Volvo truck fitted with Allison fully automatic transmission
Vehicle is praised for high productivity and effortless no ’roll back’ starts even whilst fully laden on steep grades.
Swedish sand and gravel producers, Hall Brothers, have become the first company to specify a Volvo FM480 truck with an Allison transmission and in a relatively short space of time are already reporting productivity and cost-reduction benefits.
Established as agricultural harvesters in the 1920s, Hall Brothers operated one of the first stone crushing production facilities in Europe. Today, the third and fourth generations of the family run the business. They produce around 500,000 tonnes of material a year from three hard rock quarries and four sand and gravel pits, of which 400,000 tonnes are transported by truck to their customers.
The company have historically used Volvo trucks but bought a Scania G480 to test an Allison fully automatic transmission. Peter Hansson, driver of the Scania truck, commented: ‘We have had this truck for over a year now and the transmission has been working perfectly. I'm incredibly happy with the product.’
Based on this experience, when the company decided to buy another Volvo truck they chose an FM480 equipped with an Allison fully automatic transmission with integral retarder and VEB+ (Volvo’s intelligent engine braking device) making it the first Volvo FM480 gravel truck equipped with an Allison transmission.
The company’s new, 13-litre FM480 uses a seven-speed Allison 4700R model with integral retarder. Thanks to the torque converter and the full power-shifting, engine power is transmitted to the wheels very smoothly. This allows a fully loaded truck to be started on a 14 percent gradient. The extra planetary gear module and a 4.5 rear axle ratio ensures optimum performance for the tough duty cycle.
Swedish sand and gravel producers, Hall Brothers, have become the first company to specify a Volvo FM480 truck with an Allison transmission and in a relatively short space of time are already reporting productivity and cost-reduction benefits.
Established as agricultural harvesters in the 1920s, Hall Brothers operated one of the first stone crushing production facilities in Europe. Today, the third and fourth generations of the family run the business. They produce around 500,000 tonnes of material a year from three hard rock quarries and four sand and gravel pits, of which 400,000 tonnes are transported by truck to their customers.
The company have historically used Volvo trucks but bought a Scania G480 to test an Allison fully automatic transmission. Peter Hansson, driver of the Scania truck, commented: ‘We have had this truck for over a year now and the transmission has been working perfectly. I'm incredibly happy with the product.’
Based on this experience, when the company decided to buy another Volvo truck they chose an FM480 equipped with an Allison fully automatic transmission with integral retarder and VEB+ (Volvo’s intelligent engine braking device) making it the first Volvo FM480 gravel truck equipped with an Allison transmission.
The company’s new, 13-litre FM480 uses a seven-speed Allison 4700R model with integral retarder. Thanks to the torque converter and the full power-shifting, engine power is transmitted to the wheels very smoothly. This allows a fully loaded truck to be started on a 14 percent gradient. The extra planetary gear module and a 4.5 rear axle ratio ensures optimum performance for the tough duty cycle.
