Mercedes-Benz has supplied Lincolnshire County Council with the UK’s first 8x6 Arocs model gritters for use in the Lincolnshire Wolds, a challenging area for winter service with hills and steep valleys.
The four Arocs 4143 AKs come with ClassicSpace M-Cabs, advanced 335 kW (428 hp) six-cylinder engines and Mercedes PowerShift 12-speed automated transmissions. Danish-built Epoke gritting bodies were fitted, along with demountable Riko V snowploughs complete with Küper blades.
The new Arocs gritters
As with previous gritters, Lincolnshire's new trucks are equipped with sprayers that pre-wet the dry salt with a brine and water solution just before it reaches the spinner, so it clings better to the surface, while the 32-tonne Mercedes-Benz chassis offers a carrying capacity of 10 cubic metres, meaning the vehicles can go further and stay out for longer on a route than their 26-tonne predecessor.
David Davies, principal maintenance engineer and fleet manager at Lincolnshire CC said: ‘We have been running Mercedes-Benz vehicles for a number of years now, and they have proved to be very reliable.
‘Three drive axles are essential for operation in the Lincolnshire Wolds, which are very susceptible to bad weather coming off the North Sea. The fact that our new Arocs were available direct from the factory as a complete, winterised package makes a big difference – Mercedes-Benz have met all our expectations.’
The Arocs are the subject of 10-year agreements with hire specialist Essential Fleet Services, which purchased the trucks for operation by Lincolnshire and supports 42 local authorities from a network of service centres nationwide.
National fleet engineer for Essential Fleet Services, John Dimbleby, said the 8x6 Arocs chassis was available ex-factory, removing any need to deal with a specialist, third-party converter.
‘The online build is very reassuring in terms of anticipated reliability and warranty cover, because once you start dealing with “add ons” you’re just introducing another element that can go wrong,’ he said.
Mr Dimbleby said that Mercedes-Benz trucks were ‘without doubt the most reliable on our fleet’.
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