Scania v8 730hp

I suppose having an Australian production/testing facility helps Volvo, as does their market share ( they are second behind KW in the Aussie sales race).

A lot of their success can be attributed to Max Winkless

 

About 140-150 000 kg ( ballpark 300k lbs range)

 

Legal he can run 163T, 360,000 lb with his permits that's with 4 trailers or 124.5 T with 3. that combination tares at 65T, 143,000 lb. he has now changed to running what's called a AB quad. Which is 2 trailers and 2 Dolly's with a b-double behind it, he says having the b-double on the end gives the truck a lot more stability.
He also said some guys are now running a 10x6 ridged with a body straight to a dolly with a triple road train, apparently they are getting about 3.5 T more with this combo.

Obviously you have never been to outback Australia. 50 degrees C +. roads , what roads most of them are just tracks, no bridges creek crossings are very common and it isn't as flat as you think

 

I agree , those Indonesian guys murder the trucks.
In southern Africa I only know of 3 locations using road trains but the roads are not as bad as some I have seen in other locations.
They started out using Mack Titan tri drives and then Western Star tri drives but now mainly use Mercedes heavy haul spec.

 

These are road trucks as well used on public roads,
For off road and mines use Kenworth c510 twin steer tri drives or the newer c540 which carry up to 500T with powered trailers.

The c510 is road legal, they had to use twin steer because of the weight of the qsk19, they also use a road ranger and are rated at over 300T but not sure of the exact amount





The c540 isn't road legal, they are too heavy and two wide. When used with a powerd trailer which has a 600hp isx in it they gross up to 500 T or 1.1 million pounds




[video=youtube_share;SVyAbmSCO6g]http://youtu.be/SVyAbmSCO6g[/video]

 

This is the first Astra I have seen with a road train here.
I see it is the same company as below Unitrans.
I can tell by the nimber plate that it is in another province so I guess they have another site using road trains now.Thoes could be Austrailian trailers as I know in Zimbabwe they also started with Australian trailers.The trailers behind the Western Star below are local (South African) trailers by Afrit.

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[TD]UNITRANS ROAD TRAINS NOW OPERATING IN RICHARDS BAY
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[TD]Media: TrailerTalk: April[/TD]
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[TD="colspan: 2"]2013/04/30[/TD]
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Mining operators across the world are agog for news on South Africa's longest but also safest road trains, which Unitrans Mining and Agriculture started operating at Richards Bay Minerals late in 2012.
Designed to eliminate the whiplashing effect which any small steering correction up front can have on the last wagon, the new road trains are 42.15m long, with a Western Star three-axle truck tractor hauling four side tippers.
While detailed information on load and axle configurations are proprietorial to Unitrans, Gert Brits, General Manager of Mining Services at Unitrans Freight and Logistics, said he was very satisfied with the efficiencies that their unique adaption to traditional heavy haul configurations have achieved during its first quarter of operations.
Unitrans has co-operated with Afrit and the South African Council for Scientific Industrial Research to develop a performance based-standard that would ensure their road trains are among the safest in the world.
Weighing in at 60 tons empty, the efficiencies achieved in designing the new road trains now enable Unitrans to deliver 15% more payload compared to their older system.
André van de Wetering, Managing Director at Afrit, said the side tippers have been designed to achieve the optimum balance between weight and durability. Afrit called on all the company's expertise while delivering loads throughout southern Africa during the past four decades.
Despite riding on 60 tyres, Van de Wetering said Afrit's four-tipper system has proven to track true on any road surface. Four drivers operate each road train 24 hours a day and these teams all report that steering the new road train is actually easier than controlling the shorter road trains still in use at Richards bay Minerals.




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do you know what kind or do you have any pics? not sure is standard mercedes able to cope with this , on other hand SLT is too expensive to run

mercedes get only 6:1 axle ratio and their gearbox are bit fast they even have triple overdrive 0.57:1 ....now g280-16 is 0.69[/QUOTE]
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[TD="width: 100%"]ROAD-TRAIN:
Not to be seen on South African public roads is this magnificent road-train operating at Richards Bay Minerals on private mine property. The vehicle combination has an overall length of 38,6 metres, carries a payload of 108 tons and is plated by DaimlerChrysler at 150 000kgs GCM for maximum grades of up to 7%. While the GCM is far in excess of Road Traffic Act/Bridge Formula norms of 56 tons, axle masses do not exceed 9 tons per axle. The road-trains operate with four drivers per rig 24 hours around the clock, in three eight hour shifts at an average fuel consumption of 107 litres/100 km. This means that service intervals are reduced to 10 000 kms with a bi-weekly inspection that takes up one eight-hour working shift for a full combination.

The nine new Mercedes-Benz Actros 3348 truck tractors supplied to Unitrans for its RBM operation are equipped with 'Telligent' auto-shift transmissions. Final drive ratios of 5,1 can attain 99,4 kph at 1 800 rpm but all 3348's are governed to a maximum of 80 kph for this operation. An interesting specification adjustment is that these Actros are fitted with drum brakes instead of disc brakes on every axle.

Each trailer is equipped with parasols that are raised to facilitate loading by front-end loader and when closed down, prevent any heavy metal concentrate spilling on the road. Increased efficiency has meant that combinations of Mercedes 2644's with four bottom-dump trailers have been replaced by Actros 3348's with three side-tippers - both combinations offering 108 tons payload. Nine Mercedes-Benz model 3348 truck tractors and 27 trailers generate 1,2 million kilometres per annum.
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[TD="width: 50%"]NO OVERLOADING:
Unitrans owns and strictly controls loading operations to prevent overloading. The front-end loader is equipped with a load cell that tells the operator he has now lifted 9 tons of heavy metal concentrate (HMC) - four throws of every 9-ton bucket adds up to 36 tons payload per trailer. The HMC has a specific gravity of 2,6 that equals a total cubic capacity on the trailers of 42 m3. [/TD]
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[TD="width: 58%"]PARTNERSHIP:
Jo Grové, chief executive of Unitrans Limited, stresses the partnership concept: "Our operation at Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) expresses the competency of one of Unitrans' core values to be a force in the mining industry and to travel the roads less traveled. Our relationship with RBM goes back 17 years so we really understand RBM's culture of safety standards and environmental care - and we fit in with these. It is not just about consistently delivering low cost of transport but operating within the special demands of an RBM culture."[/TD]
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[TD="width: 50%"]RESULTS:
Bringing home results for Unitrans shareholders on roads less travelled, from left to right: Fil Morkel - General Manager of Mining & Forest Products Division, Roger Naisby - Group Managing Director of Freight Division, Jo Grové - Chief Executive of Unitrans Ltd, Kevin Rock, Karl Wellman and Jim Mason.[/TD]
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[TD="width: 50%"]AUSTRALIAN TECHNOLOGY:
Each side-tipping trailer discharges its 36-ton load of heavy metal concentrate in turn into a grid hopper for processing at RBM plants. Afrit Empangeni assembles the Azmeb-Afrit Flexi-Tipper from kits manufactured by Azmeb in Darwin Australia using axles and suspensions from local sources. This Australian road-train technology provides reliable tracking characteristics and straight-line stability, enhanced by 19,5-inch rim and tyre equipment.
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[TD="width: 100%"]STABILITY:
The art of side-tipping operations is to achieve a full discharge of material that can stick in a bin while at the same time, maintain trailer stability without the trailer falling over sideways. Nonetheless, in one incident, wet product caused a trailer to capsize during unloading causing damage totaling R86 500. The fact that the load is discharged into a grid hopper means that this load does not spread under the trailer and bury the wheels - another common problem for side tipping operations.[/TD]
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