Always liked DAF, they were just simple, comfortable and had great bunks.
Worked my way up from a modest 45, 75 to the the 95XF, XF95, XF105. All great trucks, but my last one was a 106, and based on my experiences with that one, I would avoid DAF as best as I can! Prices for parts are absolutely bonkers as well, if you’re an O/D I certainly hope that you’ve got a R&M contract, otherwise you would go bankrupt.
Never liked the auto 'boxes in them though, never understood how they got the setting so wrong.
I’ll pretty much agree with that.
Good cabs and mostly good mechanics and electrics… Nothing too complex or fancy.
I would have gladly swopped my last DAF 106 for the earlier 105 I had.
They were different specs, but the earlier one had better brakes, better steering, much better gearbox, and more storage space. The trim was easier to keep clean too.
Some of the issues related to safety specs and atu brake systems that threw up false alarms etc, but overall the newer ones were not any sort of improvement at all.
I believe the latest XG cabs are getting better again though. About time too.
The one I really liked driving was a 480 SSC.
It had an issue with coolant loss as many of the 480s did, but once sorted it was a lovely drive.
16 speed ZF box, exhaust brake, and a proper retarder on it too. Two axles, super singles on the front.
Went ok uphill, really safe going downhill, even the A75 in France. Good on m-ways and country lanes.
Really good tool.
Not at all impressed with the replacement for it.
Auto-box, very badly set up. Crap steering. Very average engine brake. Early version of lane departure and autobrake systems.
Only redeeming feature was the SatNav.
First few months very nice then down hill all the way,
injector jolop at £300 then new injectors rattles like chuff
MPG down the pan update after update
now the batteries wont charge / hold charge
having to jump start a brand new lorry in the morning
dealer just fits new batteries that last till your off their site
like ya say without R & M we would be bankrupt
From what i see of some of the replys , Most people are talking Bollox and know sweet F/A about operating Commercial Vehicles.
Maybe that why they and Steering Wheel Attendances lol ( Thick one`s at that)
Having been in Commercial Industry all my life, and operated vehicles from 1972 i have just a little bit of knowledge to kow how to make Money lol, And DAF are the BEST vehicles to operate in this day and age, Anything in the past was something with Cummings / Fuller / Rockwell, We have tried most makes? and DAF are the BEST ( maybe if you saw my bank account that would confirm it lol) but then againg they are maintained in house , and not at some back street Main Stealer,
So to ALL you DAF haters Go and F==k yourself, as my Bank Balance confirms you are ALL WRONG lol.
Have a nice day all of you, All my days are very very nice thanks to DAF,
Any gearbox that does not use syncronisers is a crash box.
Constant mesh boxes use dog clutches instead of sliding gear trains.
The BMW bike I have is a crash box but it has a quick shifter the same as a wagon semi auto box. Disconnect the quick shifter and get the shift wrong and you find out why its called a “crash” box.
Daf went from being a tank which was the 2800 to 3300 to being a fragile piece of crap which was the 95 version it just fell apart, modern but not a tank
I’ve managed to find a post from Frankydoo on 10th May 2011. I quote as follows:
“Basically if you drove an HGV after the Sixties (and mostly before this time) then you never drove a true Crash Box, they were all Constant Mesh until the Syncromesh types plus the Semi and Automatics you could also come across. if you want ot know the difference between Crash and Constant Mesh, its all in the way the gears are made and meshed. Crash boxes straight cut teeth (noisy) and separate gears moved into mesh when selecting the next gear (even noisier), now we are talking about motors that would be around during the 20mph speed limit 1800’s to 1920/30’s. Constant Mesh boxes have gears cut at an angle and as the name says are in constant mesh (much quieter) and they use dog clutches (smaller gears that slip into the centre of the bigger meshed gears when gear selecting (should be quiet too but poor changing meant tunes from the dog clutches) hence drivers presumed wrongly they were driving a crash box. Happily along came the Synchromesh and everything was even more quieter and easier to engage (unless of course you double de clutched as I’ve known some drivers to do, oh oh). Of course the Crash Box and the Constant Mesh needed the double de clutch technique but good CM boxes allowed silent changes without the clutch, as you were engaging the Dogs at the right engine and shaft speed, you couldn’t do that with a real Crash Box unless the clutch was depressed.”
So the gearbox on my other bike (suzuki) has a crash box . It has sliding spur gears on both the main and layshafts ! And the Spicer and Eaton twin counter shaft boxes I used to repair in the 80s had sliding spur gears so they were crash as well. The reason the gears were cut at an angle was so they could transmit more power because they had a larger tooth area but were much harder to mesh when in motion. Thats why they came up with the constant mesh gearbox with sliding dogs then they developed into syncros. Angle cut gear clusters are much quieter but thats just a bonus.The idea was to transmit more power through the same size geartrain.
Interesting reply, bking: thank you. Do you, then, feel that the notion that non-synchro boxes (incl. constant-mesh ones) are not ‘crash’ boxes is basically just a bit of pedantic nonsense? I’m genuinely interested in learning the distinction. I too have peddled the idea that constant-mesh 'boxes are not crash boxes for years but I have no desire to continue to do so if I’m mistaken about the case.
I’d be interested to hear further viewpoints on this. I am not a mechanic and I’m certainly not an engineer, but I do enjoy a certain amount of sensitivity to the machinery I use on the road!
My mind remains open on this subject. I’m just interested that Frankydobo was clearly of the mind that crash and constant were distinctly different one from the other. Here’s another post of his I found on the subject:
Sorry to have to pour cold water on the ‘AEC’s used crash boxes’ statement but this is something I’ve come across quite a bit, many drivers thought they were using a crash box when infact it was a Constant Mesh box, the Constant Mesh box has been around for a very long time, well before the Second World War and AEC along with many other makers have been using them since then. There are basically three types of manual gearbox, Crash, Constant Mesh and Synchromesh, we all pretty much know the Syncro its the same as in our cars. The confusion is between the Crash and Constant Mesh, with both a need to double de-clutch was needed and its because of this action that some drivers presumed they were driving a crash box, true they might well have played tunes on it like a motorway pile up but it would have been a Constant Mesh and somehow just the fact that de-clutching was needed the myth has prevaled for many years that these were crash boxes. As regards the AEC Mandator Mk V like the one shown in the Adams Butter pic it came with a 5 speed direct drive top constant mesh box, but could also have and frequently did, a 6 speed overdrive type of the same box, so sorry constant mesh not crash. Graham Edge’s excellent book on the AEC Mandator does though mention Adams Butter having Mk V Mandators on trunk as prototypes to evaluate fast and sustained motorway driving on parts of the newly opened M1 (early 60’s) and were fitted with high speed diffs and higher than normal revving engines with special low friction pistons, no gearbox is mentioned but this couldn’t be done with a true crash box but with the 6 speed overdrive constant mesh. Hope this has helped clear that myth, I’ve so often heard guys say they had a crash box in the Sedd Atki, Transcon or even Ergo Cabbed makes when trucks made thirty years or so before these from the same makers were using constant mesh boxes. Cheers Franky."
