Freightliner CL112 Low – Trial Truck: Review

The guys at Freightliner are certainly seasoned players when it comes to producing vehicles for the vocational sector. While their market share in Australia is considerable, over the past five years they’ve gone on to dominate the US market with innovative newly designed vehicles that are bringing greater productivity and safety solutions across a broad sector of vocational applications.

Back home in Australia, concrete delivery companies are exploring new means to enhance safety for their drivers and customers, along with minimising the risk of concrete truck roll overs due to the inherent movement of the moving concrete load in the revolving barrel.

Freightliner Engineer, Kevin Buschert, heads up the Columbia CL112-Low agitator project here in Australia and took time out to demonstrate how Freightliner here in Australia has drawn on the resources and research in the US and adapted these latest technological advances and mixed them with local specification.

Lower and stronger
The result is that the company has worked with body builder Cesco to deliver a cement agitator that has lowered the centre of gravity by an impressive 140mm.

“We have gone to a 28 per cent thicker and nine per cent deeper chassis rail,” Kevin began. “Sure, the rails might sit a bit higher, but it is worth it for the increased torsional stiffness we’ve gained.

“Certainly, the thicker and larger rails add a small amount of weight but all of the other changes that have been added means we are still lighter than the standard model. Our tare weight on this new CL112-Low is class leading,” he added.

The reason behind larger size chassis rails that give the vehicle increased torsional strength is apparent when you look at how the Cesco bowl is mounted directly to what would typically be turntable angles strategically located along the chassis.

The absence of the traditional agitator bowl sub-frame has delivered approximately 100mm reduction in bowl height.

The CL112-Low is shod with low-profile 275/70s that replace the standard 11R22.5 tyres. This lowers the vehicle a further 40mm and also saves 66kg off the tare weight due to the lower weight of the low-profile tyres. Because there is less flex in the side walls of the low-profile tyres, roll stability is enhanced.

Consequently, the rear axle ratio has changed when specified with the Allison MD3000 RDS from a 5.86:1 ratio to 5.29:1 rear axle ratio to maintain performance with low profile tyres.

“We have retained the Freightliner Airliner 46K airbag suspension for drivability and comfort as well as compatibility with low cost weight scales for operating efficiency,” Kevin explained. “Meantime, the batteries have been relocated from the side of the chassis to under the passenger’s seat to free up space along the chassis and save weight.”

“You might notice on this CL112-Low that we have located the adBlue and fuel tanks on the left-hand side of the chassis and kept the right-hand side of the chassis free for the body builder to mount the pressurised water tank.

“Other features that are unique to this agitator spec truck which make the driver’s daily operation safer included the high grip steps,” Kevin added. “The external grab handles have additional ribs molded into the outer circumference to ensure a driver has positive grip when entering or exiting the cabin.

Shedding kilos
“Because the agitator barrels are considerably narrower than a traditional van body, we have mounted the mirrors on narrow arms, which greatly reduces the overall width of the vehicle and enable the vehicle to be more easily manoeuvred into tight construction sites safely,” Kevin revealed.

Another area that helped shed weight is the use of Meritor Steelite brake drums on the front steer axles and Centrifuse drums on the rear axles. The inclusion of alloy air tanks also helped shed a few more kilos.

To reduce maintenance, industry leading ConMet preset Plus hubs with Timken bearings are fitted as standard.

On the safety side, an additional maxi-brake booster can also be optioned to run on the trailing steer axle to improve the park brake operation when a concrete truck is unloading on steep gradients.

Cummins power
Under the hood there is latest generation 8.9 litre engine Cummins ISLe5. This vehicle has the top power rating of 400hp (298kW) and 1254 lb-ft (1700 Nm) of torque and is married up to an Allison 3000 RDS automatic transmission. The high power-to-weight ratio of the Cummins ISLe5-Allison 3000 RDS makes this an ideal combination for urban concrete distribution in either the 8x4 or 10x4 configurations.

The standard Cummins compression brake delivers up to 250bhp which means there is less wear on the vehicle’s service brakes. The rear engine power take-off (PTO) on the Cummins ISLe5 delivers ample power to drive the agitator’s hydraulic drive.

Up front there is a massive 1300 square inch (8387 sq.-cm) ‘engine mounted’ radiator that ensures close fan-to-shroud clearance for maximum cooling efficiency.

Nevertheless, the Freightliner CL112-Low can be optioned up with either Eaton’s 18-speed manual or Ultrashift Plus or the larger Allison 4500 RDS which can bring the vehicles gross combination up to 40,000kg.

That’s good news for country operators who may prefer to option the Eaton FO-14E309ALL-VMS which has 11-forward gears and 3-reverse gears, as this transmission will deliver improved fuel economy on longer leads that country operators traditionally experience with its tall top cruising gear ratio of 0.73:1.

Meanwhile, the extra low ratios, 26.08:1 in first and 20.84:1 for reverse in the VMS Ultrashift Plus make this transmission well suited to curb and channel work where the vehicle is required to crawl along while feeding the profile machine.

Other applications
“The CL112-Low can be fine-tuned to perfectly fit whatever job our customers have,” Kevin added. “The CL112-Low platform is not just limited to agitator applications either. Freightliner can deliver it in 6x4, 8x4 and 10x4 configurations to suit a wide variety of construction and distribution duties.

Other standard safety features include Roll Stability Control, traction control and Wabco ABS anti-lock brakes.

The cabin design really has put the driver first, with wide opening doors and clear vision over the steep slopping hood. The dash layout is practical with all the gauges in clear view at a glance. The switches are easily accessible in an intuitive layout for ease of operation. Given that the CL112-Low is traditionally specced as a day cab, the spacious interior means there is ample room for a driver to store his lunch box and paperwork.

This CL112-Low has been prepared for field trails in NSW commencing in the next few weeks and Trucksales.com.au will report on the results of the trail when they have concluded.

Specifications: Freightliner Columbia CL112-LOW 8x4
Engine: Cummins ISLe5
Horsepower: 360hp at 2100rpm
Torque: 1254lb/ft at 1300rpm
Retarder: Cummins dash-mounted engine brake
Gearbox: Allison MD3000 RDS
Fuel tanks: Polished alloy
Front axle: Meritor twin-steer MFS14
Front suspension: 12.0T taper leaf springs (load share)
Driveline: Extended Lube MXL 176
Rear axles: Meritor MT-40-14XG
Rear axle ratio: 6.17:1
Rear suspension: Freightliner AirLiner 46K
Brakes: S-Cam
Bumper: Polished alloy (FUP compliant)
Interior: Charcoal Grey cab trim with driftwood dash
Seats: XTreme HD
Batteries: 3x12v