Questions about lorries

Questions about lorries

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Discussion

Rusty569

Original Poster:

207 posts

114 months

Sunday 9th October 2016
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Especially whilst travelling next to lorries in roadwork sections the same few questions keep popping into my head:
- What mpg do you get fully loaded
- What size engine is in a normal lorry and what speed do they spin at
- Manual or auto?
- How many miles will it cover in a year/its lifetime?
- How long do the tyres last and how much do they cost!?
- Whats the service interval for an oil change and other basic components?

caelite

4,282 posts

119 months

Monday 10th October 2016
quotequote all
Rusty569 said:
Especially whilst travelling next to lorries in roadwork sections the same few questions keep popping into my head:
- What mpg do you get fully loaded
- What size engine is in a normal lorry and what speed do they spin at
- Manual or auto?
- How many miles will it cover in a year/its lifetime?
- How long do the tyres last and how much do they cost!?
- Whats the service interval for an oil change and other basic components?
-Between 5-15 depending on engine, load & driver

-Artic, 7L to 13L putting out 300-500bhp, you do get engines up to 16L and 750bhp but they are very rare and not really needed in UK where we are limited to 44ton GTW

-Most modern trucks are auto with 8 to 14 gears.

-For the lifespan of a truck that really is a 'piece of string' question, depends on the operator, your average engine will last 800k-1million miles between major rebuilds, 100k a year is a normal number

-£300-600 a wheel for a good set, like car tyres there are Chinese brands coming in with £200 offerings of questionable quality. Trailers and dead axles I honestly dont know, for drives and steers 50-100k miles depending on loading, power and driver.

-25-50k service intervals are normal, depends a lot on the truck and driver.

Rusty569

Original Poster:

207 posts

114 months

Monday 10th October 2016
quotequote all
caelite said:
-Between 5-15 depending on engine, load & driver

-Artic, 7L to 13L putting out 300-500bhp, you do get engines up to 16L and 750bhp but they are very rare and not really needed in UK where we are limited to 44ton GTW

-Most modern trucks are auto with 8 to 14 gears.

-For the lifespan of a truck that really is a 'piece of string' question, depends on the operator, your average engine will last 800k-1million miles between major rebuilds, 100k a year is a normal number

-£300-600 a wheel for a good set, like car tyres there are Chinese brands coming in with £200 offerings of questionable quality. Trailers and dead axles I honestly dont know, for drives and steers 50-100k miles depending on loading, power and driver.

-25-50k service intervals are normal, depends a lot on the truck and driver.
Thanks!

Harvey Mushman00

271 posts

140 months

Tuesday 11th October 2016
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£600 per tyre, where are you buying them from!!!


Jimbo.

4,040 posts

196 months

Monday 24th October 2016
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Re. Servicing, I do recall my old employer throwing its trucks in for service every 6 weeks, regardless of mileage. They were in use 24/7 (or as much as possible!), mind.

Super Slo Mo

5,368 posts

205 months

Monday 24th October 2016
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Jimbo. said:
Re. Servicing, I do recall my old employer throwing its trucks in for service every 6 weeks, regardless of mileage. They were in use 24/7 (or as much as possible!), mind.
That's more likely to be the periodic maintenance inspection that you are obliged to do by law and it's time dependent not mileage.
That said, it is possible to extend the interval if your vehicles are covering low mileages. I managed to get my first fleet extended to 8 weeks.
The last place I worked at had 4 weekly inspections. They always called them services but they weren't really.

It's law and is part of the terms laid out in the provision of the o licence.

grumpy52

5,717 posts

173 months

Monday 5th December 2016
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We have 3 yr old trucks with 400,000kms on them .
We've had transit vans returned to Ford after long term test of 3yrs with 460000mls on them ,these are usually stripped inspected and scrapped on return .
Just backing off by a couple of mph makes a big difference to consumption on vehicles doing 4-500miles per day .

GC8

19,910 posts

197 months

Tuesday 13th December 2016
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Harvey Mushman00 said:
£600 per tyre, where are you buying them from!!!
Time to look-up Double Happiness!

Martin350

3,783 posts

202 months

Tuesday 10th January 2017
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Rusty569 said:
Especially whilst travelling next to lorries in roadwork sections the same few questions keep popping into my head:
- What mpg do you get fully loaded
A mate of mine is an HGV driver.
He sent me a photo of his dash read-out a while ago, he was pulling 42 tons up a fairly steep hill at the time, the read-out showed...




... 1 mpg! biggrin

GC8

19,910 posts

197 months

Tuesday 10th January 2017
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But going down the other side it will have read 99.99mpg...