First new Volvo truck for HC Wilson Transport

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Transport Engineer  /  July 3, 2019

Suffolk-based HC Wilson Transport has taken delivery of its first new Volvo truck, a high specification FH-540 8x4 tridem tractor.

Supplied by Volvo Truck and Bus Centre East Anglia, the new addition is a Globetrotter XL 3,900mm wheelbase tridem pusher axle tractor and is powered by the D13K engine, producing a maximum of 533bhp.

The FH is specified with an I-Shift Crawler gearbox, while a gearbox-mounted [Voith] retarder also provides a secondary braking system.

The vehicle is rated for maximum 90-tonne [198,416lb] operations, but will predominately work in the 55- to 60-tonne [121,254lb to 132,277lb] weight brackets. Both the front and pusher axles are nine-tonne air suspension units, the latter contributing to a rear bogie capacity of 32 tonnes [70,548lb].

“We’d previously bought our four-axle tractor units from Holland, but this requirement is now better served through a dealer local to our business,” explains Simon Wilson, the operator’s managing director.

Volvo impressed with its keenness to quote for the business, he says, adding: “Having a factory-built, four-axle tractor unit was also a bonus, saving on purchase cost and delivery times.”

A Jost cast fixed fifth wheel, steel front bumper and Dura-Bright EVO alloy wheels are also included the specification.

Wilson says: “European work makes up two-thirds of our total business and the regulations around German first axle weights drive our choice of four-axle tractor units.

“I’m not a big fan of really big engines, but we have to balance power outputs and fuel consumption levels with terrain traversed and higher operating weights.”

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