Hino, why so rare?

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
101

Juddian:
I think without modern traction aids satans gearboxes could see trucks folding up quite easily in the wet especially loaded, the bloody things take so long to sort themeselves out and regain power at junctions that the very point when you would have resumed power in a manual to pull you round, the bloody thing is still deciding what to do, so a bit more power gets sapped as the tyres bite on the roundabout so the bloody thing need to drop yet another.

There are not enough oaths to describe my feelings about them (Volvo’s excepted), i hate them with a vengeance, usually overriding them and driving them manually in an attempt to make some progress.

About as much use as a chocolate teapot.

One of my mates had to drive an auto MAN last week, he couldn’t believe how slow the thing was and thought there was something wrong, he did manage to only need two lanes to maintain a straight line on the motorway though so he done well with the heap…he used to own MAN’s when they were a proper truck and to say he was disappointed is putting it mildly.

Did someone mention Eaton Twin Splitter…gearbox heaven, which incidentally gave its best in F90 MAN’s of the 80’s which revved high and dropped revs quickly, perfect combination for rapid and accurate changes.

:laughing: :laughing: Had to laugh at your description of how auto’s behave at junctions and roundabouts.
Laughed even more when you mentioned Twin-Splitters. The first time I drove a truck with the Twin-Splitter I think I performed the same as the auto box. Think I may well have worn out the thrust bearing.:blush: :blush:

102

Solly:

Juddian:

:laughing: :laughing: Had to laugh at your description of how auto’s behave at junctions and roundabouts.
Laughed even more when you mentioned Twin-Splitters. The first time I drove a truck with the Twin-Splitter I think I performed the same as the auto box. Think I may well have worn out the thrust bearing.:blush: :blush:

Bugger me don’t remind me of my first use of an Eaton Twin Splitter, never heard a noise like it, but after about a month of full time use it finally all clicked into place and i reckon it as the best truck box of all time.

Me first artic was a Mickey Mouse Foden with the air range shift on the steering column, my first day with that i came to a full stop several times, once you lost a gear that was it, then trying to get going again and kangarooing up the road with any stuff in the cab bouncing around till it reached the floor…i wouldn’t want one of those again but it did stand me in good stead for subsequent years.

103

Juddian:
I think without modern traction aids satans gearboxes could see trucks folding up quite easily in the wet especially loaded, the bloody things take so long to sort themeselves out and regain power at junctions that the very point when you would have resumed power in a manual to pull you round, the bloody thing is still deciding what to do, so a bit more power gets sapped as the tyres bite on the roundabout so the bloody thing need to drop yet another

To be honest I’d never given it much thought about how auto’s perform at junctions and roundabouts until you mentioned it.

Until…Lo and behold this morning I was waiting to cross a roundabout on the A1 when this artic owned by a well known supermarket rolled along outside me. I swear I could hear the selector forks shuffling the synchro hubs around inside the box. I thought about what you said and I chuckled when it slowly drifted onto the roundabout powerless and thought… yeah… they’re all in there somewhere son it’s just a matter of finding out where. :laughing:

104

Even though it doesn’t realy matter I like the fact my Volvo has a gearstick where it should be rather than the switch my previous MAN had. Must be a phsyco logical thing.

105

kr79:
Even though it doesn’t realy matter I like the fact my Volvo has a gearstick where it should be rather than the switch my previous MAN had. Must be a phsyco logical thing.

I have to put my hands up…I’ve never driven an auto-box truck so it’s difficult to have a valid opinion on them either way. Personally it was reassuring to have the stick there and know you were fully in control of what was happening inside the box and not waiting for some electronic hardware to sort itself out. So you’re right… it must be psychological as you say. There again I suppose what you are used is what counts.

106

The main problem with auto boxes is managers who think that it is cleverer than the driver and tell their staff to leave it in auto, or like the thread on here a while back block off the manual setting. You need to use your eyes and tell it what to do on occasion, some are better than others and can be left to their own devices. The ZF box you find in a MAN needs to be told about hills and roundabouts, on approach if you are anticipating the gap select manual and put the thing in the gear you want. You will find you can pull away. I-Shift rarely needs input.

107

Theres an Irish company called Fitzsimmons who deliver for Dunnes Stores (retail outlet) and they run lots of small Hino units,some look well too,but otherwise rare here too maybe a few tippers or skip wagons about.

