No existing vehicles met its requirements, so Staffordshire’s global heavylift specialist Abnormal Load Engineering has designed its own super-tractor
By Ed Burrows
PHOTOGRAPHY ABNORMAL LOAD ENGINEERING / ED BURROWS
ou thought there was no longer a British-owned truck manufacturer. You were right, though not any more. ALE (Abnormal Load Engineering) searched the world for a new fleet of 8×8 ballasted prime movers. Nothing met its demands, so it decided to produce its own.
Bearing the nameplate Trojan, the first two were shown at a launch event at ALE’s Staffordshire headquarters in October. The result is a piece of equipment of unparalleled capability, fuel efficiency, reliability and smoothness in operation. For an organisation that has never designed a truck before, doing it yourself in these days of tight regulatory bureaucracy may seem like a daunting ask. But ALE is not to be underestimated.
A British success to be proud of, ALE is a global leader in specialised heavylift and indivisible load transportation. Its engineering team’s credits range from the world’s biggest crane – with a capacity of up to 5000 tonnes – to jacking and loading systems capable of lifting and positioning offshore rig structures weighing up to 60,000 tonnes.
ALE project manager and Trojan designer Gary Butler says: “The specification we evolved included future-proof electronics, automatic gear change, ABS, transmission retardation and a footprint commensurate with maximum power, torque and load forces. Optimal axle spacing combined with tyre contract area ensures balanced grip, traction, imposed load distribution and resistance to being pushed about by the weight of a loaded trailer system.”
As featured in the January 2015 issue of Trucking. Buy the magazine here
