I have joined this forum to seek the advice from folk who know more than I do about trucks, the law, where to get parts, manuals, problem solving etc.
We are moving house and so is my mum. She has loads of stuff and so do we, and I have a tractor to move, and workshop stuff and bits of farm machinery and sheds and alsorts of other stuff… so lots of stuff. We are moving to West Wales so have a 520 mile round trip so rather than doing umpteen 7 hour car journeys and burning huge amounts of fuel we worked out it would be cheaper to buy ourselves a 7.5 tonne lorry.
I now have a Mercedes 970.02 / 815 Atego box lorry with a tail lift. I think its a 970.02 or 815. I’m not sure on how the model numbering goes.
I am old enough to have a licence to drive a 7.5 tonne lorry without taking a separate test … phew.
The first few miles after collecting it and coming along narrow country lanes it took a bit of getting used to having an extra 2ft of vehicle width but soon got the hang of it.
I have a few questions:
1)For personal use and not business use do I need to use the tacho?
2)Do I need to take breaks every 4 hours etc?
3)Can I pull into most filling stations to fill up with diesel? It hadn’t occured to me until I thought I can’t just drive this thing into Tescos.
4)What is the legal tread depth on truck tyres? I am sure they are fine but just don’t know this.
5)Are there any regulations on diy servicing etc? (I guess you can work on your own vehicle but can’t touch the speed limiter bits?)
6) Whats the law on seatbelts?
Thanks for the reply.
Thats great.
I will tip the cab up tomorrow and see if I can figure out what the speed governing problem is.
It was fine for most of the trip back but when we hit the rain it would have moments of the speed limiter or govenor or something killing the engine performance down to about 50mph or 45mph and then clearing again and letting it back up to 56mph. The engine is fine I am sure but something in the control / injection / govenor / limiter / ecu department is playing silly buggers.
I am trying to track down a workshop manual for it… any clues where I might get one?
The best I can suggest is Google search the truck followed by work shop manual or something similar.
I’m no truck mechanic but sounds like something or nothing. But odd how it only did it when it was raining. So I’d be looking for areas under the cab that have got wet from the rain and Seeing if it’s something like rain getting into electrics etc
NOVE:
Surely an 8.15 is a 7.5 with a 150 horse motor?
That’s normally how merc badges seem to work. The first number is the chassis type and the second you X by 10 for the BHP
The first is the tonnage it was designed for (7.5-tonners are given the number 8; higher tonnages are as given). With tractors, it’s 18 for two axles and 26 for three (higher again if more).
Hello there,the power surge may be dirty fuel filters or dirt that sits in the bottom of the diesel tanks that got sucked through. If you change the fuel filters, the fuel system will need to be bled to pump out the air bubbles or the engine will not start.
Cranking the engine will flatten the battery.
There may be a small pump on the engine that is released and keep pumping it until the bubbles stop coming out from a nut to release the air.
Measure the height of the lorry and check fuel station canopy heights.Some supermarkets can take trucks and the fuel is cheaper or look for truckstops.
Or Google Key Fuels to locate sites.
Peter Smythe:
Big mistake IMO. Better off just to hire one, have no worries, and give it back.
Pete
Hi Pete,
I did wonder myself about hiring one. My mum wants to move house now and we will move our stuff in a few months time and when we get over to Wales we will have building materials to collect on and off over the next year. We are building a house from timber from a friends wood, straw bales, 50 cubic metres of cockle shells, stone from a nearby disused quarry etc. Its not stuff Jewsons will just drop off so the truck will be in use on and off all the time and shifting stuff we would otherwise struggle with. It will also get used as a rain shelter, storage unit and workshop when we are building over there so I can see it being well worth getting.
NOVE:
Surely an 8.15 is a 7.5 with a 150 horse motor?
That’s normally how merc badges seem to work. The first number is the chassis type and the second you X by 10 for the BHP
Ah… that makes sense and does work.
If there was a badge on the front it for the UK market it would say 815.
For the purpose of buying spare parts from Merc I think they would want the 970 - 02 number off the chassis plate which is maybe what its called in Germany.
martinviking:
Sounds like the plot for a really cool children’s story. Is the roof going to be made from Chocolate ?
Thanks for the sensible replies
I did some work on it today and found a few faults, fixed a few faults etc.
