[ku69rd]

Congrats Benny, good thread. Very nice to see that Team BHP being invited for Commercial Vehicles as well. Would you be able to share more details around this monster?
Things like fuel consumption, Gear Box, climb angle, capability to wade under water, Fuel Tank Capacity will add more meat to this thread.
But thank you for sharing this wonderful review and hopefully we see more of such stuff.

Understand a few of these might not interest any buyer who would want to be bothered with trivial things like fuel consumption/tank capacity or number of gears on the box but will give auto enthus good information

[D33-PAC]

Originally Posted by buddha

Actually, the typical reaction "This is just another overpriced imported vehicle" simply doesn't hold here. Probably the exact opposite...

In an open cast mine, these dump trucks are just one part of a long and expensive chain of machinery. The job of these trucks (short haul transport of the ore) is in fact one of the less critical operations of the mine. So mine operators would never want their huge excavators/other machines worth tens of crores of rupees to sit idle because a piddly (from their perspective) dump truck broke down. It makes *enormous* economic sense for them to buy 100% reliable Volvo trucks even if that sometimes means paying twice the cost of a breakdown-prone desi option.

These are sophisticated customers for whom uptime is truly valuable. That also means they do care about proper maintenance - none of the corner cutting you may see with Volvo bus operators. In fact almost all of these dump trucks are bought with on-site servicing setups run by respective manufacturers. Volvo, Daimler, etc. actually spend more than a crore rupees per workshop on building a service bay + parts inventory in remote mines to ensure 100% uptime.

TL,DR: Reliability is worth *gold* to some customers. These customers swear by Volvos and Scanias and Daimlers

How about the Primas? Any idea on how they are doing against the Euro imports? Is the Prima really breakdown-prone and less valuable?

[buddha]

Originally Posted by D33-PAC

How about the Primas? Any idea on how they are doing against the Euro imports? Is the Prima really breakdown-prone and less valuable?

I dont know much about the Prima dumper's performance as a product, but the sense I have is that though its quite good, it may not be as sophisticated as the Volvos or Scanias. If that is indeed the case, then the question would be: For a performance sensitive customer, is a 90% product really attractive - even if its at 80% cost?
But that's just the sense I have - not necessarily grounded in facts. The on ground reality is that Prima dumper sales are weak primarily because Tata Motors hasnt yet offered customers on-site servicing. Once that aspect is taken care of, we can observe what customers think of the product (based on offtake).

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by prateek99

Thanks ben! Are you sure this one is 43 ton GVW? Not a 37er?

Or perhaps Volvo has played with the axle distance?

Volvo claims the 43 ton capacity is based on the US ton. Based on the conversion tools available online, it comes out to about 39t 8.944 kgs.

[Shome]

a gear knob to drool for!!!!

[599gto]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Looks awesome. Nice cabin as well.

2 questions.

1. Don't these Dump Trucks have a tailgate(?) for the load bay? I have seen many pictures of different Dump Trucks in mines without the rear gate. Doesn't this hamper the loading capacity?

Sorry for the late reply, seems nobody addressed ypur query no.2.
These trucks are primarily used in mining of ores and limestone, the load bays you see on these trucks are specifically made for mining (they are ribbed on the inside if you see carefully and the body pattern on the outside also helps rigidity), they do not have a tailgate because having a tailgate would restrict the movement of large sized rocks, and the kink you see at the tail of the load bay helps in stopping the rocks to slide off, moreover these mining trucks are not used to carry load over very long distances hence no need of a tailgate.

[deetjohn]

Originally Posted by 599gto

Sorry for the late reply, seems nobody addressed ypur query no.2.

Thank You for addressing the question! That makes perfect sense.

And moreover, the hanging tailgate in the smaller tipper trucks, which carry sand and small stones make loud bangs while closing when the loading bay is coming down on the multistage hydraulic cylinder. It is very annoying. I have always wondered why can't they install some dampeners.