Qhunter:
Merc 1617- apparently 170 horses, not that you could find any of them!
Too true. Driven one meself, think they have a âbackwardsâ gearbox in them iirc ? 
You soon get used to it though with a bit of practice 
.
Who is or was Tom?
I havenât got a clue.
But as for the Sympathy livery,yes thatâs one of ours.
Ken.
Wheel Nut:
I think a Sudden Accident 301 with the International cab was probably the worst although a 1625 Merc came close on power or lack of it
Right there with you on the Merc 1625.
Windy Hill never seemed that big before.
In fact any Merc i have driven has made me think it was time to move on.
Robert Haynes:
Merc 1625.Windy Hill never seemed that big before.
They are just legal at 38tonnes and I used to come up windy hill on the hard shoulder, red lights and buzzers going off everywhere!
Qhunter:
Robert Haynes:
Merc 1625.Windy Hill never seemed that big before.
They are just legal at 38tonnes and I used to come up windy hill on the hard shoulder, red lights and buzzers going off everywhere!
Thatâs just reminded me Robert, way back I was working for Dixons of Derby and one day Oscar âlentâ me to an OD who subbed for him, Maurice Braddock. He put me on his Commer Knocker with short single axle tipper trailer. Apart from the 2 stroke racket in my head, every time I went down the slightest bank lights and buzzers everywhere and then the thing would stop, no air. No. I wasnât riding the brakes, always low gear to hold back and keep the revs (and air) up, but in those pre exhaust brake (never mind Jakes & retarders) days you had to dab the brakes to prevent an over rev and runaway. Big hills, like that that one in Kent long since by-passed by the A2/M2, Bridge I think, involved about 3 stops for air recuperation before the bottom - most embarrassing 
Mauriceâs other truck was a 6 wheel Dodge tipper. That square cab with windows all round with another ear-splitting engine, a V4 â â â â â â â I think. Not sure about that though. In the days when you could go up Ilkeston High St. the sound reverberating in that narrow canyon left the populace scurrying for shop doors. The traders must have loved me. I ran it for Maurice when he took a holiday one time, till the old bill stopped me for excessive smoke on the M1. So I just parked it up and took a holiday myself.
Salut, David.
04 plate axor rigid fridge for express dairies
the gear box would completely lock up when you pulled off at a island and tryed to â â â â â â a gear ,the bunk was solid and if you shown it a incline it would [zb] itself 
got back that day and told them if im not in my volvo by the morning they where looking for a new driver 
jon
jonboy:
04 plate axor rigid fridge for express dairiesthe gear box would completely lock up when you pulled off at a island and tryed to â â â â â â a gear ,the bunk was solid and if you shown it a incline it would [zb] itself
got back that day and told them if im not in my volvo by the morning they where looking for a new driver
jon
Was just about to comment on that but then realised you said ârigidâ so it will be one of the 230âs then I guess ?
I know that the artic version of the Axor (old Atego rigid now called Axor I understand?) in its 430 form is a damned good puller fully loaded and knocks spots off the Actros with the same size engine - never understood that though, are they different engine makes ? The Axor doesnât seem to make the distinctive Actros engine note of the same size engine capacity .
Iâve driven the old Atego 1828 (280) rigid on an 02-plate and it had a 12 speed box iirc (they pulled drags) and I rather liked it.
taffy32uk:
you should all come to Romania and try driving a Roman or a Dac you would never complain about another truck ever again.
if i was to say whats wrong with them it would fill up this section.
we donât need to come to romania, we have our own version itâs called a FODEN.
i find it hard to believe that anyone can take a truck cab like the daf cf and make a complete mess of the interior, then stick a gearbox in it that they claim prevents stalling and over revving when pulling off from a stop but actually makes pulling away uphill very awkward and causes a kangaroo effect instead and an engine management system that switches the engine off if it runs for more than 2 minutes on idle.
FODEN the trabant of the truck world.
My nightmare shift was in a Merc 1626 artic. I had a night shift round robin from Perimax in Arbroath to Coatbridge, Newbridge and back to Arbroath. Collecting 1 tonne, stainless steel bins of chicken carcasses. On Wednesday and Monday nights, the two axle tipper, loaded up with bone cake went to the plant at Cleland to be tipped.
One night I hooked up to it and had to use 1st gear low split just to get it rolling, on the level. I phoned my agency night shift supervisor, in Manchester, to tell him I was a bit overloaded. He asked me how I could tell 
.
Anyway, I couldnât drop the trailer and leave it, we needed proof that it was overloaded, not just an agency drivers knowledge. At two in the morning, the only weigh bridge which I knew would be open was at Cleland (near Motherwell). So I had to take it there. The weigh bridge fella said to me, âBy jings, your brave bringin that over here like thatâ. I checked the readout on the scale, 45,600kgs, on 4 axles, and the weight limit on five or six was 38,000kgs.
A week or so later I was back at Perimax. No sign of the tipper. It seems that the regular night shift man had taken it over to Cleland, and just as he was about to tip it, one of the stub axles broke and the double wheels rolled out of the door.
The biggest nightmare was driving those Merc 1626s though.
Collecting 1 tonne, stainless steel bins of chicken carcasses. On Wednesday and Monday nights, the two axle tipper, loaded up with bone cake went to the plant at Cleland to be tipped.
So between us we probably caused the outbreak of mad cow disease and all these chicken farm diseases. We use to collect the tallow and chicken fat from Cleland and turn it into animal feed.
