges etc
It seems that around here, the most vocal subbies have all the flash but complain about cash (to anyone who’ll listen).
my god a Leyland Reiver 1 7.30 tonnes on 3 Axles can you imagine the extra profit .If Scania man turned over £75000 in his old truck and it had a payload of 20 tonnes, then he did rough the same in his Scania with 18 ton payload then he would be £7000 per year worse off ■■?
fuse:
my god a Leyland Reiver 1 7.30 tonnes on 3 Axles can you imagine the extra profit .If Scania man turned over £75000 in his old truck and it had a payload of 20 tonnes, then he did rough the same in his Scania with 18 ton payload then he would be £7000 per year worse off ■■?
A lot of the subbies with muck bodies do work on day rates or by the load but if payloads keep coming down how long before these rates are affected by customers unwilling to pay the same for less material?
One argument for steels that I was told is that “yes, an alloy will carry 20odd ton, but that truck will come back empty whereas the steel one will take out 19t but bring back 19t of muck or rubble.”
Y es that is right muckaway ,with steel you can do anything so it off sets the tare wt. Aluminum will not last long on muck shift work so it is horses for courses
Looking at the weight plates on Smiths newest tippers.
MAN 35-400 with Charlton Superlite 18.8t
Volvo FMX with Charlton Superlite; 19t payload.
FMX with lined alloy Wilcox; 19.7
Daf CF Construction lined alloy Wilcox 19.7
Lawrence Dunbar:
In 1975 I ran a S 36 Foden with a C/F Tipper trailer at 32 Tonnes gross Payload 22 tonnes And a S21 Mickey Mouse Foden 8 wheel tipper 16 Tonne Payload, at 24 Tonne Gross.
Hi Lawrence, by 1975 4 axle rigids were up to 30490 gross weren’t they, or was your 2nd steer not braked ? Or at least that’s what I thought was the spec.
I started in '78 and I’m sure they were by then.
Please enlighten,
Jim