Bob Whitehead, RFW Trucks and Permatrak.

RFW #116 ex Brisbane City Council

RFW # 365 is the 8x8 prime mover
& #366 is the 6x6 Tri drive trailer

I occasionally see a Hi-rail RFW at Hornsby Station in Sydney.

No idea how old it is but it can't be too young and still operating for the NSW Govt.

Permatrak supplied manufacturer Coles Cranes of Revesby NSW with front suspension for some of their twin steer cranes. The 27/30T was produced in the early eighties with I think Kirkstall front truck axles. I saw another Coles 30 Ton crane years later in Western Sydney with Permatrak front suspension but the front axles resembled a round trailer axle.
The State Rail RFW is frequently spotted in the Wollongong area doing maintenance on the Illawarra line.
The Illawarra County Council had a 8x8 RFW in the eighties mounted with a Tadano crane of about 15 ton capacity. Being an 8x8 on super single tyres and a high chassis when the crane operator extended the outrigger stabilizer legs, they didn,t touch the ground. a lot of timbers were required to set this crane up on any site to ensure the crane was level.

Coles Cranes had most of there cranes with Permatrak twin steers which they supplied the axles with 10 stud hubs & got converted to spiders hubs

Sydney County Council had 2 RFW / Coles Cranes 6x6
Illawarra County Council had one 8x8 , 6x6 , 4x4 & 6x4
There’s a RFW 4x4 bucket truck ex Illawarra is parked at Maleny Queensland

NSW State Rail still have a fleet of RFW roadrailers

Warringah Shire in Sydney had RFW's towing their sewerage pump out tankers in the 70's one is some where near Geelong in a derelict state but for sale here on the forum

Jumbo. Thanks for correcting me. I rely on my memory as do many of the contributors of this forum. Does anyone knows the fate of the 2 ex Illawarra County Council RFW's.

One of the Warringah council trucks is at Hermidale Between Cobar / Nyngan is still in use in grain season ex Perways rail truck with a Hiab fitted after the council

Jumbo wrote: Coles Cranes had most of there cranes with Permatrak twin steers which they supplied the axles with 10 stud hubs & got converted to spiders hub

P.B. Coleman's 27/30 Coles crane with Permatrak front suspension and Permatrak front hubs.

Fruit and Vegetable Market from Kenny St Wollongong operated this 8x2 V6 53 GM powered RFW in the early 70's. It was the first to be built with a sleeper cab. On a trip back across the Paddy's River bridge near Marulan the second steer axle broke in half. Luckily the driver managed to stop the vehicle without causing any further damage to the truck.

Kirkstall axles weren't the strongest and maybe very heavy????