Despite Top Gear’s biased and dodgy claims, Hi-Luxes are not indestructible and rust at a horrifyingly rapid rate.
all early toyotas did , my 73 corolla and 74 celica were horrifying for rust, my 86 corolla gt was better but the body kit hid most of the rust , my 91 corolla gti was just the front wings , after that 96 + 2002 + 2005 RAV’s not a spot of rust , and my 2009 IQ hasn’t any and is nearly on 170000 miles (mostly A14 + M6) and only needed 1 battery .
Drove a Hino for a year or so-700 series I think it was called
Without a doubt the worst lorry I have ever driven.absolutely terrible.
I would change jobs if asked to drive one again.
I would rather drive a TK.the Bedford would be more comfortable.
My mate wrote the hino off-we were both pleased lol
when i worked out of Mountsorrel quarry in the 90’s there was an owner driver,Mick Gibbins who ran a Hino 8 legger on general quarry work.he had it for a few years,so must have been half-decent.
So, Japanese trucks eh?
As the former owner and founder of the company where I work used to say - “if you want to make many out of a truck, buy a Japanese one”…
As the former owner and founder of the company where I work used to say - “if you want to make many out of a truck, buy a Japanese one”…
Here at Ace Crane Trucks half of the 12 trucks are Japs- a mix of Hino’s and UD’s. The rest are Volvo & Kenworth.
I’ve been at Ace for 10 years, originally driving, but now in the workshop as a boilermaker/ welder, and all round fixer up 'er - boilermaker and welder is my trade.
So first up - the only Hino artic - a 2006 ‘700’.
12 litre, 450 hp with an 18 spd Road Ranger box - it’s quiet, comfortable enough- but with a next to useless bed- but we don’t do many nights out.
This motor had the 23 tonne Fassi crane removed a couple of years ago when it was out certification, but is still in daily use, using a Manitou telehandler.
To date, it has clocked up just over the 1 million kms - 1, 007,000 to be precise this week- and thousands of hours with the engine & pto in use operating the crane.
Here’s a full list of the 'unscheduled ’ repair work it’s had;
1 clutch.
A set of shock absorbers.
Yep, that’s it. The motor has never been touched, and it runs & drives very well.
I’ll post some info regarding the other Japs we have soon.
Cheers,
Keith
kmills:
1So, Japanese trucks eh?
As the former owner and founder of the company where I work used to say - “if you want to make many out of a truck, buy a Japanese one”…Here at Ace Crane Trucks half of the 12 trucks are Japs- a mix of Hino’s and UD’s. The rest are Volvo & Kenworth.
I’ve been at Ace for 10 years, originally driving, but now in the workshop as a boilermaker/ welder, and all round fixer up 'er - boilermaker and welder is my trade.
So first up - the only Hino artic - a 2006 ‘700’.
12 litre, 450 hp with an 18 spd Road Ranger box - it’s quiet, comfortable enough- but with a next to useless bed- but we don’t do many nights out.This motor had the 23 tonne Fassi crane removed a couple of years ago when it was out certification, but is still in daily use, using a Manitou telehandler.
To date, it has clocked up just over the 1 million kms - 1, 007,000 to be precise this week- and thousands of hours with the engine & pto in use operating the crane.
Here’s a full list of the 'unscheduled ’ repair work it’s had;
1 clutch.
A set of shock absorbers.Yep, that’s it. The motor has never been touched, and it runs & drives very well.
I’ll post some info regarding the other Japs we have soon.
Cheers,
Keith
So they sound good for reliability Keith, so why aren’t they ruling the roost ? They’re like hens teeth over here,n yet the cars n bikes are everywhere ! Cheers coomsey
Heavy duty (over 15 tonne GVM) are more popular with councils, government and semi-government organisations and industries requiring trucks, rather than the transport industry proper.
Jap trucks do most thing adequately but nothing spectacularly. They’re cheap to buy, but not suited to interstate roles, particularly time sensitive.
In comparison to the rest of the world, Asian torque and horsepower, is somewhat optimistic.
Interesting post from Kmills.
Hino were restarting to make inroads around the mid noughties in the UK, dunno about the rest of europe.
