Dealer flexibility secures first Trakker for Iain Watt Haulage
New Cumnock-based Iain Watt Haulage has taken delivery of the first Iveco vehicle to join its current 18-strong fleet of tippers and mixers. The order was secured after local Iveco dealer Kerr & Smith agreed to part exchange one of the company’s existing five year old tippers for a new Trakker AD340T41K.
The 8x4 on/off-road rigid has been fitted with Penta tipping gear and a steel insulated body manufactured by Boweld. It is expected to remain on the fleet for up to five years, covering approximately 90,000 km a year.
Iain Watt, Managing Director, explains: “Until we took delivery of the Trakker our fleet was comprised solely of Scanias and Volvos. I had a previous relationship with Kerr & Smith dating back about eight years, when we used to run an Iveco Cargo. I’d been impressed with what I’d read about the latest Trakker, so I gave them a call. They were happy to accept a part exchange and were able to supply me with an 8x4 from UK stock, which meant we could have the vehicle on the road quickly.
“Since the Trakker entered service it’s been performing well and the driver is very pleased with it. It’s been working primarily on night time operations supporting our highways maintenance contracts and is proving to be a solid and dependable truck,” he adds.
In addition to its road maintenance duties, the Trakker will be used for the bulk haulage of aggregate materials including sand, topsoil and a variety of types of decorative gravel, supplied to a range of customers across Scotland.
Plated at 32 tonnes, it benefits from Iveco’s powerful 12.8 litre Euro 5 Cursor 13 engine, which is capable of producing up to 410 hp between 1,515 and 1,900 rev/min, ensuring maximum power is available from intermediate speeds to allow smooth driving even on rough terrain. Also key to the Trakker’s performance is the 1,900 Nm of torque available between 1,000 and 1,515 rev/min, which aids manoeuvring in adverse operating conditions, and is driven through a ZF 16-speed manual transmission.
The specification also includes single reduction Meritor axles and all-round ventilated disc brakes, which are standard specification on all 6x4 and 8x4 rigid Trakker model variants. The disc brakes ensure the best possible braking performance, whilst also ensuring simpler and faster maintenance which helps to minimise downtime during vehicle servicing.
As a dedicated tipper model, the AD340T41K features an ‘Easy-Clean’ cab, which removes much of the cloth-covered trim and replaces it with a wipe-clean finish, enabling the cab to be cleaned more easily when operating in harsh, dirty and dusty environments.
