Clever… but is it TOO clever?
Click on the SOMI link to see how they work. My guess is fine till a cage tips over and jams it up.
Good export potential, we’ve had double deckers for years utilising space between the axles but well over 4 metres, indeed are they missing a trick by not using short hubs with no axles.
Bound to need regular maintenance to keep it all working just as present moveable deck DD’s do, and i doubt it will take kindly to driver abuse like being slammed hard into loading docks regularly, again something shared with all complicated vehicles.
I thought there was a Dutch company running 4m high double deck trailers that had stub axles and used that space between for cages or pallets. I think the trailers were made by Wilson.
muckles:
I thought there was a Dutch company running 4m high double deck trailers that had stub axles and used that space between for cages or pallets. I think the trailers were made by Wilson.
Eamons cargo ( 2 win) if I’m thinking the same company as you?
That exactly who I’m thinking of, just couldn’t remember the name 
New? They’ve been trying to push this idea for years…slow news day at the Daily Telegraph?
muckles:
That exactly who I’m thinking of, just couldn’t remember the name
Thats what SPAR use.
The obvious drawback is that since you can get more on the top deck than the bottom, there is a risk that they will be top heavy.
Santa:
The obvious drawback is that since you can get more on the top deck than the bottom, there is a risk that they will be top heavy.
This type of design is actually incredibly stable and much more forgiving than traditional deckers for top heavy loading. The floor is so low because it drops down below the centre of the hubs that the centre of gravity is very low. The whole top deck level is only a couple of foot above the fifth wheel.
They’re not new at all, there are plenty of gray adams built ones around and I would say the design is better, than these, as they just have an internal lift which at the end becomes the back part of the top deck. This is a picture of the axle of one of these types of trailers, that was in from a customer.
Just out of the picture, above the shock, you can see the bottom of the suspension airbag, the brake chamber mounts to the left of that but has been removed.
It is true that the way the suspension arm mounts to the trailer needs maintenance in a way traditional axles don’t but, that isn’t the main maintenance issue it’s brake efficiency. It uses a system of levers and rods to transmit the force from the brake chamber down to the slack adjuster, which is hidden down the back of the brake dust guard. This consists of clevis and pins and a lever that pivots on traditional s-cam bushings. The problem is this all gets slop in it over time and a lot of the braking energy seems to get lost between the chamber and the s-cam.
Other problems are additional maintenance costs of things like the internal lifts and the bit of space between the fifth wheel and the top deck is usually unusably small. Also they have a very hefty tare weight something like 11-12 tons springs to mind.
Been around for decades, Tesco had loads of them before getting 17.5" wheels. City link still run them.
They’re pretty useless in this country.
Tesco are phasing them out - big wheel decker. The small wheel ones are their preference. You can fit more in, they’re simpler to maintain and they ride better.
As for the “new design”, 2WIN (Dutch company?), Citylink, UK Mail (?), Spar and B+M (Ex-Citylink) are already using the basic design but without the lift thing?
we used them way back, inthe late 90s when we was the naffi ■■■ w+p ■■■ Cearns & Brown then sold when brakes got there hands on the company, so defo old news
lankyphil:
Tesco are phasing them out - big wheel decker. The small wheel ones are their preference. You can fit more in, they’re simpler to maintain and they ride better.As for the “new design”, 2WIN (Dutch company?), Citylink, UK Mail (?), Spar and B+M (Ex-Citylink) are already using the basic design but without the lift thing?
The Citylink trailers had an internal tail lift. The last four cages for the top deck were loaded on to the tailboard and then raised then four were loaded below total was IIRC 43 cages. They did have some older trailers with an external tail lift which could take 44 cages. The swan neck was used for oversize packages.