Heavy-duty service: Review

Name: Heavy-duty service: Review
Brand: Tatra

Claimed to be the biggest service vehicle in Aussie mines, this Tatra 10x10 has some serious specs

Although new mining development in WA has slowed to a crawl, existing operations are still busy digging up dirt and shipping it out. The on-site equipment still burns gobs of diesel and needs constant lubrication and maintenance, so mine service trucks remain in demand.

The latest big player in iron ore, Roy Hill, is accelerating its operations up to capacity and has been buying specialist rigs to service its fleet of plant.

Around the middle of last year a tender from Roy Hill arrived on the desk of OffRoad Trucks Australia’s Larry Gill, the Australian distributor for Tatra Trucks. It outlined a mine service truck that needed to pack a giant punch servicing the shovels on site, and it called for big capacity, big performance, reliability and top-tier off-road ability. Tatra’s global reputation for outright tractability and reliability is well known among specialist truck operators, so there was no question the brand was on the shopping list.

Tatra Trucks is based in the Czech Republic, and specialises in custom-built off-road truck chassis that are used by mine operators, emergency services crews and the military around the world.

The engineering is rugged enough to convince the producers of Mad Max: Fury Road to buy a couple of Tatras for the new film. After hauling several tonnes of equipment, a trailer, a tanker, half a Chevy body as well as an old VeeDub shell, and gobs of rods, cables, platforms and guns, plus all the film crew paraphenailia were added, they appeared in the movie as the War Rigs.

Roy Hill already had an 8x8 Tatra on site that it bought two years ago. The uptime experience with that truck undoubtedly weighed heavily in favour of another Tatra unit.

Nonetheless, and especially in today’s environment, each tender can only succeed on its own merit, so OffRoad Trucks needed to optimise the offering so it stood out from the crowd in more ways than one. Part of the winning formula was the factory work in building the body equipment from the detailed specs.

Every truck build begins with a chassis configuration, and in this case the Tatra TerrNo1 T815 model was the starting point. It’s a 10x10 configuration powered by Tatra’s own 13-litre air-cooled V8 Euro 5 engine. The engine is unique in the sector and develops 435hp and 2100Nm of torque. The absence of a water-based cooling system in some of the harshest environments in the world has proved to be a significant advantage for the brand. Not having to maintain and service a cooling system and plumbing is a major asset in mine operations, particularly where the off-road component of the work is constant and unforgiving, and ambient temperatures are extraordinarily high.

The Tatra V8 air path draws external air from the front of the truck through a shrouded multi-blade fan, and then splits the flow between the finned cylinders and the centre of the V. Up to two-thirds of the air exits out the top of the engine compartment while the rest is forced down around the cylinders. The system not only keeps the engine in its most efficient combustion zone, but minimises heat soak when the truck is at rest. As a result, the cabs are cooler and air-conditioning units more effective.

The engine is linked to an Allison 4500 six-speed automatic transmission with double PTO outlets. Tatra’s own two-speed static shift auxiliary gearbox provides the deep reduction. Instead of the usual retarder a Telma FN83-00 unit, which provides 3000Nm of retardation, sits on the driveline to keep downhill sections under control.

Roy Hill was looking for the biggest capacities possible, as the truck is going to be refuelling the loaders rather than general lube service on smaller pieces of plant. Using its close body-building associate Kobit, the Czech factory delivered a fully built-up unit of outstanding quality.

This service truck’s capacity makes it the largest truck-based service unit on Australian mine sites. The stainless-steel storage includes 18,000 litres of diesel, 5400 litres of four grades of oils, and 500 litres of coolant, as well as a 750kg bulk tank for grease with high and low flow-rate pumps, a 2500-litre tank for waste oil and 500 litres of water for the pressure washer.

All the tanks have full rollover protection including the breathers, and an overfill protection system ensures wastage is reduced to a minimum. The PTOs can work together, providing up to 800litres/minute on one cycle and 500 on the others.

All the equipment on the truck is run through the PTOs, including a 90cfm compressor.

The Tatra is restricted to mine service roads only as its weight and length is outside WA road limitations, but it meets width regulations as well as ADRs of course.

The Tatra’s chassis is assembled with a central tubular core, which is built in modules, allowing maximum flexibility with the configuration. All drives are swinging half axles with air bellows, with coil springs added on the rear three axle sets. Telescopic dampers and stabiliser bars are included.

The independent half-axle suspension is simple but effective. Each axle is cushioned by a coil spring enclosed in an air bellows, which is mounted on the top of the axle and secured to the centrally-mounted tubular chassis. On the option list is a multi-leaf steel spring, which can be added to a bogie axle arrangement if the application demands ultra heavy-duty use.

The air supply to the bellows is mechanically controlled by the load and axle position, maintaining spring frequency no matter what the load is on the individual wheel. As a result, when the truck moves across broken terrain, a wheel that drops into a pothole has no effect on the wheel on the opposite side of the truck. The chassis is insulated against twisting moments and the load is protected. Additionally, both wheels are on complete contact with the surface and traction is maximised. Axle differentials, inter-axle differentials and reduction hubs complete a daunting traction formula.

The tubular backbone chassis itself deserves special mention. As it is modular, sections can be added on or taken off without the usual metal cutting. You can add a drive, a lazy or a drive/steer, building the capability and capacity of your Tatra to suit your load profile.

A quick look under this truck’s skirts reveals ultra-heavy-duty suspension and traction components that will support this rig operating at its full GVM most of the time. Nonetheless, Roy Hill demands total parts back-up in the tender – it didn’t want operations to stop while a part was flown in from overseas. Larry Gill showed me his parts warehouse when I visited his office recently.

He said every Tatra in Australia has a complete set of parts in-country and ready for immediate shipping. I doubted that until I was taken around the store and found all components, from entire drivelines to full cabs stacked and ready to go. It's an impressive asset, made more so by the fact that there was no-one there behind counters. Nothing happens until something breaks – and by the look of the parts store, it rarely does.

As for driver comfort, the Tatra cab is what we'd call functional and will never win a styling awards, but the seats and trim are comfortable.

Larry Gill said this won’t be the last Tatra service truck in this configuration. Additional enquiries mean another unit is already being planned.

Specifications:

Engine: Tatra T3D-928-30 13-litre Air-Cooled V8 Diesel

Power: 435hp at 1800rpm

Torque: 2100Nm at 1100rpm

Emissions: Euro 5

Transmission: Allison 4500 6-speed Auto

Configuration: 10x10

Tare weight: 14,900kgs

GVM: 27,000kgs

GCM: 52,000kgs

Wheelbase: 1650 + 4362 + 1450 + 1500

Climbing at GVM: 70%

Brakes - Service: Drum

Brakes - Aux: Telma FN83-00 3000Nm

Cab: Single Day

Web: ww.offroadtrucks.com.au

Heavy-duty service: Review

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