Hi all, looking at purchasing an old merc 2628 6 legger grab lorry (52 plate). The truck has been well looked after but that having been said grab and tipper work is hard on the trucks. I’ve been advised to stay away from mercs due to very high maintenance costs, looking for a little guidance off somebody who has run these. Many thanks.
It all depends on your local dealer, if you have a good one then a Merc is one of the best lorries on the road, if you’re near a bad dealer you may as well set fire to all your money now and save yourself a lot of headaches 
The lorry itself is as good as you’ll find though, the engines are unburstable and the Merc reputation of being over engineered is deserved, so they’ll stand up to whatever you throw at them 
TBH I dont think that much depends on the local dealer at all, well not in our area anyway (as our local merc dealer is not the best) if you buy a 10 year old truck you wont be using the main dealer for general repairs/service, the only time at the dealers would be if you were stuck/broke down or to collect parts or even for jobs that at times have an offer or fixed price!
If you can afford to pay main stealer prices you might as well buy a newer truck in the first place!
hauliers i know that have run mercs rate them and seem to buy them again and again, never had owt to do with them in tipper form so cant comment, the merc rigids and tractor units i have run along side and also driven have been reliable and also seem quite simple to work on from a repair point of veiw, although not my favorite drive!
Seems to me like you ve answered your own question , don’t expect the dealer to have any parts for it, it ll be all next day and you won’t be able to order parts Friday for Saturday morning , they don’t deliver from mk .
My advice would be to keep well away and go and find a Daf , at least they or your local factor will the parts .
Thanks for the input guys, I’m really struggling with this one. I know daf is a better truck but you try and find one, for the price of the 52 merc which has been well looked after (just had a new gearbox) £12750.00. Daf 1995 been treated like a baby and really well looked after £12000.00. I’m only planning on keeping the truck 12 months or so before I hopefully upgrade, I’ve always had dafs in the past but I’m sure I’d struggle to sell an old daf later on.
I’m guessing this is an Atego.They are a solid truck,very like the old SK’s but as in all merc’s the gearbox and clutche’s are the weak point.You will need a dealer for any age Merc,if they get a clutch the manufacturer has to program it 
even on an Atego with a manual change. Also check wear and tear on steering rack,they only have 2 grease ■■■■■■’s. No grease ■■■■■■’s on drive shaft on back end either ,rear bearing’s can go you hear the whine easily though and check the steering for vagueness the box undre the pedal’s can be tightened to solve this. Oh and if you want a good DAF buy pre 2002,they are ■■■■■ since then 
Cheers Ellie’s Dad for the advise, looked over the truck today and to be honest it’s a real cracker, spoke to the previous owner for the heads up on the truck and glad I did. It’s been we’ll maintained with ten new tyres, new disks and pads on evey axle, new tacho, not long since last service both on crane and truck, recent clutch. The truck seems to drive loverly, the only problem being a slight crunch from second to third but goes in ok when warmed up, slight crunch on the way back down aswell from forth to third, that having been said put a guy in my current truck and he would crunch every gear until he got used to it. One thing that did alarm me slightly was it did display something like visit garage immediately service overdue. The previous owner said it was serviced at imprial commercials (daf dealer) and they didn’t have the software to reset the system. He was going to get it done at merc but as he was selling it thought he’d save the £50.00. Any input to the above will be greatly appreciated, many thanks to all who have took the time to give me some really valued advise.
By the sounds of it there are problems brewing in the gearbox , 3rd gear synchro Is on the way out ,my advice is the same as the earlier post unless you can steal it !!!
Hard to know if the box is ok or not,i wold’nt like to speculate. Get the service computer reset,and get a printout while at it. Scania grs900 crunch gear’s when cold but fine when warm,maybe this truck is similar maybe not. 
Brilliant motor I work for a Mercedes dealer and the “WS service immediately visit workshop” warning can be turned off on the dash without a STAR diagnosis computer.
Along similar lines to what others have said, other makes have a bigger range of pattern parts and parts from breakers that make them a better choice in an older vehicle over a Merc. We look after some Ategos and Daf LF 7.5 tonners of that age I would say the Dafs aren’t just a bit cheaper but massively cheaper to keep on the road from a parts cost point of view.
It’s definitely the case that some makes are more reliable and better quality but with 10+ year old vehicles it doesn’t matter what the badge is on the front parts will need replacing at that age regardless.
Joey123:
One thing that did alarm me slightly was it did display something like visit garage immediately service overdue. The previous owner said it was serviced at imprial commercials (daf dealer) and they didn’t have the software to reset the system. He was going to get it done at merc but as he was selling it thought he’d save the £50.00. Any input to the above will be greatly appreciated, many thanks to all who have took the time to give me some really valued advise.
This sounds like the classic ‘will fly through an MOT, just haven’t had time’. It sounds like the sort of thing there’s no way anyone sensible wouldn’t sort out if they were looking to get the best price for their vehicle.
Hard to say with the gears, plenty of trucks are hard to push the stick into gear before they’re warm from brand new but it sounds a bit worse than that.
I had an Atego 6x4 demo on an 05 plate years ago to compare with my Foden Alpha (then our newest motor). I was meant to have it for 2 to 3 days, I took it back mid mornimg on the second day; Awful gearbox, gutless at pulling and the brakes were rubbish. Having said that, it was really comfortable and a great driving position. Carried 16500 compared to 15700 on mine. Alloy bodied Merc, steel on the Foden.
Really liked the Axor demonstrator I had three years ago though.
I’d say the merc is way better than a daf. I think Dafs are the most over rated motor on the road. My last firm in the uk was Volvo through and through bought a few Dafs as price was right but they was in daf every week with the cab over.
Mercs are a real underrated truck
Hi all, and many thanks to you all for your replies.
I went for the merc 2628 I’ve had to spend a bit but only what I’d expect to bring up to A1 road safety, bit of a maintance freek, and like my motors spot on regards to road worthiness. New rear hub £1750.00 fitted, new wheels, new studs and nuts, exhaust manifold studs and nuts.
Well happy with local dealers midland truck and van merc main agents, both Birmingham and willenhall are absolutely cracking, very helpfull parts depart at both.
Love the truck, pulls like a train, very easy to drive, loverly 6 speed with splitter, I hate the 4 over 4s.
With regards to removing service now, how is it I remove via the dash board?
Looks a tidy little motor.
Stralisnumerouno:
don’t expect the dealer to have any parts for it, it ll be all next day and you won’t be able to order parts Friday for Saturday morning , they don’t deliver from mk .My advice would be to keep well away and go and find a Daf , at least they or your local factor will the parts .
What complete utter bollox 
I think it more depends on the dealer whether the part is in stock, our local parts dep is open 24hrs a day 6am mon morning till 5pm sat night, and any parts ordered fri pm arrive sat morning, things ordered sat arrive overnight sun.
All sevice parts like filters and brake pads come from our Motor Factor, and electronic air valves, brake chambers, calipers etc are Haldex, Wabco and Bosch et all and are also available from the Factors.
In my experience bar the occasional item that Merc think is gold plated, their parts prices arn’t a lot different to the Motor Factors, and its the fact they’ve got them on the shelf in the dealership that determines where I source stuff from.
Hi sorry for the late reply.
If you hit the left hand button onto the 1st menu
Scroll down to the bottom (diagnostics)
Enter diagnostics sub menu. Scroll down to (ws)
Hit enter scroll down to (delete events) then hit yes.
Will sort out not the ‘official’ way to do it but gets it out your face
For long enough not to get annoyed.
If you have any problems don’t hesitate to PM me.