Mercedes-Benz’s visibility-enhancing MirrorCam system made quite an impression on JC Balls & Sons when the family firm took delivery of a pair of tractor units last year. So much so, in fact, that when the Belper, Derbyshire, firm needed a new truck, a MirrorCam-equipped Mercedes-Benz was at the top of the list.
“The drivers really like MirrorCam,” says Chris Balls, one of the company founder’s sons. “From an operator’s point of view, MirrorCam helps to protect vulnerable road users while also relieving our drivers of stress, and that can only be a good thing.”
MirrorCam
MirrorCam eliminates a truck’s side mirrors and replaces them with a system of cameras. The cameras feed live video to 15-inch displays mounted in the cab on the two A-pillars.
But MirrorCam does more than simply replicate the view from the deleted side mirrors: Its cameras automatically turn when the vehicle is cornering or reversing to give the driver visibility on every inch of the semi-trailer. A graphical guidance line on the screen shows the driver where the end of the trailer is, which aids in reversing articulated and standard rigs.
“The lads in the artics appreciate the fact that the cameras follow the trailer, so they can always see the corner when reversing,” Balls says. “Also, of course, drivers no longer have a big slab of mirror housing in front of them. MirrorCam has effectively done away with a major, forward-facing blind spot and they can now see a lot more of what’s going on around them, particularly at the approaches to roundabouts.”
Removing the side mirrors also enhances the vehicle’s aerodynamics, which in turn improves its fuel efficiency. MirrorCam automatically adjusts the brightness of its two displays, but the operator can tweak it manually if desired.
Upgrade To An Arocs
Mercedes-Benz dealer Northside Truck & Van supplied JC Balls & Sons’ newest lorry, an 8x2 Arocs 3248 with a steerable rear axle. Truck Hydraulics of Thorne, Doncaster, fitted the truck with a “cheese wedge” plant body and a 50.5 SP crane made by PM. The Arocs has a 12.8-litre inline six-cylinder engine that produces 476 horsepower (350 kilowatts). The truck’s 12-speed Mercedes PowerShift automated manual transmission comes with Manoeuvring, Rocking, and EcoRoll modes.
JC Balls & Sons offers contracting, excavation, earthmoving, haulage, plant and lorry hire, concrete, and recycling services. It will use the new Mercedes Arocs to transport excavators, portable buildings, fabricated equipment, and materials. The 32-tonne (35-U.S.-ton) truck replaced a 26-t (29-U.S.-t) plant vehicle from another manufacturer.
“Customer demand meant we needed more lifting capacity,” says Balls. “The new truck will carry an extra 3.2 t, but the rear-steer axle gives it the same degree of manoeuvrability as the six-wheeler. We didn’t need an 8x4 chassis, though, so we opted for the single drive axle as this is going to be a lot more fuel-efficient.”
Multimedia Cockpit
JC Balls & Sons’ new Arocs has a ClassicSpace L-cab with roof-mounted light bars. Inside the cabin is an upgraded, interactive edition of Mercedes’ dual-screen Multimedia Cockpit. It has a larger, 12-inch instrument panel, satellite navigation, and other new features. “The drivers have taken to the new dashboard as well,” Balls says. “It looks good and I’m told it’s very easy to use.”
More Mercedes
JC Balls’ other MirrorCam-equipped Mercedes are heavy haulage tractor units that pull low-loader trailers. The beefier of the two is a 6x4 Arocs 3363 rated for operation at up to 80 t (88 U.S. t) gross combined weight. It has a BigSpace cab and a 625-HP (460-kW), 15.6-L engine. The other truck is a 65-t (72-U.S.-t) Actros 2551 StreamSpace model with a tag axle and a 510-HP (375-kW), 12.8-L engine.
JC Balls also operates three Arocs tipper trucks it acquired in 2016. Each is a 6x4 model with a lightweight, steel Thompsons Stonemaster body.
Find The Right Mercedes-Benz
Truck Locator currently lists several hundreds of new and used Mercedes-Benz trucks for sale, including many Arocs models for a variety of applications.
Source: Mercedes-Benz