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truck test HINO’S SHIFTING FOCUS Hino’s long wheelbase addition to its long-serving 700-series heavy-duty range certainly packs plenty of punch for a truck essentially designed for three-axle rigid work. It also packs enough extras to soften the view – at least for now – that time is starting to catch up with this stalwart of the Hino stable. Best of all, however, is the way ZF’s Traxon transmission adds new vim and vigour to a true toiler, uphill and down. Steve Brooks reports Above: Smart ’n smooth: ZF Traxon 16-speeder offers exceptional shift quality and brilliant intuition while standard Intarder hydraulic retarder is exceptional EVEN BEFORE the truck turned a wheel, there was not an ounce of doubt that Hino’s long wheelbase 2848 six-wheeler rigid would make light work of just about anything thrown at it. And to be blunt, we threw plenty, but we’ll get to that shortly. The simple basics are that the FS 2848 is a new addition to Hino’s 700-series heavy-duty line-up, based on a typical ‘Swiss cheese’ chassis stretched to a wheelbase just shy of 6.3 metres for body lengths up to almost 9.2 metres. So, why the extra-long chassis now? It’s a reasonable question given that the 700-series has been around for 12 years or more and for the most part, has been largely configured for prime mover duties and shorter rigid work in, say, truck and dog trailer roles. There’s also an eightwheeler version of the 700-series but even its wheelbase is more than 300mm shorter than the latest new six-wheeler. The answer lies in a piece of clever marketing and niche engineering principally targeting the rural sector and specifically, cattle carriers with concessional approval in some areas which allow full use of the model’s 28.3 tonne gross vehicle mass (GVM) rating. Yet while rural roles are the main reason for the longer model’s creation, Hino has no intention of limiting the truck’s appeal to farming folk alone. Not for a moment! As Hino Australia’s manager of product strategy, Daniel Petrovski, states in a press release: “We have developed this truck at the specific request of our customers – it is suitable for any number of applications from general farm duties or cattle trucks to a 14-pallet rigid freight truck or a flat tray with a rearmounted crane.” In effect, anything requiring a long wheelbase, tandem-drive rigid truck with plenty of punch, a proven durability pedigree, and most impressively, a silky smooth and incredibly intuitive automated transmission equipped with a hugely effective in-built retarder. Again, we’ll get to the details shortly but in the interim, don’t go thinking Hino’s stretched workhorse doesn’t have at least some capacity for towing a trailer. For instance, a generous and somewhat optimistic gross combination mass (GCM) rating of 72 tonnes, the 16-speed version of ZF’s latest Traxon automated shifter rather than its 12-speed counterpart, plus the retention of a rather over-sized trailer brake handpiece and associated air plumbing, all blatantly suggest a pig trailer full of cows, sheep or indeed pigs, is one of several possible trailer options. Or maybe a turf truck pulling an earthmoving machine. Whatever, you get the picture. But before we get off air plumbing, the site of a small air tank low-slung halfway down the driver’s side chassis rail appears odd in the extreme. Surely there’s a less susceptible position somewhere on such a long chassis. Anyway, down to the nitty gritty. While the prospect of a 700-series model working at a GCM of 72 tonnes would be more than a tad ambitious, the same truck working as a long wheelbase, three-axle rigid flat-top is an entirely different and somewhat inviting proposition. Take our road test unit, for example. Befitting its rural aspirations, the 8.8 metre long tray body was stacked with large fodder bales to produce an all-up weight of 21 tonnes which, of course, wasn’t particularly heavy work for a truck punched with an engine displacing almost 13 litres, pumping 480hp (353kW) and almost 1,600ft-lb (2,157Nm) of torque through the super-slick and incredibly intuitive ZF Traxon 16-speed automated shifter. Consequently, given a truck so amply equipped for such a relatively light weight, it seemed only fair and reasonable to tackle a test route tough enough to produce at least some semblance of sweat for the Hino heavy. Besides, hard hills became almost mandatory after the enthusiasm of Hino insiders extolling the merits of the Traxon transmission, not least a retardation system sporting the truck’s standard engine compression (Jake) brake working in concert with the ZF shifter’s three-stage Intarder hydraulic retarder. It didn’t take long to think of a track which would ask plenty of the truck, uphill and down, despite its modest bulk. Starting from Hino headquarters at Taren Point on Sydney’s southern rim and with almost 5,000km under its belt, the test unit was steered south down the long descent of Mt Ousley before reaching the outskirts of the regional centre of Nowra. From there, a right turn took the Hino up and over the steep, sharply twisting turns of the Cambewarra climb, along the undulating floor of Kangaroo Valley before the long, snaking assault of Barrengarry Mountain and eventually popping out atop the Southern Highlands. Then, through Bowral and Mittagong, and a relatively easy jaunt along the Hume Freeway before hitting suburban snarls and finally, back to Hino headquarters. All up, almost 350km of hugely diverse and at times, highly demanding road work, even for a truck so well-endowed for such a modest weight. Old and New With typical Japanese detail, the long wheelbase model’s full title is ‘FS 2848 AMT AIR 6267’ which, simply explained, means it’s a 480hp (358kW) forward-control truck with a GVM of 28 tonnes, 62 MAY 2020 ownerdriver.com.au
ownerdriver.com.au MAY 2020 63
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ownerdriver MAY 2020 #328 $3.00 inc
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Contents #328 MAY 2020 16 8 RED LIG
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ownerdriver EDITORIAL Managing Edit
Page 8 and 9:
The Goods NEWS FROM THE HIGHWAY AND
Page 10 and 11:
THE GOODS NEWS FROM THE HIGHWAY AND
Page 12 and 13: THE GOODS NEWS FROM THE HIGHWAY AND
Page 14 and 15: THE GOODS NEWS FROM THE HIGHWAY AND
Page 16 and 17: owner profile MELBOURNE-BASED truck
Page 18 and 19: “My grandpa John King bought his
Page 20 and 21: “I was pretty blown away by the a
Page 22 and 23: oads and infrastructure ROADS TO ER
Page 24 and 25: “The poor condition of roads has
Page 26 and 27: “Ratepayers are often left to fun
Page 28 and 29: WILKIE’S WATCH Ken Wilkie What pr
Page 30 and 31: LIVESTOCK & RURAL John Beer Diamond
Page 32 and 33: The legal view Sarah Marinovic Bala
Page 34 and 35: truck of the month 34 MAY 2020 owne
Page 36 and 37: substantiated as I watched her whee
Page 39 and 40: PROUDLY SPONSORED BY
Page 41 and 42: THE ORIGINAL ENGINE OIL AMERICA'S F
Page 43 and 44: PUSHING THE PINK MESSAGE Canada’s
Page 45 and 46: “My sister and I used to do the a
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Page 49 and 50: “A mate of mine is losing his bus
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Page 53 and 54: AFTERMARKET BODY PARTS HINO • ISU
Page 55 and 56: See page 58 *ENTER AT: VALVOLINEPRO
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Owner/Driver #328

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