Volvo Trucks recently announced that Phil Davies Haulage, a family-operated Brecon-based transport services provider founded in 2002, has acquired its first Volvo FH Lite 6x2 tractor unit. Supplied by Truck & Bus Wales & West, the truck features a Volvo D13K540 engine (rated for 540 horsepower at 1,450 to 1,800 rpm) and a 2.64:1 rear axle ratio that Volvo says is well-suited to local operating conditions. The haulage firm will use the FH for long-distance bulk-tipper applications.
Reliable & Strong
Phil Davies’ first Volvo-manufactured truck was a 1987 Volvo FL7. Noting that the “six-wheeler did me well for quite a few years,” Davies says he’s come to regard Volvo models as “very reliable and strong trucks.” Compared to other systems, Davies likes the FH Lite’s I-Shift gearbox in particular. In addition, Davies says his drivers are typically gone four nights per week while performing long-distance bulk tipper work, and remarks that the FH Lite’s Globetrotter Cab is “ideal for those schedules.”
The transport firm’s services include low loader hire, tipper hire, bulk and general haulage, and muck away and tipping solutions, as well as sand, aggregate, ready-mix concrete, tarmac, and topsoil delivery. “Bulk transport is all about payload factors, and in previous years, we used a Version 3 FH with an aftermarket lightweight pusher axle conversion,” Davies says. “However, nowadays of course, the FH 6x2 Lite tractor is the Volvo production model.” A feature of the truck that Davies says works well and helps saves brake wear is its VEB (Volvo Engine Brake) implementation. “This component is vital and crucially comes with no added weight when compared to retarders that are optional extras on other truck makes,” Davies says.
See The Fuel Savings
Other features include Volvo’s I-SEE technology (Volvo says this can reduce fuel consumption by as much as 5%), its patented Volvo Dynamic Steering, an intelligent overnight I-Park Cool climate system, and a GRAS-G2 air-suspension system that provides 300 millimetres of ground clearance.
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