Theiss Services in Australia says it has chosen Allison Transmissions to re-gear a front loader-equipped Volvo refuse truck, in a bid to save money and ensure reliability.
Thiess plant manager for New South Wales, Kym Jones, says that it was less expensive to fit a new Allison to its Volvo FM12 than to overhaul the factory-fitted Powertronic transmission.
The switch to Allison has also enabled Thiess to extend oil change intervals up to 6,000 hours, using approved TES295 transmission fluids such as TranSynd, compared with the 500 hour intervals required on the truck's original auto box.
Jones says that Thiess' experience with Allison automatic transmissions in refuse trucks over many years gave it the confidence to re-gear the Volvo truck.
"We have more than 200 trucks in our fleet and around 80% of these are equipped with Allison transmissions. We have had a terrific run out of them over the 18 years that I have been working with Thiess-Services," he comments.
"Virtually all of our side loader domestic garbage trucks, which are mostly Iveco Accos, are equipped with Allisons in what is probably the most severe application possible for a small to medium truck," he adds.
"When it came to our Volvo FM 12 front lift it was simply better value to replace the Volvo transmission than to overhaul it, especially given the Allison had a five year unlimited kilometre warranty," says Jones.
