Coleford, Gloucestershire contract-haulier Trevor Probert has been enjoying a 6-tonne gain in payload with a slight improvement in fuel consumption since taking delivery in February of what’s believed to be the first Mercedes-Benz Arocs-based tridem concrete mixer in Great Britain.
The 32-tonne GVW Arocs 3243 is fitted with a lightweight Liebherr 8m³ mixer body and replaces a 6-wheel, 26-tonne Daf with a 6m³ mixer body.
Despite the extra payload, Probert told CM he’d seen an improvement in fuel consumption from 6.7mpg to 7.0mpg in the first few weeks of operation.
Probert, who works as a subbie for Hope Construction Materials, said he’d bought the tridem for its exceptional manoeuvrability and its ability to carry a bigger mixer body. “I’ve always had 6m3 bodies on 26-tonne trucks, but for the last few years now, the best way to earn money has been to have an 8m3 truck – the rates are much more attractive,” he said.
“Where we are, most of our deliveries are up cart tracks and 50% of customers warn us not to send an 8-wheeler. But I’ve got the capacity of an 8m³ vehicle with the manoeuvrability of a 6-wheeler.
"I’ve been gobsmacked myself by some of the places I’ve got into.”
The design of the truck, which features a single front steer axle, a double-drive bogie and trailing rear-steer axle, was thrashed out in a conversation with Mercedes at last year’s Tip-ex show in Harrogate. The truck was eventually sourced through City West Commercials in Avonmouth on a five-year lease.
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