I read they were reluctant, understandably, to go down the euro 6 route initially and who can blame them for that because Toyota’s strength is reliability/durability which they didn’t want to compromise.
Since euro 6 they’ve virtually disappeared from the UK, though they’ve now got euro 6 sorted, but 7 is just around the corner so doubt they’ll be coming back.
They don’t need to bother trying to keep up with europe’s fast changing eco requirements, their reliable machines sell in vast numbers throughout the rest of the world which hasn’t hampered itself with unrealistic climate targets that will only succeed in finally killing off what little UK heavy manufacturing industry is left.
It would cost massive fortunes to set up a dealer network for Hino in the UK alone, not worth the risk as its anyone’s guess what the next moves are in climategate uk/europe, why bother when they have willing buyers throughout the rest of the world, much of which in Asia particularly is taking off economically without hobbling its own industries.
Look up Hino on youtube and you can see hundreds of Hinos soldiering on in the sorts of conditions our european trucks wouldn’t make the first corner.
I’m a big fan of Japanese cars/4x4’s, those actually built in Japan, preferably Toyota because some of the others have rubbished their once fine reputations for reliable products through alliances with european makers**, run Toyotas myself and have no intention of owning anything else so long as i live, yes you have to take into account their rust resistance isn’t as great as it should be because they don’t use road salt in Japan (nor should we here), but if you take that on board and either prepare your own vehicle for long term rust resistance or get a professional to do it, the chances of buying a more reliable competent durable vehicle are non existant, their engineering is above question their component and especially electronic quality/reliabiliy unbeatable when compared to typical european made cars/trucks.
**even Toyota started to get into bed with euro makers by using BMW Diesel engines, a surprising decision that but their future lies in hybrid and maybe hydrogen and maybe an electric offering or two so probably wasn’t worth them designing a new Diesel for the supposedly remaining short term european market.
However their shared design with PSA for Aygo and its siblings has been a massive success as one of the best small cars you can buy for reliable cheap long term motoring, can’t comment on the rebadged PSA vans being sold in Toyota dealers because i know nothing about them.
coomsey:
So they sound good for reliability Keith, so why aren’t they ruling the roost ? They’re like hens teeth over here,n yet the cars n bikes are everywhere ! Cheers coomsey
All true, but you`re missing out the heavy stuff they also do well, Hitachi and Komatsu are beaten only by Caterpillar.
Is the gap due to Japans own road haulage industry? It is a relatively small and crowded island isnt it?
“In the fiscal year 2019, motor vehicles accounted for almost 52 percent of the total payload-distance in domestic freight transportation within Japan.”
“This statistic illustrates the percentage of road transport in total inland freight transport in the United Kingdom (UK) between 2005 and 2018. In 2018, the share of road transport in total inland freight transport in the UK amounted to 90.5 percent.”
Both from Statista.
So there is also more precentage of rail freight in Japan than here.
Is long distance road haulage “a thing” in Japan? Is there a market for good long haul trucks there?
Ed to add.
I think emissions is a red herring.
transportpolicy.net/standar … emissions/
Japan has same diesel standards (so far) as Europe and USA.
Franglais:
coomsey:
So they sound good for reliability Keith, so why aren’t they ruling the roost ? They’re like hens teeth over here,n yet the cars n bikes are everywhere ! Cheers coomseyAll true, but you`re missing out the heavy stuff they also do well, Hitachi and Komatsu are beaten only by Caterpillar.
Is the gap due to Japan
s own road haulage industry? It is a relatively small and crowded island isnt it?“In the fiscal year 2019, motor vehicles accounted for almost 52 percent of the total payload-distance in domestic freight transportation within Japan.”
“This statistic illustrates the percentage of road transport in total inland freight transport in the United Kingdom (UK) between 2005 and 2018. In 2018, the share of road transport in total inland freight transport in the UK amounted to 90.5 percent.”
Both from Statista.
So there is also more precentage of rail freight in Japan than here.Is long distance road haulage “a thing” in Japan? Is there a market for good long haul trucks there?
Ed to add.
I think emissions is a red herring.
transportpolicy.net/standar … emissions/
Japan has same diesel standards (so far) as Europe and USA.
