Coal Carter at KW Dealer Rockhampton

This unit was sitting in the Rockhampton KW Dealers Yard over the Easter Weekend.






Oldfulla

Hey oldfulla, Did you get a look at the Diffs???

Looks like they're Hub reduction to Me!!!!

EMNTK....

Hayseed

No - it was locked behind a fence.

But - yes they are usually fitted with hub reduction diffs - in the 55/60,000 LB range (I think).

From memory (so not reliable) these things are rated around the 200 tonne GCM range. And are off hiway vehicles - but still run fairly long distances on mine roads.

There is a few mines inthe Central Qld coal fields that dont have direct rail connections - so they use trucks for the washplant to rail head haulage. 30-50 klm runs.

And when you are loading 10,000 Tonne trains that are all pre booked - they have to keep the rail head stock pile full.

The deal most mines have is - they pre book trains years ahead - and they turn up whether you are ready on not. And you pay for the full train even if it goes away empty.

There is at least one mine near Copperbella where the road haulage uses the main highway - so their trucks have to be highway legal in size, weight etc. Probably working in the 140 T GCM range.

Oldfulla

G'day Oldfulla, I rekon the pretty white is going to look a bit darker fairly quickly.... :'( I bet it would cost the best part of 1m to put it onsite ready to go. It would be interesting to pilot it as well. After the first couple of weeks the shine would wear off. Great pics, thanks for putting them up. Neil.

Neil

I dont know whether you will find much on the net about these - but there has been quite a few magazine articles written about them.

Truckin Life did one only a few months ago.

Yes - they get pretty dirty - but most of the operators keep them in pretty good nick with washing facilities etc.

Oldfulla

The diff's are SISU, a truck builder from Finland, much like RFW. They use others engines and gearboxes, currently using MB so not a good move in my opinion. The diff's they make themselves, and KW and I suppose PACCAR have been using them for some time. I saw a KW at B&H's a while back with these diffs, tandem drive with a 600hp CAT rated for 200 tonne on road heavy haul, so off road could be 300 tonne. Smiths at Gympie have been building a lot of these trailers, although these might be Smithy's trailers. The trailers can be road towed under escort from factory to customer, so no need for floats for delivery.

This mob

www.powertrans.net/2011/index.php/home.html
have got into building off road trucks for distance hauling of minerals from mine to plant/railhead. I go past their factory in Brisbane, and Toll have some getting built. These units and KW/Mack units have replaced what might once been light rail years ago.

Back to Sisu, interesting blurb from site
" If automated transmission is not enough, Fuller can help. With unsynchronised manual transmission, a skilled driver can outperform any automated transmission. The legendary Eaton Fuller is making a comeback on Finland

Sisu also make motors they put them in bigger Massey Ferguson tractors

Sisu also make motors they put them in bigger Massey Ferguson tractors

And headers......7 cyl motors.

The more I look, the more I find. Sisu Axles www.sisuaxles.com/ is a separate company recently purchased by Marmon-Herrington www.marmon-herrington.com/ , (historically linked to Marmon Trucks) owned by investment company Berkshire Hathaway, a major shareholder being Warren Buffet. Sisu is still based in Finland. Sisu motors it seems were made for Sisu trucks by Valmet/Linnavuori info found here www.agcopower.com/company/history/ . Anyway after all that Sisu trucks are separate again, but using Sisu diffs if wanted but looks like they are using MB gear as well. The Sisu axles site has some pictures of Australian KW's on it. I also found Sisu axles are an option on Macks Titan www.macktrucks.com.au/assets/mack/Austra...tions/Titan_MP10.pdf rated at 57 000lbs tandem or tri 86 000lbs tri. Mack diffs in tri possibly Renault diffs pip them at 97 000lbs in tri although that possibly might not mean the truck can pull anymore. That's enough learning for today, and enough links for a chain!

These are the big girls in our area