Biglorryblog is most grateful to Scott McFarlane, chief engineer at Powertrans (check out their site on http://www.ptrans.com.au/) in Australia, maker of the mighty T1250 prime-mover pictured above which has featured lately in BLB. Scott tells me:" The T1250 started as a concept about 3 years ago, when it was evident that the need had arisen for a high horsepower mine site haulage vehicle, capable of existing in the mining environment. The vehicle was originally designed around a CAT C-16/18 but none of these ever made it to production. Our main customer---Bulkhaul---has a preference for the QSK-19 engine due to the excellent experience using this and its former KTA-19 engine. This engine has proven itself to be a good choice as we have now produced the latest vehicles with 760hp which is needed to haul the 350-tonne units that you posted earlier."
And here's a shot of the Bulkhaul T1250 line-up as Scott adds: "The T1250 has a lot of features that we feel are unique for the mining industry..." And to find out what they are click through here!
Those features include:
- * A reserve oil system that takes engine oil changes to 1000 hrs
- * A hydraulic tilt bonnet and cab
- * Donaldson SRG air cleaner with exhaust evacuation
- * Cooling system for 55 (!) degree ambient temp with hydraulic fan drive
- * 500 kN kingpost fifth wheel designed inhouse
- * Central mounted Cab for good vision
- * Extra Sound proofing to achieve a 76 dB sound level at full throttle
- * Front Air-suspension
- * I-beam chassis built from Swedish Steel's Weldox Material
- * Allison M6610AR transmission
"We have now built 16 of these units and they have all been relatively trouble-free for brand new vehicles," reports Scott. "It was fortune that we made the decision to develop this product as Mack Trucks are no longer in the business of building these types of vehicles and that really only leaves Kenworth with their C540 product. But this truck only has 650 Hp and that is not enough for the big units. Western Star do make a similar truck but we need the Allison auto to be compatible with the Powertrailer. Thanks Scott"
I think an email to those Volvo boys is called for - the FH16-700 is not the most powerful production truck in the world!!
This is not a road legal truck and not a unlimited series one. Volvo FH16-700 still is the most powerful street-legal series truck in the world (although MAN TGX can be ordered with their 16liter v8 rated at 800hp, not 680hp).