Commercial Vehicle Thread

[Trapezio]

Thats unfortunate. Where was this anyway?

[AMATMO]

Originally Posted by tushky

today i Saw Tata Hispano Globus Tourist Bus in pune. with taxi no. plate.. so the bus is already out now.

what kind of head lamps did it have?

were they like the ones shown in the auto expo or were they like the ones in the pic you had posted sometime back?

[tushky]

Originally Posted by AMATMO

what kind of head lamps did it have?

were they like the ones shown in the auto expo or were they like the ones in the pic you had posted sometime back?

the one like i had posted sometime back..

[Ram]

Originally Posted by Alfa_Kilo

The Tatra 12x12 TELs for the land based BrahMos have four (the front and trailing pair) steerable axles.

Alfa_Kilo: Thanks for sharing this pic of the
Tatra 12x12 special chassis Force T816-6MWR8T.

Yes the front two axles and rear two axles are steered.

The front two axles and rear two axles are 65 inches apart each.
But the center two axles are only 57 inches apart.

The vehicle's overall wheelbase is one inch short of 39 feet!

And the overall length of the vehicle is 46 feet.
That's almost the length of our articulated Tractor-Trailer trucks which carry a 40-foot container.

The difference being that the Tatra T816-6MWR8T Force has a rigid chassis with 12-wheel drive and 8 wheel steering!

Do you have a pic showing the steering operating?

Ram

[Ram]

Originally Posted by Alfa_Kilo

Ginaf is another firm doing such work.
Ginaf: Home
Tata LPT 3118 lift axle with passive steering

Never before in the Indian truck industry, did we have a lift axle with automatic load sensing lift. The Tata LPT 3118 TC truck comes with this.

And at Rs. 15.5 lakh, this 8x2 platform must be the world's cheapest 31-ton GVW truck?
An eight year old second-hand truck equivalent in Europe would sell for Rs. 40 lakh or more.

The LPT3118TC's engine delivers 177 bhp @ 2500 rpm and torque of 650 Nm @ 1500 rpm.
Can climb a 21% grade and peak out at 79 km/h. Still a far cry from
the truck engines found in Europe and Australia that can maintain 120-140 km/h all day.

The GINAF design SensAxle+ adds 10 tons of capacity to the truck.

Picture from GINAF brochure:

Its center of gravity is the same as that of the other axles in the truck, so no extra stresses on the chassis. It has 4 pneumatic suspension bellows.

Equipped with an E-MAS (Electronically controlled Multi-Axle Steering). I don't believe the Tata has that.

Does anyone know how the Tata passive steering works?

Ram

[fx45]

nice pic of the 3118.. had seen it in brown color in mumbai some days ago....

a first of a kind in india.

[1100D]

The thing about the Tatra trucks are its Backbone Tube frame with its semi axles. Kind of the (in)famous swingarms of the 300SL. When unladen the lower part of the wheels buck in, as in Ram's pic.

What system is the 3118 using for its Lift axle? Curious. The Ginaf one shows the air balloons.

Another question, the fixed axles have double rims, whereas the retracting one has a single. Wonder how the load will be shared across. But then all trucks I have seen with this arrangement are like this.

[Ram]

Originally Posted by 1100D

Another question, the fixed axles have double rims, whereas the retracting one has a single. Wonder how the load will be shared across. But then all trucks I have seen with this arrangement are like this.

From first principles, my algorithm would be:

With the lift axle retracted, 100% of the the total load meant for the rear axles is borne by 8 tires. Measure the load borne by the two double rimmed axles, by measuring deflection of the calibrated springs.

Now hydraulically or hydro-pneumatically extend the lift axle downwards until the old load borne by the two double rimmed axles is reduced by 20%.

You should have each of the double rim axles supporting 40% of the total rear load, and the lift axle supporting the remaining 20%. The rear load would be equally shared by the 10 tires in the rear.

Ram

[CorsaLove]

I have an off-topic question. I thought the Volvo bus bodies were built by Azad builders in whitefield area. I have seen the place too. But now the volvo website states otherwise.

Have they got their own body building guys now in the plant? Just check the link which states it.

bus body building : Volvo Buses - India

[AMATMO]

Originally Posted by CorsaLove

I have an off-topic question. I thought the Volvo bus bodies were built by Azad builders in whitefield area. I have seen the place too. But now the volvo website states otherwise.

