Mack Super-Liner triple: Review

Name: Mack Super-Liner triple: Review
Brand: Mack

Triples in the Pilbara – Mack Super-Liner’s hard-work heritage meets hi-tech driveline

I was in ‘economy’ mode and backing off to get ready for the left-hander off the North West Coastal Highway and onto DeWitt road, heading for Karratha’s light industrial area (LIA).

The 685hp Mack Super-Liner rumbled slowly down through the gears, but with the momentum of three tipping trailers on the back, the engine brake needed a bit of help. I tapped the dash-mounted minus button on the gear selector panel to force the transmission to drop it down an extra gear, then again to get the revs up and boost retardation. A dab on the service brakes and I was all set.

Using up the whole intersection to get the trailers around took a little more care, particularly as the long bonnet suggested a turning circle to match an oil tanker.

But the Mack steering tucks the nose in tight so I could let the truck head close to the outside of the intersection before winding on maximum lock.

Most drivers around the LIA are used to triple and quad road trains, so they hold back from fully entering an intersection when they see one rolling towards them. I swung wide for the right-hander but kept one eye in the mirror to make sure the back trailer didn’t bloody the nose of the Hilux that was waiting for me to get around, or squeeze him into the bus that had pulled up behind.

Anderson Road loops around the southern circumference of the LIA and I took a wide angle to get the rig around. It was designed to provide easy access to the host of small to medium storage, construction and mining support businesses and depots. Although it’s a standard width access road, and includes a number of twists and turns, the shire approved the route for triple road trains. Drivers need to be sharp to avoid dropping a wheel into the deep storm water drains.

Unfortunately, someone in the shire office added aluminium light poles barely high enough to clear a conventional tautliner, and installed them on the kerb and the corner of every driveway entrance. Not helpful with 53.5-metres of truck and tippers.

However, this triple rig had the advantage of tri-axle dollies under the second and third trailers, and they made a big difference in helping the trailers track closer to the truck’s wheel marks.

The Mack was pulling three tipping trailers and the extra wheels on the road kept the rig straighter, with less sway on the highway and less corner cut-in when manoeuvring.

Road train operators in the Pilbara generally lean towards the tri dollies because the local concessional weight allows 24-tonnes on a tri. The dolly itself is up to 1.5-tonne extra weight but even with additional tyre wear, the extra net weight allowance boosts payload, and therefore revenue, significantly.

It’s easy in a truck like the Mack to forget the size of the train behind you. The Volvo-based 16-litre engine tools along effortlessly at town speeds, and the M-drive transmission keeps the revs as low as possible. When needed, even a slight squeeze on the throttle triggers a growl from under the bonnet as the Mack accelerates.

Heather Jones from the Pilbara Heavy Haulage Girls said she’s decided she preferred the cabover Volvo for road train work. But it’s really a matter of personal preference. My feeling was that the Mack’s longer wheelbase and steer axle out front kept the rig straight with less steering correction.

The Super-Liner’s aforementioned impressively tight turning circle certainly helps during the to-and-fro of hooking up a train in a tight yard littered with plant and equipment.

Brand-spanker

This Super-Liner only had around 30,000kms on the clock, so a lot of systems were still in the process of bedding in. It felt tight but the usual fizzes and rattles were still being uncovered and dealt with.

There was a wrinkle in the steering and a wheel alignment was on the cards. Rob Thornton, driver trainer with Pilbara Heavy Haulage Girls Academy confirmed there was a problem – he’d swapped the steers earlier in the week to extend the life of a tyre that was heavily worn on one side.

In the first few weeks, the truck caused some concerns with what appeared to be excess diff heat. It was solved when they described the problem to Mack engineers at the factory. They told them the diffs had a large heat margin and temperatures were fine, but they should disconnect individual gauges for diff temperature.

Apparently the engine management system reads the data from all the sensors and decides there is a serious problem when the gauge tips over 120 degrees C. It then derates the motor. No gauge, no derate, and Mack engineers were quite happy for the diffs to run hot. A fix is underway.

Inevitable comparison

My time in the 685hp MP10-engined Mack was on the back of a run in its Volvo stablemate, the 700hp FH16. A comparison was inevitable, although it wasn’t the purpose of the drives.

With the same basic engine and transmission, badged and tweaked for each product’s target market, the trucks performed quite differently, due mainly to the configuration. Sound and feel are highly subjective in trucks but the placement of any 16-litre diesel engine is going to affect the noise in the cab, particularly under high power applications.

The Mack always lets its driver know it means business, with a muscular rumble when you step on the gas, and audible induction roar from the pillar-mounted stainless-steel air cleaner intakes.

This truck had a pretty tall diff ratio so the engine at a 90km/h cruise was a touch below 1450rpm. The cabin is smaller and feels tighter given the intrusion of the dashboard, and the door placement inboard from the access steps.

Heather’s trucks are all fitted with dashcam recorders pointing both in cab and out front. There’s also a rear vision camera mounted on the mirror stack to help keep eyes in front as well as awareness of what’s coming up behind.

This Super-Liner had none of the advanced driver aid systems installed on the Volvo. Apart from the required ABS, all other operating functions were entirely in the driver’s hands. To some degree market demand has slowed the transfer of Volvo electronics into the Mack range. But as features such as driver assistance and assessment functions in particular become more attractive to fleets, the winds of change will force the technology gap to narrow.

After spending a day in its cousin, a Volvo FH16 cabover, the Mack’s impressive bonnet stretching out ahead of the windscreen looked like the deck of an aircraft carrier. Helping the feeling is a dash crammed with gauges behind the steering wheel, and a switch panel to the left but angled towards the driver’s view with tumblers for suspension, traction control, park brake system and cab lighting, along with transmission selection buttons, sound system, CB and ventilation/air conditioning.

With all that and the sheer road presence of a Mack prime mover, we can understand what drives owner and driver loyalty to a level envied by most other brands.

Mack’s Super-Liner is one of the few trucks well suited for road train work. The combination of one of Europe’s finest drivelines with Mack’s industry leading service life is a potent attraction for operators in these testing applications.

Specifications:

ENGINE: Mack MP10 16-litre in-line six-cylinder

POWER: 600hp - 685hp

TORQUE: 2800Nm - 3150Nm

EMISSIONS: Euro V SCR

STD TRANSMISSION: Eaton 18-speed Roadranger (600hp), Mack mDrive 12-speed AMT (685hp)

CONFIGURATION: 6x4

GCM: Up to 140-tonne

WHEELBASE: 4700mm to 6250mm

BBC: 3115mm (Day Cab) to 4235mm (52” Sleeper)

BRAKES: Drum

CABS: Day, Super, up to 52” Sleeper