Four-axle dump truck Mercedes-Benz Actros 4150 8×8

On the outskirts of a very black forest stands Boar Mountain. And this is not a fairy tale: not far from Wörth, where Mercedes trucks are produced, there really is a Black Forest (translated as “black forest”), and on its edge is Sauberg, “boar mountain”. Once upon a time there were actually wild boars here, but now they test Mercedes off-road and construction trucks.

Steep ascents and descents, natural obstacles in the form of rocky ledges, pools at the top... It feels like being on the set of the film “The Lord of the Rings”: foggy, cold, the stones are covered with frost. And it’s deserted - only a small house on the slope and a heavy tow truck of the old SK series are on duty next to the sign “Daimler AG proving ground. Passage and passage by strangers is prohibited. Life threatening".

It wouldn’t be too dangerous when a dump truck might roar out at you from behind a boulder! It slides along a rocky slope, climbs up, then crawls out of the labyrinth - and splashes into the pool.

“We test each model here for six months in two shifts, with a ten percent overload,” comment the Mercedes team. “Let’s say the total weight of a four-axle dump truck is 32 tons, and during testing it weighs about 35 tons.” Of course, for our conditions this is nothing...

Drivers cut circles around the mountain day after day: they test the car’s endurance on obstacles, in swimming pools - for example, how the silent blocks of stabilizers resist moisture. And after the tests, the car is disassembled into parts and the degree of their wear is assessed. Each such test costs half a million euros, but it’s worth it: only after the car gets the go-ahead at Boar Mountain is it put into production!

The Benz/Bräuer Kraftprotze artillery tractor was tested in the same place as the current dump trucks back in 1918

It’s interesting that Mercedes has been testing their equipment here for a hundred years: one of the first was the Benz/Bräuer Kraftprotze, an artillery tractor from 1918. In front it has large wheels with cast tires, in the back there are the same wheels, only shod with caterpillar tracks along with small rollers. A total of one hundred of these tractors were ordered; by the end of the First World War, fifty had been built, but they never made it to the battlefields.

Since the entrance is high, there are recesses in the doorways that you need to grab onto

How not to break Arocs

I’m desperately skidding on a steep slope in a three-axle Arocs dump truck: the body is full of gravel, the “robot” gearbox is in reverse gear, and there are stones and smoke coming from under the drive wheels. I’ll jump down a little and start skidding again, climbing backwards to the top. Down again - and up again over and over again. “Your instructor had those kind of eyes when he got out of the cab,” a Mercedes friend I knew later laughed. “And I tell him: calm down, there’s a Russian driving!”

What kind of bullying? In a normal car I would have burned out the clutch long ago! But here is TRK, Turbo-Retarder-Kupplung - “turbo-retarder-clutch”, brand Voith, a kind of advanced torque converter that allows you to both start and brake with its help. Mercedes even built a mini-attraction for a visual demonstration: you rotate the handle, accelerating the liquid inside the turboretarder, and the model of the dump truck either climbs up, freezes at any point on the rise, or rolls down. The main thing is to select the desired speed of rotation of the handle, which simulates the force of pressing the accelerator pedal.

Of course, there are no barriers to the skill of Russian drivers: I still made a car with TRK display alarming messages on the display. First, I climbed up a steep hill in a four-axle dump truck, so much so that the front two wheels were hanging in the air, and on the left another Arocs was coming across. I hung there a little, letting it pass, and the electronics were already hysterical: “turbo retarder overheating.” And when I went down, playing either with the turbo retarder or with the brake pedal, the display started flashing red alarmingly.

Oh, I don’t know how these hydraulics would behave somewhere in Novy Urengoy, and in 30-degree frost! Moreover, the system is very expensive: although we were told the amount of ten thousand euros, two years ago at a similar presentation the price was announced at 20,600 euros.

Another curious thing costs another 18,500 euros - HAD, Hydraulic Auxiliary Drive (“hydraulic auxiliary drive”). These are hydraulic motors built into the wheels of the front axle, usually of a 4x2 construction tractor. In normal condition, the hydraulic motors spin idle, but if necessary, they can be connected from the cab, and the machine turns into “almost 4x4”. Shall we check?