The fat that couldnt be used for feed went into Cussons Imperial Leather
F Lloyd Ltd in Wrexham where I was unfortunate enough to drive the 1625,s used 2 of the oldest to shunt from Continental Can to their yard about a mile away. No problem with empty cans making a net weight of about 2.5 tonnes. The problem was getting back up the little hill when the factory asked for a roll of aluminium weighing 12 tonnes.
No point having mirrors because you couldnât see the back of the trailer for smoke.
the worst truck i have ever driven was at longs of leeds and i think they still have it⌠N130 GYG it was a 6 wheeler daf rigid with a ⌠TAIL-LIFT i really hated that lorry i used to get all the crap jobs with no nights out oh except fridays id be home all week just in case a pallet needed moving from leeds to bradford with a tail lift id go to london and get pulled back in a day empty just to take a pallet across leeds or bristol and back so i could move another pallet that needed a tail lift i bloody hated that lorry i even left because of it i still see it now and cringe it still makes me shiver
Most uncomfortable trucks ever - Bedford âBâ series and MAN TGA, might be 50 years between them but not much difference comfort wise.
johnny:
taffy32uk:
you should all come to Romania and try driving a Roman or a Dac you would never complain about another truck ever again.
if i was to say whats wrong with them it would fill up this section.we donât need to come to romania, we have our own version itâs called a FODEN.
i find it hard to believe that anyone can take a truck cab like the daf cf and make a complete mess of the interior, then stick a gearbox in it that they claim prevents stalling and over revving when pulling off from a stop but actually makes pulling away uphill very awkward and causes a kangaroo effect instead and an engine management system that switches the engine off if it runs for more than 2 minutes on idle.
FODEN the trabant of the truck world.
Never have any trouble with the engine management electronics on my Gardner-engined Atki! What you donât fit doesnât go wrongâŚ
My Truck From Hell has to be an ex-Coca Cola Iveco 18-tonne rigid hired last Christmas to cover the rush. It was an R-reg, six wheeler with tiny, tiny rear wheels and one of those easy-slide sides. Loaded to about seventeen tonnes, it crested Windy Hill at approximately 23mph. An awful engine, awful cab, awful gearchange - awful everything. If Ivecoâs older artics were like this, no wonder theyâre having trouble converting people to the Stralis. I feel sorry for the Coca Cola guys who have to drive one every day - my own wagon was in for a service on this occasion, and fortunatelty I never saw the inside of one of these abominations again.
I must say the cruddiest truck Iâve ever drove has to be an Iveco, I have drove a 7.5ton one, hated it, thought, hmmmm a class1 has to be better than this, how wrong I was. I like MAN trucks but I cant understand why I always get backache from their seats. I dont have a problem with ERFs, Scanias yes very little leg room, but reasonable drive, although I dont understand why all the Irish lads love em. I guess its each to their own.
laybybobb:
jonboy:
04 plate axor rigid fridge for express dairiesthe gear box would completely lock up when you pulled off at a island and tryed to â â â â â â a gear ,the bunk was solid and if you shown it a incline it would [zb] itself
got back that day and told them if im not in my volvo by the morning they where looking for a new driver
jon
Was just about to comment on that but then realised you said ârigidâ so it will be one of the 230âs then I guess ?
I know that the artic version of the Axor (old Atego rigid now called Axor I understand?) in its 430 form is a damned good puller fully loaded and knocks spots off the Actros with the same size engine - never understood that though, are they different engine makes ? The Axor doesnât seem to make the distinctive Actros engine note of the same size engine capacity
Iâve driven the old Atego 1828 (280) rigid on an 02-plate and it had a 12 speed box iirc (they pulled drags) and I rather liked it.
the reason the 430 axor pulls a â â â â sight better than the 430 actros is simple.
the axor is a straight six and the actros a v6. 
the wosrt truck i ever drove.
a leyland terrier rigid belonging to norman and underwoods at kings lynn. probably still going now though.
240 Gardner:
Never have any trouble with the engine management electronics on my Gardner-engined Atki! What you donât fit doesnât go wrongâŚ
Same with the â â â â â â â in mine. Except it doesnât take too kindly to running on fresh air as I found out last year when I ran out of diesel!
Robert Haynes:
F Lloyd Ltd in Wrexham where I was unfortunate enough to drive the 1625,s used 2 of the oldest to shunt from Continental Can to their yard about a mile away. No problem with empty cans making a net weight of about 2.5 tonnes. The problem was getting back up the little hill when the factory asked for a roll of aluminium weighing 12 tonnes.
No point having mirrors because you couldnât see the back of the trailer for smoke.
Is Frank Lloyds still using them or have the died at last?
i see hes got some of the old ERFs on the gresford shunt
maybe the extra few mile on that job was too much for the old Merc`s
but knowing the lovely Mr Nigel Lloyd he wont get rid of anything so
some one may get to drive them again one day, poor sods
My 2 worst wagons 1625 Merc at BRS Warrington depot only ever had about 16 ton on it which was more than enough i got plenty of nights out with it though as it took so long to get anything done with it. But the best of all was my ex Kellogs ERF wagon & drag 275 â â â â â â â running at 38ton,we used to do all the Scotch work with them from Continental Pet at Gesford.I once timed going up the big bank just after Carnforth (crooklands) and it took me just short of 12mins with buzzers & lights going off from about half way up, what a motor.Little engine big load you dont expect
anything else once youve work for BRS for a while.The motors have improved now were Exel but thats only because there all on rental.