108

Hino 700 Series.
I have been driving tippers since 1976 as a driver for local sand quarries in the Northwest, in 1987 became an owner driver and bought my first 6 wheel tipper 1982 Mastiff kept her for three years, then had Volvo. In 1990 bought my first Foden 6 wheeler second hand with ■■■■■■■■ engine that blew up. 1999 first new Foden 6x4 tipper with Cat 380 then 2003 Foden Cat 450, when Fodens packed up bought 2007 Hino 700 series 410 8x4 alloy Ali-weld body and electric sheet front to back alloy wheels and air con, some folk on here seem not to like the Hino 700, but have had mine since 2007 carries bulk aggregates in the Northwest. Midlands and North Wales never had anything wrong with her, hardly any spanners have been near the engine nor the ZF16 speed box, no broken springs, she carries 20800 tonnes and does between 8 and 8.5mpg depending on the work she does. At mot time she has a full service and wash and never uses any oil from one service to the other. As to the gearbox being 4 x 4 and slap over with half gear drops you get use to that, I dont find the clutch heavy and do like the high sitting cab, with the cab being so high it lets you see over hedge cops what other folk are up to. As to the bunk I agree with most the mattress is a plank of wood covered in cloth, but have now put in a 5 inch mattress and that is a lot better. Would I buy another, YES for the price I paid in 2007 this truck/tipper has been a god send for me, I priced Volvo`s and Dafs at the time and the Hino was £15000 cheaper, OK I may not get the end price like a Volvo or Daf but who cares the Hino will stay with me until I retire, I have another 5 years to go. So you see there are Hino fans out there including myself and I have no regrets and would buy another.

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109

Cheers for that post Littlerbulk.

Thats not bad service at all from your Hino, good to see someone who judges a motor on what it does not by what badge is stuck to the front.

110

Juddian

Many thanks for your reply. Your right it doesn`t matter what badge is on the front, as long as the truck does the job it intended to do then why spend thousand and thousand pounds when you can buy a Hino at chicken money and still earn enough to carry the job further. By the way happen to get on this site by accident but all these stories have interested me and hopefully will stay a bit thanks for letting me sound off, it does the heart well.

111

Littlerbulk:
Juddian

Many thanks for your reply. Your right it doesn`t matter what badge is on the front, as long as the truck does the job it intended to do then why spend thousand and thousand pounds when you can buy a Hino at chicken money and still earn enough to carry the job further. By the way happen to get on this site by accident but all these stories have interested me and hopefully will stay a bit thanks for letting me sound off, it does the heart well.

0

That Fodens a crackin’ motor, always believed in well specified motors, on top of the job and spend their lives running easy, leading to long economical lives.

My old gaffer from years ago always bought British, big cam ■■■■■■■■ Eaton, Rockwells, couldn’t go wrong, maintained very well leading to trouble free life and a queue of owner drivers wishing to buy them at 5 to 7 years…this modern electronic carp gets sent abroad at that or earlier, about knackered at 5 years and too expensive and complicated to overhaul for second life.

Hino harks back to those old days IMO, simple as they can get away with considering the never ending legislation and none the worse for that, that old saying has never been proved wrong…‘‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’’

Quick rant here cos i fancy one… :wink:

I’m as sad as anyone to live through the death of the British truck industry…and the rest of our industry flushed down the pan with it and hardly an objection to be heard from British working class people who’s lives depended on keeping it all alive…sod the rulers and toffs they will always be doing OK, they have money to invest where their mates in charge point to with a wink and a brown envelope
Its the genuine working (not shirking) people who get shafted and voting for it like turkeys voting for Christmas for Heavens sake, too brainwashed and blinkered to see that they are being bamboozled by bloody spivs…Bliar/Cameroon just the most recent of the inbreed.

Reckon i must have been one of the last who insisted on buying everything made in Britain…sales people in shops used to look at me gone out, like they were seeing some bloody old relic on the antiques road show, sod 'em all…we destroyed our own country and people (not me) voted in one traitor after another to oversee the destruction, curse 'em all.

If i had the choice at work i’d give Hino a chance, might as well keep the Japanese in work as prop up the bloody doomed EU.

The new German artic i was issued with this year is starting to disintegrate by the way, too hard on the tip work?, not likely, it spends its days mostly on the motorway at my cruising speed of 81kph, i’ve taken to carrying a full set of Torx sockets to retighten the door locks and grab handles etc which seem to have been put on finger tight at the factory, God knows what important stuff is gradually falling off where it can’t be seen.

Keep us posted on your Hino please.

112

Foden Alpha is/was a cracking tipper. I had a 6w one with the Cat 345 and that went really well and was great on fuel (9.8 mpg). Always fancied a go in a Hino though.

113

juddian and muckaway- hinos are ■■■■! i keep telling you,but you wont listen!! banish these thoughts of driving these awful jap motors,you wont like them if you do get to drive one(and nothing to do with badge snobbery,they really are poor-ever been in a bedford tk?(i am however a big fan of bedfords for sentimental reasons lol) do you like having your knees under your chin and your head stooping to see out of the windscreen? the seat wont go back far enough? get used to that in a poxy hino!! and i am only 5 feet ten!! yes they are relatively simple,but they are still ■■■■.when did you last see a brand new one? nobody is buying them now,as they are dross…

114

Andrew S, there was a new unregistered one with a Thompson Steelite body at Isuzu trucks Wimborne Ind Est a couple of weeks ago. Saw a Tarmac Lafarge mixer on a 62 plate in London the other day.
:wink: :smiley:

115

Mick George has a very recent fleet of them running round Northants too.

