Ironically I got crucified for daring to suggest that the F88 was let’s say overrated by the standards of the contemporary NGC, Bedford TM, and SA 400 and the retrograde SD1 v the Triumph 2.5 and Rover P6 that it laughably but sadly replaced.
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Is that a Leyland at No. 4 with a tank on its back?
That’s the way to do it, who needs fancy trailers with thousands of tiny wheels? 
I think “contemporary” is stretching it a wee bit.
There was 2 years overlap on the start of the SA400 1975,and the end of the F88 1977, but how many rate the SA400 highly against a F10/12?
How many of those have you owned, or even driven?
Have you driven any of them? I’ve only driven the Volvo, but comparing that to any other Pommie truck I had the misfortune to drive, is like comparing apples to oranges. It’s no secret my preference is for American based trucks, particularly White and Western Star, but when the G88 was released it was a quantum leap forward in comfort and ease of operation, compared to anything else available.
Yes, I rather baulked at the inclusion of the SA400 (having driven one). However, I knew that CF was aware of the modest number of SA400s produced with LHD, Cummins NTC 335 and Fuller 9sp boxes, so I let it go as I would probably go for one myself! Andy McLean who used to post on here did a Greece in one and was impressed. I heard his defence of this beast over lunch one day. The one below is actually Greek as quite a number went there on export.
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I had a bit of a soft spot for SA 400s.
A mate of mine had one and I used to go off with him before I started driving myself.
He had the Borderer before that, so the 400 with the roomy cab and twin bunk sleeper was another world in comparison, and it allowed me to go with him on longer night out runs, rather than day runs.
In later days I bought a couple of second hand ones mysrlf in fact, …good hard trucks.
First 400 I drove myself was at NCL, it was an R reg, bought for a new job, but it was ex Ryder truck rental, so it was nackerd when it was bought in…and it was only a day cab.
NCL shared the yard with BRS truck rental, so everytime it broke down,.I had brand new trucks to pick from.
I wouldnt go as far as to say I sabotaged it, but I did exaggerate it’s faults, so consequently I was on premium new trucks more often than not… until they got wise to it.
Yes, the one I drove for a short spell was a bit on the basic side and only had a Cummins 250, so it didn’t compare well the likes of the OHS SA400s that were Middle-East spec (that Andy McLean drove).
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The SA gear-linkage was rather sloppy after a few miles if I remember rightly. They refused to put any holes in the cab so the linkage went down around the front? And that reversed the pattern too?
We had SA and ERF on the fleet so changing between them needed concentration.
One of the 400s I had,.had an ‘upside down’ Fuller, so you were basically changing up from right to left away from yourself, then changing back down from left to right.
Sounds about right. It was a “square” change pattern wasn’t it? Not an “H”?
Crawler off to one side, Back left, forward left, forward right, back right? Long time ago though!
Yep that sounds about right.
Think mine was on an S 78 plate, I bought it around 86 ish as a spare motor.
One of my drivers left me after we fell out, and came crawling back a week later.
I had a brand new Cargo L10 (flavour of the month in those days) that he drove, but I gave it to another driver when he left… so told him only truck that was available was the Sed Atk, a day cab, and he was a tramper.
Give him his due he took it and worked hard on it until I got him something better.
Franglais asked: but how many rate the SA400 highly against a F10/12?
Well, if you could put the Sed-Atki’s 9-sp Fuller in an F12 that’s what I’d have, but certainly not the way SA installed them in the SA400. Even the shifts were clunky and crude compared with ERFs and Fords. However, the F12 was also contemporary with the SA401, which I am assured was a vastly better machine than the 400. All fantasy and conjecture of course, unless you lived in Australia where you could have F88s with 9-sp Fullers!
I would say getting out of a SA 400 into a F10 or 12 would be like getting out of a 60s Ford Anglia into a modern Audi.
In fact very much like when I dumped my Craptros for my high cab Renault.
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I was disappointed that when DAF offered the Cummins 500 option in their 95 Super-Space, they didn’t offer it with a Fuller. That would have done for me (if even the fuel bills wouldn’t 
). In fact, Eric (tip-top) posted a pic on here a while back of a Belgian DAF 95 unit with a 13-sp Fuller. Dan Punchard put an Eaton Twin-Splitter in his DAF 95XF SCC.
The 16 speed DAF (ZF) box was fine. And with the intarder on the back: excellent.
Over a million km on original clutch, and the only fault I remember was some leakage on the intarder oil/coolant.
You might get a slightly slicker shift on an Eaton or Fuller? But would that notice much?
The first ZF fitted DAFS were the 3300s…around 83 Y reg I think?
The first models did not have the safety feature fitted that prevented you going from a high gear to a much too low gear, so many of them ended up as a load of cogs and broken casing on the road.
The later models were sorted, and a lot of older models modified.
I was no fan of the ZF synchro box, especially in Merc or any new lorry. However, DAF were the only ones IMO to install it well, especially in the 95XF. Oddly, DAF were one of the worst at installing the 13-sp Fuller in the 2800 - little better than the SA400.
With regard to whether the quicker shift of the Fuller would show much (though Pat Kennett claimed it made a noticeable difference on truck-testing the ERF NGC in the Ardennes), I doubt whether it would be that significant in the long run. The Fuller choice is just more of a personal preference for that style of driving.
I don’t think the Road Ranger was available from Volvo, but many Road Rangers were retrospectively fitted to anything European, as it was cheaper than repairing a European 'box.
Tell us more about the big difference between a contemporary cab over KW v all the Brit examples I referred to.