DAF automatic performs well when the chips are down!

Specifying an automatic gearbox in their new DAF CF65 curtainsider is helping make easier work of collecting potatoes in bulk from farms and distributing them to fish and chip shops around Bedfordshire.

Farmers and hauliers Frank Redman & Sons of Lower Gravenhurst bought the 18 tonner to replace a 65 Series that had given over 14 years of dependable service on the same job.

Graham Redman, who drives the truck, felt an automatic might make life a little easier on the delivery side as this involves up to 17 drops a day to shops that are often in busy high street locations. It’s all stop-start work and having no gears to concern himself with means that Graham can focus on coping more easily with congested traffic and on parking the truck safely.

“I’m finding that the automatic provides a very smooth ride and a more relaxed way of driving,” says Graham. “And the ability to manually override the system allows me to deal with any difficult situations, such as coming off a slippery farm track when fully laden.

“But it really comes into its own in towns like Luton and Leighton Buzzard, where heavy traffic means a lot of stopping and starting. It makes parking in restricted spaces easier too. You just switch into the crawler mode and you can very easily and safely manoeuvre the truck into position almost on tickover.”

Redman’s new DAF has plenty of power from its 6.7 litre PACCAR engine, which delivers 165 kW (220 bhp) at 1900 rpm. At 18 tonnes gvw this gives a very adequate 9.16 kW/tonne (12.22 bhp/tonne) of power to weight. Combine this with a torque output of 850 Nm across a range from 1200 to 1700 rpm and a diff lock and the result is a truck that can cope comfortably with all road and load conditions.

The engine achieves Euro 4 compliance by the use of SCR technology and Graham Redman says it’s using around 25 litres of fuel per 100 kilometres (11.3 mpg). As for Adblue, it’s had only three top-ups of its 26 litre tank in over 15,000 kilometres.

The DAF has a 7.3 metre (24 feet) long curtainsider body and a full air management kit. The low weight of the CF65 chassis together with an alloy fuel tank and Alcoa alloy wheels result in a payload of just under 11 tonnes.

When at the wheel Graham enjoys a high level of comfort. He has a luxury air-suspended seat, air conditioning, electric door locks, and a wood-effect dashboard like that in a prestige car. Controls for the mirrors and side windows are flush-mounted in the door panel and the AS-tronic gearbox is controlled through steering column stalks.

DAF dealer Marshalls of Cambridge supplied the CF65 and Redman’s will carry out their own servicing.