Have they got their own body building guys now in the plant? Just check the link which states it.

bus body building : Volvo Buses - India

the volvo customers had a lot of complains regarding the body built
by azad and volvo also had to pay for it,i think as a move to take care of this issue they started their own body building plant, however i am not sure if they have left azad

[1100D]

Originally Posted by Ram

From first principles, my algorithm would be:

With the lift axle retracted, 100% of the the total load meant for the rear axles is borne by 8 tires. Measure the load borne by the two double rimmed axles, by measuring deflection of the calibrated springs.

Now hydraulically or hydro-pneumatically extend the lift axle downwards until the old load borne by the two double rimmed axles is reduced by 20%.

You should have each of the double rim axles supporting 40% of the total rear load, and the lift axle supporting the remaining 20%. The rear load would be equally shared by the 10 tires in the rear.

Ram

In other words, when the retracting axle is deployed, we are assuming an equal load sharing across all the tyres. 10 tyres, 10% each.

But with the lift-axle being deployed there is going to be a shift of the load center, so might not actually take up the load proportionally. Moreover axle loading should also involve the front axles. So the real loading on this axle might be lower.

But I guess from the standpoint of this being a 31 tonner this would reduce the tonnage per axle as per requirements for certification. From that standpoint makes a huge difference.

[Ram]

Originally Posted by CorsaLove

I have an off-topic question. I thought the Volvo bus bodies were built by Azad builders in whitefield area. I have seen the place too. But now the volvo website states otherwise.

Have they got their own body building guys now in the plant? Just check the link which states it.

bus body building : Volvo Buses - India

When the B7R-platform based Azad buses were new, one couldn't hear the smooth six-cylinder diesel inside the bus. One felt like one was riding on air. The service set a new standards for comfort, speed and timeliness.

Riding today, in the abused and shoddily street-repaired Volvos, one wonders if they really have air-suspension. Many have broken fiberglass panels, misaligned headlamps, missing wipers, smashed mirrors, malfunctioning pneumatic doors and rattly loose components.

High time Volvo awoke to realize their image was adrift in the high seas of "Chaltaa hai".

Rather than compromise their global reputation, it makes sense for Volvo to build complete buses for those that will pay for them.

This may of course, buoy prices of the new OEM built buses out of reach of the Mom-and-Pop bus operators. And ticket-prices would go up.

[1100D]

Originally Posted by Ram

When the B7R-platform based Azad buses were new, one couldn't hear the smooth six-cylinder diesel inside the bus. One felt like one was riding on air. The service set a new standards for comfort, speed and timeliness.

Riding today, in the abused and shoddily street-repaired Volvos, one wonders if they really have air-suspension. Many have broken fiberglass panels, misaligned headlamps, missing wipers, smashed mirrors, malfunctioning pneumatic doors and rattly loose components.

High time Volvo awoke to realize their image was adrift in the high seas of "Chaltaa hai".

Rather than compromise their global reputation, it makes sense for Volvo to build complete buses for those that will pay for them.

This may of course, buoy prices of the new OEM built buses out of reach of the Mom-and-Pop bus operators. And ticket-prices would go up.

Come to Calcutta, even these battle scarred Volvo's would be luxury here. Seemingly the "affluent" mass does not take interest in Bus travel. The section that takes interest would be happy with anything, even if its on a TMB chassis.

[Alfa_Kilo]

Here is a

video

of a smaller T815-6MWR8T 39 324 10x10.1R testing with the Smerch MRLS mounted in Siberia. One can see the axle articulation very well.

PDF brochures for Tatra vehicles are available here.

The Tata LPT 3118 has passive steering, ie there is no positive input from the driver to steer the wheels. The axle is similar to the typical front axle, a reverse eliot I beam with a higher than usual caster angle. The wheels steer in a similar fashion as a shopping cart wheels, they try to align with the direction of travel. To aid self centering. there are springs and dampers between the tierod and the axle.
The axle is suspended by a pair of air bellows and four trailing arms. It is deployed once the vehicle weight exceeds 25 tonnes. A seperate pair of air bellows lift the axle when the vehicle is unladen.

[Ram]

Originally Posted by 1100D

Come to Calcutta, even these battle scarred Volvo's would be luxury here. Seemingly the "affluent" mass does not take interest in Bus travel. The section that takes interest would be happy with anything, even if its on a TMB chassis.

So, are consumers in Calcutta, fifty years behind those in the Mumbai-Pune region in their tolerance of poor product quality and service level expectations?

Should Volvo then plan a different strategy for these backward regions?

At the end of the day our consumer behavior influences the vendors' offerings.