Because agency knobs can’t drive properly.
12 years for a thread revival, were you bored and have read the whole site 
Lol. I just wanted to see what folk on here discussed in 2003.
It’s the same ■■■■■■■■. Just older.
eagerbeaver:
Lol. I just wanted to see what folk on here discussed in 2003.It’s the same ■■■■■■■■. Just older.
Yep. And in 2003 the basic rates agency drivers were getting were still the same as overtime rates permanent drivers were getting.
Both the 7.5s I had would stay on the limiter up pretty much any hill I ever got confronted with, fully laden.
That’s just what it was like in the old days, (well when I started anyway in 79) with artics, if you had a 180 Gardner or something. 70 downhill (or faster in neutral ) 5 to 10mph uphill .
I remember a contraflow one day early 80s, on the A74 uphill at Beattock, I had a 8 yr old Atki split windscreen job , 220 ■■■■■■■■ fully (and most likely over) loaded, looked in my mirror and (through the exhaust smoke) saw about a mile or more of traffic sat behind me.
The good old days…not.
well i have a 2003 iveco 75e17 so it would have been new when this thread was started. itll hold the limiter anywhere when unladen but at 7.5t gross it drops to 50 or so coming up steep hills (a30 fraddon hill for those that know cornwall) even fully loaded im often passing artics…
My 7.5t Isuzu towing a 3.5t trailer flys everywhere empty with it 190hp, but as soon as I load just 1 average car (say 1.3t hatchback) I’m down a gear or 2.
Went up bird lip a few weeks ago was fully loaded (3 car max) 1.8t on the trailer plus 800kg trailer so there’s 2.6t together.
Another 1.8t on the bottom deck and 1.5t on the top deck, so 3.3t on the truck. Trucks unladen weight is 3980kg with me and some basic kit I around up to 4.1t
So total of 7.4t towing 2.6t hitting the bottom of birdlip at 6th gear 54mph (limiter) I dropped to 2nd gear by the time I got to the top!
Cos they have no idea about weighbridges and penalties till they get pulled to one. How many times anyone seen a light twin-wheel commercial with it’s tyres touching 
I too have experience of Bird Lip.
Just got bollocked for letting my cup of tea go cold.
big displacement engines are slow running and the power band is right where you are using it (a 16L 500hp is producing about 410hp at 1100 revs)- piddly puddly jumping engines may claim impressive power outputs, but that’s at high revs, in the normal driving rev range they are not producing that much power, hence weight and gradient will take its toll. rev the bolloxs off them and they will be able to keep up. a (2.5L 165bhp is only churning out 80hp at 1500rpm)
i do admit to haveing guestimated the load on mine a few times and run a touch ahem overloaded… 11ton oops. 
you certainly notice the hills…
With regard to 3.5 tonners slowing off on hills one of the main reasons is down to gearing more than horse power ,most vans are geared higher than the chassis cabs ,a lot of chassis cabs are geared a round 4.3 which will go up any motorway bank in top gear at 60 plus even towing in excess of 6 tonnes ,the vans are 4.1, 3.7 even 3.3 which running at 60 at full weight would definatly mean dropping out of over drive .
daveb0789:
I’d like to hear from anyone who drives a 7.5 ton lorry or transit van type vehicle. Can anyone tell me if loading them makes them really slow on hills as I can’t understand how they can go so fast on the level and then I go past them in my coach on the next incline…
I’ve always found that Transits are slow, and they feel like they’re struggling even at 60mph and even when empty. Other vans, like Merc Sprinters, don’t have that problem in my experience. I suspect that’s why Ford’s UK plants have been struggling and some have closed – because nobody wants them.
7.5-tonners no, because they have a lot more power per tonne than any bigger truck – consider that 440bhp for a 44-tonner is 10bhp/tonne, 250bhp on an 18-tonner is 13bhp/tonne; well, 180bhp for 7.5 tonnes is 24bhp/tonne (and that’s when it’s fully loaded) and they rarely have less than 140bhp now (when I started in 2000, 110bhp engines were common on 7.5-tonners, but haven’t been for some time).
qwakers:
i do admit to haveing guestimated the load on mine a few times and run a touch ahem overloaded… 11ton oops.
my very first proper lorry was a bedford TK 7.5 tonner (1979?), I think they were a 103bhp. It used to get a bit overloaded too. (once got done at 9,750kg and I didn’t even think I was overloaded that day, so god knows what was in it on days that it was sitting on the bump stops) there were some hills that I would put it in first at the bottom and hope for the best.
The six pot 5.4 litre Bedford 330D was rated at 98BHP, The petrol version offered 114BHP.
Twoninety88:
The six pot 5.4 litre Bedford 330D was rated at 98BHP, The petrol version offered 114BHP.
it was indeed the 6cyl 330, and it didn’t waste any energy on any namby pamby nonsense like power steering … I have very fond memories of that thing, sleeping in it was just horrendous, even with a board across the seats it wasnt wide enough to get stretched out.
I drive a 7.5 t Isuzu flys along empty restricted to 54 and is pretty ■■■■ good fully loaded which we do on regular basis (it has self weighing kit) all but the most severe hills are fine and even then never drops below 50 in 6th even then and a quick down shift and it’s fine . Usualy wait till the bottom of a hill before attempting to overtake bigger lorries .now down hill fully loaded is another story entirely especially coming over the Pennines .
Wiretwister:
Its the power to weight ratio, torque. This does not stop them having a higher top speed (assuming there is no limiter fitted) it just takes longer to get there.I don’t have the numbers to hand but I remember reading that a recommended ratio of 10hp per tonne was a minimum for HGVs, i think it was in a Truck and Driver feature this year, and many use more than this for economy (both fuel and wear and tear). I doubt too many light goods vehicles have that.
6.8 Bhp per 1000 Kilo
one of my old transit was slow, but that was a 90ps with a curtain body, since then ive never had a van small there than 140ps (apart from my small vans) and these fly, got a 160 ps sprinter with the curtainsde body and sleeper pod, now the sensor is done this also flies 