09 15 Transport & Trucking Today - 6x2 Another Niche for UD

ANOTHER NEWNICHE FOR UDALWAYS SUCCESSFUL AS A NICHE MARKETER, UO TRUCKS HAS LEDTHE WAY FOR THE OTHER JAPANESE MAKERS IN RECENT YEARS WITHSUCH THINGS AS AUTOMATICS IN ITS MEDIUM DUTY MODELS AND NOWIT HAS AGAIN ZIGGED WHILE THE OTHERS ARE SAGGING BY RELEASINGTWO NEW 6X2 RIGID MODELS. EDITOR IN CHIEF ALLAN WHITINGSCORED A RIVE OF BOTH VEHICLES IN BRISBANE RECEBNTLY.

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01 Sep 2015Transport & Trucking Today, National

Section: General News • Article type : News Item • Audience : 0 • Page: 51Printed Size: 3601.00cm² • Market: NSW • Country: Australia • ASR: N/A • Words: 1003Item ID: 456589216

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The Heritage of UDhas always been to

offer advance levels ofengineering i

compared with itsJapanese opponents

ELECTRONIC TRACTION CONTROL WITH ANTI-SPIN HAS GIVEN THE 6X2MUCH MORE TRACTIVE ABILITY"

Although it's the three-axle-truckstandard in many countries,the 6x2 configuration has neverbeen a huge success Down

Under. Despite proved benefits, includingbetter tyre life, lower fuel consumption, lessmaintenance and increased payload, the6x2 has never looked like displacing thetraditional 6x4 rigid.

Our road and weather conditions havebeen the principal factors blocking the 6x2'sgrowth, because everyone has heard thehorror stories about 6x2s stranded with onedrive wheel spinning futilely.

However, electronic traction control withanti-spin has given the 6x2 much moretractive ability.

Other issues are the tare weight ofoverseas-market 6x2s that are designed forheavier legal axle loadings and the fact thatmany of them have unequal load sharing.

The Australian market requires a lighter,50:50 load sharing 6x2 tandem.

UD Trucks Australia developed alocally-designed lazy-axle kit in late 2011,incorporating a UD factory tag-axle and didall the ADR testing. This kit was designedfor dealer fitment, using the PK17280 4x2as a base vehicle and about 80 per year weresold.

In 2013 a party of UD productionengineers spent a week in Sydney at thethen R&D workshop and actually builta 6x2, using the Australian-designed kitcomponents. They returned to Japan withdrawings and some of the kit parts.

The fruit of this exercise was acommitment to build the PD23280 on thefactory line in Japan. It's quite possible this2011-born Aussie initiative will expand toother UD markets.

The first factory-built example was shownat the 2015 Brisbane truck show and is thetruck I drove in July this year.

The factory-built PD23280 preservesnearly all of the Australian design, with the

only visible change being a revised bracketholding the additional air tank.

T&TT also believes that the originalADR test results were used for UD's ADRsubmission.

Parallel with the PD program is a 6x2based on the 11-litre 4x2 CK17380. Thisnew CD24380, hauling a three-axle, curtain-side dog trailer was the second 6x2 truck Idrove.

DISTRIBUTION 6X2SThe Condor PD24280 had an optionalAllison Gen 5 3000 series six-speedautomatic transmission with shiftoptimisation, in lieu of the stock Eatonnine-speed synchro box. The rigid truck wasfitted with a Mini Bodies 14-pallet curtainside body, with load-restraint gate channelsand Eagle load-restraint curtains.

This truck model has GVM rating of 23.5tonnes, but the brand new test vehicle wasloaded to 18 tonnes. Claimed empty weight

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The Quan CD24380 &x2 had a45-tonnes GCM rating and wasfitted with a 14-pallett curtain-sidebody towing a 10-pallett Sheppardthree-axle dog

Air bag suspension on the rearmade the UDs pleasant to drive aswell as providing the road friendly

versatility that comes from nonspring suspension

The three axle 6x2 niche hassome major advantages in deliveryand distributin work

The Condor PD24280 had anoptional Allison Gen 5 3000 seriessix-speed automatic and was fittedwith a Mini Bodies U-pallet curtainside body loaded to 18 tonnes

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was eight tonnes.My brief drive at the Mount Cotton

Training Facility showed that the truckwas very pleasant to operate. Cab accesswas easy and seat and steering columnadjustment should suit every shape of driver.

The Allison made light work of lift off andshifting was seamless. The engine's 280hpand 883Nm combined to give impressiveperformance A touch pad allowedsimple override of the shift program anddownshifting worked well with the exhaustbrake to control downhill speed.

The PD's big brother, the Quon CD243806x2, with a 45-tonnes GCM rating, is analternative to a traditional prime mover andsemi-trailer combination. The evaluationprototype was based on 4x2 Quon,according to UD's Application Engineer,Neil Carey.

As tested, it was fitted with a 14-pallettcurtain-side body and coupled to a 10-pallettSheppard Transport Equipment three-axledog trailer. Claimed empty weight was 14tonnes, allowing excellent payload at ratedGCM. Our test load was 31 tonnes GCM.

Rigid trucks with dog trailers are muchmore manoeuvrable than semis, which iswhy many tipping combinations are rigidsand dogs. UD Trucks sees some possibilitiesin the freight distribution market for theCD24380 6x2 with dog trailer; particularlywhere there are access issues. In extremesituations the dog trailer can be uncoupledquickly, allowing the truck to operate as arigid.

The Quon range is now fully Volvo-Grouppowertrain integrated, since the recentdemise of the UD 13-litre 470hp engine.At this stage there are no plans to either

introduce the 13-litre Volvo-Group engine,or to uprate the existing 11-litre that tops outthe UD power offering at 420hp.

Perhaps future Euro 6 adoption willchange that situation.

The test CD 24380 was powered by the11-litre at 380hp, driving through an EscotV 12-speed automated transmission. Likethe engine, the box was a Volvo-Grouptransmission, similar to the Volvo iShift andMack mDrive.

Automated shifting took the work out ofdriving the part-loaded CD and to someextent masked the modest outputs in whatwas a 45-tonnes GCM vehicle. Operatorswho accept the 6x2 and dog trailer principlemay want a tad more grunt. However,for distribution work in flat or mildlyundulating country the CD24380 shouldwork just fine. | " |

"THE ENGINE'S 2B0HP AND 883NM COMBINED TO GIVEIMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE"

UD's line up downthrough years showcasingthe changing face of the wellengineered Japanese brand

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09 15 Transport & Trucking Today - 6x2 Another Niche for UD