SUNNYSIDE UP
While doing the rounds of a UK tour with customers, Collins Earthworks operator, 74-year old Barry Northedge, has spent plenty of time in the seat of the A60H and reckons it’s the smoothest riding ADT he’s had the pleasure to use. “With front axle suspension, you can just keep your foot in. This truck has plenty of power and is boss of the job.” Front-axle suspension is even more impressive when fully loaded, allowing the A60H to glide where others are required to scrub off speed to preserve operator comfort when surface conditions deteriorate – this is where the gearbox gets busy. There’s a lot of cog-swapping going on, particularly when you need to get 100 tonnes of truck and payload away from the loading area, and there’s a constant change of gradient, along with an element of softness underfoot that just compounds the rolling resistance. But the D16 engine just keeps giving and does this without
protest. On a regular route, where you can involve yourself with progress, it’s easy to extract better performance by using the transmission hold and letting that strong engine do the lugging. The Dump Assist feature is also a very welcome development. Every time I pulled into the tip area, my eyes were busy scanning the surface and watching the inclinometer on the dashboard. Unless I was under the threshold for safe tipping, I wouldn’t bother to hit the load/dump button and pull on the tipping lever. No system could ever account for ground that suddenly gives way under your tyres while you’re tipping, but this does at least give reassurance that you’re going to be in the best frame of mind when you start to tip. You can
operate safely in the knowledge that you just can’t be caught out when it comes to tipping. If the system does prevent you from safely raising the skip, you’ll be well and truly informed before having to dream up excuses to tell the boss why it went over.
And for that alone, the A60H gets a huge thumbs up. ■
KEY SPECIFICATIONS: MODEL Engine
Power Torque
Transmission
Unloaded weight Rated payload Body
Fuel tank AdBlue
Lifting capacity at full reach across carriage
A60H
Volvo D16J, 16-litre inline six-cylinder turbo diesel
639hp @ 1,800rpm 2,960Nm @ 1,050rpm
Allison with six forward, two reverse speeds with lock-up in all gears and a selectable low range
43.75 tonnes 55 tonnes
33.6cu m (heaped)
750 litres, with fast-fill option 7.0 metres 60 litres
THE VOICE MAGAZINE No30 2017 11
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