Being cramped inside never stopped Volvo selling thousands of FL’s and then FM’s which were no better for driver room.

Thing is there are a lot of us simply fed up to the R send with modern computerised automated lorries designed so any fool can drive them, i would actually like to drive a real lorry again properly not just attend the wheel, preferably one with a real engine brake.

116

Everyone seems to be ranting and raving on how dismal the Hino 700 is, but until you have drove one, that is a real mans truck you will never know. I can come from Buxton over the Cat road fully loaded with 20800 of stone on board with both Hino retarder and Jacobs engine brake and never have to touch the brakes until she drives in to Macclesfield, how many trucks can do that, the Hino has never had a brake reline since new and that is 6 years ago, if use your gears properly and the retarder then nothing can be better. As to the cab I am 5 feet 11 inches and weigh 18 stone, my legs dont touch any part of the dashboard, theres plenty of room in her cab, when driving the Foden if I wanted to open the passenger side window I could just about reach the handle/switch with a stretch, but the Hino I would have to get out and go around if it didnt have electric windows on the drivers side door, tell you the cab is plentiful room once inside and just my cup of tea.
The 6 wheel Foden I had with rubber suspension if you happen to drive on to loose sand it would try to dig its self in but with the Hino springs these are much better for getting off loose materials such as sand and gravel, OK they are big bruiser of springs on the back end but I have never bust one yet and have been in some awkward place a few times. When I first bought the Hino back in 2007 my first look of it was a shock, big springs, big cab, but once inside and found the exact sitting position and drove for a couple of hours I found that she was a very comfortable truck to drive, excellent 16 speed box, like the half gear drops. My only gripe is from the Foden the torque was through each gear, with the Hino the same torque is there but not on top gearing that means that when arrive at any incline you must remember to drop half a gear to keep the revs up or half way up you will have to change a full gear or maybe two to get back the revs, with the Foden you never worried about dropping a gear but with the Foden being a 6 wheeler you did have 450 bhp on tap, as the Hino is only 410bhp but the actually gearing is slightly different, theres not a lot of difference only on top gear. Would I buy another, yes if I was going to stay in the bulk aggregate supplies, I am 59 now the CPC drivers cert comes in September 2014 that is my deadline whether to carry on and take my CPC drivers cert (already done 14 hrs) or just pack up the driving and run my business from a computer and telephone and dont think my customers would mind although quite a few do like me to visit there premises i think its just for the conversations we have.

117

@ Littlerbulk, i was enjoying your post but something happened half way down and the first half repeated itself.

118

Nothing wrong with the Hino badge. Hino is part of the Toyota Group, one of the worlds largest automotive companies and Hino is the biggest truck producer in Japan. Just because Hino are not big here in Europe, doesn’t mean they are a nobody…google it and find out!

119

Juddian:
Thanks for the further replies, (and the link to the Harris pages), still assembled in Ireland then, presumably container ships for cost, but i’m surprised its cheaper than importing full assembed motors, mind you by the time you’ve fitted a countries normal extras and legal bits i suppose quick final assembly isn’t much more.

Didn’t they used to assemble Volvo’s in Scotland at one time?..still?

Interesting the clutch as gone but presumably the truck made it home under its own steam, hope that turns up quickly and fairly priced and you are under way again soon Hammer…64 thou dollar question, would you buy another?

Volvo plant in Irvine is gone, yrs ago…and it was truck and bus !!!, It was the best plant but production was moved to Poland on cost, and Poland was shut 21 months later due to crap finish.■■? Irvine was the best plant for specials and did lots of military stuff all all over the world. The Missus Dad was an engineer there. And they built our old F12 still parked outside.

120

3 wheeler:

Juddian:

Volvo plant in Irvine is gone, yrs ago…and it was truck and bus !!!, It was the best plant but production was moved to Poland on cost, and Poland was shut 21 months later due to crap finish.■■? Irvine was the best plant for specials and did lots of military stuff all all over the world. The Missus Dad was an engineer there. And they built our old F12 still parked outside.

A classic case of it aint broke don’t fix it.

And millions of good working peoples lives have been disrupted and changed forever due to such things, with little if any overall benefit to the company either.

As an aside, where were our unions whilst the Labour party deliberately replaced the British worker (read voter) with unprecedented immigrant numbers from '97 on, admitted this week my Mandleson that this immigration swarm was by design.

Wasn’t deafened by protest as their loyal core members were systematically shelved, and so much for the Labour party being for the working man…ho bloody ho.