I do not know a great deal about Japan but I wonder if the topography of the country has made building a network of fast roads less attractive than building railways. Thus freight is transported more easily by rail. Just a thought.
Dipster:
I do not know a great deal about Japan but I wonder if the topography of the country has made building a network of fast roads less attractive than building railways. Thus freight is transported more easily by rail. Just a thought.
Looks like a whole different world for trucks.
Ten year old blog from US trucking blogger on a visit to Japan.
truckinginfo.com/158423/trucking-in-japan
Dipster:
Franglais:
coomsey:
So they sound good for reliability Keith, so why aren’t they ruling the roost ? They’re like hens teeth over here,n yet the cars n bikes are everywhere ! Cheers coomseyAll true, but you`re missing out the heavy stuff they also do well, Hitachi and Komatsu are beaten only by Caterpillar.
Is the gap due to Japan
s own road haulage industry? It is a relatively small and crowded island isnt it?“In the fiscal year 2019, motor vehicles accounted for almost 52 percent of the total payload-distance in domestic freight transportation within Japan.”
“This statistic illustrates the percentage of road transport in total inland freight transport in the United Kingdom (UK) between 2005 and 2018. In 2018, the share of road transport in total inland freight transport in the UK amounted to 90.5 percent.”
Both from Statista.
So there is also more precentage of rail freight in Japan than here.Is long distance road haulage “a thing” in Japan? Is there a market for good long haul trucks there?
Ed to add.
I think emissions is a red herring.
transportpolicy.net/standar … emissions/
Japan has same diesel standards (so far) as Europe and USA.I do not know a great deal about Japan but I wonder if the topography of the country has made building a network of fast roads less attractive than building railways. Thus freight is transported more easily by rail. Just a thought.
Couldn’t this post be used as proof that Hino should be exporting more? Maybe they are, just not to us
Juddian:
Interesting post from Kmills.Hino were restarting to make inroads around the mid noughties in the UK, dunno about the rest of europe.
I read they were reluctant, understandably, to go down the euro 6 route initially and who can blame them for that because Toyota’s strength is reliability/durability which they didn’t want to compromise.
Since euro 6 they’ve virtually disappeared from the UK, though they’ve now got euro 6 sorted, but 7 is just around the corner so doubt they’ll be coming back.They don’t need to bother trying to keep up with europe’s fast changing eco requirements, their reliable machines sell in vast numbers throughout the rest of the world which hasn’t hampered itself with unrealistic climate targets that will only succeed in finally killing off what little UK heavy manufacturing industry is left.
It would cost massive fortunes to set up a dealer network for Hino in the UK alone, not worth the risk as its anyone’s guess what the next moves are in climategate uk/europe, why bother when they have willing buyers throughout the rest of the world, much of which in Asia particularly is taking off economically without hobbling its own industries.
Look up Hino on youtube and you can see hundreds of Hinos soldiering on in the sorts of conditions our european trucks wouldn’t make the first corner.
I’m a big fan of Japanese cars/4x4’s, those actually built in Japan, preferably Toyota because some of the others have rubbished their once fine reputations for reliable products through alliances with european makers**, run Toyotas myself and have no intention of owning anything else so long as i live, yes you have to take into account their rust resistance isn’t as great as it should be because they don’t use road salt in Japan (nor should we here), but if you take that on board and either prepare your own vehicle for long term rust resistance or get a professional to do it, the chances of buying a more reliable competent durable vehicle are non existant, their engineering is above question their component and especially electronic quality/reliabiliy unbeatable when compared to typical european made cars/trucks.
**even Toyota started to get into bed with euro makers by using BMW Diesel engines, a surprising decision that but their future lies in hybrid and maybe hydrogen and maybe an electric offering or two so probably wasn’t worth them designing a new Diesel for the supposedly remaining short term european market.
However their shared design with PSA for Aygo and its siblings has been a massive success as one of the best small cars you can buy for reliable cheap long term motoring, can’t comment on the rebadged PSA vans being sold in Toyota dealers because i know nothing about them.
they started using bmw diesels because the T180 in the RAV’s kept costing them a fortune in replacement engines, they were woeful in the reliability stakes , and strange because the d4s was pretty reliable otherwise
( although my RAV d4d XTR ate 5th geartrains and the DMF was another weak point ) . they exchanged diesels for hybrid technology with bmw.
tony
Franglais:
Dipster:
I do not know a great deal about Japan but I wonder if the topography of the country has made building a network of fast roads less attractive than building railways. Thus freight is transported more easily by rail. Just a thought.Looks like a whole different world for trucks.
