Hi everyone,
looking for advice on what tractor units are the best. I have been told that Mercedes are to expensive to maintain, a number of people have said DAF, Scania or Volvo are the best choices. What trucks would you advise to use? (The one that stays away from the garage)
Thanks.
some of it depends on what sort of work you are going to be doing with them
Denis F:
some of it depends on what sort of work you are going to be doing with them
Another big factor is how much you want to spend.
We’ve got three Foden Alpha 2’s on bulk tippers, an 02, a 52, an 03 & an 05 with both ■■■■■■■ 420’s and Cat’ 450 engines which on our work average low 6’s one regularly does high 5’s!!! We also run an 05 Stralis on this work which rarely drops below 7.5 & a Scania 124 470 that is also always in the 7’s. Needless to say the Fodens are going as we can’t keep up with this kind of consumption and as we have three Stralis tractors out on contract hire to a local company, we’ll be replacing the ‘Fodasaurus’s’ with Iveco’s soon. Not most peoples choice but with the whole life cost on the Iveco’s we own, they make really good sense, we have 2x 05’s and 1x 55 reg all 430 auto’s which in our experience are really good, especially given that you can buy 2 for the price of the equivalent Scania!!!
We look after a fleet of Scania 124 420’s & 470’s and R420’s which, while reliable, are vry expensive on parts, We also have a Daf XF out on hire (53 plate) which is costing a fortune lately on air valves & rear hubs. (£900 a side by the time you fit new disc’s!!!)
Ross.
Thanks for the advice. I have been told a numerous amounts of times that Scania’s and Volvo’s are the best. But Scania’s seem to be so expensive to buy, I’ve seen R420’s for around £45k easy. I dont understand how Iveco’s are so cheap in comparison to the two mentioned above?
in our area scania are the most expensive new and s/hand volvo and merc are about on a par on the s/hand market but the merc will be cheaper to buy new so over the lifetime of the vehicle this would make the merc a good bet as a tractor unit but 8 wheelers are less common, not 100% sure on daf prices as there not 1st choice for operators in our area (derbyshire) from the ones i do know report good fuel returns but parts are required to often. renault are popular now with the proven volvo driveline and are common on bulk tipper work and they are much less to buy than a volvo
the later mans tend to be the same as the daf’s, the iveco will be cheapest to buy s/hand you would get 3 ivecos for the price of 2 scanias !!
like most things in life you get what you pay for so demand for each make is linked to the purchase price end of !! in this respect you pay your money and take your choice
dafs do seam to seamto suffer alot with hubs rears leak and you carnt just change the hub seal they r a sealed hub = new hub and fronts with wheel bearings and the first dafs to have adblue have probs with the adblue injectors and sensors .but im sure each make has there own probs .the 500bhp actroa i had i used to strugle to get 10mpg out of it i now have a 500bhp stralis euro 5 thing and do over 12 mpg every week but our work isnt heavy
You get what you pay for. Get a Volvo - Bulletproof.
CRAIG-D:
dafs do seam to seamto suffer alot with hubs rears leak and you carnt just change the hub seal they r a sealed hub = new hub and fronts with wheel bearingsBut you can
and its so easy as well, most think the above that it cant be done not even a hyd press is needed either
do tell then globbyas we have a foden alpha too = daf running gear
wyatt_erp:
You get what you pay for. Get a Volvo - Bulletproof.
They are probably more reliable on average than some other stuff but there’s no such thing as “bulletproof”. A chap I know replaced his 54 plate FH with a 06 plate one as he fancied something a little newer and in the first 12 months the 06 one needed a gearbox and a diff as well as a few other minor things. It nearly put him out of business.
Paul
I’ve been advised by someone to go for volvo because I want automatic truck and apperently no truck can beat the i-shift gearbox? The above post does make it worrying that a truck nearly put someone out of business…how can you avoid buying bad trucks?
AS1:
how can you avoid buying bad trucks?
You can’t, there’s no guarantee. Even a new truck with a warranty can put you out of business if it’s a bad one as the warranty might cover repairs but it doesn’t cover lost earnings whilst it’s being repaired…
Obviously you can reduce the risk though. Try and find out about the history of a vehicle, how well it has been maintained, what kind of work it has been on (heavy work will obviously wear a truck out faster). If possible take a competent mechanic to look at it before you buy to try and spot any obvious problems or evidence of poor repairs. If a truck has cheapo remould tyres on it that might also point towards cost cutting by the previous owner, for example.
But at the end of the day a truck is a complex beast, there are many things that can go wrong and whatever you buy there is a large degree of risk. If you’re not wanting to take that risk you’re in the wrong game…
Paul
Thanks for the advice paul, I shall definetly take a greater look into the history file of the vehicle. Are vehicles which are sold through dealerships, reliable?
AS1:
I’ve been advised by someone to go for volvo because I want automatic truck and apperently no truck can beat the i-shift gearbox? The above post does make it worrying that a truck nearly put someone out of business…how can you avoid buying bad trucks?
Buy a Renault Magnum. It’s a cheaper Volvo. (Volvo engine and i-shift gearbox). Not everybody’s cup of tea. But you get a lot of truck for your money. Why don’t you go and test a few, and see how you feel about it. 
CRAIG-D:
do tell then globbyas we have a foden alpha too = daf running gear
Anybody suffering with the DAF hub problem should look up Stud-Extract in Manchester. They did both rear hubs, brake discs and seals for me, weren’t expensive and the service was second to none.
Just found the number for anyone who wants it, 0161 370 3344
