The new body is mounted to a 32-tonne 8x2 rear-steer Scania P370; the truck replaces a 10-year old Volvo, which was mounted with a secondhand Andover body acquired in 2011.
It joins a commercial vehicle fleet comprised of five rigids – four mounted with Andover bodies – ranging from five to 32 tonnes. The Hampshire-based operator also has a single tractor unit and tri-axle Andover stepframe trailer.
Bill Collings, director at Rentool, says: “We buy all of our vehicles with the intention to keep them in operation for around 10 years. We took delivery of our first Andover plant body in 2003 and it was actually 13 years before it was replaced. The quality of their construction and the materials they use generally means that Andover’s bodies outlive the trucks they’re mounted to.”
The latest addition has Andover’s trademark low-profile deck, a double crank beavertail connected to a pair of 2.5m-long hydraulic power toe ramps, an electric winch on the headboard to aid loading and unloading, and nine pairs of lashing points.
“One of the reasons we keep coming back to Andover is that with each new body we are able to incorporate little design changes that make the latest build even better suited to our operation,” says Collings.
These changes have included a new method of recessing the winch cable into the centre of the bed, and the inclusion of an extra steel checker plate to the deck to protect it from the buckets and knuckles of Rentool’s excavators and diggers.
The new truck was specified to carry any of the plant in Rentool’s portfolio, which includes telescopic handlers, on-site dump trucks and 14-tonne excavators.
The vehicle is in operation five days a week and will clock up 50,000km per year.