I get behind the wheel of a dump truck loaded with gravel, with an Actros HAD tractor. I drive up to a rut made in the sand. It doesn’t look scary - maybe you can overcome it without hydraulic motors? I carefully drive into the sand, the Arocs crawls, crawls... No, it stalled. Come on, let's turn on the differential lock! No, that didn't help either. All that remains is to connect the HAD: the hydraulic motors begin to rotate the front wheels with a howl - and the road train easily overcomes the obstacle.

By the way, it is not recommended to turn on HAD without locking the differential - otherwise the rear wheels will slip too quickly, stones will get into the profile and damage the tires.

“Usually at construction sites, such off-road conditions take up only a small part of the route,” comment the Mercedes team. “There is no point in using “normal” all-wheel drive tractors here, but the hydraulic bridge is lighter and does not affect fuel consumption so much.” On the other hand, the surcharge for traditional all-wheel drive is significantly less.

Be that as it may, many truck manufacturers use a similar design: MAN, Renault, I recently drove a similar one from IVECO. It is noteworthy that most of these machines are equipped with hydraulic motors from the French company Poclain Hydraulics. They are even installed on the experimental KAMAZ, shown at the autumn Comtrans exhibition!

Mercedes painted over the brand nameplates of Poclain Hydraulics hydraulic motors with black paint

And on Aroks there is still the same Poclain, only Mercedes painted over the brand nameplates with black paint, not wanting to advertise their supplier. I tried to scratch the paint with a key to read the inscription on the sign, and the Mercedes guys laughed: “Well, you still caused damage to our car!”

Actros is the most popular Mercedes dump truck

The record holder for load capacity in the Mercedes Benz model range is the Actros dump truck. These trucks are characterized by the highest performance and versatility. The weight of these dump trucks ranges from 18-41 tons. Actros trucks are equipped with the latest engines (Euro 5 standard). These engines were developed by Mercedes using Blue Tec technology. The engines on these cars can be either six-liter or eight-liter.

Among large-tonnage vehicles, Mercedes Actros 4141 dump trucks are the most popular and in demand. Such vehicles are often used to transport various materials and equipment. The model in question is equipped with a motor with a power of 408 hp. Wheelbase - 8x4/4. The weight of the Aktros 41 dump truck is 48 tons.

Actros 3341 dump trucks are also in great demand. These vehicles are among the most maneuverable among various types of dump trucks. Aktros 3341 have a modern appearance and ergonomic design. Another advantage of these dump trucks is their high cross-country ability. The carrying capacity of this model is quite high and amounts to a maximum of 24 tons, while the body volume is 16 cubic meters. Weight of Mercedes Actros 3341 (fully equipped) - 40 tons.

A variety of cargo dump trucks differ not only in load capacity, equipment, but also in price. At the same time, new Mercedes dump trucks have a cost that ranges from 5 million to 7 million rubles. I would like to note that a Mercedes dump truck, which has already reached its practical end (operational mileage), has a price much lower than a new one. The cost of such a truck will be no more than 2 million rubles.

On dirt and asphalt

Actually, this is my third time driving Arocs: I drove both in 2013 and 2014 in cars with HAD. As the Germans say, “nix noes”, “nothing new”? Not really - since a number of innovations have appeared in the engine and transmission aimed at increasing efficiency.

The engine and transmission have been modified to increase efficiency

The already high injection pressure was increased from 2300 to 2700 bar (and in the common rail ramp - from 950 to 1160 bar), the “seven-hole” injectors were replaced with “eight-hole” ones, and the compression ratio was increased from 17.3:1 to 18.3:1 , installed new pistons and a turbocharger of our own production. The PowerShift robotic gearbox has even better polished gears and more precise shifting, and the rear hypoid axle has an adjustable oil supply.

On the move, the cars are not the quietest (apparently due to high injection pressure), but they perform well off-road. “The Arox frame is designed to withstand strong bending and torsion,” comment the Mercedes team. “The long-range Aktros has it as tough as dry spaghetti, but here it plays.”

The differential locks are very conveniently activated by the circular selector, the “robot” does not stall, and in particularly difficult areas you can click the steering column lever to switch to manual mode. By the way, there are three modes in total: manual, automatic, offroad automatic.

I was surprised to like the “manual” gearbox: unlike the similar Scanie gearbox, it shifts so smoothly and comfortably that driving the car is a pleasure.

I covered the training ground with its hills and hills in an Arox 4x4 with “mechanics” - only dirt from under the wheels! But do you know what the fuel consumption is with a full load in such off-road testing conditions? According to the on-board computer, 4x4 has 119 liters per 100 km. And 8x4 has almost 157!