I did make an error worthy of the ‘Plonker of the day’ award. The lever to release the catch on the cab tilt was realy stiff. I took the latch off, cleaned it up and lubricated it and bolted it back in place. Then we had a jet fly over and give us a couple of sonic boom bangs. At that point I tilted the cab back and ‘clunk’ the latch worked fine… but stupidly I hadn’t put the release cable back on. Not having 4 foot long arms or shrink myself to 5 inches wide I couldn’t reach the latch to unlatch it. I ended up fighting with the four nuts and bolts at the other end of the spring/damper unit and then letting the whole unit come up with the cab when I tilted it. Then I could get to the catch and fix things. That was a complete pain in the backside for an hour or so.
I am going to buy two new release cables as I don’t want to have to do that again
I have joined this forum to seek the advice from folk who know more than I do about trucks, the law, where to get parts, manuals, problem solving etc.
We are moving house and so is my mum. She has loads of stuff and so do we, and I have a tractor to move, and workshop stuff and bits of farm machinery and sheds and alsorts of other stuff… so lots of stuff. We are moving to West Wales so have a 520 mile round trip so rather than doing umpteen 7 hour car journeys and burning huge amounts of fuel we worked out it would be cheaper to buy ourselves a 7.5 tonne lorry.
I now have a Mercedes 970.02 / 815 Atego box lorry with a tail lift. I think its a 970.02 or 815. I’m not sure on how the model numbering goes.
I am old enough to have a licence to drive a 7.5 tonne lorry without taking a separate test … phew.
The first few miles after collecting it and coming along narrow country lanes it took a bit of getting used to having an extra 2ft of vehicle width but soon got the hang of it.
I have a few questions:
1)For personal use and not business use do I need to use the tacho?
No, you can use a 7.5t for private use in which case you’re exempt from EU regulations.
You’re also exempt from domestic regulations because it’s not for hire or reward.
2)Do I need to take breaks every 4 hours etc?
No because you’re exempt from EU regulations, but if you was in-scope of EU regulations it would be a break every 4½ hours not every 4 hours
3)Can I pull into most filling stations to fill up with diesel? It hadn’t occured to me until I thought I can’t just drive this thing into Tescos.
As long as you can get under the canopy there’s no problem, or use a garage with HGV pumps, they always have either high canopies or no canopies, it’s your choice.
4)What is the legal tread depth on truck tyres? I am sure they are fine but just don’t know this.
1mm for lorries.
5)Are there any regulations on diy servicing etc? (I guess you can work on your own vehicle but can’t touch the speed limiter bits?)
I’m not aware of any restrictions on doing your own servicing on a private lorry.
Whats the law on seatbelts?
You have to wear them if they’re fitted.
I have joined this forum to seek the advice from folk who know more than I do about trucks, the law, where to get parts, manuals, problem solving etc.
We are moving house and so is my mum. She has loads of stuff and so do we, and I have a tractor to move, and workshop stuff and bits of farm machinery and sheds and alsorts of other stuff… so lots of stuff. We are moving to West Wales so have a 520 mile round trip so rather than doing umpteen 7 hour car journeys and burning huge amounts of fuel we worked out it would be cheaper to buy ourselves a 7.5 tonne lorry.
I now have a Mercedes 970.02 / 815 Atego box lorry with a tail lift. I think its a 970.02 or 815. I’m not sure on how the model numbering goes.
I am old enough to have a licence to drive a 7.5 tonne lorry without taking a separate test … phew.
The first few miles after collecting it and coming along narrow country lanes it took a bit of getting used to having an extra 2ft of vehicle width but soon got the hang of it.
I have a few questions:
1)For personal use and not business use do I need to use the tacho?
No, you can use a 7.5t for private use in which case you’re exempt from EU regulations.
You’re also exempt from domestic regulations because it’s not for hire or reward.
2)Do I need to take breaks every 4 hours etc?
No because you’re exempt from EU regulations, but if you was in-scope of EU regulations it would be a break every 4½ hours not every 4 hours
3)Can I pull into most filling stations to fill up with diesel? It hadn’t occured to me until I thought I can’t just drive this thing into Tescos.
As long as you can get under the canopy there’s no problem, or use a garage with HGV pumps, they always have either high canopies or no canopies, it’s your choice.
4)What is the legal tread depth on truck tyres? I am sure they are fine but just don’t know this.
1mm for lorries.
5)Are there any regulations on diy servicing etc? (I guess you can work on your own vehicle but can’t touch the speed limiter bits?)
I’m not aware of any restrictions on doing your own servicing on a private lorry.
Whats the law on seatbelts?
You have to wear them if they’re fitted.
