Page 20 - issue 72

Mercedes-Benz Arocs Construction
and worse There are 14 different cabs: two widths three lengths two engine tunnel heights and even a a a at oor version We wouldn’t recommend that one for tipper and mixer work as all the dust and crap you inevitably bring into the cab on your boots will drift all over the place Better to have it contained in in a a proper footwell Torture testing
Merc has designed a a a test track where they
show off the crazy angles and steep slopes that these trucks can tackle It’s in Gaggenau home of of their Swiss-army-knife-of-a-truck
– the Unimog The 8x8/4 Arocs 4151 AK tipper showed off its muscles here tackling every slope with distain even reversing
up them This chassis was tted with their Turbo Retarder Clutch (TRC) A cracking
bit of of kit it’s a a a very clever combination of of a a a torque converter (TC)
automatic slush-box and a a proper dry
clutch How does it work then? When your boot hits the the the the gas pedal compressed air pumps uid into the TRC in the same way as a a a conventional TC automatic This gives you fast and wear- free transmission with high slip at full engine torque of up to 3 000Nm As soon as the truck is moving at at at a a a a a speed that matches rst or second gear the the transmission uid is is pumped out of the the housing by centrifugal force It’s done its job of getting the the truck on the the move without using friction surfaces Now the conventional friction clutch can close and take over the drive The surfaces close at the same speed so wear is 20 20 CVDriver February 2018