Ten year old blog from US trucking blogger on a visit to Japan.
truckinginfo.com/158423/trucking-in-japan
The accuracy of that blog is reenforced when you see the how the combined Japanese manufacturers have dominated the sub 15tonne GCM, local PUD role. Only MAN and Daf have offerings in this market and that’s in the upper end. They have nothing in the 2~4 tonne capacity, the most suitable size for mult-drop city and suburban operations.
So, after I was extolling the virtues of our Hino’s in my last post - today I’ll give our other Jap brand a mention - the UD. I always thought that UD stood for UnDesirable- but maybe not.
The artic pictured here is a UD - which were originall badged as Nissan, then UD Nissan, now just UD, with there own engine fitted, and a 13 speed Road Ranger box.
I’ve driven this one a few times over the years, and like the Hino, it’s both quiet & comfortable enough - although it doesn’t have the same ‘solid’ feel that the Hino has - more of an old ‘Iveco’ feel perhaps.
Having said that- this is a 2007 model, and has never had anything other than routine services in just under 700, 000 kms, plus crane hours- so it can’t be too bad…
The UD ‘Quon’ rigid pictured is only just on 3 years old- and if you tilt the cab on that, you see that it’s fitted with a Volvo engine & I Shift gearbox- I don’t know if UD is part of the RVI group nowadays- I don’t have much time to spend on Google at the moment.
Regarding one of the comments (Sorry I can’t recall who made it) about the price of Japanese trucks - we took delivery of 2 new Kenworth SAR 410’s back in September, which were around $15k cheaper each than new Hino 's - the Kenworths were just over $220k each, plus another $110k for the cranes.
Cheers all,
Keith
kmills:
I’ll give our other Jap brand a mention - the UD. I always thought that UD stood for UnDesirable- but maybe not.
Useless Diesel was another for them in the 80s.
Japanese trucks (and vans), you say? I don’t hate them (well, most of those I’ve driven I do) but I confess I’m not a big fan of them. When I arrived in Oz in 1988 I was on a working holiday visa which allowed me to take casual work up to a certain limit, so I went and signed on for a removal mob in Mascot (Sydney). The fleet was Isuzu SBR/ JCR and Hino FF and a couple of lesser things I can’t remember. I did a number of interstate removals in the Hino and the run from Sydney up to the (Qld) Gold Coast up the Pacific Highway mostly gave me the heebies because of the state of the “highway” - it put me in mind of a regular run I did from Gretna to Dumfries at night when the ferry had emptied at Stranraer an hour earlier, except that it lasted all b00dy night. When things were somewhat calmer, the FF felt like I was driving something from the early '70s - leaf springs all round, rolled like a ship in a storm, a 5-spd box with a shift that wouldn’t have shamed a TK and sealed beam headlights. The Isuzus were mostly restricted to urban work, which was just as well: if you’d put a decibel meter inside the cab it would’ve bent the needle, they had an umbrella handle for the (cable-operated) handbrake that worked a propshaft drum - if you moved your left knee the wrong way, the handbrake disengaged and gave you a bruised kneecap. They were flat out at 90kph empty, drum brakes all round and running at 9 to 11T gross. An equivalent 80s Cargo or a Merc 814/ 1114 or even a Bedford TL would run rings round any contemporary Isuzu.
I won’t bore you all with too much more: suffice to say I’ve driven many a Japanese light/ middle/ heavy rigid over the years (and I still do drive them) - they’re gaffer’s motors in my opinion. Cheap, easy to get parts for, ubiquitous and (some say) reliable (in truth, they’re not all that). If I have to drive a Japanese wagon, give me a Hino (but even then many aren’t all that). What I find strange about all this is that Japanese brands are a by-word for excellence in any number of technological fields: hi-fi, cars, motorbikes, electronics, computing, heavy machinery, trains, metallurgy, you name it. Why, then, the gaping black hole when it comes to commercial vehicles?