IVECO Trakker 4X4: Review

Name: IVECO Trakker 4X4: Review
Brand: Iveco

Here’s an off-highway truck that's really built for business

IVECO has just released a new 4X4 version of its Trakker all-wheel-drive medium-duty truck chassis, and it brings all the hard-core work features and advantages of its 6X6 big brother.

The Trakker 6X6 rigid chassis is earning a name for itself across a wide range of mine-site and construction tasks, and is proving popular with drivers and owners alike. For the drivers, the hefty torque availability at low rpm matched with the ZF EuroTronic transmission makes the driving task a whole lot easier – basically steer the thing and keep a foot near the brake pedal in case you stuff it up.

The new 4X4 will undoubtedly find friends among those who are looking for a tough nut to deal with a tough task and are prepared to look past the traditional cab-over vocational solutions from Mack, Freightliner, Kenworth, Western Star, and now CAT.

Now that new cab-over models from key manufacturers are breaking through, they are generating new respect for high technology approach to the tough end of the business.

IVECO's Trakker represents the Italian solution to the kinds of problem tasks that Volvo designed the FM-X for, which itself is a blue-collar version of the FM range of highway rigids and prime movers.

Trucks in this marketplace cannot depend entirely on pure ruggedness. It’s all very well to weld together a double-skin chassis that will outlast any driver, but if the driveline and engineering isn’t thought through, all you’ll get for your tough talk is a bone-jarring ride. Traction and real pulling power have not been high on the agenda of some of the Asian competition.

Trakker on the other hand has been engineered to maximise torque to the wheels, and optimise tyre contact with the ground. The designers have clearly spent enough time in real-world construction/mining applications to understand this, and the result is one of the most flexible short-wheelbase chassis on the market.

One of the accompanying photographs in particular defines the singular purpose of the new Trakker’s 4X4 medium-duty chassis. Taken from the rear with diagonally opposing wheels on high and low points of the track, it illustrates how a good chassis can manage articulation even before individual suspension travel is taken into account. In short, the chassis can flex before a load arrives to tax the standard steel suspension.

It also underlines the often ignored fact that the guys building the body for your off-highway truck need to be specialists. The picture illustrates an amount of chassis rail twist that seems impossible, especially for a short wheelbase, just to keep each driving wheel on the ground.

If you make the investment in a Trakker for a tough, off-highway task, but go cheap and nasty on the body, you’ll regret it within weeks. Your body will twist itself into oblivion, and then bang goes your load, tools, supplies, machines or whatever.

This latest IVECO has been here for a while in 6X6 form, but the new variant is more than just dropping an axle off. Rated at 18-tonnes GVM, it positions itself above the 15-tonne GVM Eurocargo 4X4, and is IVECO’s largest 4X4. Much more than an all-wheel drive version of a two-wheel-drive truck, the Trakker has impressive credentials, particularly a driveline designed from the ground up to work at full capacity no matter what the conditions.

The engine is not the biggest – it’s the 7.8-litre Cursor and it develops 360hp. But the torque is a healthy 1500Nm and arrives at just 1125rpm. SCR emissions technology meets Euro V specifications.

But another key asset is the transmission part of the driveline. Sitting underneath a super smooth ZF 16-speed all-synchro manual transmission is a deep-reduction box that with overlap make a total of 24 ratios, and an ultimate final drive heading towards 100:1.

A simple turn of a dial can bring in one or more of the triple electronic diff locks, in either standard of off-road range. The lock combinations allow a driver to be selective according to the conditions, and make sure that the prodigious torque keeps the wheels turning no matter what’s going on underneath. Hub reduction on each wheel maximises torque at the wheels while minimising axle strain.

We tested the Trakker over a test track of fixed boulders that were designed to give the Iveco cantilever suspension a thorough workout. I engaged low range, deep reduction, centre diff lock and first gear. This combination allowed the cruise control system to activate from rest and engage at any speed, so I clicked that on after I’d crawled away and the engine nudged 1000rpm. Without touching the throttle the Trakker ‘walked’ across very difficult terrain without any sign that the engine was going to stall.

With this level of reduction, towing for recovery work in the Trakker would depend entirely on tyre traction and the strength of the tow connection – the truck certainly won’t quit.

When fitted with the standard Michelin 385/65R22.5 XZY3 front and Michelin 315/80R22.5 XDY3 rear tyres, the Trakker 4X4 offers a generous 380mm of ground clearance at the front diff and 316 mm at the rear. The front and rear drum brakes have ABS and EBL (electronic brakeforce limitation), and ASR (Anti-Skid Regulator) as standard.

IVECO’s Joel Read, said the addition of a 4X4 Trakker model filled a niche between the Eurocargo 4X4 and the larger 33-tonne GVM Trakker 6X6.

“While there are similarities in applications the Trakker 4X4 and 6X6 models are targeted at, we’re finding that not all customers require a 33 tonne GVM off-road vehicle.

“The Trakker 4X4 has been available in New Zealand for some time and was well received there, and with its stellar off-road ability, we think it will develop a strong following in Australia as well.”

Looking now to the driver, Trakker inherits one of the best European cabs bar none.

The Stralis unit is wide, airy, bright and supremely comfortable. Vision and the positioning of driver controls are outstanding. It’s also extremely quiet. Despite the road carnage going on underneath, drivers and passengers will appreciate the way Trakker insulates them against the realities of the road surface. It's no wonder that drivers in mixed fleets will opt for the Trakker if they get a choice.

In summary, both the Iveco Trakker and its main rival, Volvo’s FM-X trucks are very close together in spec at the basic level, and with careful use of the order form, you could make them near identical in terms of driveline and useable power at the road.

The Iveco will reward both users and drivers in service. The length of the contract and useability of the truck afterwards may determine whether to choose an off-the-shelf Trakker, or option up an FM-X.

The current downturn in mining and construction is hitting Queensland and WA businesses hard, and truck dealers are watching sales of minesite service units in particular slow to a crawl. But despite this, it’s notable that the IVECO Trakker 4X4 brings some of the brand’s latest off-road technology to Australia.

This is one 4X4 built for nothing but business.

IVECO Trakker 4X4: Review

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