At the last Comtrans exhibition, representatives of KAMAZ asked me to find out how foreign companies solve the issue of steering force in heavy vehicles: do they install an additional electric amplifier or not? It turned out that Aroks 8x4 are equipped with it - in those versions where it is necessary to meet the standards. From the driver's point of view, these Aroxes are distinguished by very easy rotation of the steering wheel.

Finally, it was suggested to travel on public roads. I get into an 8x4 dump truck, grab the steering wheel, and it’s larger than its counterparts and doesn’t rotate as easily. It turned out that there was a regular hydraulic booster with a single-circuit pump, and in order to meet the force standard, they installed a larger diameter steering wheel. By the way, fuel consumption on asphalt is no longer scary - 34 l/100 km.

Four-axle dump truck Mercedes-Benz Actros 4150 8×8

Dump trucks produced by Mercedes use the most modern advances in the production of trucks, with an installed dump truck body, for transport and cargo transportation of bulk and bulk cargo. The Mercedes-Benz Actros 4150AK 8×8 heavy-duty dump truck has a body manufactured by Meiller, designed for general industrial dumping work. Therefore, the heavy-duty Mercedes dump truck is used as a universal construction vehicle, with wide transport capabilities due to the volume of the body and a highly cross-country chassis with 8x8 all-wheel drive. The main purpose of the Mercedes-Benz Actros 8×8 dump truck is to work on large construction sites as a dump truck for removing earth, construction waste, and transporting construction materials. The machine's lifting capacity, which reaches 30 tons in normal work conditions, with a tolerance of up to 36 tons when working on technological roads and in agriculture, opens up the possibility of operation at large construction sites, including the provision of services for filling bushes and oil production sites, and gas, and in the production of roads in the North. In conditions of natural resource extraction, Mercedes dump trucks are used to deliver equipment in the back; in the modification, the sand truck transports special sand, solutions, liquids and concrete.

The wheeled chassis of the Mercedes-Benz 8×8 ​​dump truck uses four wheel drive axles, which, in terms of load capacity and mobility, is the most suitable option for a high-capacity dump body, and all-wheel drive allows for all-terrain capability and therefore improves operational capabilities, improving output and increasing the efficiency of the dump truck .
The high load capacity of the dump truck chassis is achieved through a powerful frame chassis and high-capacity wheel axles, with final drives and a 5.333:1 final drive. The wheel suspension uses steel longitudinal leaf springs. Tires in the standard version with a two-row arrangement on 12.00 R24 tires, with the possibility of installing large single-pitch tires. Power supply to the wheels is provided by the Mercedes OM502LA internal combustion engine with a power of 503 hp. with torque transformation in a Mercedes G240 multi-speed gearbox, and an additional two-stage gearbox used to distribute power to the front and rear drive axles. The Meiller tipper body has a useful volume of 19 cubic meters, with a simple geometric rectangular shape. The body is steel, made of high-strength HARDOX steel, with a top-hinged tailgate. Buy

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In our country, Arocs was shown at the STT-2016 construction exhibition, but has not yet been offered, since the engines met Euro-6 standards that are not relevant in our country. It was only known that the newcomer was about 10% more expensive than the analogue Actros MP3, which is produced in Russia, which means that the Arocs 8x4 could cost 140 thousand euros in our country.

But next year, the Daimler KAMAZ RUS JV is planning a large-scale launch of the current Mercedes SFTP series on our market - and these are Actros MP4 and Arocs already in Euro-5 versions. Naturally, they will be assembled in Naberezhnye Chelny, and then equipped with cabins, for the production of which a plant is being built there. So, I think we’ll still ride on Arocskavators!

The Arocs model range has a lot of versions and professions

Lightweight Mercedes Benz Vario

Vario dump trucks are equipped exclusively with supercharged engines that comply with modern Euro 4 standards. Such engines have direct fuel supply as well as intercooling mechanisms. These dump trucks are equipped with a 6-speed gearbox.

Vario cars are distinguished by increased cross-country ability thanks to the 4x4 or 4x2 drive, depending on the configuration. At the same time, the vehicles are equipped with disc braking systems (hydraulic or pneumatic), which are characterized by increased reliability and ensure safe operation of dump trucks.